Idiom is not just a combination of words, or How to understand English-speaking friends

In our time to know English, if not necessarily, it is very, very desirable. After all, if you want to travel abroad or communicate with business partners from other countries, you can not do without it! And maybe, for work you have a need to read the literature in the original or you are a beginner specialist and plan to get a job in the office of a foreign company - these are also the reasons to start multiplying your knowledge right now. Moreover, this language is not difficult, its basic grammar can be fully assimilated and consolidated in a few weeks of intensive studies, and eventually your vocabulary will be replenished. Today in this article we consider a very interesting section - the idioms of the English language. This is not a grammatical, but rather a lexical category, carefully acquainted with which, you will expand your knowledge of the language, and also be able to conduct a conversation with a foreign opponent at the proper level - colorfully and at ease. So an idiom is an established circulation of speech in everyday life, which occurs only in a certain language, and the meaning of which is not a collection of meanings of those elements (words) from which it consists. A rather difficult definition in practice looks much simpler.

Learn idioms in English

As already mentioned above, these expressions reflect the specifics of a particular language. They are formed under the influence of culture, life, customs and customs of any nationality. That is, an idiom is not a separate part of the English language, which you can use at will or not, but a very significant part of its vocabulary. They can be used not only when communicating with friends or colleagues, but they are used at the highest level, and in fiction - in poetry, and even in Bible translations. In English there are several thousand such expressions. Of course, you do not need to study each one, even native speakers can hardly remember them all. But you need to know the most used ones, because their presence in your spoken or written speech will greatly enhance your ability to clearly express thoughts in the language of your partners. So, we found out that an idiom is not only an element of slang, but also a part of the formal style of communication. So let's look at commonly used expressions, which for convenience are formed into a table and provided with a translation.

It is highly recommended that you learn by heart what one or another idiom means. This will help you avoid misunderstanding with your English-speaking friends, colleagues or business partners. Plus, using these expressions in your dialogues or correspondence, you can be known as an erudite, eloquent person. By the way, if you are going to learn the language at a sufficiently high level, it is very useful to purchase a dictionary of idioms. Any edition contains about 8 thousand expressions with translation and detailed information about when a particular phrase is used. This is a rather interesting and useful reading, because it allows you to better understand the structure of the language and to better understand the cultural characteristics inherent in native English speakers.