Page 161 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Idioms describing people

Positive and negative qualities

positive negative

She has a heart of gold. She's as hard as nails.
[very kind, generous] [no sympathy for others]
He's as good as gold. He's rather a cold fish.
[generous, helpful, well-behaved [distant, unfriendly]
used generally for children)
-
Note also:
He's such an awkward customer. [difficult person to deal with]
She's a pain in the neck. Nobody likes her. [nuisance, difficult]
He gets on everyone's nerves. [irritates everybody]

People's 'fast' and 'slow' qualities

I fast slow
He's very quick off the mark; I was a bit slow off the mark;
he always gets things before the job had been filled by the
everybody else. time I got the forms.
You've asked him to marry you! Come on! Hurry up!
You're a fast worker! You only You're such a slow-coach!
met him three weeks ago!

How people relate to the social norm

She's a bit of an odd-ball; very strange. (peculiar, strange]
-
--
He's really over the top. [very exaggerated in behaviour]
He's round the bend, if you ask me. [absolutely crazylmad]
My politics are very middle-of-the-road. [very normal; no radical ideas; neither left- nor
right-wing]

Who's who in the class? Idioms for 'people in the classroom'

teacher's pet Mary's top of a real know-all a bit of a a lazy-bones
the class big-head
The last three idioms are used of people outside of the class, too.

156 English Vocabulary in Use