English Idioms in Use Intermediate

by Michael McCarthy , Felicity O'Dell

• ISBN13: 9780521789578
• ISBN10: 0521789575
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This reference and practice book looks at the most colourful and fun area of vocabulary - idioms. This book will appeal to students from intermediate level upwards who want to understand the English really used by native speakers. Over 1,000 of the most useful and frequent idioms which learners are likely to encounter are presented and practised in typical contexts, so that learners using this book will have hundreds of idioms 'at their fingertips'.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	3	(1)
Using this book	4	(126)
Learning about idioms
What are idioms?
Using your dictionary
Idioms to talk about...
Health
Happiness and sadness
Anger
Knowing and understanding
Experience and perception
Success and failure
Having problems
Dealing with problems
Power and authority
Structuring and talking about arguments
Conversational responses
Praise and criticism
Opinions on people and actions
Behaviour and attitudes
Reacting to what others say
Danger
Effort
Necessity and desirability
Probability and luck
Social status
Feelings
Human relationships
Size and position
Money
Work
Speed, distance and intensity
Communication 1: commenting on language
Communication 2: getting the message across
Life and experience: proverbs
Memory
Idioms from the topic area of ...
Time 1: the past and the future
Time 2: clocks and frequency
The elements
Colour
Games and sport
Animals 1: describing people
Animals 2: describing situations
Weapons and war
Food
Roads
Houses and household objects
Nature
Boats and sailing
Science, technology and machines
Idioms using these keywords:
Finger, thumb, hand
Foot, heel, toe
Bones, shoulder, arm, leg
Head
Face, hair, neck, chest
Eyes
Ear, lips, mouth, nose, teeth, tongue
Heart
Brain, mind, blood and guts
Back
Long
Line
Act, action, activity
Good and bad
Ground
Similes and idioms with like
Key	130	(40)
List of phonetic symbols	170	(1)
Index	171