Idioms on the Exam
Why are idioms important for your English exams?
Idioms are the expressions that are used in day-to-day informal English.
Understanding these expressions is an important part of learning how to speak and write in English like a native speaker.
The English exams assess your ability to use English at the proficiency level – in other words, like a native speaker – so idioms or expressions are important for the exam for this reason.
The exams cover idiom usage in the vocabulary and reading parts of each test.
You will also show that you have a higher level of English language ability if you use these expressions during your interview or speaking test.
Idiom example
The word “idiom” means figure of speech.
The words in an idiom do not have their usual meaning because idioms are metaphorical expressions.
Look at this example conversation in American English:
Speaker 1: I have just won $100,000!
Speaker 2: You’re pulling my leg!
Okay, the first speaker hasn’t touched the other speaker’s legs.
In other words, speaker 2 has just used an idiom that means “I don’t believe it. You must be joking!”
Idiomatic expressions in our downloads
To help enhance your exam performance, our instantly downloadable workbook includes all of the idioms that have appeared most frequently on past exams.
These expressions are an important part of your English language skills. In fact, you will need idioms in order to speak fluently in the American English language.
However, with regard to these expressions in particular, you need to know that knowledge of idioms is included in the vocabulary part of the Michigan G-V-R (grammar, vocabulary, and reading) exam.
Of course, all of the expressions that you need for your test are also covered in our workbook download.
For more information on our Michigan workbook download, visit the Workbook Page.
Please also visit our example word list and listening sample.