100 American Idioms in English speaking
[Music]
a little bird told me a little bird told
me that you and Cindy are going to get
married a pain in the neck sometimes my
younger brother can be a pain in the
neck a piece of cake learning to speak
English is a piece of cake to lay off
the company laid off fifty workers last
week now they have no job and pigs can
fly I think I can win the lottery yeah
and I think pigs can fly to be dead
tired I’ve worked for fifteen hours
already today and I’m dead tired to call
it a day it’s already 5:00 p.m. let’s
call it a day and go home to be in
charge of do what Linda tells you to do
because she’s in charge of this office
to be in the way if my sister goes with
me on my date with my boyfriend she’ll
really be in the way be my guest if you
want to go out then be my guest but I’m
staying home to be named after I was
named after my grandfather to be no big
deal don’t worry about losing the game
it’s no big deal
to be on top of the world
I am on top of the world my boss just
raised my salary
to bear in mind or to keep in mind when
you go camping you should bear in mind
that it gets very cold at night
behind someone’s back
can’t believe that she went out on a
date with him behind my back to build
castles in the air' Susan I’m happy that
you want to be President of the United
States but don’t build castles in the
air'
to drop someone a line when I arrived in
London I’ll drop you a line to let you
know I got there safely easy come easy
go
Mary I’m so sorry that your company lost
that big client oh well easy come easy
go every now and then every now and then
my father takes my mother to see a movie
to follow in someone’s footsteps you’ve
become a doctor just like your father
you really followed in his footsteps to
fool around
haven’t worked all day I’ve just been
fooling around at my desk to get along
with someone I really like Ryan we get
along with each other very well to get
in touch with to be in touch with
someone get in touch with me as soon as
you get an email address to get rid of
Harry should really get rid of that old
car and buy a new one to give someone
the cold shoulder Lee did I do something
to make you angry with me
you’ve given me the cold shoulder all
week to hang in there bill I know that
studying in university is difficult but
hang in there and you’ll have your
degree soon if worst comes to worst I
got fired from my job and now I can’t
pay my rent at my apartment if worst
comes to worst you can come and live
with me in the long run I know you don’t
enjoy exercising but in the long run
you’ll be in very good shape to be up to
date CNN always has the most up-to-date
news on TV to keep an eye on you have to
keep an eye on your dog because he
always likes to run away to keep my
fingers crossed
tomorrow is the big competition
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you to
keep under control it’s very difficult
to keep 30 young children under control
in the classroom all day to keep your
nose clean if you don’t keep your nose
clean this time you’ll be in big trouble
to keep you posted
I’ll keep you posted if anything changes
in our plans to keep your mouth shut
keep your mouth shut about tomorrow’s
surprise party for Andy I don’t want him
to know about it to let bygones be
bygones
Brian I’m so sorry about what I said
that’s okay
let bygones be bygones to let someone
off the hook I’m going to let you off
the hook this time but don’t ever do
that again to live beyond one’s means
Tony never has enough money because he
always lives beyond his means to make
yourself at home
if you arrive at my house before I do
just make yourself at home to meet
someone halfway since we both disagree
do you think maybe we could meet halfway
on the spot that girl really put me on
the spot when she asked me if I wanted
to go to the party with her once and for
all
I’m going to stop smoking once and for
all out of the question
taking a holiday to France this year is
out of the question we don’t have enough
money out of date look at her dress it’s
so out of date out of order
this public telephone is out of order
once in a blue moon once in a blue moon
my husband buys me flowers to put into
practice
we have an idea about how to sell our
product but we haven’t put it into
practice yet to save someone’s skin
thanks for helping me with my homework
I almost didn’t finish it you really
saved my skin so far so good Ken how’s
your diet so far so good I’ve lost 5
kilograms to take a load off your back
when my boss hired a secretary for me it
took a load off my back to take
something for granted you shouldn’t take
your friends for granted someday they
might be there to help you to be at the
end of one’s rope
Brad can I borrow some money I’m really
at the end of my rope to be up to
something why are you two children being
so quiet today
are you up to something to cheer up
we all went to visit Teresa at the
hospital to cheer her up
to ease someone out Jonathan is so shy
we really should try to ease him out of
his house more often to face the music
Molly broke her father’s favorite chair
now he’s home from work and she’ll have
to face the music - fine
fault with why do you try to find fault
with everything I do to get on one’s
nerves
Vicky talks so much she gets on
everyone’s nerves to give birth to when
Isaac Newton gave birth to the idea of
gravity it changed the world forever to
give one a big hand the audience gave
the musician a big hand
after the concert to give someone a ring
if I hear any news I’ll give you a ring
and let you know immediately - beau - oh
no I don’t have enough money for both of
our movie tickets that’s okay we can go
dutch tonight to go without saying it
goes without saying that tom is in love
with Kathie to have another thing coming
if you think your team can win against
our team you’ve got another thing coming
to have one’s heart set on Jennifer is
very disappointed about the concert
being canceled she really had her heart
set on going to have time off let’s go
to the beach I got time off from work
for the next six days to keep one’s head
it’s very important to keep your head if
there’s an emergency to keep up with
it’s so hard to keep up with teenage
clothing fashions these days because
they change so often
to knock it off would you two knock it
off with the loud noise I’m trying to
sleep to know by sight I can’t remember
what Timothy looks like but I’m sure
I’ll know him by sight to let the cat
out of the bag
you shouldn’t have let the cat out of
the bag about being pregnant so soon I
wanted to surprise everyone to look down
upon David thinks he’s so important he
always looks down on the other people in
his office to lose one’s head Melissa
completely lost her head when the house
caught on fire she didn’t know what to
do to make no difference it makes no
difference what you say I’m still going
to buy that expensive car to make room
for we’ll have to make room for your
mother when she moves into our house
with us to put on weight Wow
daniel has put on a lot of weight since
the last time I saw him to rain cats and
dogs Kris you’re completely wet yes I
was outside and it’s raining cats and
dogs to run errands I’m sorry I can’t
join you today I have to run a lot of
errands before this evening to run out
of sweetheart we need to go to the
supermarket we ran out of milk
to serve one right it serves you right
that you failed your exam you didn’t
study for it at all to spill the beans
please don’t spill the beans to
Elizabeth that I bought her a gold
necklace for her birthday to stand up
for you must stand up for what you
believe in or no one will respect you to
tell two things or two persons apart
it’s difficult to tell those two twins
apart because they look so much alike to
throw people together at the seminar
they threw us all together into groups
and made us talk together to waste one’s
breath don’t waste your breath with Fred
he’ll never change his mind to beat
around the bush stop beating around the
bush and tell me directly why you’re so
angry get lost
Billy get lost I don’t want to see you
here again to be up for grabs did you
hear that the position for manager is up
for grabs to rock the boat everyone is
happy with the decision so please don’t
rock the boat to stand out with his
bright red hair Carl really stands out
in a crowd of people to get on the ball
we’re really behind schedule we need to
get on the ball to be on top of
William is so organized he’s always on
top of things to be out of one’s League
Nancy will never go on a date with me
she’s out of my league we are all in the
same boat don’t feel sorry for yourself
were all in the same boat to be out of
the woods the doctor said that
grandmother is still very sick but she’s
out of the woods to be kicked out can I
stay with you I was kicked out of my
house because I didn’t pay the rent -
watch out watch out that car must hit
you - stop short
the workers stopped short of
constructing that building because they
didn’t have enough money to finish it -
move on yesterday the students finished
chapter 1 so now they’ll move on to
chapter 2 around the clock they’re so
tired
because they’ve been working around the
clock for two days to find out Sharon
found out that she was going to have a
baby she feels sorry for I really feel
sorry for that old man who lives alone
and has no family to take advantage of
be careful when you shop because some
salespeople will try to take advantage
of you and offer you an expensive price
to keep an eye on the police we’ll keep
an eye on the man they think is the
criminal to watch out for if you drive
at night you should watch out for drunk
drivers to be better off our country
would be better off if we had a new
prime minister to stand a chance our
team doesn’t stand a chance against
their team because they are much better
than we are to make sense Roger what you
say makes sense and I agree with you to
get away with I can’t believe you got
away with sneaking out of your house
last night your father didn’t hear you
to go off the deep end since Janet died
her husband has really gone off the deep
end to go through channels if you want
to get a visa to go to America you have
to go through a lot of channels first to
crack a book how do you always get such
good marks in school I never see you
even crack a book to take another person
at his word Gerry is a very honest man
you can always take him at his word to
leave something open since they couldn’t
agree they decided just to leave the
topic open for now to have what it takes
sera
I believe you have what it takes to be a
great volleyball player to welcome
someone with open arms my family
welcomed my new boyfriend into their
home with open arms to get out of line
or to step out of line I’m afraid if
Jeremy gets out of line just one more
time they will make him leave school to
give someone a hard time my teacher
doesn’t like me she’s always giving me a
hard time to be a stick-in-the-mud come
on Joe
don’t be a stick in the mud go to the
party with us to hit someone where it
hurts when you told Nancy how fat she is
you really hit her where it hurts