WHAT IS AN IDIOM?

AN IDIOM IS
A group of words that do not have the same meaning as the
meaning of the words on their own.
EXERCISE: Match the idiom to the correct meaning below.
Burning the midnight oil
Heard it through the grapevine
Piece of cake
Jump on the bandwagon
Kill two birds with one stone
Actions speak louder than words
A penny for your thoughts
Once in a blue moon
Hit the sack
Feeling a bit under the weather
Meanings:
(a) A way of asking what someone is thinking
(b)Doing something is better than just talking about it
(c) Working late into the night
(d)Feeling a little sick
(e) To hear rumours/gossip about something or someone
(f) Go to bed
(g)Join a popular trend or activity
(h)Accomplish two different things at the same time
(i) Something that happens very rarely
(j) An easy task

Complete the letter below using the correct idioms.

Dear Farah,
How are you? I (1) _____________________________________ that you
have been (2) _______________________________________ lately due to stress
from

the

upcoming

PT3

examination.

hope

you

are

not

(3)

____________________________________ too often. Please take care of yourself

and I hope you will recover soon.

Anyway, I would like to tell you about what happened in my school

yesterday. I attended a talk about environmental conservation and I learnt
some interesting things that I would like to share with you. Hopefully you
will put these tips to good use because we all know that (4)
______________________________________________.
Firstly, the main topic of the talk was about the 3Rs Reduce, Reuse
and Recycle. Reduce means we should cut down on the materials that we
use in everyday life. For example, we can cut down on the use of plastic
bags if we bring our own shopping bags made of cloth. I think this will be
(5) _________________________________ for you since you have a large
collection of handy cloth bags around your house.
Secondly, reuse means that we should not throw away items that be
used for another purpose. To illustrate, did you know that empty plastic
bottles can be re-used as clothes hangers or dumb-bells? You can (6)
__________________________________________ by reducing waste and putting
all those empty plastic bottles to good use. Ive also heard that using
plastic bottles to make decorative items is quite popular as well, and
being

an

art-lover

Im

quite

tempted

to

(7)

_____________________________________.
Lastly, we can recycle materials made of paper, aluminium and
glass. At the same time, we should start separating our waste into
categories and send them to recycling centres. As for me, I sell my old
newspapers to the neighbourhood newspaper collectors.
I

shall

end

my

________________________.

letter
I

here

would

as
love

Im

about
to

to

give

(8)
(9)

_____________________________________________ on how we can help to

protect our environment. Please send my regards to your parents and I
hope to hear from you soon.
Your cousin,
Aisyah