Idioms and Phrases

English is a fascinating language. It is colourful and full of expression, and well-written prose can
transport you to another world. One such tool that authors usually employ to make their words
memorable are idioms and phrases. It is important for us to understand the concept and the correct
usage of idiom and phrases. Let’s get cracking!
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Idioms
Idioms are a collection of words or phrases which have a figurative meaning that is generally well
established and known. So these words can’t be taken at their literal meanings since they would
sound farcical. Idioms, at times, seem grammatically unusual as well.

Idioms are a useful tool in linguistics. They add life and colour to the prose. It allows the authors
to play with words and make it an interesting read, rather than straightforward boring paragraphs.
Idioms are often used in stories, poems and even in the spoken words. The origins of these idioms
are not always known, but they said to originate from stories and creative writing, and are modified
over time. Let us take a look at some really creative examples of idioms and their subsequent
meanings.

Phrases
A phrase is a small group of words that are like a unit. These units are a part of a bigger sentence
or a clause. Phrases are unlike idioms, they are actually direct and to the point. They do not
figurative meanings, the expression means what the words indicate.

A phrase, unlike a complete sentence, does not have a subject and a verb. So it does not express a
complete sentence, they are a unit of a complete sentence. There are broadly eight types of phrases
– noun, verb, infinitive, gerund, appositive, participial, prepositional and absolute phrases.
 List of Idioms
This is a list of idioms in English and their meanings, alphabetized by their first main word (not a,
an, the, or to.) Idioms are phrases that mean something more or different than just their
combination of words. We use idioms as a kind of "shorthand" to express to express shared
attitudes-- but ideas or attitudes that may be quite different in another culture.

See also List of English Phrasal Verbs (& List of Phrasal Verbs 2) for most of those special idioms
using a verb and participle-- and Phrasal Verb Use to explain what phrasal verbs are.
List of Idioms: A-B He's broke! (cartoon of a man with empty pockets)

 To be (just) about to means to be almost ready to do something, just at the point of doing
it. (“When the bell rang, I was just about to write the answer.”)

 To be back means that a person will again be home (or wherever he is currently) after
leaving for a while. (“I have to pick up my son at school. I’ll be back in half an hour.” See
also ‘come back.’)

 To be broke means to be out of money. (“I’d love to go to dinner with you, but I’m broke.
Could we go next Saturday, after I’m paid again?”)

 To be in the black means to be earning more than expenses; to have enough money to pay
the bills. A company that’s ‘in the black’ is making a profit.

 To be in the red means not to be making enough money to cover expenses.

 To be on track is to be continuing in the planned direction. A project that is on track is

going well-- just the way it should.

 To be off track is when work or a project is not going according to its plan. Important parts
of it are wrong or behind schedule. (Think of a railroad car that has gotten off its tracks. It
can’t go anywhere until it’s put back on.)
 To be out of date (or outdated) means to not be a current or recent style or version of a
product. It’s to be old-fashioned.

 To be out of the woods means to have safely passed through some difficulty or danger.
Now the situation should get better.

 To be up to date means to be current-- aware of (or part of) the most recent trends, products,
or fashions.

 To be up to someone means that person is responsible to do something; it depends on him

or her. (“It’s up to the boss to decide whether we take on a project. However, if he says yes
and assigns it to you, it’s up to you to carry it out.”)

 Better late than never is not praise. It means someone or something is later than they should
be. However, not arriving at all would have been worse.

 The bottom line is what is most important in a decision or business deal-- the one thing that
will make the difference between 'yes' and 'no.' (It refers to the sum at the bottom line of a
page of accounts-- what is left after all expenses are taken out.) "The bottom line is you
can't graduate unless you pass your English and math exam."

 To burn the candle at both ends is to use up resources too fast. It usually refers to a person
working or studying so hard that they may damage their health. They might not even be
able to finish what they are trying to do.

 To burn oneself out is similar: to work so hard at a difficult profession (often teaching,
nursing, or social work) that a person loses their enthusiasm and is no longer able to do
their best work.
  To see eye to eye is to see things from the same perspective as someone else. (This is
similar to “on the same page.” See Common Idioms-- link below.)

 To stick your (or his, her, etc.) nose into other people's business is to be too curious about
other people, especially about private affairs or relationships they may not want to discuss
or reveal. (It's another way of saying that someone is 'nosy.')

 To take advantage of is to use a person or situation for one’s own benefit, often without his
or her knowledge or approval. "Joe just got Bill and Sarah to spend hours helping him on
a project-- and then sold it as his own work! It's fine to take advantage of opportunities, but
not to take advantage of your friends' hard work without even giving them credit or offering
to pay them!"

 To take for granted is to not appreciate a privilege. (Sue takes her good health for granted.
She thinks she’ll always have it, even if she doesn’t take care of herself.”)

 To take into account means to be sure to consider something: “Remember to take the new
sales tax into account when you set the prices on these products.”

Phrases In Past

When talking about past events in Spanish, you have an important choice to make—which Spanish
past tense should you use?

Fortunately, this choice becomes much simpler when you consider a few key Spanish phrases for
talking about the past.

In Spanish, there are, what I will call, ‘phrase triggers’ that enforce the use of a certain tense.
Often when discussing past events, you may find yourself trying to decide between the past
imperfect (pretérito imperfecto), the past simple (pretérito indefinido) or even other past Spanish
tenses. While in the moment of decision, consider if any of the Spanish phrases below fit into your
sentence. If so, you’ll probably need to use the Spanish past simple tense.

In this post, you’ll learn 15 Spanish phrases that nearly guarantee the use of the Spanish past simple
tense.

I say ‘nearly’ because there are always exceptions. For the phrases in this post, the exceptions are
only likely to occur when you are talking about a sequence of events in the past (I’ll do a post on
this soon) or for making a guess about what might have happened in the past.

Now, I did say that the examples below are Spanish phrases but some of the options are just single
words. That said, you can combine the single word examples with more specific information to
make them a phrase.

For example, the first option is ayer (yesterday), you can make this a phrase by describing a more
specific part of yesterday such as ayer por la mañana (yesterday during the morning). To reiterate
from earlier, the key point here is that a phrase like this signals that an event has started and
stopped. Once yesterday’s morning is over, it’s over.

One more thing before I get into the examples. The first 11 Spanish phrases typically go at the
start of a sentence, the last 4 typically go in the middle or end of a sentence.

Simple Past And Past Continuous

Read about the past continuous and past simple tenses and then do the exercise.

The most common use of the past continuous tense is to talk about something that was happening
around a particular time in the past.
What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night? I was watching television.

I started watching television before 8 o’clock and I continued watching it after 8 o’clock.
In 1994 he was working in a small town in Poland.
At 6 o’clock on Saturday morning we were travelling to the airport.

We often use the past continuous and the past simple tense together. When this happens, the past
continuous describes a longer, ‘background’ action or situation and the past simple describes the
action or events.

When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was singing in the kitchen.
I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men run out of the bank.

Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the
past continuous tense.

I broke my leg when I was skiing.

I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang.

Notice that the past continuous describes ‘situations’ that go on for some time – ‘skiing’ and
‘playing’ but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.

Past simple - affirmative

It is formed with the subject and the verb in simple past. For example:

I lived in Italy last year.

(I lived in Italy last year).

Past simple - negative and interrogative
The auxiliary did is used for both forms, with the verb in infinitive without the to. For example:

I did not work last weekend.

(I did not work last weekend).

Past continuous

It is formed with the auxiliary was or were plus the gerund ending in -ing of the corresponding
verb. For example:

Were you watching TV?

(Were you watching TV?).

where questions with answers continuous in past

the past continuous tense (ANSWERS)

Question: Who was making the noise? wtie by hand

Answer: The kids were making the noise.

1. Question: Where were you living last year?

Answer: I was living in Texas last year.

2. Question: How many hours was she working every week?

Answer: She was working 40 hours every week.

3. Question: How long was I sleeping?

Answer: You were sleeping for about an hour.

4. Question: Why was the teacher getting angry?

Answer: The teacher was getting angry because the students were talking while he was talking.
5. Question: Who was he talking to?
Answer: He was talking to his supervisor.

6. Question: What were they selling?

Answer: They were selling electronic equipment.

7. Question: How were you feeling yesterday?

Answer: I wasn't feeling very well yesterday.

8. Question: How much were they paying you?

Answer: They were paying me $12 an hour.

9. Question: What was I talking about?

Answer: You were talking about the movie you saw.

10. Question: How was the car running this morning?

Answer: The car wasn't running very well this morning.

Reading Comprehension In Simple And Tinuo Past

When I woke up this morning, I found my dog, Fox, waiting for me. He wanted me to take him
for a walk. I was too hungry, so rst I had breakfast. I had a glass of milk and a piece of toast. Then
I washed my teeth and put on a tracksuit and a hea!y coat, because it was really cold outside. Fox
wasalready impatient. We both went out, and walked to the park near home. He ran and "umped,
and pursued some passersby. He also destroyed some pieces of furniture somebody left on the
road. I sat on a bench all the time, wishing I could be inside my warm bed. When my hands were
fro#en, I decided it was time to go back home. Fox didn$t want to, but I pulled hard and I managed
to take him back. When we arri!ed at the front door, I reali#ed I didn$t ha!e my keys with me, so
we stayed out in the cold for more than an hour% Fox was happy, but I was late for work.