Common English Expressions: Idioms, Phrasal Verbs and Fixed Phrases
An English expression is a group of words whose meaning cannot be worked out by adding up the meanings of the separate words. Because of that, expressions have to be learned as whole units, and they are tested heavily in school and competitive examinations precisely because they cannot be guessed. These notes set out the main families of expression: idioms, proverbs, phrasal verbs, similes, collocations and one word substitutions. Each list gives the expression, its meaning in plain words, and where it is useful a short example of the expression in a sentence. A 20-question practice set follows.
What Counts as an Expression, and How to Learn One
The word expression is used loosely to cover several different things. It is worth separating them, because each type behaves differently in a sentence and each is tested in a different way.
The single most common mistake with expressions is to translate them word by word. To spill the beans has nothing to do with beans, and a person who kicks the bucket has not touched a bucket. Learn each expression as one unit with one meaning, and learn it inside a sentence rather than as an entry in a list.
- An idiom is a fixed group of words with a figurative meaning, such as to break the ice, meaning to ease the awkwardness at the start of a meeting.
- A proverb is a complete sentence carrying a piece of traditional advice, such as a stitch in time saves nine.
- A phrasal verb is a verb joined to a particle, such as give up, look after or put off, where the particle changes the meaning of the verb.
- A simile is an explicit comparison using as or like, such as as cool as a cucumber.
- A collocation is a pair of words that habitually go together, such as make a decision rather than do a decision, or heavy rain rather than strong rain.
- A one word substitution replaces a whole phrase with a single word, such as autobiography for the story of a person's life written by that person.
- Method: learn expressions in themed groups, write your own sentence for each, and revise them aloud. An expression you have used once is worth ten you have only read.
Everyday Idioms
These are the idioms that appear most often in ordinary speech, in newspapers and in examination papers. The meaning is given first and an example follows where it helps.
- A blessing in disguise: something that seems bad at first but turns out to be good. Losing that job was a blessing in disguise.
- To break the ice: to say or do something that relieves tension at a first meeting.
- To beat about the bush: to avoid coming to the point. Stop beating about the bush and tell me the price.
- To bite the bullet: to accept something painful and get on with it.
- To cost an arm and a leg: to be very expensive.
- To let the cat out of the bag, or to spill the beans: to reveal a secret.
- Once in a blue moon: very rarely.
- To hit the nail on the head: to say exactly the right thing.
- To be under the weather: to feel unwell.
- To burn the midnight oil: to work or study late into the night.
- To turn a blind eye: to pretend not to notice something wrong.
- To be in hot water: to be in trouble.
- To pull someone's leg: to tease someone playfully.
- To add fuel to the fire: to make a bad situation worse.
- To make ends meet: to earn just enough to cover one's needs.
- The ball is in your court: it is now your turn to act or decide.
- To get cold feet: to lose one's nerve just before doing something.
- To face the music: to accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
- To keep an eye on: to watch or look after.
- To smell a rat: to suspect that something is wrong.
- A piece of cake: something very easy.
- To cut corners: to do something cheaply or quickly by leaving out proper steps.
- To be on cloud nine: to be extremely happy.
- To call it a day: to stop working for the time being.
- To go the extra mile: to make more effort than is required.
Phrasal Verbs and Similes
Phrasal verbs carry more weight in examinations than any other kind of expression, because a single verb changes meaning completely when the particle changes. Compare put off, meaning postpone, with put up with, meaning tolerate, and put out, meaning extinguish.
- Break down: to stop functioning, or to lose emotional control. Break into: to enter by force. Break out: to begin suddenly, said of a war or a disease. Break up: to end a relationship, or to disperse.
- Call off: to cancel. Call on: to visit briefly, or to ask someone to speak. Call up: to telephone, or to summon for military service.
- Carry on: to continue. Carry out: to perform or execute an order or a plan.
- Come across: to meet or find by chance. Come up with: to produce an idea. Come round: to regain consciousness, or to change one's opinion.
- Give in: to surrender. Give up: to stop doing something, or to abandon. Give away: to donate, or to reveal a secret.
- Look after: to take care of. Look for: to search for. Look into: to investigate. Look up to: to admire. Look down on: to despise.
- Put off: to postpone. Put up with: to tolerate. Put out: to extinguish. Put on: to wear, or to pretend.
- Run into: to meet by chance. Run out of: to have no more of something. Run over: to knock down with a vehicle.
- Take after: to resemble a parent or relative. Take off: to remove, or of an aircraft to leave the ground. Take over: to assume control. Take up: to begin a hobby or occupation.
- Turn down: to reject, or to lower the volume. Turn up: to arrive, often unexpectedly. Turn in: to hand over, or to go to bed.
- Common similes: as busy as a bee, as blind as a bat, as cool as a cucumber, as bold as brass, as light as a feather, as hard as a rock, as white as snow, as proud as a peacock, as stubborn as a mule, as quiet as a mouse, as clear as crystal, as old as the hills.
Proverbs, Collocations and One Word Substitutions
Proverbs are usually tested by asking for the meaning or for the situation in which the proverb fits. Collocations are tested by asking which of four verbs goes with a given noun. One word substitution is a standing question type in almost every competitive paper.
- Proverbs: A stitch in time saves nine, meaning act early and avoid a bigger problem. Actions speak louder than words. Birds of a feather flock together, meaning like-minded people keep company. Do not count your chickens before they hatch. Every cloud has a silver lining. Honesty is the best policy. Look before you leap. Make hay while the sun shines. Necessity is the mother of invention. Rome was not built in a day. The early bird catches the worm. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Where there is a will there is a way. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
- Verb and noun collocations: make a decision, make an effort, make a mistake, make progress; do homework, do business, do damage, do research; take a photograph, take a risk, take an examination, take medicine; pay attention, pay a visit, pay a compliment; give advice, give permission, give a speech.
- Adjective and noun collocations: heavy rain, heavy traffic, strong coffee, strong argument, deep sleep, bitter cold, close friend, wide range, key issue, high praise.
- One word substitutions, people: an autobiography is the story of a life written by the person who lived it; a biography is written by another person; a philanthropist loves and helps humanity; a misanthrope hates humanity; an optimist expects the best and a pessimist the worst; a bibliophile loves books; a novice is a beginner; a spectator watches a game and an audience listens to a performance.
- One word substitutions, qualities and states: illegible means impossible to read; inaudible means impossible to hear; invisible means impossible to see; inevitable means impossible to avoid; indelible means impossible to erase; unanimous means with everyone in agreement; posthumous means occurring after a person's death; simultaneous means happening at the same time.
- One word substitutions, studies: ornithology is the study of birds; entomology the study of insects; etymology the study of word origins; archaeology the study of remains of the past; anthropology the study of human societies; cardiology the study of the heart; seismology the study of earthquakes; meteorology the study of weather.
- Words commonly confused: principal, meaning chief or head of a school, against principle, meaning a rule; stationary, meaning not moving, against stationery, meaning writing materials; complement, meaning to complete, against compliment, meaning praise; advice, the noun, against advise, the verb; affect, the verb, against effect, usually the noun; loose, meaning not tight, against lose, meaning to be deprived of.
Key Terms
- Idiom
- A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of its individual words. To let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret and has nothing to do with cats or bags.
- Phrasal verb
- A verb combined with one or two particles, such as give up or put up with, which together carry a meaning different from the verb alone. Changing the particle usually changes the meaning completely.
- Collocation
- A pairing of words that native speakers habitually use together. English says make a decision and heavy rain; do a decision and strong rain are grammatically possible but wrong to the ear.
- Proverb
- A short, complete traditional saying that states a general truth or gives advice, such as look before you leap. Unlike an idiom, a proverb is a full sentence and is quoted as it stands.
Practice Quiz — 20 Questions
correct out of 20
-
The idiom to beat about the bush means:
- A.To search thoroughly
- B.To avoid coming to the main point
- C.To work in a garden
- D.To attack someone verbally
B. To avoid coming to the main point — Someone who beats about the bush talks around a subject instead of saying the thing directly. -
A blessing in disguise refers to:
- A.A gift given secretly
- B.A prayer said quietly
- C.Something that seems bad but turns out to be good
- D.A promise that is never kept
C. Something that seems bad but turns out to be good — The good is hidden, or in disguise, behind an apparent misfortune. -
If a plan costs an arm and a leg, it is:
- A.Dangerous
- B.Very expensive
- C.Very slow
- D.Painful to carry out
B. Very expensive — The expression exaggerates the price as if one had to pay with parts of the body. -
To burn the midnight oil means:
- A.To waste money
- B.To work or study late into the night
- C.To destroy evidence
- D.To celebrate late
B. To work or study late into the night — It comes from the days of working by oil lamp after dark. -
Choose the correct meaning of to turn a blind eye.
- A.To lose one's sight
- B.To look away in fear
- C.To deliberately ignore something wrong
- D.To refuse to answer a question
C. To deliberately ignore something wrong — The person could see the wrongdoing but chooses to act as though they did not. -
The ball is in your court means:
- A.You have lost the game
- B.It is now your turn to act or decide
- C.You are being unfair
- D.The matter is closed
B. It is now your turn to act or decide — The metaphor comes from tennis: the responsibility for the next move has passed to you. -
Which phrasal verb means to tolerate?
- A.Put off
- B.Put out
- C.Put up with
- D.Put on
C. Put up with — Put off means postpone, put out means extinguish, and put on means wear or pretend. -
She promised to ____ her younger brother while their mother was away.
- A.look for
- B.look after
- C.look into
- D.look up to
B. look after — Look after means to take care of. Look for is to search, look into is to investigate, and look up to is to admire. -
The committee will ____ the complaint before taking any action.
- A.look after
- B.look up
- C.look into
- D.look out
C. look into — To look into a matter is to investigate it. -
He takes after his father. This means he:
- A.Follows his father around
- B.Resembles his father
- C.Obeys his father
- D.Chases his father
B. Resembles his father — Take after means to resemble an older relative in looks or character. -
Choose the correct simile: as stubborn as a ____.
- A.mule
- B.bat
- C.peacock
- D.feather
A. mule — The fixed similes are as stubborn as a mule, as blind as a bat, as proud as a peacock and as light as a feather. -
The proverb a stitch in time saves nine advises us to:
- A.Sew our own clothes
- B.Deal with a small problem early before it grows
- C.Save money for the future
- D.Be patient with slow work
B. Deal with a small problem early before it grows — A small repair made in time prevents a much larger one later. -
Which collocation is correct?
- A.Do a decision
- B.Make a decision
- C.Take a decision quickly is always wrong
- D.Give a decision is the only correct form
B. Make a decision — The standard collocation is make a decision. Take a decision also occurs in British and Indian usage, but do a decision is always wrong. -
Which of these is the correct collocation for rain that falls very hard?
- A.Strong rain
- B.Heavy rain
- C.Thick rain
- D.Big rain
B. Heavy rain — English pairs heavy with rain and traffic, and strong with coffee, wind and argument. -
The story of a person's life written by that person is called:
- A.A biography
- B.An autobiography
- C.A memoir of another
- D.A chronicle
B. An autobiography — An autobiography is self-written. A biography is written by someone else. -
Handwriting that cannot be read is:
- A.Inaudible
- B.Invisible
- C.Illegible
- D.Indelible
C. Illegible — Illegible means impossible to read. Inaudible is impossible to hear and indelible is impossible to erase. -
The study of birds is called:
- A.Entomology
- B.Etymology
- C.Ornithology
- D.Anthropology
C. Ornithology — Ornithology is the study of birds; entomology is insects and etymology is word origins. -
Choose the correct word: The head of the school is the ____ of the institution.
- A.principle
- B.principal
- C.principality
- D.principled
B. principal — Principal means chief or head. Principle means a rule or fundamental truth. -
A decision taken with everyone in agreement is:
- A.Anonymous
- B.Unanimous
- C.Ambiguous
- D.Autonomous
B. Unanimous — Unanimous means of one mind. Anonymous means of unknown name. -
To get cold feet means to:
- A.Feel physically cold
- B.Lose one's nerve before doing something
- C.Walk a long distance
- D.Be treated unkindly
B. Lose one's nerve before doing something — A person who gets cold feet becomes too nervous to go through with a plan.
References
- Cambridge Dictionary, idioms and phrasal verbs — https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
- Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, phrasal verbs and collocations — https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary — https://www.merriam-webster.com/
- Michael McCarthy and Felicity O'Dell, English Idioms in Use, Cambridge University Press — https://www.cambridge.org/
- British Council LearnEnglish, vocabulary and expressions — https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/