English Idioms

Kick the Habit

Meaning:

• Give up a bad habit

Frequency of Use: Medium to High

1. Many doctors are encouraging people to kick the habit of smoking.
2. Without family support, some people find it difficult to kick the habit of excessive drinking.
3. Spending too much time on social media is a problem for some teenagers, and it is tough to kick the habit.

1. Among people you know, what are some habits that are difficult to break, and what are common steps to kick these bad habits?

Your best friend recently lost his job, and he has felt really down for the past few weeks. These days, he spends most of his time on the living room couch watching YouTube and eating really unhealthy food. You told him to get outside into the fresh air and exercise a little and spend some time looking for a job; however, he got really angry at you yesterday and throw a slice of pizza at you. He yelled at you to leave him alone. You realize that he doesn’t have any friends, and unless he kicks the bad habits he now has, things won’t get any better. What are two or three things you can do to support him and turn around his life?

Possible Answer: 

“One thing I can do is take him for a drive every afternoon without talking about kicking his bad habits. A change of scenery can make a difference.”

Sometimes, learners know the meaning of an idiom, but they don’t know how to use it correctly in conversation or writing. Thus, this activity checks your grammatical accuracy with the idiom so you become more confident in using it.