http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com
While I was reading Toronto's commuter paper 1， 2, I encountered some phrase I didn't know. So I googled it. That't when I found this useful phrase dictionary (词组、固定搭配。they call themselves idioms dictionary，成语，习惯用语). http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/
Follow through the search list, I also found some site that will show you some interesting idioms (but no search function though).
http://www.idiomsite.com/
('A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush' is both interesting and educational.)
When I taught people in English learning, I always encourage them to recite phrases (背诵词组) in stead of single words (背单词). Even if one is very good at spelling words, he might still have difficulty to use them. With phrases, you know more than half of the sentenses already. If you practice with phrases with different situations, you'll master them faster and easily.
(The phrase I didn't know is 'Soaring fual costs have Taken Toll despite recent drop in pump prices'
The site turns out:
take a/its/their toll
to have a bad effect on someone or something.
Bringing up nine children had taken its toll on my mother. (often + on) The disease has taken a horrendous toll in parts of western Africa.
So when you search it, you might have to try a bit more.
Make sure you click 'Starts with' while you search. (Other search criteria, Word/Article, Ends with, Text won't turn out much). when you put 'take toll', it won't find it.
It isn't as smart as dictionary.com, which will give you more selections if you misspell words. )
While I was reading Toronto's commuter paper 1， 2, I encountered some phrase I didn't know. So I googled it. That't when I found this useful phrase dictionary (词组、固定搭配。they call themselves idioms dictionary，成语，习惯用语). http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/
Follow through the search list, I also found some site that will show you some interesting idioms (but no search function though).
http://www.idiomsite.com/
('A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush' is both interesting and educational.)
When I taught people in English learning, I always encourage them to recite phrases (背诵词组) in stead of single words (背单词). Even if one is very good at spelling words, he might still have difficulty to use them. With phrases, you know more than half of the sentenses already. If you practice with phrases with different situations, you'll master them faster and easily.
(The phrase I didn't know is 'Soaring fual costs have Taken Toll despite recent drop in pump prices'
The site turns out:
take a/its/their toll
to have a bad effect on someone or something.
Bringing up nine children had taken its toll on my mother. (often + on) The disease has taken a horrendous toll in parts of western Africa.
So when you search it, you might have to try a bit more.
Make sure you click 'Starts with' while you search. (Other search criteria, Word/Article, Ends with, Text won't turn out much). when you put 'take toll', it won't find it.
It isn't as smart as dictionary.com, which will give you more selections if you misspell words. )