12 English Phrasal Verbs and Idioms for Learning & Improving 4 skills | Lesson 4 – Intermediate Level

• Ex: On our trip to Colorado, one of the car tires blew out when it hit a large hole in the road.
• Ex: Little Joey wasn’t able to blow all the candles out, so his big sister helped him

This idiom is always used in a clause beginning with what.

• Ex: What has become of my pencil? I had it ten minutes ago, but now I can’t find it.
• Ex: I wondered what became of you. I looked around the shopping center for two hours, but I couldn’t find you at all.

The second definition of this idiom is impolite in formal situations.

• Ex: During the hurricane, all the store owners shut their shops up.
• Ex: Bob’s sister told him to shut up and not say anything more about it.
• Ex: The student got into big trouble for telling his teacher to shut up.

• Ex: Curtis has got a bad cold. He’s sneezing and coughing a lot.
• Ex: How much money have you got with you right now?

• Ex: She has got to go to Chicago today to sign the contract papers.
• Ex: I have to be back home by two o’clock or my wife will feel ill at ease.

• Ex: Frieda works so fast that no one in the office can keep up with her.
• Ex: You’ll have to walk more slowly. I can’t keep up with you.

• Ex: Democracies provide people many freedoms and privileges. On the other hand, democracies suffer many serious problems such as crime and unemployment.
• Ex: My sister takes after my father in appearance. On the other hand, I take after my mother.

• Ex: Please turn down the radio for me. It’s too loud while I’m studying.
• Ex: Laverne wanted to join the military but the recruiting officer turned her application down because Laverne is hard of hearing in one ear.

• Ex: Let’s go fifty-fifty on the cost of a new rug for our apartment.
• Ex: The political candidate has a fifty-fifty chance of winning the election

• Ex: It is best to break a new car in by driving it slowly for the first few hundred miles.
• Ex: While Carrie and I were talking, Bill broke in to tell me about a telephone call.
• Ex: Peter, it’s very impolite to cut in like that while others are speaking.

Ex: It seems that Charles will never listen to our advice. I suppose it’s a lost cause.

Ex: The police searched for the missing girl for two weeks, but finally gave it up as a lost cause. Ex: Children who have committed several crimes as teenagers and show no sorrow about their actions are generally lost causes

• Ex: Above all, don’t mention the matter to Gerard; he’s the last person we should tell.
• Ex: Sheila does well in all her school subjects, but above all in mathematics. Her math scores are always over 95 percent.