Why must I learn Idioms?

To help you understand normal spoken English.

English speakers frequently use Idioms when they speak, even in serious and business situations.  

What is an Idiom?

An Idiom is an expression with a meaning sometimes completely different from the meaning of the words - for example, if a person says:

It was a piece of cake!

perhaps he is talking about something he ate (the context will help) but if not he means that:

It was very easy

Help!

Don't worry!

There are hundreds and hundreds of these idioms, but only some of them are frequently used and sound normal in natural speech.

English.Web software has a unique list of these frequently used Idioms and you can learn quickly the important general and business idioms.  If you use the non-frequent idioms, your English can sound quite funny. (For example not many people say 'It's raining cats and dogs' in real life!)

How do I begin?

The first objective is to understand the Idioms when you hear them; the second objective is to use them yourself (this makes your English more natural).

There are 10 Groups: divided into General and Business Idioms.

The Practice Page for each group has LEARN and TEST.  Use LEARN to see the idioms in the group you want one after the other.  You will see an example, an explanation.

When you are ready you can use TEST.  You see the example without the verb, the explanation, a dash-map (the verb with some letters not there - for example I_iom_). Press ANSWER to see the answer. Remember: pay attention to the example sentence, and when you begin to use the verbs make your first sentences very close to the example you see here.  Good Luck!                Choose a Group to Learn and Test