ENGLISH SKILLS TUTORIAL

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IDIOMS

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1WHAT ARE IDIOMS?

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Many Romanians complain about too much red tape (= bureaucracy).

She’s always up to her eyes / ears in work (= very busy). That pizza was a rip-off (= having to pay a lot for something not worth it)! With this financial crisis, we’ll have to tighten our belt (= spend less).

Sorry, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles (= this bad situation cannot be changed).

1WHAT ARE IDIOMS?

Idioms are fixed expressions made up of two or more words, or even an entire sentence. They often have a metaphorical meaning and should be learnt as one single unit (= the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of the meanings

of its parts; also, word-for-word translations would usually be wrong!).

In dictionaries, idioms are listed under one of their main components

(noun, adjective, verb).

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2IDIOMS AND ACCURACY

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Sorry, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Sorry, but that’s the way the biscuit / cake crumbles.

Sorry, but that’s the way the cookie breaks. Sorry, but that’s the way my / his / her cookie crumbles.

Sorry, but this is how the cookie crumbles. Sorry, but that was the way the cookie crumbled.

etc.

2IDIOMS AND ACCURACY

In most cases, the words making up an idiom cannot be changed (lexically, by using synonyms or related words

or grammatically, by changing word forms) .

A good dictionary will always tell you about the possible variations.

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3IDIOMS AND LANGUAGE REGISTER

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Many Romanians complain about the red tape involved in setting up a business. (more informal and common)

Many Romanians complain about the bureaucracy involved in setting up a

business. (more formal and less common)

3IDIOMS AND LANGUAGE REGISTER

Usually, idioms belong to a more informal way of speaking / writing. However, in many situations, using an idiom would be more common than using a more

formal equivalent.

A good dictionary will always tell you about the formality / informality of idioms.

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NOW YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT IDIOMS

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