| Idiom/Saying | Explanation |
|---|---|
To be a bookworm. For example: "He's always reading. He's a real bookworm." |
Someone who reads a lot. |
To be a copycat. For example: "She always copies my work, she's such a copycat."
|
Someone who does or says exactly the same as someone else. |
To learn something off by heart. For example: "I learnt all the vocabulary off by heart." |
To learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory. |
To learn the hard way. For example: "I told her not to marry him. But she had to learn the hard way." |
To have a bad experience. |
To learn the ropes. For example: "She's new here and is still learning the ropes." |
To learn how to do a job. |
To learn your lesson For example: "I got very drunk once and was really sick. I won't do it again, I learnt my lesson." |
To suffer a bad experience and know not to do it again |
To live and learn For example: "I never knew that she was married. Oh well, you live and learn." |
Said when you hear or discover something which is surprising: |
The school of hard knocks. For example: "He learnt the hard way at the school of hard knocks." |
Often said about people who haven't had an easy life. |
To be a swot. For example: "They called her a swot because she was always reading books." |
A student who is ridiculed for studying excessively. |
To teach an old dog new tricks. For example: "He could never learn how to use the Internet. Just shows you can't teach an old dog new tricks." |
The older you are the more set in your ways you become. |
| To be teacher's pet. For example: "She always has the right answer. She's a real teacher's pet." |
To be the favourite pupil of the teacher. |
To teach someone a lesson. For example: "I hit him hard on the nose. That taught him a lesson." |
To do something to someone, usually to punish them. |
To teach your grandmother to suck eggs. For example: "He tried to tell me how to drive and I told him not to try and teach your grandmother to suck eggs. I've been driving for years." |
To give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you |
The three Rs. For example: "Some children are leaving school without even the basic three Rs." |
Used to refer to the basic areas of education: reading, writing and arithmetic. |
The University of Life. For example: "I studied at the University of Life." |
People who never went on to higher education often say this. |
With flying colours. For example: "She got into the university of her choice, because she passed all her exams with flying colours." |
If you do something such as pass an exam with flying colours, you do it very successfully. |
| More idioms and sayings | |