PHRASEOLOGY

Idioms of Comparison

Ø There are many short comparisons used in English to make the language more vivid and clear. Below are thirty of the must common ones. Complete each of them with a suitable word or words. Choose from the following:

a bat, brass, a berry, a bee, a bell, a cucumber, a doornail, a post, chalk from cheese, a lord, a fiddle, a pancake, a daisy, gold, nails, lead, mustard, life, a feather, a hatter, the hills, a church mouse, a picture, clockwork, the nose on your face, the grave, a fox, a rock, toast, two peas in a pod.

 

1. As mad as..............................

2. As flat as...............................

3. As dead as ............................

4. As heavy as............................

5. As light as..............................

6. As regular as..........................

7. As blind as.............................

8. As different as.......................

9. As clear as.............................

10. As plain as.............................

11. As like as...............................

12. As cunning as........................

13. As hard as..............................

14. As busy as..............................

15. As keen as..............................

16. As poor as...............................

17. As steady as............................

18. As deaf as................................

19. As fit as...................................

20. As pretty as.............................

21. As bold as................................

22. As drunk as..............................

23. As cool as................................

24. As warm as..............................

25. As old as..................................

26. As fresh as................................

27. As large as...............................

28. As silent as...............................

29. As good as...............................

30. As brown as.............................

English is a Colourful Language

When listen to English people talking, you will notice that they very often use expressions referring to colours, and you may find these rather difficult to interpret at first. For example, if an Englishman tells you that he is feeling blue,he is saying that he feels miserable and depressed.

And if he says that he is browned off,he means the same thing.

On other hand, if he says that it is a red-letter day,he means that it is animportant and happy occasion.

Once in a blue moon (very occasionally) an Englishman may talk about himself, and he may tell you that he has blue blood (he comes from an aristocratic family) or that he is the black sheep of the family (the disgrace of the family).

If he tells you that he is a white-collar worker,he means that he works in an office, and if he says that he is in his boss's black books, he is telling you that he is trouble with him.

If he calls his wife a blue-stocking,he means that she is an intellectual.

If he says she has a heart of gold, then she is very kind person and you might be green with envy.

If he is simply green,he is naive or inexperienced.

If he has green fingers, he is a good gardener.

If you see him taking money, you have caught him red-handed(in the act of doing something wrong), but it may be because he is in the red (in debt).

He may be embarrassed and go red(blush) or he may fight you and give you a black eye(a punch in the eye which results in a black bruise)!

If he tells you he has seen something in black and white,he has read it in a newspaper or book.

If you have an over-optimistic view of life,he may accuse you of looking at the world through rose spectacles.

 

 

Ø Fill in the blanks with the appropriate idiom from the list below:

Out of the blue, in black and white, in the red, saw red, once in a blue moon, browned off

1. I've overspent this month and I'm ______________ (owing money) at the bank.

2. The manager said he would consider my complaint if I put it down in ________________ (in writing).

3. She used to visit me every week, but now I

only see her _________________ (very occasionally).

4. I hadn't heart from my brother for years and last week I got a letter from him ________________ (very unexpectedly).

5. He says that he's very ________________ because he doesn't enjoy his job (browned off).

6. I listened to his stupid argument for about ten minutes and suddenly I _________________ (lost my temper).

Don't Gild the Lily!

Plants and flowers have given a lot of colloquial expressions to English. Here aresome of the most common ones.

v A family tree is a list of all the members of a family.

v To get to the top of your tree is to do well in your job.

v Bank up the wrong tree is to waste time and energy by attacking the wrong object.

v A branch office is the subsidiary of a company.

v To branch out is to expand one's activities.

v To twig is to suddenly understand something.

v If you hedge or beat about the bush, you avoid saying what you mean in a direct way.

v When you can't see the wood for the trees, you can't see something overall because of all the details.

v To be hedged in is to be restricted in some way.

v To put down roots is to settle in a place.

v To be rooted to the spot is to be unable to move.

v To get the root of something is to find a cause or explanation for it.

v A budding artist is young and rising.

v To nip something in the bud is to stop something early on.

v The pick of the bunch is the best.

v To hand someone a bouquet is to praise them.

v There's no rose without a thorn means that there is a drawback to every nice thing.

v A thorn in the flesh is a person who a nuisance.

v A rosy view of things is a very optimistic view.

v A project bears fruit when it its successful.

v To nettle someone is to annoy them.

v To gild the lily is to ornament something which is already beautiful, and therefore spoil the effect.

 

Ø Now see if you can complete these sentences with the appropriate colloquial expression.

1. I don't like living in large towns – I always feel _________________.

2. Don't put on any more jewellery or you'll __________________.

3. David seems to have ____________________ and settled in Paris very happily.

4. That student is always asking difficult questions in class. He's a real __________________.

5. Sarah was transferred from the main office in London to a ______________ office in Brighton.

6. Jane's book is very successful – all her hard work has ________________.

Ø Birds and animals are also often used in colloquial expressions with the sentences below:

Bee in his bonnet, fish out water, fly in the oinment, as the crow flies, an eagle eye, bird's eye view

1. From the top of the castle, we had a __________ over the whole city.

2. The school-master had _______________ so all the children behaved very well in class.

3. From here to Edinburg, it's about twenty miles _______________.

4. It would be nice to go away for the weekend. The only ________________ is that I haven't got much money.

5. John is like a _________________when he's not working. He just doesn't know what to do with himself.

6. Don't talk to him about politics. He's got a ________________ about the government.

 

Let's Face the Music!

Many colloquial expressions in English are based on music and musical instruments. Here are some of the common ones.

If you blow your own trumpet,you tell everyone how wonderful you are, but if you play second fiddle,you take a secondary part in something. To fiddle aboutis to be busy without any purpose, and to make a song and danceabout something is to get very excited and make a lot j of fuss If you harp onthe same subject, you talk about one thing all the time so that you bore your listeners. To strike the right noteis to say or do exactly the right thing, and to change your tuneis to change your attitude to .something. If something rings a bell,it reminds you of something seen or heard before, and if you ring the changes,you do things differently for the sake of variety Finally, if something goes for a song,it is sold very cheaply, and to face the musicis to face one's critics openly.

 

 

Ø Now see if you can put one of these musical expressions into each of these sentences.

1. That name ______________. I m sure I've met her somewhere before.

2. It's no use trying to hide, your mistake. You'll have to ___________ sooner or later.

3. This chair only cost me £5 in the sale. It really went ____________.

4. John will never be the head of his department – he'll always ______________.

5. I don't like that man – he's always _____________ and telling every one how clever he is.

6. Mr. Smith ____________ about his new. car. It seems to be the only thing he can talk about.

Food for Thought

¨ in apple-pie order:very well organized; in very good order (informal). Her desk is so neat; everything's always in apple-pie order.

¨ bring home the bacon:to earn a salary (informal). I need to get a job; now I'm the one who has to bring home the bacon.

¨ full of beans:full of nonsense; talking nonsense (slang). Don't pay any attention to what Frank says; he's full of beans.

¨ not know beans (about something):to know nothing about something (slang). Sam doesn't know beans about using a computer.

¨ not worth a hilt of beans:worthless (informal). Their advice isn't worth a hill of beans.

¨ spill the beans:to reveal a secret or a surprise by accident (cliche). We wanted the party to be a surprise, but William spilled the beans and spoiled it.

¨ beef something up:to make something stronger (informal or slang). We should beef up the program by addling an advanced course.

¨ bread and butter:(a person's) livelihood or income. I don't especially like doing this job, but it's my bread and butter.

¨ know which side one's bread is buttered on:to know what is most advantageous for one (cliche). Richard will do anything to please the boss; he knows which side his bread is buttered on.

¨ too many cooks spoil the soup/broth/stew:a proverb meaning that too many people trying to manage something simply spoil it. Several people were trying to manage that program, and it didn't turn out well. 1 guess too many cooks spoiled the soup.

¨ chew the fat:to chat informally with close friends (slang). We didn't get much done this morning. An old friend came by, and we spent a lot of time chewing the fat.

¨ the fat is in the fire:a proverb meaning that serious trouble has broken out. The boss found out that the reports weren't turned in on time. Now the fit's in the fire!

¨ half a loaf is better than none:a proverb meaning that having pail of .something is better than having nothing. I was hoping they would pay me more than that, but at least I have a job now; I guess half a loaf is better than none.

¨ know one's onions:to have a good knowledge about something one is supposed to know (informal or slang). I think Mary will do a good job; she really knows her onions.

¨ salt something away:to store something for future use (originally referred to preserving food and storing it). Mr. Smith is saving money to use after he retires from work; he salts away $50 every week.

¨ worth one's salt:worth one's salary. Any worker worth his salt would do a better job than that.

¨ in a stew (about someone or something):bothered or upset about someone or something (informal). What's Bill in a stew about this morning? Did the boss find mistakes in his work again?

¨ out of the frying pan into the fire:from a bad situation to a worse situation (cliche). Kim's situation is bad enough now, but if he quits his job, he'll go from the frying pan into the fire.

¨ have other fish to fry:to have other, or more important, things to do. I just can't be bothered dealing with these details; I have other fish to fry.

¨ hash something over:to discuss something in great detail (informal). We've already talked about that matter several times; there's no point in hashing it all over again.

¨ fine kettle of fish:a mess; a very unsatisfactory situation (cliche). Our guests would arrive at any minute and all the electricity had gone off; that was a fine kettle of fish!

¨ the pot calling the kettle black:(an instance of) someone with a fault accusing someone else of having the same fault (cliche). How can Jim accuse Lisa of laziness? That's the pot calling the kettle black.

¨ simmer down:to become calmer and quieter (informal). Things have been so hectic here this week; we hope they'll simmer down after the holidays.

Ø There are many common expressions in the English language which refer tosome kind of food. What would you understand by the following?

1. "You'd better not spill the beans"

2. "She seems full of beans"

3. "It was a piece of cake"

4. "They're selling like hot cakes"

5. "He's such a butter-fingers"

6. "She knows which side her bread is buttered'

7. "It's about as useful as a chocolate teapot"

8. "Oh, hard cheese"

9. "He seems a bit cheesed off"

10. "I don't want to play gooseberry"

11. "I've been left with egg on my face"

12. "It was easy as pie"

From Head to Toe

English has many colloquial expressions to do with the body – from head to toe! Here are some of the commonest ones.

ü To keep your headis to remain calm.

ü To lose your headit is to panic and do something is above or over you to understand.

ü An eggheadis an intellectual and someone who has their head screwed and sensible.

ü If you split your hairs,you are very pedantic.

ü If you don't turn a hairyou are very calm.

ü To be scatterbrainedis to be very forgetful.

ü To have a brainwaveis to have a very clever idea.

ü If you have something on the brain,you cant forget it.

ü If you pick someone's brains,you talk a problem over with them to see if they have any good ideas.

ü To pay through the noseis to pay a very high price for something.

ü If you turn up your nose at something,you despise it. If you are all ears,you listen very attentively.

ü To keep your ear to the groundyou listen and watch out for signs of future events.

ü To see eye to eye with someoneis to agree with them.

ü If you don't bat an eyelid,you show no surprise or excitement.

ü If you are down in the mouth,you are depressed.

ü A stiff upper lipis the traditionally British quality of not showing any emotion in times of trouble.

ü To have your tongue in your cheekis to say one thing and mean something else.

ü To have a sweet toothis to have a taste for sweet food.

ü To do something by the skin of your teethis to just manage to do it.

ü To stick your neck outis to do something risky or dangerous.

ü To keep someone at arm's lengthis to avoid getting too friendly with them.

ü To be highhandedis to behave in a superior fashion.

ü To lend someone a handis to help him.

ü To have a finger in every pie.to involve in a lot of different projects.

ü To have green fingersto be very good at gardening.

ü To be all fingers and thumbsis to be very clumsy.

ü To be under someone's thumbis to be under their influence.

ü To have a heart to heart with someone,to have an intimate talk and to learn it completely.

ü To be half-heartedis to be not very enthusiastic about something.

ü To be whole-heartedis to be totally committed.

ü To be thick-skinnedis to be insensitive to critics.

ü To be thin-skinnedis to be oversensitive.

ü If your blood boils,you are furious about something.

ü If you blood freezes in your veins,you are terrified.

ü If something puts or gets your back up,it makes you annoyed.

ü If you put your back into something,you put a lot of effort into it.

ü To pull .someone's leg, to tease them.

ü If you haven't a leg to stand on, you have no reason or justification for what you do.

ü To put your foot downis to insist on something and to fall on your feet is to become used to a new situation.

ü To get cold feetis to become frightened or nervous about something.

ü If you put your footin it,you say or do something to upset or annoy someone else.

ü If you tread on someone's toes,you do the same without meaning to.

 

Ø Now, can you complete these sentences with expressions to do with the body?

1. We got up so late this morning that we had to run to the station, and we just caught the train _________________.

2. All the children had to learn the poem ____________.

3. I've got a problem I'd like to discuss – can I come and _________________ this afternoon?

4. John does everything his mother says – he's certainly __________________.

5. Tom and his sister disagree about everything – they simply don't _________________.

6. I never know whether Sam is being serious or whether he's ________________.

7. Sue certain has __________________ – all her plants grow very well.

8. You really __________________ – you are involved in so many things!

9. James is very sensible – he certainly ________________.

10.I can't forget that song – I've got it _________________.