The document provides a list of 20 useful proficiency phrases that are commonly found in the Use of English section of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exam. The phrases include idioms like "do wonders" which means to have a beneficial effect, "bide your time" which means to wait for the right opportunity, and "admit defeat" which means to accept that you cannot succeed. A selection of commonly used phrases is given to help exam takers with the CPE exam.
The document provides a list of 20 useful proficiency phrases that are commonly found in the Use of English section of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exam. The phrases include idioms like "do wonders" which means to have a beneficial effect, "bide your time" which means to wait for the right opportunity, and "admit defeat" which means to accept that you cannot succeed. A selection of commonly used phrases is given to help exam takers with the CPE exam.
The document provides a list of 20 useful proficiency phrases that are commonly found in the Use of English section of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exam. The phrases include idioms like "do wonders" which means to have a beneficial effect, "bide your time" which means to wait for the right opportunity, and "admit defeat" which means to accept that you cannot succeed. A selection of commonly used phrases is given to help exam takers with the CPE exam.
The document provides a list of 20 useful proficiency phrases that are commonly found in the Use of English section of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exam. The phrases include idioms like "do wonders" which means to have a beneficial effect, "bide your time" which means to wait for the right opportunity, and "admit defeat" which means to accept that you cannot succeed. A selection of commonly used phrases is given to help exam takers with the CPE exam.
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20 Useful Proficiency phrases
BY DAVID PUGH · PUBLISHED 16TH FEBRUARY 2019 · UPDATED 17TH OCTOBER 2019
Here is a selection of commonly found phrases, particularly in the Use of English parts of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exam. 1. Do wonders – To have a beneficial effect: This medicine will do wonders for you. 2. Do your utmost – to try as hard as you can: I’ll do my utmost to be there for your wedding. 3. Be in stitches – To not be able to stop laughing: When he told me the joke I was in stitches. 4. Put paid to something – to bring something to an end: Last night’s defeat put paid to United’s chances of winning the league. 5. Prey on your mind – If something preys on your mind it worries you over a period of time so that you can’t forget it: I made a big mistake at work and it’s been preying on my mind all weekend. 6. Come at the expense of something or someone – To happen while causing damage to another thing: His financial success came at the expense of others. 7. Be out of the question – This is used to say that something is not allowed or impossible: Taking a two-week holiday in October is simply out of the question. 8. Bide your time – To wait for the right opportunity to do something: Ben is just biding his time until the right job comes along. 9. Take note of something – To pay attention to or take notice of something: People were beginning to take note of his gift for drawing. 10. Do something behind someone’s back – To do something secretly so that they do not know about it, because they would not approve of it: Nathan was upset that the decision was made behind his back. 11. Be thin on the ground – this means there is not much of something or less of it than is desirable: Such experienced teachers are thin on the ground. 12. Lie in store for someone – refers to what is going to happen to someone in the future: I wonder what lies in store for us when we move to the UK. 13. Admit defeat – To accept that you cannot succeed in doing something and stop trying to do it: The government was forced to admit defeat and hold new elections. 14. Spare a thought for someone – To think about someone who is in a difficult situation: Spare a thought for those who are less fortunate than us. 15. Keep your head down – To try to avoid being noticed or getting involved in something: My advice for you is to keep your head down until the situation improves. 16. Get your act together – To organise yourself and your work in a more effective way: I wasn’t taking my career seriously so I got my act together and got a steady job. 17. Vote with your feet – To show what you think about a place or an organisation by leaving it or not going there in the first place: Thousands of people are voting with their feet and abandoning the country. 18. Be touch and go – To be uncertain, with an element of risk that something bad could happen (often followed by ‘whether’): It’s touch and go whether the player will be fit enough for Saturday’s match. 19. Take its toll – To have a gradual negative effect on someone or something: The illness has taken its toll on her. 20. To say the least – used to say that something could have been expressed in a much stronger way: He’s not a very pleasant person to say the least.