hi there it's asiya ielts examiners check if you can use idiomatic language in
ielts speaking and today i've prepared for you 25 idioms and expressions you can use
in typical ielts speaking situations to boost your score okay let's get started
before we begin one word of warning
ielts examiners are not impressed when students learn a couple of complex phrases and insert
them into their answers deliberately without even fully understanding the meaning of those phrases
so you have to learn these idioms and expressions so well that they come out naturally
now let me tell you a story i was over the moon when i learned about my business trip to new york
to be over the moon means to be extremely happy however on my way to the airport
i suddenly received a notification that my flight had just been cancelled
needless to say i wasn't a happy camper if you're not a happy camper or you're not a happy bunny it
means you're not pleased with the situation after all this stress i felt a little under the weather
so the next day i called in sick at work and went shopping instead to be under the weather
means to be slightly ill not fully ill just slightly ill when i bumped into my manager
at the shopping center he told me it was the last straw and fired me with immediate effect
the last straw is something small that makes you realize that you can't accept this whole situation
anymore and you may say that's the last straw i'm leaving or that's the last straw i'm firing you i
decided not to cry over spilt milk and continued shopping to cry over spilt milk means to get upset
about something that has already happened and cannot be changed as a way to fight the blues
i bought myself a new iphone if you're talking about the blues you mean sad feelings for
example you may have the winter blues or just to have the blues and to try to beat the blues
without work i had the time of my life i would get up at midday do nothing all day have a dinner
out at a restaurant and then play computer games all night i even bought a new powerful laptop for
this purpose to have the time of your life means to really enjoy yourself to have a great time
some friends told me that my new laptop cost a number and a leg but i thought it was worth
every penny to cost a num and a leg means to be really expensive and to be worth every penny means
the price was justified one day my mother told me that money doesn't grow on trees i guessed it was
a hint but i wasn't quite sure what she meant the phrase money doesn't grow in trees means that you
can't get more money whenever you want then my father told me that i should look for a new job
but i was still on the fence trying to decide between job hunting and traveling around the world
if you're on the fence it means that you are unable to decide between something and job hunting
is looking for a job the penny dropped when i couldn't pay my rent anymore and was
forced to look for a new job if the penny drops it means you finally realize or understand
something after all all is well that ends well this is the name of a shakespeare's play
all's well that ends well and we can use it as a phrase before we continue let me tell you about
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out and now let's get back to our idioms now let me give you some idioms you can talk about your
family your profession or your hobbies some of the most common topics in ielts speaking and the first
idiom is to take after somebody it means to look or behave like another older member of your family
usually your mother or father i take after my father we're both entrepreneurs and we both love
pasta and another similar idiom is to follow in someone's footsteps that means
to try to achieve the same things as another member of your family or to have the same job
and a similar lifestyle i wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and become an entrepreneur or
i followed in my mother's and grandmother's footsteps were all doctors to run in the family
that means that a lot of members of your family have the same interest skill quality problem or
disease for instance i'm short-sighted it runs in the family it means that my parents and maybe when
my grandparents are short-sighted too or we're all ambitious it seems to run in the family another
similar idiom is to be in the blood or to run in the blood it means that you've inherited
something from your parents and grandparents for instance being adventurous is in my blood
both my parents have traveled extensively next to be swarmed with something a swamp is this
wet magic ground where you can get stuck and drown so if you're swamped you have too much of
something too much work too many tasks for example i was totally swamped with work before christmas
i didn't even have time to browse instagram you can also say something is a piece of cake
or a walk in the park that means it's very easy or it's not a piece of cake it's not a walk in
the park it means it's not easy and perhaps it's more difficult than you expected for instance
learning to drive a car was a piece of cake for me or it wasn't exactly a walk in the park but
eventually i learned to ride a bicycle with the benefit of hindsight it means that you look back
at the situation that's already happened and think that you should have done something differently
for example with the benefit of hindsight i shouldn't have left my ielts preparation
until the last night before the exam and because we talk about something in the past
we use the construction should have done or shouldn't have done for example
should have studied shouldn't have played computer games and when we speak we shouldn't
have to have i should have studied i shouldn't have played computer games and the last idiom
to pass with flying colors it means to get a high mark in your exam so i wish you all to pass your
ielts exam with flying colors in your ielts speaking exam don't try to use a lot of idioms
otherwise they will come across as memorized it's very important to give natural answers
and to use idioms naturally in order to get extra points for your vocabulary and if you want to
learn all the strategies to help you achieve your best score in ielts speaking and writing
i'm gonna link my online courses in the video description box below
there you can find all the links to cambly to practice your english with native speaking
teachers and all the idioms from today's lesson and you can learn more idioms in this
video here thank you for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye