Miller's (2020) abstract

"Many researchers with English as an additional language (EAL), as well as EAL teachers and students, believe that idioms are not used in English academic speech or writing. By 'idiom,' they usually mean an expression that is figurative, opaque, multi-word, largely fixed, and institutionalized, in keeping with traditional EAL textbook definitions. By contrast, researchers addressing multi-word expressions in academic corpora have frequently used the term 'idiom' very broadly, resulting in lists that include lexical bundles and other types of collocation, rather than more traditional idioms.

This study identifies all the traditional, textbook-type idioms in the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus, examines the range of texts in which they appear, then compares their frequency to the same idioms used in the Oxford Corpus of Academic English (OCAE). The resulting list of 545 idioms, 56 of which appear in four or more BASE texts and 43 of which appear at least 100 times in OCAE, can be used confidently by EAL writers and teachers to enrich their own and their students’ English academic speech and writing. "

Idioms and Sample Sentences (List B)

The following idioms were listed in Appendix B of Miller (2020)

1. On the other hand

She really wanted to use her time off to vacation to France, but on the other hand, knew that it was not wise to spend so much money before finding a job.

2. In the light of

In the light of the unexpected data, the scientists decided to perform a second set of experiments.

3. On the one hand

On the one hand, it would be good to replace the roof entirely, but then there would not be enough money left over to replace the windows.

4. On the other: when “hand” is not included, this is only used when paired with “on the one hand” (see #1 and #3)

On the one hand, he wanted to complete the work as soon as possible, but on the other, he knew he was too tired to avoid mistakes.

5. In the hands of: also often in the form of “in XX’s hands”

The journalist wanted to see the article on the front page, but knew that the final decision was in the hands of the editors.

6. Bear in mind

If you decide to become an actor, you must bear in mind the fact that you will not have a regular income.

7. In its own right

Although he is famous for being one of Mozart’s students, Johann Hummel was a talented musician in his own right.

8. Along the lines of

The city asked the architect to design a building along the lines of one by Frank Lloyd Wright.

9. In the long run

The company decided that in the long run it would be better to recall the car than to risk any possible accidents from the faulty brakes.

10. Gold standard

Digital cameras are now commonplace, but Canon products are still considered the gold standard of film cameras.

11. Driving force

Rachel Carson’s landmark book, Silent Spring, was a driving force behind several key pieces of environmental legislation.

12. Balance of power

The government is divided into three main branches to maintain a balance of power among the top officials.

13. (take) a step back/further: the meaning is very different. “further” means “continue more,” but “back” means “pause and look.”

Louise decided to take the experiment a step further and test it on rats as well as mice.

The company decided to step back and evaluate the success of the advertising campaign before launching the next phase.

14. Come into play

Although temperature is the most important variable in this experiment, several other factors come into play to a lesser degree.

15. In the short run

In the short run, the plants grew faster when the chemical was present, but after six weeks, their growth abruptly stopped.

16. Last resort

The doctor decided to perform the surgery as a last resort to try to save the patient.

17. Rule of thumb

The teacher suggested that students use no more than five minutes per question as a rule of thumb for completing the test on time.

18. Golden age

The Golden Age of silent movies only lasted for about ten years before motion pictures with sound tracks became popular.

19. Bad news

The bad news is that profits were down by fifty percent from the previous quarter.

20. Go hand in hand with

Many tests have shown that smoking goes hand in hand with lung cancer.

21. On one hand: See #3

22. On the face of it

On the face of it, the budget looked correct, but upon inspection, the accountant realized that there was no allowance for incidental expenses.

23. The bottom line

The bottom line is that unless sales increase next month, we will have to reduce the number of employees.

24. In the early days

In the early days of space travel, astronauts had to manually adjust that equipment, but now robots are able to do it.

25. Beg the question

That theory of dinosaur extinction begs the question of why all plants did not go extinct as well.

26. Bridge the gap

This training program is designed to bridge the gap between students just out of college and experienced professionals.

27. From scratch

The committee decided to start with the budget from the previous year rather than write up a new budget proposal from scratch.

28. Trial and error

Although it took a lot of trial and error, the chemists finally figured out how to make the reaction occur at a lower temperature.

29. Get to grips with: probably more often “come to grips with”

The actress started to take drugs because she was unable to come to grips with the stress of her career.

30. The good life

The criminal was living the good life in the Bahamas when the police finally caught up with him.

31. Track record

This medicine has an excellent track record for stabilizing that condition, and some patients even recover completely.

32. Pros and cons

After evaluating the pros and cons, the patient decided to go through with the surgery.

33. Raison d’être

The artist always claimed that the process of creation was his raison d’être and that he did not care if his paintings sold.

34. Come to light

The story of the politician’s crime came to light when a journalist was investigating for a different article.

35. One’s fair share

Kevin has had his fair share of bad luck, but even so, he managed to graduate from college and get a good job.

36. The high point

He told the reporter that the high point of his career was when he was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

37. The whole story

It is possible that a serious drought helped eliminate the Mayan civilization, but that is not the whole story.

38. Win win: usually hyphenated “win-win”

The new arrangement proved to be a win-win situation for both the company and the employees.

39. At the end of the day

The politician was accused of several scandals, but at the end of the day, he still won the election.

40. Behind the scenes

That professor is famous for his research on genetics, but much of the work was done by his interns behind the scenes.

41. State of the art: often hyphenated “state-of-the-art”

The hospital has a state-of-the-art robotic system that can perform brain surgeries.

42. The big(ger) picture

You should look at the big picture of your overall college record rather than worrying about the result of that one math test.

43. Across the board

After applying the fertilizer, there was a ten percent increase in the growth of the plants across the board.

Reference

Miller, J. (2020). The bottom line: Are idioms used in English academic speech and writing?. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 43, 100810.