Contents Acknowledgements Using this book Learning about idioms i What are idioms? ii Using your dictionary Idioms to talk about ... Health Happiness and sadness Anger Knowing and understanding Experience and perception Success and failure Having problems Dealing with problems Power and authority 10 Structuring and talking about arguments 11 Conversational responses 12 Praise and criticism 13 Opinions on people and actions 14 Behaviour and attitudes 15 Reacting to what others say 16 Danger 17 Effort 18 Necessity and desirability 19 Probability and luck 20 Social status 21 Feelings 22, Human relationships 23 Size and position 24 Money 25 Work 26 Speed, distance and intensity 27 Communication 1: commenting on language 28 Communication 2: getting the message across 29 Life and experience: proverbs 30 Memory Idioms from the topic area of ... 31. Time 1: the past and the future 32. Time 2: clocks and frequency 33. The elements 34 Colour 35. Games and sport 36 Animals 1: describing people 37. Animals 2: describing situations 38 Weapons and war English Idioms in Use39 Food 40 Roads 41 Houses and household objects 42 Nature 43. Boats and sailing 44 Science, technology and machines Idioms using these keywords: 45. Finger, thumb, hand 46 Foot, heel, toe i 47 Bones, shoulder, arm, leg 48 Head ( 49. Face, hair, neck, chest i 50 Eyes ; $1. Ear, lips, mouth, nose, teeth, tongue | 52. Heart i $3. Brain, mind, blood and guts i 54 Back : 55 Long 4 56 Line 57 Act, action, activity 58 Good and bad 59 Ground 60 Similes and idioms with like 4 7 | Key 130 List of phonemic symbols 170 Index 171 2 English Idioms in UseAcknowledgements This book, like all our other books in the In Use series, is the result of the work of many people. Cambridge University Press editors, reviewers, designers, marketing staff, sales and publicity staff have all contributed their advice and expertise, and there are just (00 many to name here. We have also received invaluable feedback and suggestions based on earlier versions of units from teachers, students, reviewers, Cambridge University Press sales representatives and conference audiences all over the world, and we thank you all for suggesting ways forward, praising our good ideas and pointing out our shortcomings, so that, we hope, this book reflects what we have gained and learnt from you, and what you feel you need for your teaching and learning situations, In particular we would like to thank the following teachers, students and over the world who reviewed and piloted the material during its developmer stitutions from all Kristi Alcouffe, Alcouffe Formation, Paris, France Duncan Campbell, London, UK Tan Chitty, Cambridge, UK Olga Gasparova, Moscow, Russia Carol M. Geppert, Tiibingen, Germany Ludmila Gorodetskaya, Moscow, Russia Diann Gruber, Champs-sur-Marne, France Elsa Lattey, Tibingen, Germany David Matley, University of Stuttgart, Sturigart, Germany Ewa Modrzejewska, Gdansk, Poland Terry Nelson, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea David Perry, Valencia, Spain Gordon Robinson, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Republic of Singapore Diane Slaouti, Manchester, UK Brendan Smith, Madrid, Spain Anita Teawinska, EMPiK, Warsaw, Poland Arthur Tu, Taipei, Taiwan Marilyn Wolff, The English Centre, Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, London, UK Eliane Zamboni, Sao Paulo, Brazil In addition, particular thanks must go to the following people: Néirin Burke of Cambridge University Press, whose expertise and vision as our commissioning editor continues to be inspirational; Martine Walsh, also of Cambridge University Press, who has guided the project from its outset through to fruition and who has offered encouragement and advice all the way along; and Liz Driscoll, whose careful editing work on the final manuscript has made the book into what you have before you now, Finally, as always, we would both like to thank our domestic partners and loved ones for their unfailing support during the long days when we were shackled to our computer keyboards. Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell, March 2002 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Engish idioms in Use 3Using this book Why was this book written? It was written to help you improve your knowledge of idioms in English. Idioms are fixed expressions whose meaning is not immediately obvious from looking at the individual words in the idiom. You will come across a great many idioms when you listen to and read English. So it is important that you learn about the meanings of idioms and about how they are used. You can use this book either with a teacher or for self-study. ‘We wanted to encourage language learners to have a balanced approach to idioms in English. ‘Sometimes in the past, teachers used to argue that it was a waste of time for learners to study idioms as they might start using them in an inaccurate or unsuitable way. But idioms are in such widespread use that it is inappropriate to ignore them. This book focuses just on those idioms which the modern student needs to know and it aims to provide the information and practice which will help you understand and use them correctly. How were the idioms in the book selected? ‘There are a great many idioms in English, but some of them sound rather old-fashioned or are not very widely used. The 1,000 or so idioms which are worked on in this book were all selected from those identified as significant based on computer searches of huge language databases: the CANCODE corpus of spoken English, developed at the University of Nottingham in association with Cambridge University Press and the Cambridge International Corpus of written English. These databases show us how the idioms have actually been used by native speakers of English in conversations, newspapers, novels, and many other contexts. The idioms selected are all also to be found in the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms where additional examples and usage notes will also be found. You can search this, dictionary online by going to the following website: httpi//dictionary.cambridge,org How is the book organised? ‘The book has 60 two-page units. The left-hand page presents the idioms that are worked on in the unit. You will usually find an explanation of the meaning of each idiom, an example of it in use and, where appropriate, any special notes about its usage. The right-hand page checks that you have understood the information on the left-hand page by giving you a series of exercises that practise the material just presented. The exercises pay particular attention to checking your understanding of the idioms and how they are used because this is more important for most learners than being able to actively use the idioms. ‘The units are organised in three sections: Idioms to talk about ... which groups idioms according to the topic area that they are used to talk about. Thus, to be snowed under {to have an enormous amount of work to do] is included in Unit 25, Work. Idioms from the topic area of ... which groups idioms according to the image they are based on. Thus, hit the roof [react in a very angry way] is included in Unit 41, Houses and household objects Idioms using these keywords which groups idioms according to keywords in them. For example, Unit 48 deals with a set of idioms based on the word head. The book also has a key to all the exercises and an index which lists the 1,000 idioms we deal with and indicates the units where they can each be found. 4 > Engish Idioms in UseHow should I use this bookt As well as the 60 main units, there are two introductory units: Unit i What are idioms? and Unit ii Using your dictionary. It is strongly recommended that you work through these units first. After that, you may work on the units in any order that suits you, What else do I need in order to work with this book? ‘You need a notebook or file in which you can write down the idioms that you study in this book as well as any others that you come across elsewhere, ‘You also need to have access to a good dictionary. We strongly recommend the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms as this gives exactly the kind of information that you need to have about idioms. Your teacher, however, may also be able to recommend other dictionaries that you will find useful. So, we hope that this book will ‘shed light’ on all you need to know about English idioms (see Unit 8) and that, by the time you finish the units, you'll be saying: ‘English idioms? A piece of cake!” (see Unit 17). English Idioms in Use 5