Thursday 29 August 2013

Body Idioms


All Ears: To be all ears means to give all of your attention to somebody.
Tell me all about your trip to LondonI’m all ears.

Cold Shoulder: To give somebody the cold shoulder is to ignore someone that you know. 
 I can’t believe my ex-girlfriend gave me the cold shoulder when I saw her again.

Itchy FeetTo have itchy feet means that you have a very strong impulse to travel.
 I can’t wait for my visa to arrive. I prefer to travel now and not next week because I have itchy feet.
 

Long Arm of the Law is the extensive influence of the government/authorities to control people.
Many rich people try to evade paying taxes, but the long arm of the law always find them.
 

An Old Hand is a person who has a lot of experience in something. 
If you need help studying for your test on  history, I can help. I’ve studied this for years and I’m a bit of an old hand on this topic.
 

Sweet Tooth: To have a sweet tooth is to have a special craving for food that have a sweet taste.  
Of course I want a piece of chocolate cake. I have a really bad sweet tooth for desserts.)


To have Elbow Room is to have enough space to move or work in. 
To learn to speak English well, it’s important to have enough elbow room to experiment and use the language in real situations.


Eye-Catching: Something that is eye-catching tends to catch your attention (or catch your eye). 
The best way to learn new  vocabulary is to use eye-catching images that are easy to remember.




Monday 5 August 2013

Accent Reduction


In business and in life if you want to be successful you have to be understood. Textbooks can teach you how to speak English, but they can't teach you how to speak in the unique rhythms of English. This video  gives you the secrets of how to reduce your accent, and have your voice heard!
It is focused on American English, but I consider these tips can be useful for any kind of English language.