What Are Idioms & How Often Should I Use Them?
Learning idioms can feel overwhelming, but they add flair to language. College of English Language in San Diego offers expert guidance to master idioms and enhance your language skills.
Learning idioms can feel overwhelming, but they add flair to language. College of English Language in San Diego offers expert guidance to master idioms and enhance your language skills.
“OK, I knew English was weird, but come on… Now I have to know what idioms are?” It’s normal to despair when it comes to idioms as not even learning the most common idioms will help you know the meaning of them all.
It’s kind of similar to trying to find out what phrasal verbs actually are and attempting to learn as much as you can about phrasal verbs. There seems to be no end and it feels as though not even an English language school in San Diego could help you. However, help is on the way!
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Well, first of all, idioms are fun. Secondly, if you’d like a California Department of Education style explanation of what idioms actually are, we can do that as well, but that’s a bit less fun to be completely honest.
Joking aside, here’s the simplest explanation of what an idiom is:
Even more plainly, idioms usually don’t mean what you think they do. Let’s take, for example, the idiom “when pigs fly”. Now, it has nothing to do with pigs suddenly growing wings, no. It means that something is extremely unlikely to ever happen, similar to how pigs will never fly (unless a mad scientist cross-breeds a pig and an eagle and it happens to miraculously work and we get a peagle).
Barring such an occurrence, idioms almost never mean what you think they do on your first encounter.
Every now and again is the safest bet if you’re asking us. While they are fun, you should look at idioms as a kind of language spice - great if you use it sparingly, too much if you use them too often.
Idioms can be a great addition to a person’s vocabulary. They sound great, they’re interesting to hear, and they make you sound as if you’re a level or two above your actual language proficiency.
But, be careful not to become an idiom hog. You know, a person who starts using idioms so much he loses all the ability to speak plainly. Why are you looking at us all funny, it’s a thing! Really though, use idioms, but don’t abuse them!
If you’re looking to find out what the most commonly used idioms in English are so you can enrich your vocabulary a bit, you’re in the right place. Here’s our selection of top 10 idioms for every occasion:
If idioms are still proving to be too much to handle, if they’re giving you the cold shoulder even though you’re giving it your all to hit the nail right in the head, you’re in luck, because help is on the way!
College of English Language is the perfect place for you to learn all the idioms you want, and then some. Our teachers are experienced and dedicated and they’ll give it their all to teach you. So, if you’re ever near Embarcadero, stop by our school and let’s see how we can sort you out.