Names: _________________________________________ Gr. & Sec.

: ___________ Score: _________

Idiomatic Expressions

English idiom or idiomatic expressions are Greek in origin. The word idiom means
“a private citizen, something belonging to a private citizen, personal,” and, by extension,
something individual and peculiar. Idiomatic Expressions, then, conform to no laws or
principles describing their formation. They may also violate grammar or logic or both and
still be acceptable because the phrase is familiar, deep-rooted, widely used, and easily
understandable- for the native born. “How do you do?” is, for example, an accepted idiom,
although an exact answer would be absurd.
There are many idiomatic expressions in our language. One is that several words
are combined which lose their literal meaning and express something very remotely
suggested such as ; birds of a feather, blacklist, lay up, toe the line, make out, bed of
roses, dark horse, heavy hand, open house, read between the lines, no ax to grind, hard
row to hoe.
A second statement about idioms is that parts of the human body have suggested
many of them: burn one’s fingers, all thumbs, fly in the face of, stand on one’s own feet,
keep body and soul together, keep one’s eyes open, step on someone’s toes, rub elbows
with, get one’s back up, keep one’s chin up.
A third generalization is that hundreds of idiomatic phrases contain adverbs or
prepositions with other parts of speech. Here are some examples: walk off, walk over,
walk in, come up, hook up, etc.

THE MOST COMMON ENGLISH IDIOMS

Idiom Meaning Usage

A blessing in disguise a good thing that seemed bad at first as part of a sentence

A dime a dozen Something common as part of a sentence

Break a leg Good luck by itself

Call it a day Stop working on something as part of a sentence

Cutting corners Doing something poorly in order to save time or as part of a sentence
money

Easy does it Slow down by itself

Get out of hand Get out of control as part of a sentence

Go back to the drawing board Start over as part of a sentence

Hang in there Don't give up by itself

Make a long story short Tell something briefly as part of a sentence

Miss the boat It's too late as part of a sentence

No pain, no gain You have to work for what you want by itself

Pull yourself together Calm down by itself

So far so good Things are going well so far by itself

Under the weather Sick as part of a sentence

We'll cross that bridge when we Let's not talk about that problem right now by itself
come to it
WORKING WITH IDIOMS

Directions: Choose the appropriate idiomatic expressions to be used in the following

sentences. Write a piece of cake, odds and ends, pros and cons or ups and down in the blanks
provided.

1. The teacher asked us to talk about the ___________ of industrial development.

2. Do not worry about the problems you have in your business .You know there are always
___________ in business.
3. The police found nothing special in the house of the criminal as he had taken all the
important documents with him leaving just _____________.
4. If you think that doing this math problem is __________, just try it.

Directions: Choose the appropriate word to complete the meaning of the idiom. Write
ocean, music, rags, cold and pie in the blanks provided.

1. All these promises the politicians make are just ____ in the sky.
2. The small amount of money donated is just a drop in the _____ compared to the large
sum of money needed.
3. He has been successful in life. He went from ____ to riches.
4. They had a dispute yesterday. That‘s why she gave him a ___ shoulder.
5. I had to face the ____ all by myself, although I was not the only responsible for the
problem.

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

Directions: Guess what idiomatic expressions are used below and give the correct
meaning. After giving the correct meaning, use them in the sentences.

1. Bata makes hay while the sun shines.___________

2. The wife of Anpu was beaten black and blue._______
3. Knowing the wife’s dishonesty, blood pours into his face._______
4. After killing the wife, Anpu was blue in the face.__________
5. Bata had made an easy way out to the mountains.________
6. In good faith, Bata supported his brother Anpu.________
7. Anpu felt a pain in the neck when he heard his wife’s explanation.________
8. She bent her knees for forgiveness._______
9. Anpu’s wife accepted the dose of her own medicine.________
10. Bata kept company with god- Ra to seek consolation._______