300 idioms that native speakers really use — with the register label that tells you when you can safely say each one.

Idioms are the part of English you cannot work out. Break the ice has no ice in it. Let the cat out of the bag has no cat. You either know them or you do not.

This book teaches 300 of them, grouped into 25 subjects people actually talk about: time, money, work, character, friendship, secrets, arguments, anger, fear, happiness, health, food, animals, the body, weather, luck, problems, confusion, decisions, honesty, speed, rules, the workplace, and starting again.

Every idiom gets a plain-English meaning, three example sentences, a register label (very informal, informal, neutral or formal), a usage note covering what it does not mean and the British version where one exists, and the mistake learners actually make — shown wrong and right.

The register label is the point. The commonest idiom mistake is not getting the words wrong; it is using the right idiom in the wrong place.

Every unit ends with a twelve-question test. That is 300 practice questions, with a complete answer key and an A–Z index at the back.

Fluent Everyday English, Book 3. American English. Levels B2–C1.