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Idioms, slang & phrasal verbs for English learners — daily. Teaching English on X since 2009. 🇬🇧 #ESL #TEFL

England, United Kingdom
Joined April 2009
Desert or dessert? 🐪🍨 A desert is sand. A dessert is sweet. Memory trick: dessert has two S’s, because you always want seconds. Which pair of words do you always mix up? 👇
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Idiom of the day 🍰 “You can’t have your cake and eat it”: you can’t have both. “I want to be healthy, but I also want the biscuits. You can’t have your cake and eat it.” Why? Here, “have” means “keep”. Once it’s eaten, it’s gone. #LearnEnglish
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Phrasal verb of the day 🧣 “Wrap up”: to put on lots of warm clothes. “Mum said ‘wrap up warm’. I now have three scarves and no peripheral vision.” Also: to cover a present, or to finish a meeting. Always “wrap it up”, never “wrap up it”. #LearnEnglish
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Words that outlived their objects 🏛️ “Hang up”: the phone’s receiver hung on a hook “Dial”: old phones had a round dial “CC”: short for carbon copy, from carbon paper “Rewind”: tape was wound back onto a reel Which one surprised you? 👇
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Idiom of the day 🎆 “A damp squib”: something exciting that turned out to be a big disappointment. “The ‘big announcement’ at work was a damp squib. It was a new kettle.” Careful: it’s squib, not squid. 🦑 Bonfire Night is Thursday. Bring a brolly. #LearnEnglish
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What British people say v what they might mean 🇬🇧 “Quite good.” = Needs more work. “Interesting idea.” = Bad idea. “I’ll bear it in mind.” = Forgotten already. “With respect...” = You’re wrong. Tone matters. Which one have you heard? 👇
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Idiom of the day 🐇 “Go down a rabbit hole”: to get lost exploring a topic for hours. “I looked up one train time and went down a rabbit hole about bridges. That was Tuesday.” In meetings: “Let’s not go down that rabbit hole” = save it for later. #LearnEnglish
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Idiom of the day ☕ “Fake it till you make it”: to act confident until you really are. “Eleven years in this job and I’m still faking it till I make it.” Faking confidence is fine. Faking qualifications is just lying. #LearnEnglish
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Idiom of the day 🃏 “An ace up your sleeve”: a secret advantage that you keep hidden until you need it. “The kids think bedtime is negotiable. I have an ace up my sleeve: the Wi-Fi password.” Americans say “an ace in the hole”. #LearnEnglish
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Idiom of the day 👻 “A ghost town”: a very empty, quiet place that used to be busy. “This seaside town in January is a ghost town. Even the seagulls have gone to Spain.” Halloween is on Saturday. Your street will be anything but a ghost town. 🎃 #LearnEnglish
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