Idioms - Why to learn them?

I'm really looking forward to seeing the OA to this question

I agree with you to some extent. I certainly don't ask my students to memorize long "idiom lists". However, there are some structures that occur quite frequently. It might be a good idea to go through those. For example, you do want to be able to remove an option that uses both X as well as Y instead of both X and Y.

AjiteshArun - Thanks for your response (the answer will pop up right away ) i understand what do you say, but if it actually means that i have to learn the "right idioms" as well as the "wrong ones", doesn't it?

Hi oryahalom, indeed chances are almost zilch that an option would be incorrect solely because of incorrect idiom usage.

Having said that, the use of idioms is so prevalent in English that it is highly unlikely that GMAC will completely stop testing them.

Hence, we believe that the extreme choices of either learning no idiom at all, or memorizing hundreds of idioms, are both inefficient approaches.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana collates a list of around 20-30 most prominent idioms, their application and examples. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

The usage of idioms on the test has been reduce substantially over the years so as not to produce an inherent bias in the test.

There are, of course, certain stylistic elements that will be tested -- such as X&Y consistency, and how certain words are placed together -- but there really are just a handful.

We've structured our SC course around these small handful of commonly tested idiomatic expressions that pretty much cover all you need for the test. I believe there's an overestimation of the importance of idioms on the test -- but that really has changed a lot compared to 10-15 yrs ago -- to the benefit of non-native English speakers.

I'm confident that if you are able to master the most common SC stylistic idiomatic expressions -- you will be 100% prepared for what you will see on the actual test.

You can learn more about GMAT Pill at www.gmatpill.com/testimonials

Because it's nationally biased phrases that are used in everyday speech in each country. I'm sure that you have used them at least 2 times. Because with their help you can beautify your speech and show attitude to different things. Also, with the help of idioms you can say smth that can hardly be explained or have a very long explanation.

The MPrep Sentence Correction guide has two lists of idioms for exactly this reason! Focus on two things:

1. The 'short list' of commonly tested idioms, in the 'idioms' chapter of the book (NOT the long list in the appendix)
2. Any idiom that actually causes you to miss a problem while you're practicing.

There are many things you should focus on before you work on idioms, such as modifiers and parallelism. If you aren't already at a pretty high level with the more commonly tested SC topics, don't waste your time studying hundreds (or even dozens) of idioms that you likely won't see on the test. It would only be worth doing if you had basically infinite time to study; in reality, idioms are often a low-value topic.