Idioms! Wow I love idioms and did you know that idioms are very important
for the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam? Really!? Yes really! To be honest there's not much difference
between the grammatical requirements for B2 First and the grammatical requirements for C1 Advanced.
The difference is your ability to use this grammar and also your range of vocabulary.
Idioms are a great way to increase this range so if you are writing an informal text or
talking to your partner during the speaking exam then idioms are a great way
to boost your marks and wow we love boosting marks! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English
and here are some fantastic body idioms for you to use in the C1 Advanced Cambridge
exam....
BREAK A LEG.
Oh my god yeah, great, thanks a lot! See you soon, Chloe! Bye! Monica, what was that?
Bruce! Oh my god that was Chloe Ting! Yes Monica and i've just been to the pub with Pewdiepie!
Bloody hell... Yeah it was and she wants me to make a youtube video for her fitness channel!
Bruce, what am I doing talking to you anyway? I need to go and get ready!
Ciao caio! Uh, All right then well, break a leg, I guess? You want me to break one of my legs!?
What are you sick in the head!? Oh, Monica! Break a leg does not literally mean break your leg. No!
It means "good luck". Yeah exactly, Toby. That's what I meant! Oh, okay then well thanks I guess.
Anyway I've gotta get going bye guys! Ah! Oh my god! My leg! Oh my god... deep breaths, Monica!
I think i've broken it! You could use this idiom when you're writing an article or a blog post.
Usually an article or blog post will finish by recommending that the reader does something
and so you could recommend the reader to do something and then wish them luck with "break
a leg"! Wow, Toby that is fantastic advice! Thank you! Thank you very very much!
TO COST AN ARM AND A LEG
Oh hi, Bruce! What? Duke! Can't you see that I'm busy working!? God you are so
rude! Do you have a beer that I could have?
No mate sorry. But you've got another one right there! Oh what do you mean? You mean this?
No mate sorry. This is a special beer just for me. It would cost you an arm and a leg! Oh okay...
What the bloody hell are you doing, you nut case! I'll give you an arm
but I can keep a leg okay? Yeah DEAL! Oh my diddy donuts... Duke are you mad!
"To cost an arm and a leg" does not literally mean
to cost an arm and a leg. Oh oh... wow ....well that's embarrassing.
It means to cost a lot of money an unreasonable
amount of money. This is a fantastic idiom to use in a review. When you are reviewing
something you're normally reviewing something that costs money that's the whole point in a review:
should the person reading the review spend their hard-earned cash on this object or
experience? So when you comment on the price you could say "it costs an arm and a leg" or maybe
if it is priced reasonably you could say "it doesn't cost an arm and a leg". This is
marvellous! Seriously, just use it. Use it no matter what. Just say it "it doesn't
cost an arm and a leg" or "it cost an arm and a leg". Oh my god that's so expensive. Yes? Yes!
TO BE ALL EARS.
Phwoar! Bloody hell, Tobes! Monica breaking her leg, Duke trying to cut his own arm off what is
going on!? It's you, Bruce! You and your bloody idioms! Well how can I stop being misunderstood?
I want advice, Tobes! Seriously, I'm all ears! You're what? I said i'm all ears! No, you're not.
You're also eyes, a nose, a mouth, arms, a body... Bruce if you were all ears you would look
ridiculous! Forget it. I give up. Jesus christ.... If you are all ears it means you are willing to
listen to what someone has to say. Use this in the speaking exam. This is especially useful
for parts three and four. For example in part three after you have made your contribution
use this expression to ask your partner for their opinion. So in general I don't really think that
instant messaging is the best way to stay in touch with mates. Like, if I want to catch up
with my mates we usually go down the pub, do you know what I mean? But maybe you disagree,
Monica? I don't know. I'm all ears! Yeah, unlike you I really enjoy instant messaging
and I don't spend so much time at the pub. Yeah that that's enough. So say you are all ears
to let your partner know that you are open to their suggestions and that is a very nice thing
to say for your partner and for the examiner. You will say "I'm all ears" and the examiner
will think "I'm all amazed at what this candidate has said"! Full marks! That's what examiners do.
TO GET ON ONE'S NERVES.
Hi Monica. How did the uh, how did the Chloe Ting thing go? I couldn't even go.
I broke my leg! Life is so unfair! Oh, Monica that's terrible.
I'm sorry. No you're not, Bruce! Shut up! I hate you! I guess you never STOOD a chance!
I guess you could say that this wasn't your lucky BREAK! Toby,
Bruce is getting on my nerves! Make him stop! All right, all right, Monica. I'll take a BREAK!
Stop it! If something gets on your nerves it means it annoys you. I've seen this expression
come up in the use of english part of the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam. It could appear
in part one and it might look something like this... Many people feel that studying without
SMASH English is boring. In fact many remark that their teachers get on their .......... nerves.
Or you could find it in part two of the use of english paper: The Open Cloze part.
I have a video on on that part right here! And it could look something like this...
I've never seen eye to eye with my brother in fact he _____ on my nerves more than anyone else.
Here the answer would be GETS. And finally it could appear in part
four of the C1 Advanced use of english paper: the keyword transformations part
and I have a video all about that part right here! But the question could look something like this...
"Please stop annoying me" is our sentence. GETTING is our key word and "I wish you
would _______ nerves" is the sentence that we must use. We need STOP. After STOP we need a GERUND
and then to complete the expression we need ON MY. I wish you would stop getting on my nerves.
TO KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.
Oh my god thank you so much for the opportunity, Chloe! Okay see you later! Ciao ciao!
Uh what was that? Oh my god, Bruce it was Chloe! She said it doesn't matter about
my legs! She said my upper body is so fit that I should make a video about the upper
body instead of the lower body! Oh my god this is great! Oh Monica that's great news.
Keep your fingers crossed and I'm sure everything will go brilliantly! What?
Oh my god that was so humiliating!
What's wrong? It went terribly, Bruce! I couldn't do any of the exercises because
I had my fingers crossed like, this was terrible advice! Oh forget it... I'm done. See you later.
If you keep your fingers crossed you cross your fingers as a sign of good luck.
When people say this though it does not necessarily mean they are literally crossing
their fingers. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you means "I am hoping for the best". For example
in the C1 Advanced speaking exam in part one or part four you will likely get a question
about the future, perhaps the near future perhaps the distant future, you will probably
though get a question about the future. So use this expression to talk about something you hope
to happen. Monica, where do you see yourself in five years? Well hopefully I will have left SMASH
English and, like, a big successful youtuber will be paying me money to make videos for them or like
be their model or something, I don't know... I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
TO SEE EYE TO EYE.
Monica, I just want to say um... No, Bruce! I'm not interested! Talk to the hand because the face
ain't listening! But I wanted to... Nope! But... No! Well I guess we can't see eye to eye then, can
we? Bruce you are so ignorant! I can see eye to eye easily! Look! See! You just do this! Look! Eye
to eye! See! I'm seeing eye to eye! It's really simple! I bet you can't do it though you idiot!
Wow. To see eye to eye means to agree. If two people see eye to eye it means they agree. Use
this when you agree with your partner in the speaking exam and yeah that's really obvious.
Right, instead of saying "I agree" say "okay so we see eye to eye on that one" or maybe if you don't
agree you could say "we don't see eye to eye on that one". Very, very simple and great advice! But
all good advice must come to an end at some point and we have reached that point and that's great
for me because it means I can go home and relax but for you it's terrible because this video...
YOU LOVED IT! So those were six body idioms that you can use in every single C1 Advanced exam that
you do! Fantastic! If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if
you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English...