Work on your Idioms – Book Review

Work on your Idioms

by Sandra Anderson & Cheryl Pelteret

Before flying to Bangkok for the first time, I didn't expect at all that I would bring English treasures home from the Thai capital. The 47th National Book Fair & Bangkok International Book Fair 2019, at which I exhumed this idiom book as well as an illustrated dictionary, was definitely a highlight of my first-ever trip to Mario Maurer's homeland (click here to read about some of my experiences there). If you are trying to improve your vocabulary and in search of an idiom book, go get Work on your Idioms by Sandra Anderson & Cheryl Pelteret and here's why:

First of all, Work on your Idioms by Sandra Anderson & Cheryl Pelteret focuses on over 300 most commonly used idioms, those which you are highly likely to encounter in life. These idioms are grouped into 25 units based on their meanings or functions. For example, unit 1 deals with idioms related to knowledge and understanding, whilst unit 15 covers idioms that you can use to talk about success and failure. One of the most incredible features of this book is that the definitions are written in very simple English, which guarantees easy absorption and understanding of the idioms. Each entry is also accompanied with at least one example which will help you internalize the idiom in question. Not enough? Every unit is equipped with two-page exercises (with an answer key) to reinforce your learning -- the exercises I've done have been really helpful for me. This book is also peppered with Note sections, which give you more information about certain idioms. For instance, you can learn about the origins or other varieties of a particular idiom.

It seems too good to be true but this book really goes the extra mile. At the back of book, you can find three appendices. The first one gives ideas on how to understand idioms easily, the second one provides tips for learning idioms effectively (which I think can be applied more generally), and the third one covers the American versions of some of the idioms in the book (Collins is a publisher from the UK; thus, the contents of this book are British English-oriented).

All in all, Work on your Idioms is an absolute must-read if you need a vocabulary booster, particularly when it comes to idioms. Believe me, you will have a whale of a time reading this amazing book and make headway towards your vocab-enriching goal! This is straight from the horse's mouth. 😉

To read my review of its sibling Work on your Phrasal Verbs, click here.

Have you read Work on your Idioms? What is your opinion of this book? Share what you think in the comment section below!