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Sunday, June 24, 2018

IELTS Vocabulary: if you use an idiom...

Look at these two phrases from yesterday's lesson. Are they correct?

  • save something for the rainy day
  • save something for rainy days

The answer is no. Both phrases contain a mistake.
The correct form is this: save (something) for a rainy day

If you use an idiom, you need to get it exactly right. Even a small mistake in an idiomatic expression makes it sound strange and completely wrong.

Posted by in IELTS Speaking, Vocabulary / Grammar |

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thanks a lot simon.

Posted by: sara | Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 11:23

Hi Simon and everyone here,

I'd like to add something interesting here,.. You know there's a similarity among all different cultures around the world,, as in our local tradition(in Libya), we say:
"Save your white penny for a black day"..
This saying induces us to set some money aside for bad circumstances likely to happen!!

Thank you for this lesson!!
Ali M.

Posted by: Ali M | Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 13:02

Sir, thanks for correction.

Posted by: Ameet | Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 14:57

The most common versions of this idiom are:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=*+away+for+a+rainy&year_start=1870&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2C%2A%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bput%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsomething%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmoney%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bit%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blaid%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bhim%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Btucked%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bbit%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bstored%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blittle%20away%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=*+saving+for+a+rainy%2C+*+save+for+a+rainy&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2C%2A%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bof%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bbeen%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Band%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Babout%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bin%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bare%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bwas%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bnot%20saving%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2C%2A%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bto%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bnot%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Band%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bshould%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bor%20save%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=*+aside+for+a+rainy&year_start=1870&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2C%2A%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bsomething%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bput%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bset%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blaid%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmoney%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bit%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Banything%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blittle%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bputting%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsome%20aside%20for%20a%20rainy%3B%2Cc0

Posted by: Kata | Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 21:38

Ali M

Although "for a black day" is also the idiom in some Slavonic languages, other European languages are more mundane and just talk about "against hard times". Rainy days seem to be bad news in England but would be good news in some dry or desert countries.

Posted by: Kata | Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 21:57

Where There's a will There's a way, should I need to use Capital "T".

Posted by: Lewis | Monday, June 25, 2018 at 07:30

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