1: Literal meanings

Fill in the following words in the definitions below:

pod spitting flesh knot chalk blood
1. Your heart pumps your through your body.
2. Peas grow in a
3. Some teachers still use to write on blackboards.
4. There's now a taboo about in public, although it was very common
a hundred years ago.
5. The of an animal is the part we usually eat as meat.
6. When you tie two pieces of string together, you make a

2: Like father, like son

Use the following idiomatic expressions in the sentences below:
a. baby of the family e. the black sheep of the family
b. blood is thicker than water f. own flesh and blood
c. fight like cat and dog g. like father, like son
d. two peas in a pod h. tie the knot
1. Jamie's only five but he's mad about football, just like his dad. You know what
they say -
2. I've got two sisters who are older than me and then my younger brother Mark
who's twenty-two. He's the
3. They've got two daughters and they look just the same. They're like

4. Sam isn't the best person for the job but his father made him head of Marketing
in the family business. As you know, !
5. My brother and his girlfriend have finally decided to
They're getting married in the spring.
6. I get on very well with my brother now but we used to
when we were younger.
7. Everyone expected Susan to go to university like the rest of us, but she got a job
in a casino on a ship. She's
8. My son's in trouble with the police. I normally have no sympathy with people who
break the law but it's different when it's your own

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3: The spitting image
Put the following words in the sentences below:
cheese footsteps homes tree
relative family side image
1. Look at Marie. She's the spitting of her mother, isn't she?
2. Pippa's going to medical school. She's following in her father's
3. A recent survey shows that two out of three convicted criminals come from
broken
4. I've got Scottish blood. My grandparents on my mother's originally
came from Glasgow.
5. George is very interested in his family's history. He can trace his family
back to 1550.
6. Everyone in my family plays a musical instrument. Music runs in the
7. I got a letter today from a long-lost in Australia. I didn't even know he
existed! He's coming to visit in the summer.
8. My sister and I look alike but when it comes to personality we're like chalk
and
Note: A long-lost relative is one whom you have not seen for many years. A
distant relative is perhaps your cousin's cousin. You can also say you have a
rather distant relationship with someone. Is there an idiom in your language like
this? - Although my sister lives in America, we're very close.

4: Definitions
Look back at the idioms used in this unit and find the ones which match the
definitions below. The word in brackets will help you.
1. A relative who you have never met or not seen for a long time, (lost)
2. The member of the family who seems to get into trouble or has made bad choices.
(sheep)
3. Brothers or sisters who look just like each other, (pod)
4. A situation when the parents are divorced or separated, (broken)
5. A situation when loyalty to family is more important that anything else, (thicker)
6. When a child looks just like one of the parents, (image)

5: Revision
Look back at the idioms in this unit and add the final words:
1. the black sheep of the 6. fight like cat and
2. the baby of the 7. like peas in a
3. it runs in the 8. blood is thicker than
4. like father, like 9. like chalk and
5. your own flesh and 10. follow in his father's
Are you following in your father's footsteps? What characteristics run in your
family?

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