CHƯƠNG TRÌNH CHUYÊN ANH

IDIOMS IN ENGLISH (ADVANCED LEVEL) – THÀNH

NGỮ TRONG TIẾNG ANH
UNIT 1: What are idioms ?
 An idiom is a phrase with a meaning that is often
difficult to understand by looking at the individual words.
He could lose face if other
people see that he got
everything wrong.
__________________________

The teacher turned a blind

eye to some of the children’s
bad behavior.

__________________________
My uncle just arrived out of
the blue
__________________________

 Not all idioms are difficult to guess.

We could see lights in the ____________________
distance.
I ring my mother every day ____________________
without fail.
If all else fails, I’ll have to sell ____________________
the car.

 Most idioms have fixed form. However, with some

idioms alternative words are possible.
 Do you want to go out? –
It/That depends
_________________________
I would steer/ stay clear of _________________________
that place; it’s not very safe.
_________________________
Why/How/Where on earth
are you shouting ?

_________________________
Sometimes additional words can be used within an idiom,
especially to change the emphasis.
She was in a terrible state, so Be in a state
I decided to stay and look Get into a state
after her.

__________________________
It makes a lot of sense to buy
now when houses are cheap.
__________________________
Exercises
1. Circle the correct answer(s). Sometimes both answers are correct.
a. Does it matter if we’re late? ~ That/It depends.
b. Who in/on earth is that ?
c. We should steer/ stay clear of those people; they are dangerous.
d. Have you heard of a place called Dinster?~ Er, it rings a noise/ bell.
e. I could hear the drums in distance/ in the distance.
f. We will lose our face/ lose face if we just accept their lowest offer.
2. The words or phrases in the box are missing from the sentence
below. Where do they go ? Write them at the end.
a. Our cousin arrived just after we got home last night.__________________
b. He’s in a bad situation, but he can always work for his
father._______________________________________________________
c. He was in a state last night when he heard about the accident.
____________________________________________________________
d. How is your sister going to buy a car if she hasn’t got any money?
 ___________________________________________________________
e. It makes sense to give up sweet things if you are overweight.
___________________________________________________________
f. My brother loves that car, and he cleans it every day.
___________________________________________________________
g. The police came after us, so we ran.
___________________________________________________________
h. He’s in a bad situation, but he can always work for his father.
___________________________________________________________
3. Replace the underlined word(s) with a word or phrase that has a
similar meaning.
a. Her name sounds familiar. ____________________________________
b. I’m going to stay clear of that part of town in the
future.____________________________________________________
c. Do you think he’ll stay? ~ It depends.
__________________________________________________________
d. They arrived suddenly and unexpectedly.
__________________________________________________________
e. I could see the church far away.
__________________________________________________________
f. He felt he would look stupid if he refused to go in the icy water.
__________________________________________________________
g. We had to work like mad to finish the project.
__________________________________________________________
4. Complete the last word in each sentence or dialogue. Then
underline the full idiom.
a. I got this cheque for 300$ out of the_____________.
b. Promise me you will post this letter without________________.
c. I can’t get out; the door is locked. ~How_______________?
d. Do you know Tom?~ The name rings a__________________.
e. After her dog died, she was in a terrible________________.
f. The boys shouldn’t be in there, but I’m going to turn the ______________.
g. How _________ did she come here?
h. I go to school every day_______________.
i. If__________________, I’ll have to sell the house.
j. Because of those embarrassing things that you’ve done, you
could_______________ among your classmates.
k. My friends just arrived out of____________________.
UNIT 2: Types of Idioms.
We left camp bright and early to take advantage of the good
weather, but by the afternoon we were getting tired, I asked Simon
which was the quickest way back.
‘Don’t ask me,’ he said.
‘It’s all right ,’ said Magnus. ‘I know the way back from here. It’s
a piece of cake.’
Famous last words! We followed him in one direction for half an
hour, before he changed his mind and set off in another direction. But
by five o’clock. Simon and I were fed up with walking round in
circles. Even Magnus agreed we were getting nowhere and
announced that we were lost.
‘Well, in that case, we should give Tim a ring,’ I said. Tim
Collier was in charge of our group and I knew he’d be furious that
we’d got lost. But we were deep in a valley and there was no signal on
my mobile, so we couldn’t get through. Just then, Simon realized
where we were. Thank heavens for that, I thought. We followed him
up a steep path, and at the top we could see we were only a stone’s
throw from the main road, which more or less took us back to camp.
We finally go there just before seven.
As we passed Tim, I tried to laugh it off. ‘Ah, well, better late
than never, eh?’
‘You were supposed to be back by five,’ he said. And with that,
he marched off.
Type of idiom Example Meaning
1. Verb-based
idioms
2. Prepositional
phrases
 3. Noun phrases
4. Sayings/
proverbs
5. Fixed phrases
with two key
words, usually
joined by and or
or
6. Idiomatic
phrasal verbs
7. Exclamations or
short spoken
phrases

Exercises
1. Circle the correct answer.
a. I’m here.~ Well, better late than ever/ never, I suppose.
b. We got up quick/ bright and early because we had to catch the
seven o’clock train.
c. It looked a bad injury, but Matt just laughed off/ away, saying it
didn’t hurt.
d. The teacher who is in charge/ responsibility of the boys must
stay with them at all times.
e. Don’t worry. Everything’s under control.~ Yeah, famous last
phrases/ words.
f. You should take care/ advantage of being in Canada to practice
your English.
2. Complete the idioms in this conversation.
3. Replace the underlined words and phrases with idioms that
have a similar meaning.
4. Identify the types of idioms in bold in these sentences and write
the correct number in the spaces provided. Then look up the
meanings in the answer key.