We all get sick from time to time, so it is a good idea to learn some idioms that you may hear on a visit to the doctors or in general conversation; or you may find the idioms useful to use yourself.

Below are some medical idioms along with some example sentences of their use. Can you match them to their meanings? When you are finished, see if you can write some sentences which include the idioms and share them with us.

Lesson by Caroline

All over the world, people are using plastic surgery to change their body and make themselves ‘more beautiful’.

In days you can do anything from lose a few inches around your hips to completely changing your face. The only thing putting people off at the moment, is the possibility of complications and the fact that they will have to undergo surgery, sometimes major surgery. Now, a new treatment claims that it can create the exact same results as liposuction, a fat removal surgery, without any cuts or incisions.

A Synonym is a word that has almost the same meaning as another word. For example, a synonym for beautiful is stunning:

She is a beautiful girl.

She is a stunning girl.

Shopping is one of my favourite activities, particularly when someone else is paying for it! London is renowned for its excellent shops and in this city you really can find anything. Different areas are known for different products, you might go to Oxford Street for some beautiful clothes or to Notting Hill for some quirky presents!
Read this article about the different shopping areas in London and see if you can complete the gaps with a correct missing words!

Auxiliary verbs, also known as 'helping verbs' are verb that comes before another verb in order to form a question, a negative sentence, a tense or a passive sentence.

For example, in the following sentence what do you think is the auxiliary verb?

I don't like swimming.

This is one of my favourite songs to listen to on lovely days, it reminds me of summer. Listen to the song and complete the gaps with the missing words. This time there is no list of missing words to choose from!

Lesson by Caroline

There are many different verb tenses we can use to talk about the past.

The past simple is used to talk about finished and completed actions in the past, e.g. my friend phoned me last night.

We can also use two past simple verbs if there were two actions that happened right after each other, e.g. the cup fell and broke.

My friend John is turning thirty next year. So a while ago, on his 29th birthday he asked us to help him think of fifty things to do before he's thirty! He's doing very well and has already completed a lot of them.

One of the many joys of summer is sharing a picnic with friends or family. There are so many great places to have picnics in London, the south bank or one of the many beautiful parks. In this article, the writer shares some of her favourite memories of summer picnics with her family. I've removed some vocabulary and as it is quite difficult, given you the meanings of the words to help you.

False Friends

Sometimes words in English and other languages sound the same and have the same meaning, very useful!

Unfortunately sometimes they sound the same or similar and have completely different meanings! These tricksters are called 'false friends'.

You may find the questions below very easy, or you may struggle depending on what your first language is. For each question, choose the sentence that matches the meaning of the word. Good luck!