Nowadays, knowing English, if not necessary, 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! Or maybe for your work you need to read the literature in the original or you are a beginner specialist and plan to get a job in a foreign company’s office - these are also reasons to start increasing your knowledge right now. Moreover, this language is not difficult, its basic grammar can be learned and fixed in a few weeks of intensive studies, and over time, your vocabulary will replenish. Today in our article, a very interesting section is considered - idioms of the English language. This is not a grammatical, but rather a lexical category, having carefully studied it, you will expand your knowledge of the language and also be able to carry out a conversation with a foreign opponent at the proper level - colorful and easy. So, an idiom is a speech revolution established in everyday life that takes place only in a certain language, and the semantic meaning of which is not a combination of the meanings of those elements (words) of which it consists. A rather difficult definition in practice looks much simpler.
Learn idioms in English
As mentioned above, these expressions reflect the specificity of a particular language. They are formed under the influence of culture, life, habits and customs of any nationality. That is, an idiom is not a separate part of the English language, which you can use if you wish or not, but a quite substantial part of its vocabulary. They can be used not only when communicating with friends or colleagues, but are used at the highest level, and in fiction - in poetry, and even in Bible translations. There are several thousand such expressions in the English language. Of course, you don’t need to study each, even native speakers can hardly remember all of them. But the most used ones must be known, because their presence in your spoken or written speech will significantly increase your ability to clearly state your thoughts in the language of your partners. So, we found out that the idiom is not only an element of slang, but also part of the formal style of communication. Therefore, let's look at commonly used expressions, which are conveniently formed into a table and provided with a translation.
Some simple English idioms| Idiom | Meaning and Translation |
| (to be) busy as a bee | be extremely busy (in Russian there is also a similar expression "work like a bee") |
| across the board | include absolutely all (or all) |
| bean-counter | an accountant, not the person who, like Cinderella, counts the number of beans |
| carry the day | win anything with absolute success |
| monkey business- | bad behavior, tomfoolery |
| (something or somebody) as good as gold | good, obedient (for example, a child) (we say in such cases "worth its weight in gold") |
| it is not my cup of tea | (anything) is not my business or topic |
| it's black and white | a clear, concise question in which there are no pitfalls (they like to use this idiom in business, especially when discussing contracts) |
| to be green with envy | figuratively, of course, "turn green with envy" (this is a rare case of the literal translation of an idiom) |
| once in a blue moon | rare enough, once in a thousand years |
| A sunday driver | not too skilled, useless driver anywhere (that's right, and not, if translated literally, the driver who drives the car on Sundays) |
| big cheese | leader, important person, VIP person |
| eat crow | to admit your mistakes (this idiom has such a meaning, so do not be surprised that your English-speaking friend or business partner may ask you to "eat a crow" (that is, to admit previously committed mistakes)) |
| add fuel to the flame | reinforce any (often negative) situation, in other words, add oil to the fire |
| to be affected by cold | catch a cold |
| to have butterfly in the stomach | to experience any strong feeling, although most often this idiom is used in the meaning of "fall in love" |
It is highly recommended to memorize what this or that idiom means. This will help you avoid confusion with your English-speaking friends, colleagues or business partners. Plus, using these expressions in your dialogs or correspondence, you can be considered an erudite, eloquent person. By the way, if you are going to learn a language at a sufficiently high level, it is very useful to purchase a dictionary of idioms. Any publication contains about 8 thousand expressions with translation and detailed information about when a phrase is used. This is a rather interesting and useful reading, because it allows you to better understand the structure of the language and better understand the cultural characteristics inherent in native English speakers.