Posted by Hey guys!
Everybody knows the importance of learning some phrasal verbs, idioms and colloquial expressions, especially when you live in a foreign country. We always learn a lot of them by communicating with native speakers or watching movies and series. In this post, you learn some phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions to communicate in a more natural way when speaking English in a foreign country.
* on the bench – a player who is on the bench for a match is a substitute.
The players on the bench were excited to play but the coach didn’t do any substitutions.
* gamble on sth/sb – take a risk with sth/sb, hoping you will be successfull.
I’ll gamble on my team again for this championship.
* pay off – be successful and bring good results.
The team has made a huge effort to improve their skills and it paid off as they won the championship.
* brush sb/sth aside – treat sb/sth as unimportant.
His strategies and ideas were brushed aside and the other team ended up winning the game.
* hit back – start to perform well against a team that has been in the lead.
The opponents were so confident of their win that they got distracted and allowed our team to hit back and turn the game around.
* in contention (for sth) – having a change of success; in a position to win sth.
The team won all games and was in contention for the finals.
* rained off – when an event is postponed because of the rain.
The match was rained off and the fans got very disappointed.
* gain ground (on sb) – gradually get closer to sb you are competing with.
The other team started to gain ground as the opponent players got tired and lost focus on the game.
* a long way to go – a lot more to do before you are successful.
His career as a soccer player still has a long way to go.
* carry on – continue.
We have to carry on with the intensive training in order to win the next games.
* give up – stop doing sth you do regularly.
The coach gave up on some strategies as they weren’t working.
* join in – participate, take part.
The new player has joined in the match and scored 3 goals.
* send off – make a player leave the game.
The coach sent the goalkeeper off because he got hurt.
* ease off – decrease the speed, intensity, severity.
Some players started to ease off as they got tired.
* fight back – counterattack, resist sb/sth actively.
The team fought back as they were losing at the last minutes of the game.
* let sb off the hook – allow sb to get off a difficult situation.
The players were let off the hook in the second period of the match.
* go all out for sth – make a big effort to achieve sth.
The team went all out for the victory.
* dig deep – use all of your effort.
You have to dig deep to be a champion.
* hold your own (against sb) – compete equally against sb, especially sb stronget than you, in a competition of difficult situation.
We held our own for the first period, but we got worse in the second period of the game.
* come off worse – lose a fight or competition.
We always came off worse with that team.
I hope you learned some new phrasal verbs and idioms today, see you next time!
Source: Idioms and Phrasal Verbs – Advanced / Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman – Oxford
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