English Idioms

Idioms are very intriguing to some learners of English, while to others they are downright puzzling. They are an important form of language as they give insight into the culture behind a language and really need to be learnt by memory. 

The best advice is to read frequently and take note when you see idiomatic expressions and phrases. Try to find out their meaning, either from the context of what you are reading, or do a little research on Google.

To get you going, here are two SlideShare presentations of idioms that you can take a look at and learn from. There are 10 idioms in each set, followed by revision questions.

Set 1:

• Let sleeping dogs lie
• Full of hot air
• Blur the lines
• Go out on a ledge
• Open new doors
• Asleep at the wheel
• Blow your own horn
• See the big picture
• Make giant strides
• Make a splash

English Idioms and Expressions 1 from BigTickProductions

Set 2

• On the tip of my tongue
• Step up to the plate
• As busy as a bee
• What comes around, goes around
• Driving me up the wall
• On the right track
• That sinking feeling
• Banging your head against the wall
• At snail's pace
• Going round and round in circles

English Idioms and Expressions 2 from BigTickProductions

Using Binomials

In English, when two nouns go together in a specified order they are called binomials. 

If three go together they are call trinomials. 

As you can see the nouns are often linked by conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’. It is important that the order of the nouns is correct and that synonyms are not used for the nouns. This is because these words together create meaningful phrases which are spoken and written throughout English usage.

Learning binomials can be a fun way of expanding your English vocabulary. The combinations often create meaning that vary distinctly from the common usage of the nouns in the phrase. These are idioms and expressions and they are the hardest part of English for new learners to understand.

"Things are not always as black and white as they seem".

"The idea crashed and burned before it could even get off the ground!"

 "He had a wild and woolly plan for success and it was never going to work!"

Our Using Binomials app offers learners the chance to test their existing knowledge and expand their vocabulary in the process. When using the app you will see two sentences that are nearly the same. One has the correct order of the binomial (or trinomial) and the other does not. The user must select the right one. In doing so the user reinforces the correct structure of the phrase and also sees it being applied in a sentence that reflects common usage.

Try this app and have fun expanding your English vocabulary. It is available for both Apple and Android phones and tablets.

Language Should Feel Natural and Comfortable

“It feels uncomfortable in my mouth - like a suit that doesn’t quite fit properly.”

I found this great quote whilst doing The British Council's FutureLearn MOOC Exploring English. It's from an Italian student and it sums up the problem that people have when trying to use a second language - it just doesn't feel right!

When we speak our language should feel natural and comfortable. It should be part of us. The reason that it does with our mother tongue is that we are pretty much always repeating ourselves. We use words and phrases we are very familiar with most of the time, and we use grammatical structures that we have been repeating since we learnt them early on in primary school.

In my opinion, this makes a very good case for using repetition as a learning strategy for a new language. Practicing a grammatical structure over and over can make it become so familiar that we never have to think about the grammar rule that is being applied.

Classroom practice and doing workbooks and worksheets are one way to go. But they do seem limited - in time for classrooms, and in space for workbooks and worksheets.

This is why I believe that apps are a really good tool to fix common mistakes and to create correct grammatical usage. An app can have hundreds of practice questions on the same grammatical structure and can be used anywhere, anytime.

If you use an app to practice regularly you will get rid of those 'little' problems that get in your way of good communication. Native speakers hear mistakes because they are not what they are expecting and this can be distracting. If you start correcting mistakes in your English pretty soon that 'suit' will start to feel like it fits and is part of you!

Big Tick makes apps for this purpose. You can find them on iTunes for the iPhone and iPad and Android for phones and tablets.

Big Tick makes Apps for ESL learners.

Big Tick is a Hong Kong based developer of apps designed to help learners with their English. We want to make apps which are cheap and useful for learners.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/big-tick-productions-limited/id963006134

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Big+Tick+Productions

There are plenty of apps out there on both iTunes and Google Play that will help you with your English. But most, if not all, really try to replicate English as it is taught it books or in classes. This of course is good, but  teaching a grammar or language point and then moving on after a few examples is probably not enough for most learners.

So our apps try to fill this gap. We take one language point that can be a problem for non-native speakers of English and give hundreds of questions using this language. The learner can go through the app until things become second nature. Practice through repetition is a very effective way of correcting mistakes and creating good habits. Remember, language is a habit. When a native speaker (of any language) speakers or writes, they rarely think about grammar. They simply speak or write from habit, repeating words, phrases and sentence structures that they have learnt and used many times before.

Apps are actually a great tool for this type of learning. The fact that smartphones are portable means that an app can be used anytime, anywhere. They can be used on the bus, on the train, while waiting in a restaurant, or anywhere else where you have a few minutes of time. If you use an app in this way each day you will start to improve in the problem area of English that you are working on.

Apps are also good because they do not get used up. Attend a class and it finishes. Complete a work page in a book and it's done. But with an app you can repeat the process over and over until you are happy. 

Apps are also cheap. You can purchase out apps for 99c or use them free with ads if you like. That makes them cheaper than books and classes. That is not to say that apps like ours can replace a class or a workbook. They simply make effective and cheap supplements to these existing tools to learning and improving your English.

Good luck with your English learning.