Exercises

46.1 Look at A. Match the beginning of each sentence with its ending
1 Our team’s been practising hard, so I hope storm, both with critics and the public,
we’ll come
2 Negotiating that important deal makes me high.
feel I have won
3 His excellent IT skills have helped him stay a roll now.
ahead
4 I found it hard to get started with my thesis, my spurs in my new job.
but I’m on
5 Her latest book has gone down a up trumps in the match tomorrow,
6 After some initial problems, the pop group is of the game.
now riding

46.2 Which idioms do these pictures make you think of?

46.3 Rewrite each sentence using the word in brackets.

1 The chef’s new recipes were very popular with the clientele. (STORM)
2 My ideas for restructuring the company were met with total silence. (BALLOON)
3 The new prime minister is extremely popular at the moment. (RIDING)
4 I’m quite worried about starting my new job. I’m afraid I won’t be able to cope. (MUSTARD)
5 I’ve been studying hard all year, so I hope I will know a lot about the subject when it
comes to taking my exams. (GAME)
6 Poor Carl has been hit by two problems at the same time - losing his job and having a
flood in his house. (DOUBLE)
46.4 Complete each idiom in this review of a play.

Although Lucy James's disappointing first play went down like a ( 1 ) ...........................................
balloon, she has come up ( 2 ) .............................................with her second play, now showing at
West Theatre. The dramatic plot went down a ( 3 ) .............................................with the first-night
audience. I thought it would be a ( 4 ) ...........................................for disaster casting the young Bill
Catlin as an old man, but I was proved wrong. Catlin is ( 5 ) .............................................a roll at the
moment; his last play also delighted critics.

Look at Units 56 and 59, which are based on the keywords d ead and fall. W hich other idioms
relating to failure can you find there?

English Idioms in Use Advanced 97

 47 Emphasising
In this unit we look at the way certain nouns and adjectives combine to form idiomatic
compounds which emphasise the second word in the compound.

A Em phasis of adjectives
The words before each adjective express the idea of very / completely / extremely.
My trousers got soaked. I laid them on the sand and, in the hot sun, they were soon bone dry.
The cakes I made were a disaster. They were rock hard and nobody could eat them!
He lost his shorts in the water and came out of the river stark naked.
Derek has a razor-sharp sense of humour; he’s so funny.
The oven broke down and our dinner was stone cold instead of piping hot.
The new prime minister is trying to project a squeaky-clean image of herself.
My granddad is 87, but he’s fighting fit and goes for a long walk every day.
It’s crystal clear to me that we need to raise money urgently.
His uncle Reginald is filthy rich. He owns houses in England, Italy and the Caribbean.

B Em phatic noun phrases

Read this phone conversation between Lou and Mary-Jo and note the idioms.
Lou: Have you heard about Yolanda?
She was robbed in broad
daylight1 in the city centre
yesterday. It really scared her.
Mary-Jo: Oh no! Things have really hit
rock bottom2 here if people are
getting mugged in the middle of
the day in crowded places!
Lou: Yes. Nobody has any respect
any more. The city spent a small
fortune3 on surveillance cameras,
but nobody ever gets caught.
The police do nothing.
Mary-Jo: Well, even if they do get caught, they have norespectfor the courts. They just tell
bare-faced lies4 and walk away free,or get fined a merepittance5.
Lou: Well, I think anyone who mugs someone should go to prison, full stop6.
1 during the day when people could have seen it 2 the lowest and worst possible level 3 a large
sum of money 4 obvious untruths 5 a very small sum of money 6 there is nothing more to say
about the subject

There are a large number of emphatic compounds with idiomatic meanings like the ones above.
Always make a special note of them in your vocabulary notebook when you find new ones.

98 English Idioms in Use Advanced

 Exercises

4 7 .1 Match the beginning of each idiom with its ending.

1 razor clear
2 fighting hot
3 crystal sharp
4 stark fit
5 piping naked
47.2 Look at A. Replace the underlined part of each sentence with an idiom.
1 My old auntie May is very fit, even though she had an operation two months ago.
2 She’s very rich: she owns a private jet and a massive yacht.
3 A man jumped into the fountain completely naked and was arrested by the police.
4 The new government had a completely clean image until the recent scandal broke.
5 Henrietta has a very sharp mind and is the most intelligent person I know.
6 My feet and hands were completely cold, so I sat in front of the fire, had a bowl of very
hot soup and soon felt better.
7 I overcooked the meat and it was very dry.
8 We can’t put the tent up here. The ground’s very hard.

47.3 Correct the mistakes in these idioms.

1 Things have hit stone bottom between my parents and their neighbours; they don’t speak
to each other any more.
2 I couldn’t sleep on that mattress - it was stone hard.
3 This vase is stark dry and the poor old flowers are dying!
4 It is glass clear to me that she is trying to deceive us all.
5 They’ve spent a filthy fortune on furniture for their new house.
6 Police report that more crimes are taking place in full daylight.

47.4 Answer these questions.

1 Which idiom in this unit means you have a lot of money?
2 Which idiom means ‘There’s nothing more to say about it!’ ?
3 Which idiom means a) ‘a very small sum of money’ and b) ‘a very largesum of money’ ?
4 Which idiom ‘means in the middle of the day, when everyone can see what ishappening’ ?
47.5 Complete the crossword.
Across
1 goes with rock
3 goes with crystal
4 goes with pittance
Down
1 goes with -faced lies
2 goes with fortune
5 goes with filthy
6 goes with naked

English Idioms in Use Advanced 99

 Play and game
Play
I went out with my brother and his girlfriend. They didn’t really want me there, and it was
really boring playing gooseberry, [being an unwanted third person in a romantic situation]
If you really like him, don’t make it too obvious. Try to play it cool, [behave in a calm way,
pretending to be less interested in someone than you really are]
I always take an umbrella with me, even if it’s not raining. I like to play it safe! [be extra
careful and not take any risks]
I run a restaurant. Another restaurant in town plays dirty - saying there are rats in our
kitchen, and so on. [behaves dishonestly] But I’m not stupid - they can’t play me for a fool,
[treat me as if I am stupid] At the moment we’re just waiting and playing for time, [waiting
until we’re ready] but we’ll get our revenge in the end.
In my opinion, scientists have no right to play God by experimenting on embryos, [act as if
they have control over other people’s lives]
I’m tired of playing second fiddle to my brother [being in a less important or weaker position]
The police played cat and mouse with the suspect before arresting him. [tried to defeat
someone by tricking them so that they had an advantage over them]

G am e
idiom exam ple meaning

raise your Our competitors won an award this week. work harder to achieve something
game W e’re really going to have to raise our game.

the game’s He’s got away with lying for a long time, but used to say that someone’s secret
up the game’s up now. activities are known and must now stop

a game plan The marketing campaign isn’t working. We need plan for achieving success
a new game plan.

the name of Good customer service is the name of the the most important part of an activity
the game game for successful companies. or quality needed for that activity

I C Idioms with p lay and game

idiom exam ple meaning

play games They’re never going to sign the contract.They’re trying to deceive someone about what
just playing games. they intend to do

play the 1 don’t agree with the changes at work, but I’m behave in a way that is expected or
game not going to complain; I’ll just play the game. demanded by those in authority.

play a / The banks are playing a / the waiting game delaying taking action until they see
the waiting until they see how their customers react to the how things develop
game financial crisis.

It is important to use articles correctly in idioms. We always say‘play second fiddle’ and ‘play
ERROR
gooseberry’, N O T ‘play a second fiddle’ and ‘play a gooseberry’.
V A RN IN t

100 English Idioms in Use Advanced