How to use idioms in the IELTS Speaking Test

How to use idioms in the IELTS Speaking test

In IELTS speaking if you want to score 7 or more you should be good in using wide range of vocabulary. Moreover, if you are familiar with idioms than it will work as icing on the cake. The IELTS Speaking assessment criteria focuses on how well you can use idiomatic language from bands 7 and upwards. At band 7, you will see this statement for Lexical Resource: Uses some less common and idiomatic vocabulary and shows some awareness of style and collocation, with some inappropriate choices. So, today in this article we will discuss how to use idioms in speaking.

What’s an idiom?

An idiom (also called idiomatic expression) is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native speakers. This meaning is different from the literal meaning of the idiom’s individual elements. In other words, idioms don’t mean exactly what the words say. They have, however, hidden meaning. For example if it is said” Take a rain check” it does not mean to go out and check whether rain is coming or not but it means to postpone a plan. Every language have its own way of  If used in correct form idioms can help to score some extra marks but if they are not used in correct form they can be the reason for the deduction of scores. So it is necessary to know the meaning of an idiom before using.

Idioms are often used by native speakers in a very natural way that they are not even noticed as they use it smoothly. But to the language learner it is very important to learn the usage of idioms so that it doesn’t sound unnatural and give a positive effect on the examiner. In idioms you should be aware of collocation now the question is what is collocation? it is the proper arrangement of words like some words like we say take  a quick shower we never say a fast shower or a shower quick. This is checked when we use idioms so one have to speak the idiom in an arranged manner and the words should not be shuffled for example if the idiom is   Speak of the devil you cannot say the devil we spoke about if you say this definitely your scores will be deducted.

What’s a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a compound verb where a verb is combined with an adverb or a preposition. When these phrasal verbs are made, they often have idiomatic meaning, and you cannot understand the meaning by reading what each word means. For example, the combination of the verb pick plus the preposition up – pick up – means lift. We can use this phrasal verb to ask someone to pick up something we dropped on the ground, or we can also use this expression to ask for a lift in a car – “I need a lift, can you please pick me up on the way to school?”

Common everyday idioms

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