IDIOMS

ACTIVE

Follow sb’s (his, her, their) lead

Take the initiative-act on your own=Step up to the mark - deal with the
situation

Spur sb. into action- encourage to do sth. (also often used in the
passive form. He was spurred into action –jis buvo paskatintas veikti)
The local hockey club had no money to buy new equipment which the players needed. Sam didn’t

play hockey and found it boring to have to watch his younger brother, Joseph, in matches at the
weekend.
One day, he found Joseph in tears at the prospect that the team wouldn’t be able to play the next
season and he felt so sorry for him that he agreed to do a sponsored marathon in order to help
raise
funds for the new equipment.
ANSWER: Sam was spurred into action

Go against the grain- do sth that is not normal/habitual/natural under

the circumstances
Worried about health problems in their country, one government identified that eating too much red
meat was a big issue, so they increased taxes on meat products and promoted chicken and fish as
alternatives. However, the citizens had been eating large quantities of red meat for generations and
found it too difficult to change.

The government’s action went against the grain.

Buck the trend to oppose, resist the general tendency

Fiona was interested in computers and information and communications technology (ICT) was a
popular subject at her school, but the classes were almost exclusively male. It seemed as if only boys
chose ICT. Her female friends advised her to choose subjects such as sociology, history and art so
that they could all be together, but Fiona went ahead and signed up for ICT anyway.
ANSWER: Fiona………bucked the trend……………………………..

1
PASSIVE
Go with the flow

Bow down to

Turn a blind eye =Bury sb’s (your, their, his) head in the sand

Active vocabulary (from the reading texts)

Bemoan - to complain (bemoan his disloyalty, bemoan parents’

attitude)

Inhumanity- very cruel behavior (behavior)

manifest (verb) -to show (to manifest great emotions), prove (manifest
ideals)

moral compass- a person’s ability to judge what is right and wrong

seizure-sudden strong attack of an illness

outcry- protest, dissatisfaction (public outcry against low salaries, the

governmental policy, etc)

ultimately-finally

assumption-belief, expectation (a thing that is accepted as true or as

certain to happen, without proof, for example, “assumptions about the
market")

compel (v)– force sb. to do sth.

I compelled Harry to answer her questions

induce (v) –persuade, convince sb to do sth (The principal induced

students to stay away from the crowd)

2
oppression-cruel or unjust treatment or control ( The Aborigines in
Australia lived under oppression for many years)

intervene – get involved (for example, he intervened in the dispute)

stance-attitude, viewpoint

occurence -happening, incident

withhold-to conceal, keep back

bribe-to pay to influence illegal or wrong activity

breach-violate (breach the law, the treaty, the contract)

confess (confession) –to admit that you have done sth wrong or illegal

confidentiality-privacy, protection of personal information

(confidentiality of medical records, agreement, incomes, etc.)

leak (information)-make known, expose (WikiLeaks leaked numerous e-

mails…………)

mindset – attitude

proposal (propose)- suggestion (suggest)

vicinity- local area, neighborhood

protagonist- the central figure of the narrative

foreshadow –predict

resolution-decision

enlightment –the state of having(ir giving sb) knowledge or

understanding
3
pursue (v only) -seek, have sth. as one’s goal ( pursue a career of a
doctor, pursue, motivation to pursue higher education, a highly
respectable job,etc.)

novel (adj)-new, original, innovative, unique

immaculate-clean, unspoilt, uncorrupted (immaculate clothes, bed

linen, text, thoughts)

upright-honest

(dis)obedient-refusing to obey

audacious – uncontrolled, arrogant,

imprudent – careless, unwise

idle-lazy

enlightment-the state of understanding or having knowledge

disrupted- broken apart, destroyed (lives, hopes, etc.)

dumbfounded-surprised and unable to speak priblokštas

amply (adv)-more than enough, sufficiently, abundantly (for example,

amply supplied with food, amply rewarded)