Here are some more academic idioms for you to use in IELTS speaking!
Guess the meaning of the idioms (highlighted in bold type), then click the card to see the meaning on the reverse.
Here are some more academic idioms for you to use in IELTS speaking!
Guess the meaning of the idioms (highlighted in bold type), then click the card to see the meaning on the reverse.
Physical stores are faced with additional running costs. Different with online stores that can operate on a small budget.
I recently started walking to work occasionally, but it’s still only once in a blue moon.
Students read in the IELTS public band descriptors that band 7 candidates can use ‘idiomatic language’, and so they head for the nearest idioms dictionary and start writing things like ‘once in a blue moon‘, or ‘a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush‘, but in the wrong contexts!
In this post we take a look at what the IELTS test means by ‘idiomatic language’. Continue reading
Some people claim that working hours for labours in factories are too long.
Here an Indonesian student is trying to find a synonym for ‘worker‘. Unfortunately the hierarchy of ‘work‘ is labelled differently in English.
In English a ‘labourer‘ (‘labour‘ + ‘er‘) does work that distinguish him or her from other kinds of worker:
Here are some pictures of ‘labourers‘.
If you want to use a synonym for ‘worker’ then try to consider:
These considerations will lead you to a more accurate label for the work you are talking or writing about. In IELTS a more accurate label is also likely to get you a higher score for Lexical Resource (vocabulary).
This dictionary entry offers a wide selection of labels for different kinds of work.
Labourer – the person (countable)
Labour – noun (uncountable, abstract meaning)
Labour – verb
Laborious – adjective (Sometimes skilled work can be ‘laborious’, especially if it requires physical effort or is repetitive).
Hard labour – A form of punishment used by tyrannical governments, often for political prisoners. If my work feels like hard labour, it’s very hard work!
In labour – Giving birth!
Labour over something – Work extra hard at a task.
Famous people are followed everywhere by the press. Their families sometimes feel they have to hide from reporters, and the children of famous people may feel that they are living behind the bar.
Here, again, we have a breakdown in communication caused by inaccurate use of articles.
Remember that for any noun there are 3 possible meanings:
I think the writer of the opening example meant to describe the bars in a prison, and was trying to use the idiom ‘behind bars‘ (grammar = some of many).
I’m pretty sure the writer meant something like this:
Now the text carries two correct meanings:
Be careful with your meanings and choose articles (or ‘s‘) with care!