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SUPPLEMENT TO LISTENING PRACTICE
IDIOMS IN DAILY CONVERSATIONS
Idioms and conversational expressions present two types of difficulties: there are many of them, and their
meanings cannot be guessed from the meanings of the words that they consist of.
The words in idioms cannot be replaced with other words that have similar meanings. You can think of idi-
oms as "frozen" phrases, the parts of which cannot be moved or changed. For example, to be under the
weather means not to feel well. You cannot replace the words in this expression without changing its mean-
ing. The meanings of idioms have to be learned or memorized, just as you have to memorize the meaning of
words.
Conversational expressions are a little different from idioms. These expressions are not "frozen," and they
represent the way people usually speak. For example, all of the following expressions can be used as greet-
ings:
Hello. How are you?
How are you today? How is everything going?
How is everything with you? How have you been?
Although there are differences among these expressions, their meanings and purposes are the same. In idi-
oms, only one form and only one combination of words has a particular meaning.
Two – or three-word verbs are similar to idioms because the meaning of the whole cannot be guessed from
the meanings of the parts, for example, look up to = admire, look after (somebody) = to take care of (some-
body), look (someone) up = visit, and look for = search.
Because there are no rules that you can use to guess the meanings of idioms and two-word verbs, these parts
of the English language have to be learned individually.
The following common idioms and two – or three-word verbs are provided for you.
LIST OF IDIOMS AND TWO – OR THREE-WORD VERBS
about time indicates that something should have happened earlier. After working for this company for 5
years, he felt that it was about time he received a promotion.
about to ready to, at the point of. Now that she is about to enter college, she has moved out of her
parents' place.
ahead of time early, in advance. Preparing for business presentations ahead of time is essential for the
success of any venture.
all along from the beginning, always, all the time. Television networks have claimed all along that
they do not attempt to influence their viewers.
all at once suddenly, surprisingly, unexpectedly. All at once, with the collapse of the stock market, many
people found themselves financially ruined.
all day long the entire day. Educators frequently frown on the idea of studying the same material all day
long.
all in all everything taken into account, everything considered. All in all, environmental concerns
have gained considerable attention in the media.
all the time (1) continually, regularly. Ideally, adults should receive a consistent amount of sleep all the
time. (2) during a certain period of time. This semester, students have been dropping and adding classes all
the time.
as for referring to, concerning, regarding. As for updating the physics curriculum, the current
budget allows us few resources to spare.
as usual as occurs most of the time, typically. As usual, the technical writers have missed the dead-
line for completion of the project.
at first at the beginning. At first, adjusting to new schools may appear almost impossible to foreign students.
at last finally, after a long time. The Admissions Office had been requesting Frank's transcript for
six months and, at last, it arrived.
at (the) least no less than, minimum. Although the entire managerial staff does not need to attend the con-
ference, at least the production supervisors should be there.
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