Category Archives: English idioms.
Colour idioms
There are many colour related idioms in English. Here’s an example.
As the crow flies.
The idiom ‘as the crow flies’ means the most direct distance between two locations. It assumes that if you travel from one location to the other, there are no buildings obstructing your journey. ‘How far is it from London to Edinburgh as the crow flies?‘ I’m not sure why they use crow instead of otherContinue reading “As the crow flies.”
Moving the goalposts.
In English, we have many idiomatic phrases associated with sports. ‘To move the goalposts’ means to make reaching an objective more difficult for someone by deliberately changing the criteria. ‘ On Monday, my boss said that I’d get a bonus if I increased sales by twenty percent this week. Today he said I wouldn’t getContinue reading “Moving the goalposts.”
Red sky…
We have a saying (a proverb) in English that goes ‘Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds’ warning’. This means if you see a red sky in the evening, the next day the weather will be fine. If you see a red sky in the morning, the weather that dayContinue reading “Red sky…”
Cloud idioms
As previously mentioned, there are many weather idioms in English, some of them mention clouds. For example, if someone is not really paying attention or concentrating-they might be daydreaming or as the idiom says ‘They’ve got their head in the clouds’.
Animal Idioms
Often in English, we use animal idioms to describe a person or a situation. This may be comparing a person’s actions with that of a particular animal or the animal’s behaviour. For example, describing someone who is irritable or angry, you might say, ‘He’s like a bear with a sore head’. If you can visualiseContinue reading “Animal Idioms”
On Instagram
It’s taken me a few hours, but Lennet’s is now on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/p/CH3h040JVom/?igshid=6snedyfb1971
The weather.
English speakers often use the weather as a topic of discussion. There are many idioms that are weather connected. We often use the term ‘under the weather’ to express if we feel unwell or perhaps if we don’t feel our normal healthy happy selves.To ‘have a sunny outlook’ means to be optimistic or happy aboutContinue reading “The weather.”
Idioms and proverbs
Some literature reports that English language learners can tell the difference between idioms and proverbs. The approximate meaning of a proverb can be worked out from the words in the sentence. However, the meaning of idioms cannot always be defined by the learner’s knowledge of the words in the phrase, even if they know everyContinue reading “Idioms and proverbs”