IELTS Speaking: Idioms to Describe a Person

hello come in come in you're the first here actually you're the only one here but that's great listen it's great to see you i thought today um we could learn and practice some idioms to talk about people that's right as you know in ielts speaking it's really important to describe people and to know how to describe people so this could be really useful for you let's do it so as you may well know my name is keith what's your name by the way right nice cool name well um oh by the way do you know that i run live lessons on youtube every tuesday and thursday right you knew yes that's right 10 o'clock in the morning spanish time every tuesday and thursday keep coming i think there's lots of interesting stuff to learn there and if you want more resources yeah go and check out my website keithspeakingacademy.com there will be lots of new stuff coming there soon so great listen let's start talking about idioms what is an idiom exactly idioms are fixed phrases whose meaning is different from the individual words and often you can't guess the meaning by looking at the individual words right idiomatic so for example if i were to say i think i've just put my foot in it put your foot in what you mean you stood in some dog poo or something no i just told sarah her ex-boyfriend is going to get married i thought she knew but she didn't and now she's so upset so when we say something that can accidentally upset or make somebody angry we can say to put your foot in it i put my foot in it right or she put her foot in it right that's a simple idiom it's not about putting your foot anywhere that's not really the meaning there's a wider meaning to say something by accident that will upset somebody great now then do you know any idioms yeah great so you know we use idioms to get attention especially in journalism newspapers blogs and articles we often use it for humor we can make jokes with it or just to emphasize or add color to what we're trying to say in ielts speaking of course it is a part a key part of your vocabulary score is being able to use idiomatic vocabulary so it might be useful to know the different types of idioms that we can use as well let's have a look at those so there are many different kinds of idioms right there are similes metaphors euphemisms binomials and proverbs sayings there's lots of kinds and knowing what category an idiom comes from can sometimes help you to remember it and to use it so let's have a look first at the different types of idiom and then later we'll look in more detail specifically about idioms for people okay does that sound good great hunky-dory so types of idioms let's look at similes first do you know any examples of similes one of my favorite ones is um they are like two peas in a pod so similes are expressions comparing two things usually using like or as right so as i said my my two brothers i don't have two brothers right my brother and sister are like two peas in a pod which means they are very very similar right because they are similar to two peas which is the vegetable sitting in the pod which holds the vegetable or we can say um tom my friend he's very very clever he's as sharp as a knife as sharp as a knife so we're comparing tom to a knife being very very sharp and that means he's clever or intelligent so these are similes what about metaphors metaphors are similar do you know any metaphors so metaphors are similar but we're not really comparing them to something we are saying they are something and we're taking maybe a thing or an object and personifying it like making it like a person or making the person like the object right so for example tom is as sharp as a knife but harry harry at school right in my schoolmate he used to think two plus two was 22. [Music] now maybe creative but the teacher said duh he's not the sharpest tool in the shed so he's not the sharpest tool in the shed means he is stupid not clever so here we're saying he is not like but he is a tool in the shed the shed is the place where you keep all the tools for gardening right now let's look at binomials binomials are normally two words joined by a preposition and that's usually and right um things like fish and chips black and white the and becomes an black and white fish and chips okay do you know any binomials whoa lovely okay so binomials for people do you remember sherlock holmes he's very calm and collected right he's very he's as cool as a cucumber actually that's the simile remember but he's calm and collected means he's very very well very calm take another example my wife right do you know what she does to relax well she likes to surf the internet but me i'm not really into that i much prefer listening to music so we're quite different we're like chalk and cheese chalk and cheese chalk is for writing on the board cheese delicious with a bit of red wine that's for eating but we like chalk and cheese we're very different another binomial that said my wife is a very very helpful person and she will always be there to help come rain or shine come rain or shine here rain or shine another binomial but with ore come rain or shine she's very helpful come rain or shine another category is euphemisms and we use euphemisms um to avoid offending people or saying words we're not comfortable with right so imagine the scenario you're in the workplace with some colleagues some of them you know some of them you don't know very well and they say can you describe your boss i mean physically what what is she like and what you're thinking is well um she's short she's fat and she's old that's what you're thinking but you can't say that i mean that might offend some people um it's not very polite so you use a euphemism right instead of saying she's fat you'd say well you know she's she's big boned she's big boned she's getting on a bit right so she's old she's getting on a bit and a bit kind of humoristically and you know she's you could say she's vertically challenged vertically challenged she's short right you could say she's vertically challenged with a smile so here our euphemisms are also idioms in order to say things you may not be comfortable with great so next sayings and proverbs things like nothing ventured nothing gained where there's a will there's a way once bitten twice shy right now the challenge with proverbs and sayings is that they tend to have a bit of a message or a warning or advice right be careful there's also sometimes a moral message you know to be good you need to do this so they're often not appropriate for ielts speaking however there is a trick you can use right so if you've learned nothing ventured nothing gained which means if you don't take a risk you won't succeed right now you're not going to say to the examiner oh mr examiner i'm going to try very hard today because nothing ventured nothing gained it doesn't sound natural at all right but what you can say is my uncle who runs a restaurant right he believes nothing ventured nothing gained and so he set up his own business that's super simple and natural he believes nothing ventured nothing gained another saying right where there's a will there's a way meaning if you really want to do something you can do it you can find a way to do it right so again could you make an expression with he believes right we're getting there my example might be my uncle who runs a restaurant right he believes where there's a will there's a way so despite obstacles when he set up his business he managed to do it so you can see just say he believes or if you want to spice it up a little bit he's the kind of person who believes my uncle right he's the kind of person who believes nothing ventured nothing gained and he set up his own business could you give me an example nice so it's a nice trick to help us use proverbs in ielts speaking excellent okie cookie let's move on okie cookie okey coke is a hokey coke is a song i mean i mean okie dokie okie dokie excellent so listen we've looked at different kinds of um idioms right um let's now get into the nitty gritty and that's the detail let's have a look at some idioms to talk about people first of all we've got to be the spitting image of can you say that with me to be the spitting image of i am the spitting image of my father and it means i look exactly the same or very very similar to somebody next to be a loose cannon to be a loose cannon this is where somebody may talk and sometimes say bad things without realizing it right for example my friend alan right he's very talkative but he is a loose cannon sometimes he was down in the pub the other week with some colleagues two of them were irish and then alan starts telling an irish joke making fun of the irish he's a loose cannon right he didn't realize that he might be offending them next to get carried away and this is when somebody talks a lot without realizing they're talking too much allen is guilty of this when he's telling a story he gets carried away and he just carries on talking and talking and talking right it doesn't mean somebody picks him up and carries him away although that might be a good idea sometimes but he just goes on talking too much he gets carried away the next one to run in the family it runs in the family means that it's a characteristic of most of the people in that family so if a lot of people in the family are artistic or they're artists or painters and musicians you could say you know art runs in the family being an artist runs in the family the artistic spirit runs in the family and here you can change the for my your his right um the entrepreneurial spirit runs him in his family so you could use this when you're describing somebody and you're talking about a characteristic they have like for example being kind right jane is very very she's a very kind person she's very generous and you know being kind i think runs in her family so a lot of the other members of her family are also very kind nice next as bright as a button a nice simile as bright as a button and we contract the as to us as bright as a button bright meaning really clever or intelligent the button these are the buttons right and if they're shiny and they're clean they're bright as bright as a button means you're intelligent and clever right jane is as bright as a button who do you know that is as bright as a button give me a sentence nice and does it run in the family hmm right good another one is to think on your feet which means to think quickly to react and improvise okay so in ielts right the examiner can ask you surprise questions and you have to think on your feet right so my uncle tom who runs the restaurant right he's not called tom but let's call him tom for today my uncle tom can think on his feet he has to think on his feet because so many unexpected things happen in the restaurant what about you do you know somebody who can think on their feet very good if they can think on their thief if they can if if they can think on their feet they're probably as bright as a button lots of nice alliterations there right bright as a button think on your feet great pronunciation keep practicing next a bosom friend the bosom is just the chest part of the body so a bosom friend is a close friend right this is kind of like a metaphor sarah is a bosom friend right we go back a long way ah there's another to go back a long way doesn't mean you're physically going back all the way to manchester it means we have known each other for a long time we go back a long way sarah is a buzzing friend we go back a long way next to know someone like the back of your hand if you know somebody or something like the back of your hand it's assumed you know them very well right i know her like the back of my hand give me an example and this yes you can probably use for family members right i know my sister like the back of my hand or my university friend um alan yeah he's a bosom friend we go back a long way i know him like the back of my hand yes it's okay to cough in ielts speaking well not these days we have to have the mask right but let's move on to hit it off and that would connect probably to say to hit it off hit it off hit it off great we hit it off we hit it off as soon as we met great to hit it off means to get on very well right the first time i met alan we hit it off straight away nice to see eye to eye to see i to i just means to agree right so although i've known alan for donkey's years right we go back a long way he's a buzzing friend and although we hit it off when we first met we don't always see eye to eye don't always agree to see eye to eye next um a woman after my own heart or a man after my own heart right now this means that you are very similar and you admire the other person's thinking or philosophy or way of living right so i can say to a man oh you're a man after my own heart which means we do things and we think in a similar way and i like that it doesn't mean that i love you there's nothing about heart being in love it just means that we are similar and we think in a similar way right she's a woman after my own heart for example i have a friend right who's trying to teach her children to cook even though they're very very young i think that's fantastic i think we should get children into the kitchen very very young she's a woman after my own heart right we think in similar ways great next to be second to none second to none means to be the very best okay um so for example the food in spain is second to none it's really good it's the very best talking about people you can take any activity somebody does and say when it comes to cooking she's second to none when it comes to singing she's second to none when it comes to helping others he's second to none right their very best at that activity take the activity of playing football what could you say yes when it comes to playing football he's second to none starting a business when it comes to starting a business she is second to none right the very best at doing it great talking about helping people um we have the expression to go out on a limb now a limb is like the arm or the leg it's one part of the body that sticks out um arms and legs are our limbs so to go out on a limb means to to try really hard to help somebody and even to take a risk but to help somebody right so i will go out on a limb to help my best friend right if they need to borrow the car or they need to borrow some money i will try my best i will go out on a limb to help them to be highly strong to be highly strong means to be a little bit nervous and to be upset easily so somebody who is always nervous a little bit tense and easily upset right yep i don't like your shirt what do you mean you don't like my shirt it's a beautiful shirt highly strung very tense very easily upset right um i have a colleague well i used to have a colleague at work um every day i mean she was very highly strung people would say the smallest thing and if she thought it was negative she would fly off the handle fly off the handle get upset right she was very very highly strung so you had to be careful what you said next to her to be a know it all know it all as a noun ah know it all is a person who thinks they know everything right of course they don't nobody does but somebody who's maybe arrogant and thinks they know everything he's a know-it-all so slightly negative connotation right yeah you may have a boss like that who thinks you know they know everything and they tell you and like you know my boss he's a know-it-all so it's not a compliment it's a little bit of a criticism next she doesn't suffer fools gladly to suffer fools a fool is like a stupid person gladly means happily so to happily be with stupid people then it's not that so she's not happy about being with stupid people she doesn't suffer fools gladly so that means she will you know be quite strict and punish people who make mistakes this is very common in the business workplace where your boss can be quite strict and if people make mistakes they punish them and they're very very tough with them because they're not happy with stupid people of course it's not stupid they just made a mistake but the expression is he doesn't suffer fools gladly right so be careful with that boss because he's very strict and he will punish you right because he doesn't suffer fools gladly similarly he will come down on you like a ton of bricks metaphor a ton is a large weight bricks to build the house like a stone imagine a ton of bricks falling on you not nice right so when somebody is going to punish you quite strictly they come down on you like a ton of bricks so be careful with that boss because he doesn't suffer fools gladly and if you make a mistake he will come down on you like a ton of bricks and finally to be set in your ways that's somebody who doesn't like change so sometimes older people maybe booby bamas baby boomers whoops maybe baby boomers um are set in their ways right actually my you know my grandfather he's set in his ways he can't change who do you know that is set in their ways good and remember the pronoun will change so he is set in his ways i am set in my ways right great so here we have lots of idioms to describe people we're gonna finish up now with a little story introducing two people and let's see these idioms in action this is adam and this is adam's father adam is the spitting image of his father and as you can see they're both vertically challenged adam's very talkative but he's a loose cannon at times last week he was having a drink with some new colleagues two of whom were irish and he started telling jokes about irish people you know he really put his foot in it mind you his father right he does the same he's always putting his foot in it i think it must run in the family that said adam is as bright as a button right and he can think on his feet for example when he's in a meeting he can present ideas clearly without preparation now this is sarah she's a buzzing friend of adams they go back a long way and they hit it off as soon as they met each other adam knows sarah like the back of his hand mind you they don't always see eye to eye when it comes to helping out others sarah is second to none she's always ready to go out on a limb to help a friend if you need to borrow money or just someone to talk to as for her personality well she's not very expressive in fact she's as cool as a cucumber she works in a bank she's also a little highly strung she always seems to be in a rush shouting at people in her office and with the smallest negative comment from anyone she'll fly off the handle at times i feel sorry for her co-workers because she doesn't suffer fools gladly if you make a mistake she'll be down on you like a ton of bricks she really is set in her ways so as you can see adam and sarah they are like chalk and cheese so that's it listen it's been great being with you today thank you so much for coming along i've really enjoyed it i hope this can help you we should do this more often right do come along to the live lessons if you want to practice and i guess that's an important point right you've seen lots of idioms today but really the key is in the practice so if you need so what you need to do now is start practicing that if you're looking for a speaking partner why not pop along to my facebook group you can look for it in facebook keith's ielts mastermind community lots of people there very active and also looking for speaking partners and then you can start putting this into practice which is where you really step up your level thanks for joining me today do remember if you haven't yet um to subscribe to the channel turn on the notifications and i can't wait to see you next time in the meantime take care all the best now bye-bye

Channel: English Speaking Success

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Keywords: ielts speaking, ielts speaking success, ielts keith, ielts speaking 2020, ielts speaking idioms and phrases, ielts speaking idioms, ielts speaking idioms pdf, idioms, idioms and phrases, ielts idioms and phrases, ielts idioms pdf, idioms ielts speaking, idioms ielts speaking test, ielts speaking success idioms, keith speaking academy, idioms describing peoples, idioms to describe a person

Id: 9r27IUR0DHo

Length: 31min 2sec (1862 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020