Top 100 Idioms

Hi, this is Karol Andersson, class instructor. I'm going to get this blog project started by telling you about some websites and webpages that I think are especially useful for learning idiomatic English.

First of all, as linguist, I'm interested in language data and frequency lists. Therefore, I especially like corpora, which are sets of authentic texts that linguists use to analyze how often people use expressions such as idioms. This is the reason I like the webpage, "The 100 Most Frequently Used Idioms."

Learning idioms may seem like an overwhelming task, but 100 idioms is a finite and attainable number of new expressions to learn. In addition, the idioms are arranged in alphabetical order, so they are very easy to find.

I am still looking for a site that arranges the idioms in order of frequency of use. I'd like to know what the most common idiom in the English language is, wouldn't you?

"The 100 Most Frequently Use Idioms" is part of The Idiom Connection, an entire website devoted to idioms! It contains good articles that define and discuss idioms, phrasal verbs and slang expressions. And best of all, there are lists that divide the idioms into categories, such as sports, animals or money expressions.

I'm surprised, however, that there is no section about shipping and sailing idioms, since I've been noticing lately that those are very common in English. Some examples are: "all in the same boat," "take the wind out of his sails," "get on board," and many more.

All in all, I would recommend The Idiom Connection and "The 100 Most Frequently Used Idioms" to students as useful resources for learning about idioms.