A Collection of English Idioms and

Expressions 2

On the tip of my

tongue

Describing the

frustration you feel

when you just can’t

quite remember something.

Her name is on the tip of my tongue

but I just can’t

remember it.

Step up to the plate

To step up to the

plate means to

get prepared to act or decide. It

comes from the sport of

baseball.

Bob needs to step up

to the plate and

start running his department effectively

As busy as a bee

English speaking cultures consider

bees to be busy and

hard working. This is a simple

metaphor to

describe a hard

working person.

Sarah is as busy as a bee during the

school holidays looking after her

kids along with doing

all her other

activities.

What comes around, goes around

Typically English speakers will use this expression as a complete sentence to indicate their feelings

towards the justice (or injustice) of a situation

What comes around, goes around

For example, a footballer fakes an injury and gets an opponent sent off. In the next match an opposing player fakes an injury

and now the first footballer is sent off!

Driving me up

the wall!

Something drives you up the wall when it is

really annoying.

Turn the music

down! It’s driving

me up the wall!

On the right track

You are on the right track

when you are

making progress.

The new manager is clearly

on the right

track to keep the

team from being

relegated.

That sinking feeling

That sinking feeling is the

horrible feeling you get

that things are not going to go well.

Going into halftime

three goals

behind, the team had that sinking feeling that this was not going to be their

day.

Banging your head

against the wall

Expresses the frustration you feel when you have to do or

say something over and over

again.

John felt like banging his head against the wall after

he tried following the

instructions for operating his

VCR.

At snail’s pace

Snails are very slow

moving, so anything

that is going at snail’s pace is making

very slow progress.

Progress on

developing our new app is

going at snail’s pace.

Going round and round in circles

Going round and round in circles

expresses the speaker’s

frustration at the lack of progress

or the inability of a group to make a

decision.

We met to decide where to hold this

year’s sales conference but the group just

kept going round and round in circles and

eventually nothing was decided on.

Ready to test yourself?

To get ready to decideAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To get ready to decideAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To be very annoyed by somethingAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To be very annoyed by somethingAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To realise things are not going wellAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To realise things are not going wellAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To express a sense of justiceAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

To express a sense of justiceAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Being unable to decideAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Being unable to decideAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

The frustration of not being able to do something or having to do it repeatedly

As busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

The frustration of not being able to do something or having to do it repeatedly

As busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Very busyAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Very busyAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Not being able to rememberAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Not being able to rememberAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

When progress is slowAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

When progress is slowAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Confident you are making progressAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Confident you are making progressAs busy as a beeAt snail’s paceBanging your head against the wallDriving me up the wallGoing round and round in circles

On the right trackOn the tip of my tongueStep up to the plateThat sinking feelingWhat comes around goes around

Big Tick is a small developer of iPhone apps which make learning English a little easier. Find us on: iTunesFacebookGoogle+TwitterSino Weibo