Customer Reviews

Essential Idioms in English: Phrasal Verbs and Collocations

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It has been rated with 5 stars for the following reasons:
It is very easy to get familiarized with the idioms. The step-by-step approach is very convenient and it facilitates the learning process.
With respect to the previous edition more friendly and pleasant to read.
A very well edited book.Although the content remains substantially the same, we find outstanding improvements.

This edition is an improvement over the 1992 edition. The same idioms are presented, but the format is easier to read and includes red letters highlighting the idioms. Formerly some of the pages were printed on blue background making it hard to see. These pages are now white. Additional and more interesting exercises are included. The answer key it still there, saving the teacher time. This edition has divided the idioms into beginning, intermediate, and advanced. An excellent book for adults.

Hi, i bought the first edition in 1994. That one was really a good one. I liked the fact that it had 'german' among other languages at the end of the book. Today i got this new edition, and i was disappointed. They dropped the german, and I only see portuguese, spanish and french. And the page organization / format is worse, the first one was easier to read and locate each item. Shame on you, products are supposed to improve, not go backwards.

Essential Idioms in English is an upper-level treasury for the serious student who would venture to comingle in good American English. 39 lessons are subdivided into Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced sections, with the contexts moving up from more objective definitions in the Elementary section, to more ideational or psychological in the Intermediate/Advanced. 'Put on', for example, is presented in the Elementary section as to 'begin to use clothing,' but in the Intermediate, to 'perform a play/concert/etc.,' and then finally in the Advanced, to 'joke with someone.' Approximately 13 idioms appear in each lesson, with each one defined in often more than one context, and with a couple of sentences following. At the end of each 5-page lesson there appear a couple of exercises. In the Advanced section, a useful free-form review is available, which has proven to be good for a look back to previous lessons.
The best feature of this textbook is the heft in its overall sentence examples, plus the actual choices of particular idioms in its pages. Almost every idiom in this book (close to 475 in all) can be used in productive ways. The kind of language in this text is the language American undergrads use at university.
The curious debit for this book is that it has a lot of typos. It appears to have been not quite ready for 5th Edition printing, but nonetheless was rushed in. One of the exercises at the end of a Lesson, for example, needs two idiom answers that have not yet been taught, but which appear up ahead some fifty pages. (?)
But all in all, the sheer tonnage of weighty thoughtful and very relevant idioms in this textbook, plus the way in which they are presented, more than make up for the glitches one 'bumps into.' Professor Dixson has done well in this book.

I'm learning English and my tutor recommended this book

It's very useful and easy to understand

This idiom book is very recommnendable. especially students who are leaning English as ESL like me :D

I can see how this book would be good for ESL learning purposes, but there are far too few idioms in the book to justify the price. If you are trying to learn the language, you would be better off looking at one of the many idiom dictionaries on the market in this genre. They have more idioms for a lower price. Before you buy this one, take a look at those and see if they fit your needs better. I hope that helps!

Have Fun!

Todd Hagopian
President/CEO
Hagopian Institute
Author of the popular "Quote Junkie" book sereies and the brand new "Idiom Junkie" series

I own (and use as a teacher) the 2004 fifth edition of "Essential Idioms in English." What I like most about it is that 98% of the idioms/idiomatic phrases/phrasal verbs listed and explained are pretty much in everyday use in American conversational English. There is little here that is truly out of date and unworthy of a student's effort to learn. This is more than you can say about a lot of alternative publications.

On the other hand, new idioms are created about every 15 minutes in the online, youth and ethnic cultures of the U.S. and a lot of them come into wide usage pretty quickly. Most of this "hipper" language is not in "Essential Idioms..." And it's probably impossible for them to be included unless the book became an online publication updated every other day. Hey--not a bad idea. There are, of course, some pretty good websites that provide idiom resources.

Meanwhile, this is good basic resource that I would like to see updated soon.

I love this book! I've been working with Literacy Volunteers for a number of years and this is one of my favorites for intermediate and advanced students. I particularly like the fact that this book rejects the inclusion of slang, which is a whole different topic. Shortly I will order two additional books to give as gifts to two students when they complete the program this summer.

This is an excellent tool for making phrasal verbs part of your vocabulary. I have been using this book with my students for the last 5 years.

Schoolish set-up; questions with multiple answers, answer key at the back. Good for children at school, not if you wish to learn more quickly.