must-see

Idiom: must-see; used as an adjective. 

First Example:

Samantha: I'm trying to decide what movie to watch tonight.  Can you suggest any old movies?  I want something romantic.

Rebecca: Have you seen Casablanca? 

Samantha: Yeah, I cried at the end.

Rebecca: What about Gone With the Wind? 

Samantha: Yep - but that's old.  Maybe something a little newer.

Rebecca: I assume you've already seen Titanic? 

Samantha: Actually, I haven't.

Rebecca: Really? You have to watch Titanic! It's one of the must-see movies of the 90s!  I thought everyone had already seen it.  How could you have missed it? 

Samantha: Uh, I was born in the 90s.

Meaning: "Must-see" is an adjective that means something should be seen by everyone. This idiom is usually used for movies and plays.  In the example, Rebecca says that Titanic is a must-see movie, which means she thinks everyone should see Titanic.  

Here is another example:

Stephanie: I saw the musical The Book of Mormon last night on Broadway.

Harry: How was it? 

Stephanie: It was just OK.  I had heard so many good things, I thought I was going to love it, but I wouldn't say it's a must-see.

Harry: That's too bad.  I was excited to see it.

Meaning: In this case, Stephanie said that The Book of Mormon wasn't a must-see, so she doesn't think everyone should see it.  notice that even when used as a noun, there is a hyphen between the two words.

This idiom is from the upcoming edition of LSI's book "Reading Horizons," which will be used in the Level 6 Reading classes. For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/