{"id":2402,"date":"2017-08-04T16:45:46","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T16:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2017-08-07T14:13:50","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T14:13:50","slug":"idioms-you-must-know-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/idioms-you-must-know-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Idioms You Must Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here are some common idiomatic expressions in English.<\/p>\n<h3>Meet someone halfway<\/h3>\n<p>To meet someone halfway is to reach an agreement with them by making a few compromises.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We can\u2019t give you all that you want but we can certainly meet you halfway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Meet trouble halfway<\/h3>\n<p>To meet trouble halfway is to worry about something that hasn\u2019t even happened.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t you think it is foolish to meet trouble halfway?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Put someone on their mettle<\/h3>\n<p>To put someone on their mettle is to test their ability to face challenges.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We used to have regular internal assessments where we would be put on our mettle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Of a piece (with)<\/h3>\n<p>If something is of a piece with something else, it is very similar to it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>His latest novel is of a piece with his last one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Be worth one\u2019s salt<\/h3>\n<p>If somebody is worth their salt, they are very competent and deserve what they earn.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I really feel that you should sack your private secretary. He isn\u2019t worth his salt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Make both ends meet<\/h3>\n<p>To make both ends meet is to earn enough to make a living.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Now that the cost of living has increased, we are struggling to make both ends meet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Set one&#8217;s face against<\/h3>\n<p>To set one\u2019s face against something is to resist it with determination.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She had set her face against the proposal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Within an ace of<\/h3>\n<p>If you are within an ace of something, you are very close to it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We came within an ace of defeat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Rest on your laurels<\/h3>\n<p>To rest on your laurels is to be satisfied with what you have already achieved without making any effort to do anything more.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Just because you have been selected for the audition does not mean you can rest on your laurels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Win \/ gain your spurs<\/h3>\n<p>To win your spurs is to do something that proves that you are capable of doing something really well.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He won his political spurs by launching a massive campaign against corruption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>With open arms<\/h3>\n<p>To receive someone with open arms is to receive them with pleasure.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The parents received their prodigal son with open arms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Play fast and loose with somebody<\/h3>\n<p>To play fast and loose with somebody is to treat them without respect or care.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t play fast and loose with the facts.<\/li>\n<li>He accused me of playing fast and loose with his sentiments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Hold water<\/h3>\n<p>If an argument holds water, it sounds logical or true.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your excuses just don\u2019t hold water, baby.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>By hook or by crook<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>He is determined to achieve his objective by hook or by crook. (= by whatever means)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>For \/ to all intents and purposes<\/h3>\n<p>An expression used to say in the most important ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For all intents and purposes, the town has been abandoned by its occupants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Hang together<\/h3>\n<p>To hang together is to stay together<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If we can hang together, we might be able to find a solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Your flesh and blood<\/h3>\n<p>An expression used to refer to someone from your family.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She isn\u2019t my flesh and blood but I can\u2019t help loving her.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Make an exception<\/h3>\n<p>To make an exception is to not treat someone according to the usual rules.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While it is true that we don\u2019t accept late applications, we will make an exception in this case.<\/li>\n<li>Everyone should obey the law. We can\u2019t make an exception in your case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Take exception to something \/ somebody<\/h3>\n<p>To take exception to something is to be offended by it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He took exception to my harmless remark.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>To a fault<\/h3>\n<p>This expression is usually used with an adjective referring to a positive quality and has a negative meaning. So, for example, if you are generous to a fault, you are so generous that your generosity does you more harm than good.<\/p>\n<h3>Gain ground<\/h3>\n<p>If a belief or an idea gains ground, it becomes more acceptable or popular.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inter-caste marriages are yet to gain ground in this part of the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Settle old scores \/ settle a score<\/h3>\n<p>To settle old scores is to punish someone for something they did to you in the past.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The minister was accused of using his power to settle old scores.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are some common idiomatic expressions in English. Meet someone halfway To meet someone halfway is to reach an agreement with them by making a few compromises. We can\u2019t give you all that you&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,16],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class-10-worksheets","category-idioms","tag-common-idioms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}