Learning English Resources

American Idioms

First and foremost: first of all

e.g. To lose weight, you must, first and foremost, stop eating junk food.

Bad sort: an unpleasant person

e.g. He is a bad sort; nobody likes him.

Not born yesterday: not young or foolish.

e.g. Don't give me all that crap! I wasn't born yesterday.

Sit on one’s hands: refuse to give any help

e.g. When we needed your help; you just sat on your hands.

In bad sorts: in a bad humor

e.g. What’s the matter with you? You seem to be in bad sorts. Is it the weather or something else?

Sit tight: wait patiently

e.g. Just relax and sit tight!

Skeleton in the closet: a hidden and shocking secret

e.g. That he was a gay was skeleton in the closet.

Slang and Colloquial Expressions

Shoot off: depart quickly.

e.g. You'd better shoot off before the storm comes.

Not in the same street: not in the same class or category.

e.g. Of course, my car in not in the same street as yours: you paid a lot more.

Go down with: be accepted or approved by.

e.g. The President's speech went down with the Spanish community.

Alive and kicking: in good health.

"How is she doing?" "Very much alive and kicking."

Choice of Words

Endure / Persevere

Endure means to bear bravely; persevere means to keep on doing.

e.g. It is not easy to endure the physical pain.

e.g. In spite of all the difficulties, he persevered with his plans.

Exhausting / Exhaustive

Exhausting means making one very tired; exhaustive means very thorough, covering a lot.

e.g. To remove all the books from this room is exhausting work.

e.g. This is an exhaustive inquiry, covering every aspect of what happened.

Baleful / Baneful

Baleful means evil; baneful means harmful.

e.g. I don't like your friend, especially the baleful looks on his eyes. 

e.g. Don't drink too much alcohol; beware of its long-term baneful effect on your health.

Indoor / Indoors

Indoor is an adjective; indoors is an adverb.

e.g. Bowling is an indoor game.

e.g. It's going to rain; let's go indoors.

Prepositional Words and Phrases

HEAD

Head off: intercept or divert someone or something.

e.g. I think we can head off the problem this time.

e.g. Don't worry. We can head it off with another new project

Head out: begin a journey.

e.g. What time do we head out tomorrow morning?

Head up: be in charge of something.

e.g. I think I shall head up the committee soon.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Learning and Mastering English

They Look Alike But They Are Different

Lean / Lien

Lean means incline or tilt; lien is a legal claim.
e.g. Stand up straight and don't lean against the wall.
e.g. There is a lien against your house if you don't pay its property tax.

Recourse / Resort

Recourse means an appeal to; resort means turn to for help.
e.g. We may have recourse to compulsion.
e.g. If there is no solution, we may have to resort to force.(as a verb)
e.g. We may have to open it with a knife as a last resort (as a noun).
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Indoor / Indoors

Indoor is an adjective; indoors is an adverb.
e.g. Basketball is often an indoor game.
e.g. It is raining; we'd better go indoors.

Smother / Smolder

Smother means cause difficulty in breathing; smolder means burn slowly.
e.g. For a while, we were smothered by the dense smoke.
e.g. The ashes at the fireplace were still smoldering.
e.g. For years, hatred smoldered in her heart.

Regardful /Regarding

Regardful means paying attention or showing respect for; regarding means concerning or relating to.
e.g She is regardful of all her customers.
e.g. Regarding this matter, I think you didn't get it right.

Infamous / Notorious

Infamous means evil or wicked; notorious means well known for something discreditable.
e.g. He was an infamous kidnapper.
e.g. Everybody knows that she is a notorious liar.

Emigrate / Immigrate

Emigrate means to move to a country; immigrate means to come to country.

e.g. Many people like to emigrate to the United States.

e.g. Those who immigrate from other countries must abide by the laws in this country.

Complacent / complaisant / compliant

Complacent means self-satisfied; complaisant means too eager to please; compliant means obeying or submissive

e.g. I was filled with a complacent satisfaction when I eventually completed the project.

e.g. You are too complaisant with your boss: you over flatter him.

e.g. Unlike the computer, people are not compliant, and neither are they predictable.

Eminent / Imminent

Eminent means important or outstanding; imminent means coming soon.

e.g. He is an eminent author whose books have been translated into multiple languages worldwide.

e.g. Look at the dark clouds above; I think a storm is imminent.

Overdo / Overdue

Overdo means do too much; overdue means past the deadline date.

e.g. This is good enough; don't overdo it!

e.g. The payment is now overdue. 

Wander / Wonder

Wander means to walk aimlessly; wonder means to consider or question some issue.

e.g. The hiker lost his direction and wandered in the forest for some hours.

e.g. I wondered if he would come to the birthday party. 

Born / Borne

Born means to be brought into existence; borne means to be carried or tolerated.

e.g. Don't take me for a fool; I wasn't born yesterday!

e.g. The heavy burden of taking care of his family was borne by borne by him for many years.

e.g. All human sorrows can be well borne if you have faith in God. 

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Better English for You