A selection of English ESL idioms quiz printables

A short worksheet for advanced C1 to C2 levels on the subject of sleep. There is also a quiz for the first 5 expressions on the origins of the sayings. The answers are on the back.

Sleep Idioms 

A shorter version of my two longer worksheets of the same name. There is a mix-and-match, bingo, an article, some fce exam practice, and a debate. Below is a link to play an online quiz for those phrasal verbs on Kahoot. https://create.Kahoot.It/details/64b178be-7929-4f2b-8527-2451217734fb

Thinking and Deciding Phrasal Verbs - 10 Pages of Activities

A set of idioms related to accuracy and precision in some way. There is a small quiz on the origins of the expressions that can be done in teams. Answers at the back. I designed this for my team of engineers but I think it can be used for most contexts.

Idioms about Accuracy and Precision 

An updated worksheet about travelling and holidays. I have tried to include a few more modern expressions that textbooks just do not even mention at the moment. There is a quiz on the origins of 5 of the idioms and the answers are on the back as always. 

Idioms about Travel and Holidays

Warm-up questions
Vocabulary task before watching the video
True or False task based on the Ted Talk
Colour idioms matching exercise.
Colour quiz pair speaking activity

Colour idioms and TEDTalk lesson

16 idioms with go but nearly all having some kind of Business English context. There is the first quiz, and then a gapfill exercise. Fater that, there is an origins quiz that can be done in teams. Below is a link to the wordwall game which can be assigned as homework for consolidation. 

https://wordwall.net/resource/74731611

Business Idioms with "Go:" What does it mean?

Idioms with "on the ..." Only 10 but with some pictures to help them get their heads around the expressions. Can be done as a quiz. The answers are on the back. There will be a few more of these given the number of examples you all gave me the other week. Thanks to everybody that helped. Be aware, reference is made to alcohol and being "on the pull." Perhaps better for 16 years and over and neither for countries where alcohol is forbidden or casual relationships are frowned on.

On the ... Idioms mix-and-match

A whole bunch of idioms about change. Good for high levels groups. A short quiz on the origin of the first 5 idioms is also included as are the answers. I knocked this together to complement Objective Proficiency unit 1, by the way.

Idioms about Change

A worksheet designed to look at old words and expression that are ticky to look up in the dictionary because their meanings or uses are obsolete although the expressions still remain. There is a quiz on the origins of the expressions at the end that can be done in teams. The answers are on the back page and below is a video that can be used to introduce the subject. Not my video, by the way, but pretty good all the same: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyA3TMQ-MTk

Fossil Words and Expressions

Quite a sample of English idioms. If you want to show your students the very rudiments of the idiom kingdom, then this might be the way to go. This multiple choice quiz includes a variety of idioms with no common theme, but with a lot of room for pointing out the parallels and differences between English and your mother tongue. Good luck! :) 

Idioms - multiple choice quiz

Idioms with "on the ..." Number 2. Only 10 but with some pictures to help them get their heads around the expressions. Can be done as a quiz. The answers are on the back. There will be more coming soon. This one can be used with younger students, too.

"On the ..." 2 worksheet

A quiz of 16 idioms with the verb GO. The first page can be done as a team quiz for large classes. The second page is practice and consolidation. The third page has another quiz on the origins of the expressions. The answers are on the back. If you would prefer to do the first page as an online quiz, the link is contained in the document or you can copy and paste the link to a Kahoot quiz below. Some adult themes are mentioned so, if you teach children, you might want to change that part. 

 
https://create.kahoot.it/share/what-does-it-mean-idioms-with-get/e6fc5bea-b901-4fed-8fc5-2da39ec0fb4b

What does it Mean? Idioms with GET

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

56 Idioms quiz English ESL worksheets pdf & doc