Idioms & Phrases
🔒 Log in to trackExam strategy: banking 300 idioms in 30 days
🔒 Log in to trackIdioms are a small but steady part of the English section. The pool is small and repeats often, so a bank of about 300 idioms covers most papers. Learn in a 30-day plan and use your own sentences.
How idioms appear
Idioms give a small but steady number of marks. Most papers ask one or two direct idiom questions. Idioms also hide inside cloze tests, sentence improvement and fill-in-the-blank items.
The pool of idioms that examiners use is small and repeats often. A list of about 300 idioms covers most of what you will see.
Question formats
- Meaning of the idiom. One idiom, four meanings. The most common.
- Replace the phrase. A plain phrase is underlined, and you choose the idiom that can replace it. They are in bitter open hostility becomes they are at daggers drawn.
- Complete the idiom. One word is missing: calls a spade a ___. Only the original word is correct.
- Opposite meaning. Find the meaning first, then its opposite.
- Idiom inside a passage. The context gives the tone.
Idioms are frozen
You cannot change the words of an idiom. It is a hard nut to crack, never a hard nut to break. It is every cloud has a silver lining, never a golden lining.
That is why a complete-the-idiom question has only one defensible answer. When you learn an idiom, learn its exact words.
The 30-day plan
| Days | Daily work |
|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | 10 new idioms, one sentence of your own for each |
| 11 to 20 | 10 new and 15 old, revised by family |
| 21 to 30 | 10 new, 25 old and one 20-question self-test |
Any idiom you miss twice goes on a short weak list. Revise that list once a week.
Tip: Your own sentence is what you remember in the exam. A list read alone fades fast. Example: I burnt the midnight oil before my mock test.
In the exam hall
About 20 seconds per idiom.
- Kill the literal option.
- Find the picture and the family.
- Check the tone: positive or negative.
- Plug the answer back into a sentence.
If you do not know the idiom, judge the tone from the key words. Pick the option with the same tone. This beats a blind guess.
Sorting idioms by family
Group idioms so that one cue recalls many.
- Effort: burn the midnight oil, leave no stone unturned, move heaven and earth.
- Trouble: in hot water, in a pickle, out of the frying pan into the fire.
- Secrets: spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag.
- Defeat: bite the dust, throw in the towel.
When two idioms in a question sit in one family, compare their exact meanings.
After each mock test
List every idiom you missed. Write its meaning and one sentence of your own. Read the list again after two days and after a week.
Note: Ten idioms known well are worth more than fifty half known.
Opposite-meaning questions
Write the meaning in two words first. Keep one's chin up means stay cheerful. So the opposite is lose heart.
Watch: The option that says "stay brave" has the same meaning. It is the planted trap.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Complete the idiom
An idiom has one word blanked, and the options are four close words (spade, shovel, tool).
Recall the idiom in full.
Say the missing word.
Reject every changed word.
Idioms are frozen, so only the original word is correct.
He always calls a spade a ___. (a) shovel (b) spade (c) tool (d) digger
Show solutionHide solution
The idiom is call a spade a spade.
It means to speak plainly.
Only the original word is correct.
(b) spade
Replace the phrase with an idiom
A plain phrase is underlined and the options are idioms.
Say the meaning of the phrase in two words.
Match each idiom to a meaning.
Pick the exact one.
The answer is the idiom with exactly that meaning.
They are in bitter open hostility. (a) at daggers drawn (b) on cloud nine (c) in the doldrums (d) under the weather
Show solutionHide solution
The meaning is open and bitter enmity.
Cloud nine is joy and doldrums is low spirits.
At daggers drawn fits.
(a) at daggers drawn
Idiom from any family with a tone check
A less known idiom appears and the options differ in tone.
Kill the literal option.
Judge the tone from the key word.
Pick the option with the same tone.
Tone alone beats a blind guess.
In the doldrums: (a) in high spirits (b) low in spirits or activity (c) in great danger (d) in a hurry
Show solutionHide solution
Doldrums sounds low.
High spirits is the opposite.
Low in spirits fits.
(b) low in spirits or activity
Opposite in meaning to an idiom
The stem asks for the option opposite in meaning to the idiom.
Write the meaning of the idiom in two words.
Reverse it in your mind.
Cross out the option that has the same meaning.
The option with the same meaning is the planted trap.
Opposite of KEEP ONE'S CHIN UP: (a) stay brave (b) lose heart (c) work hard (d) speak plainly
Show solutionHide solution
Keep one's chin up means stay cheerful.
Stay brave has the same meaning.
The opposite is lose heart.
(b) lose heart
Frozen wording in a proverb
A well-known saying has one word blanked or changed in the options.
Recall the saying word for word.
Find the option with the original word.
Reject the near words.
A changed word makes a wrong idiom.
Every cloud has a silver ___. (a) lining (b) edge (c) coat (d) spoon
Show solutionHide solution
The saying is every cloud has a silver lining.
It means some good in every bad situation.
Lining is the original word.
(a) lining
Shortcuts that save time
Write one sentence of your own for each idiom. The sentence is what you remember under pressure.
Name the format before you start. Meaning, replace, complete or opposite. Each has its own first step.
In an opposite question, the option with the same meaning as the idiom is always wrong.
Opposite of A TOWER OF STRENGTH: (a) a strong supporter (b) an unreliable person (c) a tall building (d) a man of his word
Show solutionHide solution
A tower of strength gives firm support.
Strong supporter and man of his word mean the same.
An unreliable person is the opposite.
(b) an unreliable person
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Reading a list of idioms once.
Write one sentence of your own for each idiom.
Accepting a changed word in an idiom.
Idioms are frozen. Learn the exact words.
Choosing the same meaning in an opposite question.
Write the meaning first, then reverse it.
Learning idioms in alphabet order.
Learn by family so the clusters help recall.
Spending too long on one unknown idiom.
Judge the tone, pick an option and move on.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
10 new idioms a day, one sentence each, a weekly weak list.
Idioms are frozen. Never accept a changed word.
Formats: meaning, replace the phrase, complete the idiom, opposite, in a passage.
Exam steps: kill the literal, find the picture, check the tone, plug back.
Opposite question: meaning first, then reverse. Cross out the same-meaning option.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 5 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.