Most common idiomatic expressions

The English language is full of idiomatic expressions. While it is nearly impossible to learn all of these expressions, you should be familiar with the most important ones. Here is a list of the most widely used idiomatic expressions in English.

Sit on the fence

Summer Term Test 2014 (difficult)

Use of English

Task 1

For questions 1-13, read the text below and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits each gap.

Chinese Proverb

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself."

I'm very sorry...

You are a waiter at a nice restaurant. A customer complains that her food wasn't good, but she's already eaten all of it. You want to apologize, but you can't bring her another meal, so you say this to smooth things over.

I'm very sorry that it didn't meet your standards.

You can't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself forever.

Your roommate broke up with his girlfriend two weeks ago. Since then, he's been at home every day and seems depressed.
You don't want to see him being depressed any longer. So you say this to try to encourage him to go out and have fun with other people.

What's the difference?

The words "beautiful", "pretty", "gorgeous", and "handsome" all describe something which looks good. When several words have the same meaning, how can you choose which one to use?

English Poem “The Chaos”

Listen & Imitate Reading
English Pronunciation Poem with Audio