1-THOMSON A Guide to Idioms
To make this guide as easy to use as possible, idioms are listed according to a strict ordering system. Under this system, any idiom that you are looking for which contains a noun will be found under the first noun that occurs within it. So make someone’s blood boil will be found under blood. I f there is no noun in the idiom, look for the first verb.
For example not much to look at will be found under look. If there is no noun or verb in the idiom that you are looking for, it will be found at the first adjective. An example of this kind of idiom would be alive and kicking, which will be found under alive. I f there is no noun, verb, or adjective, look for the first adverb. So anywhere from, will be found under anywhere.
There is one notable exception to this rule. This is that idioms of the type happy as a clam, or cool as a cucumber, although they contain a noun, will always be found under the first adjective. This is because there are often several possible nouns which can go with the adjective, and so it is more useful to see them grouped together. This guide also includes Idioms Study panels which present a variety of idioms that can be used in particular situations.
Turn to the panel on anger and you will find sections called being angry, suddenly becoming angry, making some one angry, and speaking angrily to someone. These will help you to express anger in many different ways.
2-THOMSON A Guide to Phrasal Verbs
Each phrasal verb has its own entry with a full-sentence definition, which allows phrasal verbs to be shown in their correct grammatical context. Information is also given on which register or level of language the phrasal verb belongs to.
Synonyms or near-synonyms are shown at the end of definitions, as are cross-references to other phrasal verbs if they are useful for comparison. You will also find examples of how phrasal verbs are actually used, all based on corpus material. Learners may find phrasal verbs difficult to use because they are not sure where to put the adverbial particle. Several different positions may be possible, or there may just be one fixed position. Both full-sentence definitions and examples show where the adverbial particle can go.
This guide also includes a section of Language Study panels on the adverbial particles used to form phrasal verbs. These give the broad range of meanings th a t each particle has, and show which of the particles are used by native speakers to form new phrasal verbs. These panels will help you to develop your knowledge of how phrasal verbs are formed and how they function in English. They also contain additional phrasal verbs to those found in the dictionary.
