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by Liz Walter
Today’s post looks at phrases for talking about what the future holds. In particular, it will cover vocabulary relating to how much – if at all – we can control what happens to us.
Continue reading “It’s written in the stars: talking about things that might happen in the future”
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Today’s post deals with the language around a feeling that we all experience from time to time, embarrassment – that is, the feeling of being ashamed or shy in the company of others.
Continue reading “Cringeworthy and toe-curling (The language of embarrassment)”
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Today’s post is the latest in my ‘Idioms and phrases in newspapers’ series, which provides you with a regular supply of common, contemporary English idioms and expressions. The phrases in this post are taken from a range of national newspapers published on the same day.
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Books play a hugely significant role in all our lives, so it’s probably no surprise that there are a lot of English idioms that include the word ‘book’. In this post, I’ve selected what I consider to be the most useful and current ones and look at how they are used.
Continue reading “Cooking or hitting the books? (Idioms with ‘book’)”
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I recently heard a journalist complaining that she didn’t understand the government’s position on a particular issue. It was, she said, as clear as mud, meaning, of course, that it was not at all clear! This humorous idiom made me think about the various ways in which we say that something is difficult or impossible to understand. Today’s post, including both single words and idioms, is the result.
Continue reading “It’s as clear as mud! (Words and expressions that mean ‘difficult to understand’)”
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by Liz Walter
In my last post on words for being clumsy, I included the phrase all fingers and thumbs. This made me think about how many phrases we have that contain the word ‘finger’. This post covers some of the most common and useful ones.
Continue reading “A finger in every pie: phrases with the word ‘finger’”
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by Liz Walter
We all know someone who seems to have trouble with everyday life; someone who drops things, bumps into things, breaks things, and generally has more accidents than other people. There are lot of ways of talking about clumsy people like this.
Continue reading “Like a bull in a china shop: talking about people who are clumsy”
By Patricia Ferraz
Brush up on your English through your love of reading. In this post, we highlight interesting phrases and idioms from the popular novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Continue reading “Putting a spanner in the works – Idioms in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”
By Patricia Ferraz
Brush up on your English through your love of reading! In this post, we highlight interesting phrases and idioms from the popular mystery novel, The Thursday Murder Club. If you like mysteries and unusual detectives, you’ll love this best-seller by Richard Osman, which is soon to be made into a film by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
Continue reading “In for a penny, in for a pound: Idioms in The Thursday Murder Club”
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This week, in the second of two ‘Talking about differences’ posts, I’m looking at idioms and other phrases that are used for saying that things or people are different. Continue reading “Apples and oranges (Talking about differences, Part 2)”