An idiom is a phrase whose meaning isn't obvious from the individual words — you have to know it as a whole ("it's raining cats and dogs" doesn't literally mean animals are falling from the sky; it means it's raining heavily). Idioms are a normal part of everyday English, and recognising them helps you understand conversations, books and shows without getting confused by the literal (wrong) meaning.
Example
"Break a leg!" doesn't mean literally injure yourself — it's an idiom meaning "good luck", often said before a performance.
Key terms
Idiom:
A phrase whose meaning isn't obvious from its individual words.
Figure of speech:
An expression used in a non-literal, imaginative way.
Questions
1. An idiom is:
A phrase whose meaning is obvious from each word
A phrase whose meaning isn't obvious from the individual words
A type of punctuation
Always a fact
2. "It's raining cats and dogs" means:
Animals are literally falling
It is raining heavily
It is sunny
Nothing at all
3. "Break a leg" said before a performance means:
Literally hurt your leg
Good luck
Stop performing
Sit down
4. Idioms are:
Never used in everyday English
A normal part of everyday English
Only found in textbooks
A type of full stop
5. Understanding idioms mainly helps you:
Take every phrase literally
Understand conversations, books and shows more accurately
Avoid reading altogether
Replace all punctuation
6. Which of these is an idiom?
The sky is blue.
Spill the beans.
Water boils at 100°C.
The dog is brown.
7. "Spill the beans" means:
Literally drop beans
Reveal a secret
Cook dinner
Clean the floor
8. "Under the weather" is an idiom meaning:
Standing outside
Feeling unwell
Very happy
Extremely cold
9. "Hit the books" is an idiom meaning:
Literally hit a book
Study hard
Throw a book
Read very slowly
10. If you took "break a leg" completely literally, you would likely:
Understand the speaker perfectly
Misunderstand the speaker's real meaning
Always be correct
Learn a fact
11. Idioms are best understood by:
Translating each word separately
Learning the whole phrase's accepted meaning
Ignoring them completely
Looking only at punctuation
12. "Piece of cake" as an idiom means:
A dessert
Something very easy
Something difficult
A type of punctuation
13. Which sentence uses an idiom correctly?
That test was a piece of cake — I finished early.
I ate a piece of cake — I finished early.
The cake was a piece — I finished early.
None of these use an idiom.
14. Idioms can be tricky for new English learners mainly because:
Every word is used in its normal, literal sense
The literal meaning of the words differs from the actual, accepted meaning
They are never used in speech
They always rhyme
15. "The ball is in your court" as an idiom most likely means:
Literally, there is a ball nearby
It's now your turn to make a decision or take action
You should play sport
You are in trouble
16. A writer using "she let the cat out of the bag" is using an idiom to mean:
She released a pet
She accidentally revealed a secret
She went shopping
She cleaned her house
17. Why might idioms be difficult to understand purely through context clues alone?
Context clues always reveal an idiom's meaning instantly
Idioms often require cultural or prior knowledge of the fixed phrase
Idioms never appear in real texts
Idioms are always explained directly afterward
18. "Once in a blue moon" is an idiom meaning:
Every single day
Very rarely
Every month
Never at all
19. Recognising an idiom in a text (rather than reading it literally) mainly helps a reader:
Correctly understand the writer's intended meaning
Confuse themselves further
Avoid understanding tone
Replace vocabulary study
20. Which best explains why idioms exist and persist in a language?
They are randomly generated by dictionaries
They become widely understood shorthand for an idea, passed on through common usage
They are required by grammar rules
They replace the need for real words
Answer key (parent copy)
1. A phrase whose meaning isn't obvious from the individual words
2. It is raining heavily
3. Good luck
4. A normal part of everyday English
5. Understand conversations, books and shows more accurately
6. Spill the beans.
7. Reveal a secret
8. Feeling unwell
9. Study hard
10. Misunderstand the speaker's real meaning
11. Learning the whole phrase's accepted meaning
12. Something very easy
13. That test was a piece of cake — I finished early.
14. The literal meaning of the words differs from the actual, accepted meaning
15. It's now your turn to make a decision or take action
16. She accidentally revealed a secret
17. Idioms often require cultural or prior knowledge of the fixed phrase
18. Very rarely
19. Correctly understand the writer's intended meaning
20. They become widely understood shorthand for an idea, passed on through common usage