Image “Bookworm” by Matt E on Flickr.com.

There are so many important aspects to learning a second language; listening/comprehension, speaking, writing, and reading. If you are reading this blog regularly (and you should!) then you are already doing a good job of prioritizing reading English to help improve your overall language skills.

Today to recognize the importance of reading as part of language building, I have a post filled with English idioms, words, and phrases about reading and books. I have defined this new vocabulary below and included a practice exercise as well. I challenge you to use three of the words, phrases, or idioms here in the next week.

bookworm  – a person who loves to read and is devoted to reading
book smart – to be very smart or successful in scholastic way (from knowledge in books), but not very smart or successful in real world interactions
an open book – to have very evident and clear emotions and thoughts
to hit the books – to study hard
to read the fine print – to read carefully; to know all the information that is contained in a large document, such as a contact
to read between the lines – to try to understand something that is not expressed openly or explicitly; a synonym to this phrase is the verb ‘to infer’
 “Read my lips!” – This phrase means ‘listen very carefully.’ It is used to emphasize the importance of what a person is saying. This phrase was famously used by the George H. Bush when he was running for President of the United States in 1988. At that time he said, “Read my lips, no new taxes!”
to read someone the riot act – to give someone a strong scolding or to talk to someone severely; to yell at someone
spell bound – to hold someone’s attention completely; a synonym for this phrase is ‘fascinated’
“that’s one for the books” – This phrase is used to say that something is ‘amazing,’ ‘wonderful’ or ‘impressive.’
“you can’t judge a book by its cover” – This idioms is used to say, ‘you should not judge people by their appearance alone.’ This idiom also is used to remind people that the outside of something is not always the same as the inside.

Now let’s practice, fill in the sentences below with one of the idioms, words, or phrases defined above.  Also don’t’ forget to select which three you are going to use in conversation this week!

1.    I always have my lawyer read over my work contracts. I pay him to ________________ for me.
2.    Jane is very shy, she dresses conservatively, and she keeps to herself most of the time at school, but I saw her out at a club this past weekend and she was really partying. It just goes to show, ______________________.
3.    James has been a ____________________ since he was a young boy. He started reading at age 5 and has never been without a book since.
4.    ___________________, when I say you have to home by 10:00pm, I mean it! If you can’t follow the rules, you can’t go out with your friends anymore.
5.    It is time to ______________________ and get ready for our English final on Friday.
6.    I know Jill so well she is like _________________ to me; I know when she is happy, sad, or mad without her saying a word.

Answers:
1. read the fine print; 2. you can’t judge a book by its cover; 3.bookworm; 4. Read my lips; 5. hit the books; 6. an open book