How can I sound more natural when I speak English?’ is a question we are often asked. Well, you could use some irreversible binomials when you speak English.
We’ll explain what they are and you’ll learn 12 of these expression to make you sound more natural in this episode of Aprender Inglés con Reza y Craig.
What’s happening with the Mansión Inglés website? http://www.mansioningles.com/
XThank you for all you have made of usX
Make and do – listen to episode 244.
Irreversible Binomials
(Sometimes called Siamese twins) – Two words that have a fixed order and that are joined together by a conjunction or preposition – eg. Reza and Craig!!
Black and white
Neat and tidy
Nice and easy
Safe and sound – do or die – complete success of complete failure
By and large (on the whole)
Pros and cons
Short and sweet
Sick and tired
More or less
Sooner or later
Peace and quiet
Bread and butter (Food and drink: gin and tonic, ham and eggs, fish and chips. tea and biscuits)
Here are some more examples:
Trial by jury
Double or quits – I had to double my poker bet from 5 to 10 $ or stop – double or quits
Back and forth – The two footballers kicked the ball back and forth between them
To and fro – I’m always toing and froing between London and Glasgow for my job.
Ups and downs
Highs and lows
Back to basics – Let’s forget about these complicated new ideas and get back to basics.
The words can be the same:
Step by step (Little by little)
Face to face
Arm in arm
On and on
(Only if we’re running short)
Coast to coast
Ear to ear – She smiled from ear to ear
Hand in hand
Back to back
Cheek to cheek – They danced cheek to cheek
All in all – All in all, Peter’s a decent bloke, despite his defects.
You can also put three words together. (irreversible trinomials)
Lock, stock and barrel – completely, totally, utterly, entirely, absolutely, thoroughly – Hook, line and sinker – We told our boss that Netflix have offered to make a TV series out of this podcast and she fell for it hook, line and sinker.
blood, sweat, and tears – A lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into you improving your English
Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll
Morning, noon and night – the traffic never stops in central New York.
“Going, going, gone! Sold to the gentleman at the back for 2,000 pounds.”
For a longer list, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_twins_(linguistics) (Wikipedia)
…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. Can you think of any irreversible binomials that we haven’t mentioned?
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