15 Advanced Idioms for IELTS Speaking

- Idioms if used correctly can give a big boost

to your IELTS speaking score.

Here are 15 less common ones

that can help you impress the IELTS examiner.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from English Speaking Success

and the website, the Keith Speaking Academy.

So in this video,

I will explain to you how idioms can be easy to learn,

what to avoid doing with idioms,

and I'll give you 15 advanced idioms

that will help you become a more confident

and natural speaker of English.

Oh yes, and there's a PDF you can click

in the description below to get all of these idioms

and practise.

Now, idioms can be difficult for students,

but in this video,

I want to make them fun and easy for you.

Easy for you, well,

I've done that by choosing idioms

that are made up of words you probably know

although you probably don't know the meaning

of the whole phrase.

And fun, because well,

learning English and preparing

for IELTS can be and should be fun.

Now the problem for many students is,

and maybe this is you,

is they don't know which idioms to use.

Sometimes they use outdated idioms like this one,

oh look at the weather.

It's raining cats and dogs.

And some students just use too many in the test

and they don't sound natural.

So you want to avoid all of that.

The secret is to use just a few,

use less common ones, and use them well.

I say less common ones

because if you look at the Band Descriptors,

which the examiner uses to evaluate you,

you need less common idiomatic expressions

to get a Band 7 or above.

To use them correctly, I'll be upfront,

this video is probably not enough.

You need to go, take them,

practise them with a teacher or with other students

and get feedback from the other people to see

if you're using them correctly or not.

Okay. So let's get cracking.

15 advanced idioms to help you impress the IELTS examiner.

So, first of all,

in IELTS speaking sometimes we have to talk

about the future, right?

So here are three idioms we can use for that.

To be on the cards, something is very likely.

To be up in the air, something is uncertain.

To be in the bag, to be certain that you will get

or achieve something.

Notice for all of these things,

it's not, "I am on the cards" or "I'm in the bag".

No, no, no, no.

It's "Something is on the cards"

or "Something is in the bag", right?

Let's look at some examples.

Will I travel abroad more in the future?

Yes, I think it's on the cards,

mainly because I love discovering new cultures

and meeting new people.

So notice here, we use it to reply directly to a question.

I think it's on the cards.

Sometimes these expressions we also put

at the end of a phrase.

So the beginning of the sentence will give the context

and then we just finish with the idiom, right.

For example, well,

I have no idea who will win the next election.

It's up in the air.

Or, I think Jack will be the next president.

Well, at least I think it's on the cards.

My interview went really well.

I think my promotion is in the bag.

This case something is in the bag,

your promotion or the job, or maybe the football game.

It's in the bag.

If your team are winning five nil, then you could say,

yeah, this game is in the bag.

It's certain you're going to win.

Okay, next.

Let's talk about activities that are easy

or difficult to do.

First idiomatic expression, to be a big ask.

No, ask.

Yeah, not ASS. (chuckles)

To be a big ass. (mimics fart sound)

To be a big ass is to be an idiot.

This is to be a big ASK

As in to ask a question, right?

You can see, you probably know each word

but the whole meaning means it's difficult to do

and it will need some sacrifice, okay?

For example, the government in my country wants

to be carbon neutral by 2030.

I think that's a big ask, right?

That's difficult.

We'll need a lot of sacrifice.

Of course, to be carbon neutral means

that the carbon emissions we are putting

out will be the same as those that we remove, right.

There's that balance.

You cannot use to be a big ask

just to say something is difficult.

So you can't say, well, playing football is a big ask.

No, playing football is difficult,

maybe.

You could say winning the World Cup is a big ask, right?

'cause that's difficult, there's a lot of practise

and sacrifice needed to do it.

Okay. The opposite, to be easy.

We can say to be a walk in the park.

Simple.

Or to be a breeze.

A breeze is a gust of wind (mimics wind)

that moves smoothly and easily.

So something is a breeze, it's easy to do, right?

I could say speaking, English is a breeze for me

or giving a five minute presentation is a walk

in the park for me.

I find it easy, right. Great.

However, I would say giving a presentation in Chinese,

ooh, that's not a walk in the park.

That is a big ask.

Got it? Great.

Let's move on.

Next, sometimes in IELTS speaking, you are asked if somebody

or the government should do something

or do you agree this is a good idea?

For example, right, the examiner may ask,

should the government ban mobile phones in schools?

Do you agree with this idea?

You could say,

no, I reckon the government is barking up the wrong tree,

this approach is totally wrong.

Right.

The expression, the idiom,

is to be barking up the wrong tree.

You can imagine a dog trying to chase a cat

but if it's the wrong tree, they're going the wrong way.

Right?

So it means to have the wrong idea

or the wrong approach.

And notice, it's to be barking.

It must be the present continuous.

You are barking up the wrong tree.

You can't say you bark up the wrong tree.

No. Always present continuous, right?

Here's another idiom for the same question.

So should the government ban mobile phones in schools?

Yes, I reckon the government has hit the nail on the head.

Banning mobile phones would help education no end.

So, the idiom is to hit the nail on the head.

You can imagine, right?

You've got a nail,

hit it on the head is to get it absolutely right.

To be spot on, right.

So if you agree with an idea or an approach,

you can say, yes, you have hit the nail on the head

or the government has hit the nail on the head.

And I've just noticed another idiom in there, no end.

This will help education

or this will improve education no end.

"No end" isn't literally infinite, it means a lot, right?

If you practise English every day,

that will help your speaking no end.

A lot.

Learn these idioms that will help your IELTS score no end.

A lot.

Now, a quick tip about these idioms.

What sometimes happens, this is a common mistake,

is that students try to put the idioms

in different tenses and connect ideas

and say something like, the government has hit the nail

on the head with the mobile phones in education problem.

And it gets complicated

and you are more likely to make grammatical mistakes.

Keep it simple.

My suggestion, or my tip, is to use the idiom

in a separate clause or a separate sentence.

Typically give kind of a context

or an explanation in the first sentence,

and then the idiom in the second one, right?

Well, with the issue of banning mobile phones in schools,

I think the government has hit the nail on the head.

Bam, your idiom in a separate clause,

you're less likely to make grammatical mistakes.

Great. Let's move on.

Now, here's a nice little idiom

when the examiner asks you, and is that important?

The idiom is, not the be-all and end-all.

Which means something is important

but it's not the only important thing.

For example, is money important to you?

Well it's not the be-all and end-all,

there are more important things in life as well,

right, like family and friends.

Or, do you think computers are important in schools?

Well, yes but, they're not the be-all and end-all,

I mean the quality of the teaching is probably

just as important as the equipment in the schools.

And here's another common question the examiner asks,

do you know a lot about cooking?

Do you know a lot about football?

Do you know a lot about blah, blah, blah, blah?

And what do you say?

Yes, I do. No, not really.

Or use one of these idioms.

Yeah, I'm really clued up on football,

I know lots about it.

Well, not much, but my brother is really clued up

on cooking.

He is, like, the next MasterChef.

So, to be clued up on something is to know a lot about it.

Lovely expression.

I'm clued upon that.

Or you are not clued up on that.

You can also say, I am clueless,

to say you know nothing about it, right?

Do you know a lot about football?

Well, to be honest, I'm clueless about football.

I don't even know who is winning the league at the moment.

I'll tell you what I'm clueless about.

I am clueless about cars.

When people say, what kind of car have you got?

I say a blue one. (laughs)

I'm clueless about cars.

Notice the prepositions, right?

Get this right.

I'm clued up on something, but I'm clueless about something.

Got it? Great.

Tell me, what are you clued up on?

Now we can't finish this video without looking at the topic

of talking about people, whether you talk about friends

or family or part two question in IELTS speaking.

Describe a person who, dim, dim, dumb, dumb, dumb, right?

So here are a couple of idioms you could use.

First of all, to give your all.

To give your all,

which means to do your best.

To not put a foot wrong.

To not put a foot wrong, to not make any mistakes.

So for example,

maybe you want to talk about a person you admire.

You might say, I admire my mother

because she always gives her all.

Or I admire my father because he always gave his all, right.

Okay, and it means to try their best.

This is the kind of idiom that you probably

when you hear it, you can probably guess the meaning, right?

She gives her all.

But when you come to speak, you may say she tries her best.

That's easier to say.

But she gives her all just takes you up a level.

I dunno if advanced is the right word,

but it's a little bit more sophisticated,

slightly more natural.

It's a nice expression.

Now, not to put a foot wrong,

we often use this with never, right?

For example, he never puts a foot wrong.

He never makes a mistake, right?

My brother, right, was really careful at school.

He never put a foot wrong.

He studied well, he aced all his exams,

and he just never got into trouble. (giggles)

Clever boy.

Notice that we can change the tense, right?

He never puts a foot wrong

or he never put a foot wrong.

Foot is always singular.

And notice what I mentioned earlier,

that I try and use it in a separate clause, right?

He was very clever at school.

He never put a foot wrong.

It's kind of isolated.

So you're less likely to make mistakes.

And a final idiomatic expression,

one that I really like, is to be a hard act to follow.

And this comes from the idea of theatre.

When somebody performs very well,

it's gonna be hard to do as well as that person.

To be a hard act to follow.

So it's difficult

for anyone else to do as well as that person.

For example, the queen was a wonderful person.

She's going to be a hard act to follow.

So there you have it. 15 advanced idioms.

Keep practising them until you become comfortable.

Remember, it takes time, but step by step,

you will move from being a struggling English student

to being a confident English speaker.

And that's my goal to help you reach that position.

If you've enjoyed the video,

please do subscribe and turn on the notifications.

If you want more help to becoming a confident speaker

of English and to prepare the IELTS speaking test,

check out my online course,

IELTS Speaking Success; Get a Band 7+ Gold.

It helps you with exam strategy,

building up your use of idioms through model answers,

through recorded videos,

private group, and two live lessons a month.

There's lots there. Go and check it out.

The link is down below in the description.

Oh, and do remember, also pick up the PDF

of today's idioms so you can keep practising

to become that confident and natural English speaker.

Listen my friend, thank you so much

for watching the video today.

I hope you enjoyed it

and I am looking forward to seeing you in the next video

just around the corner.

Take care, my friend. Bye bye.

(upbeat music)