S
ometimes you will hear English expressions that sound familiar but are
hard to define outside of the context in which they are used. They’re called
idioms. Although they don’t always follow the general rules of word usage, they are
an integral part of any language and are important for you to know.
An idiom can sometimes mean one of a number of things, depending on how it’s
used within a sentence. In its simplest form, an idiom is an everyday term or expres-
sion whose meaning evolved over time as it was used in conversation and informal
writing. You will get a better idea of what idioms are by looking at these examples:➥ I was tied up at the office until late last night.
➥ He was on the phone when I got to his house.
➥ The candidate’s spin doctors were on hand to offer comment on the
campaign.Taken literally, these sentences bring to mind peculiar pictures of people roped
to their office chairs, perched on top of telephones, or whirling through hospitals!
When you look at them in context, however, you know that the first means that
someone was delayed at work, the second, that a man was talking on the phone, and
the third, that there were people able to interpret a political office seeker’s actions
in a favorable light. All of these expressions are idioms.Idioms and Vocabulary
Variations
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