The big picture, do by the book, read somebody like a book, an open book,
a closed book, the oldest trick in the book, read between the lines.
There are so many idioms connected with reading
and today we're going to learn the most popular ones.
And let's start with the first idiom which is the big picture.
The big picture means the whole situation as opposed to some particular parts of it.
So you can take a look at the details or you can seel the whole picture.
You can see the whole picture, you can look at the big picture or you can miss the big picture.
An example from the TV show Once upon a time.
You need to look at the big picture.
That's the only way you are going to understand what you are up against.
So look at the whole situation, look at the big picture.
The next idiom is to do by the book,
which means to do something exactly as the rules tell you.
So follow the rules, do something by the book.
Now an example from the TV show Desperate Housewives.
I thought that lawyer said you did everything by the book, that we were covered.
The next expression is to read somebody like a book.
I wish it would be so easy with some people.
To read somebody like a book means
to understand somebody's thoughts and motives easily.
Another example from the TV show Desperate Housewives.
Tom and Lynette are talking, Tom says: I knew how you'd react.
And Lynette answers: Congratulations, you read me like a book.
Like you know me so well, you understand how I think.
The next idiom is somehow connected with the previous one, an open book.
Somebody or something can be an open book
and it means that this person or this thing
is easy to understand and know.
An example from the TV show Sex and the city.
My life is an open book, it has to be. Said by a politician.
Everybody knows everything about me, my life is an open book.
A closed book is something or somebody you know nothing about.
So the opposite meaning.
Although this idiom is not that popular.
An example from the TV show Friends. Ross says to Rachel:
You were a closed book okay I'm not a mind reader.
I couldn't understand you at all I didn't know you at all.
I didn't know what you were feeling.
The next expression - the oldest trick in the book.
That is the oldest trick that exists.
It is a way of tricking somebody that is still effective but has been used a lot before.
An example from the TV show Everybody Hates Chris.
That was the moment when Drew discovered the oldest parent trick in the book.
When one parent says no just ask the other one.
This is the oldest trick in the book, right?
The next idiom is to read between the lines.
So you read a story and you try to read between the lines.
There's something hidden.
This idiom means to try to understand someone's real intentions and feelings,
judging by what they say or write;
or to try to understand the situation using some hidden clues.
An example from the TV show How I Met Your Mother.
Dude, you obviously like her. Can't you read between the lines, Ted?
Can't you understand the subtext?
And the last expression is don't judge a book by its cover. It's a proverb.
And it means do not form an opinion about something judging by the appearance.
You can talk about something or somebody, usually, we talk about people.
So do not form your opinion about a person judging just by the appearance.
An example from the TV show The Big Bang Theory.
My point is I do not judge a book by its cover. I'm interested in the person underneath.
So I go deeper.
Anyway, that's it today. We studied a lot of new expressions
And I hope that you will use them and you will understand them easily.
So they are a piece of cake for you now.
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