21 Idioms for Academic English

Idioms are fixed, well-established, multi-word expressions which are often difficult to understand. They are common in everyday speech, but are also used in academic writing and speaking. This video shows the 21 most common idioms used in academic writing in English, most of which are also common in academic speaking. They can be used to enrich vocabulary for university English, or for the TOEFL or IELTS writing and speaking exams. ▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 00:00 Intro 01:08 What are idioms 02:10 Idioms in academic English 03:54 21 academic idioms 18:01 Summary ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Video created using VideoScribe software [affiliate link]: The following are the timings for individual idioms -- Body idioms -- 04:27 on the one hand 04:34 on the other hand 06:44 in the hands of (someone) 07:26 go hand in hand with 07:56 rule of thumb 08:34 on the face of it 09:07 bear in mind -- Action idioms -- 10:02 in the long run 10:08 in the short run 10:47 a step further/back 11:38 come into play -- Power idioms -- 12:07 driving force 12:28 the balance of power -- Idioms with ’gold’ -- 13:16 gold standard 14:21 golden age -- Idioms with ’line’ -- 15:05 along the lines of 15:29 the bottom line -- Other idioms -- 16:20 in (the) light of 16:51 in its own right 17:16 bad news 17:38 last resort For more information on this topic, see: You can find a worksheet for this video here: If you like these videos, consider supporting my work on Patreon at: You can get early access to videos as well as additional resources for English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Other useful links: ( website home page) (LinkedIn) (Facebook)