February 14 is St. Valentine's Day; a day when lovers express their love for each other by giving flowers, gifts, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").
In honour of St. Valentine's Day, here are 5 idioms which use the word heart. These are not examples of romantic idioms. The heart idioms cover a number of situations.
When you learn something by heart, you learn it exactly and from memory.
So January, having finally got the message that nobody particularly likes it, has decided to go away and leave us in peace for another year, taking its howling winds, dull grey skies and surprise downpours with it. And now it’s February – an altogether better-behaved month than its miserable older brother. Sure, there may still be howling winds, dull grey skies and surprise downpours, but at least February gives the impression that they’ll be over sooner or later, and that the sun might just shine tomorrow.
Definition: Something that will cause an angry or violent reaction.
Taking a English exam like Cambridge ESOL, TOEFL or IELTS is a big challenge and requires you to work hard. Independent study is an important part of the process. Serious English learners are always looking to expand their vocabualry by finding and learning new words.
Today I want to encourage you to be active with your English learning. Here are 10 words which will be unknown to many of you. Your task is to look these words up in the on-line dictionary provided and then type these words into the correct sentences.
Money, like time, is something that we never seem to have enough of.
Here are five phrasal verbs we use to talk about spending money.
To pay for something or to send money on something especially when you don't want to.
"She's just coughed up £40 for a speeding fine."
Take a look at this multiple choice quiz. Practice your knowledge of verbs by choosing the correct one in each sentence.
How many did you get correct? Which ones did you slip up on (make a mistake on)?
This idiom is used at Upper Intermediate level.
When a fact or opinion is neither here nor there, it is not important.
Words that have the same meaning (synonyms) of neither here nor there are unimportant, inconsequential, irrelevant and immaterial.
Time for some phrasal verb fun! Here are five for you to learn. Complete the sentence using the correct verb and remember to change the tense when necessary.
slip up - to make a mistake/an error
pick out - to choose
nod off - to fall asleep
close down - to close a place forever/permanently
Have something done is used to show that something is done for us, we do not do it ourselves. Compare these two sentences:
"I washed my car." - I washed my car myself.
"I had my car washed." - I paid someone to wash my car for me.