Category: idioms practice

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6 Animal Idioms with their Meanings

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Animal Idioms With their Meaning

Idioms are a wonderful way to study the English language and sound more natural and fluent in conversation.  Also, these idioms are playful, creative, and they make learning language more exciting.

To let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret.
For example, “Jessica let the cat out of the bag and told everyone about the surprise birthday party.”😼

An elephant in the room is something that is everybody knows about, but nobody wants to talk about.🐘For example, “The fact that sam was caught for theft was the elephant in the room at all of the family dinners.”

To be a chicken can mean to be scared of things. 🐓To “chicken out” means to be too scared to do something and to back out. For example, “Sam is such a chicken.  Last week he chickened out and didn’t go into the cave with us.”

To stop something cold turkey is to abruptly quit doing something. For example, “Suzy quit smoking cold turkey.” 🦃

A person who wouldn’t hurt a fly is a harmless person.🪰For example, “Jennifer wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s so sweet.”

A rat is a person who is considered sneaky and who might tell others about someone’s mistakes or wrongdoings.🐀To rat someone out is to tell on them or tell the teacher/ authorities about what they did wrong.  For example, “Jim ratted me out and told the teacher that I stole his pencil.”

Your turn! What other animal idioms have you heard? Do you work like a dog? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Do you watch people like a hawk? Have you ever felt like a fish out of water? How do you kill two birds with one stone? Write down your favorite idioms in the comments.

 

Animal Idioms with their Meanings

Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the animal idioms.🐓

Common Idioms with Body Parts: Practice Exercises

Add Flavor to your Conversations with Idioms

Idioms are common expressions used in everyday life in the United States.  They are fun expressions to use in spoken English because they add creativity and vibrancy to your conversations.

They demonstrate your fluency skills and help you sound more like a native speaker. Today, we are going to practice 6 idioms with body parts.  In fact, I’ve designed a fun quiz for you to take to test your knowledge of these idioms and practice them a bit more.

twist someone’s arm

get off someone’s back

see eye to eye

pick someone’s brain

bare bones

play it by ear

 

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Take this Fun Quiz on Idioms and Practice Using them in Everyday Conversations

Welcome to your Idioms Practice

1. 

I'm not really sure what we are going to do this weekend. Let's just ___________________ and not try to plan too much stuff.

2. 

I don't really want more apple pie, but if you _________________, I might indulge and eat another slice!

3. 

I know you don't like the way I live my life, but can you please just ____________________ and give me some space.

4. 

We have different political beliefs.  She's conservative and I'm liberal and we don't _______________________ on the health care issue.

5. 

I need some serious motivation to figure out how the business world works.  I am going to talk to my sister and __________________ about some marketing strategies.

6. 

I am confused about where we are going with this massive project. Can you please give me a _______________ description of the plan?

 

Here are some more great videos and links with more idioms practice:

Idioms practice for IELTS

Idioms video on Youtube