Well, we have come to the end of the series on compound nouns. All I have to do is give the answers to the previous post, and they are: hearing aid, human nature, class reunion, blood group, bank account, press conference, junk mail, and shellfish.

Okay, that’s the end of this series on compound nouns.

So, what will I do in the next set of posts? Hmmm, you know, a few days ago it was raining cats and dogs. Well, it wasn’t literally raining cats and dogs [as in the above picture], it was just raining heavily. So, why do some people say ‘cats and dogs’ here. The answer is …. ah, I don’t know. Does it make sense? Er, …. not really. But … well, don’t complain. Every language has this sort of stuff, and here are some quotes from the public version of the IELTS Speaking Descriptors.

IELTS Nine               =            uses idiomatic language naturally.

IELTS Eight              =             idiomatic vocabulary skillfully.

IELTS Seven           =             some idiomatic vocabulary.

IELTS Six                 =             language mostly appropriately.

What word is common to every phrase on the right-hand side? The answer: ‘idiomatic’, and ‘raining cats and dogs’ is an example of that. So, you can see that ‘idiomatic language’ is very important in the IELTS Speaking Test, and in the next post I will begin a 20-post exploration of this subject.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .