Idioms And Phrasal Verbs: Intermediate, by Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman

A previous writer I read once compared writing with sex work by saying one began doing both for oneself, then for one’s friends, and finally for money. The same dynamic, I suppose, can apply to reading, in that one can read for oneself, one can read for one’s friends, and one can read for money, all of which have certainly been motivations I have had for reading one thing or another over the course of my life. All of this is merely context to point out that this book is one that I read because a dear friend of mine asked me to do so. While I am not the hardest person to persuade to read a book, I do have a pretty busy reading schedule so it’s not always easy for me to finish the books that my friends want me to read–presumably so that I can share my ideas about their contents and recommend them as someone who reads faster than most people do. This is a book that is not particularly demanding to read and while its usefulness is limited when it comes to the more academic writing that one must do for the writing section of the IELTS, it is certainly appropriate in helping the reader to gain knowledge of idioms that are useful for the speaking section of it and other tests.

This is a short book at less than 200 pages, and it organizes its subject matter into larger units and then smaller ones connected by theme. So, for example, after the authors list their abbreviations in the book and give a short introduction, the first section of the book consists of seven shorter units that serve as an introduction to idioms and phrasal verbs. After this, there are six units that are connected to phrases about thinking, learning and knowledge. This is followed by nine units on idioms and phrasal verbs related to communicating with people, and eight more units that deal with relationships with others (including one, strangely enough, on astrology). After this, another eight units follow that deal with everyday experience like talking about work, shopping, and the weather. This is followed by five units that address idioms and phrasal verbs related to outdoor activities and being out and about more generally. The next nine units after this are connected by being about more abstract concepts, like damage and repair, likes and dislikes, and wants and needs. The final eight units are connected by being more specifically about grammar. All of these various sections include paragraphs or dialogue that have idioms and phrasal verbs highlighted, along with exercises that include matching, fill in the blank, correction, or crossword puzzles. In addition to that, every section contains a variety of further exercises for the units within them. After these are done there are some idioms presented with interesting histories, an answer key for the units as well as the section reviews, a list of spotlight boxes, word list of all the idioms and phrasal verbs used in the book, as well as a list of key words.

There are a few qualities that make this book pretty worthwhile as a relatively short guide to idioms and phrasal verbs. For one, this book contains a lot of basic idioms that are so basic that many English users (like me, I must admit) have long since forgotten, if we ever knew, that they were idioms in the first place. In addition to this, the combination of idioms and phrasal verbs (two elements of English that are often tricky for those learning it as a second language), can be combined to give a fair amount of content far more easily than each of them being dealt with alone. If one is looking, for example, for a single paragraph to learn, it is useful that this one provides examples of both idioms and phrasal verbs to give the reader more content in the same amount of space, and also frequently both connected through common themes and meaning. If the conversations and exercises seem a bit basic, it should at least be accessible to many English learners and will certainly allow them to get a strong base of lexical resource to demonstrate their awareness of English words and phrases that are in common and general use.