Were you surprised when Mary suddenly turned up at your place?

2. Why did you decide to get rid of your cat?

3. Are you really sure that she will enter the University?

4. Haven’t I explained it to you quite clearly?

5. Do you know him well enough?

6. Why does she write spelling tests and dictations so slowly?

7. Didn`t you really like her behaviour yesterday? What was the reason?

8. Is he really such an indispensable man?

9. Why don’t you want to listen to me?

10. I wonder why you turned on her in such a way the day before yesterday.

IV. Compose situations on suggested topics using the idioms studied

Two strangers are shouting at each other in the middle of the street.

2. A customer is trying on a skirt, after making some awkward movement she tears it up.

3. A small girl sets her mother’s hand free and runs across the road just in front of the approaching bus.

4. An unexperienced driver bumps into a car in front of him.

5. Two girls are whispering about something in the corner of the class.

6. The secretary hadn’t locked the door of the office and it was robbed.

7. Several doctors are examining a seriously-ill patient.

8. An icicle is falling down on a passer-by.

9. A new shop has been opened near the center of your town.

10. A famous actor has come to your institute to speak about his career and how he has become so successful.

V. Complete the following sentences using the idioms studied

1. He waited for about 10 minutes to let his reply-----.

2. “You speak English perfectly.” “It’s----- to my teacher.”

3. I can’t tell you anything about him. I-----.

4. Whenever she speaks, she never-----.

5. Don’t-----. You see I’m very busy at the moment and can’t read to you.

6. I’ve never seen a person so----- as he is.

7. Even when you have no patience left, try not to-----.

8. -----he`ll be the first in this race.

9. I was really----- when I saw him in the doorway.

10. You can’t even-----. That’s why I don’t want to speak with you any more.

11. When you start-----I’ll listen to you.

12. It is only a bad parent who thinks his child-----.

13. I couldn’t utter a word as I was-----on hearing his explanation.

VI. Make the following story more idiomatic using the idioms studied

“I do not pretend that I was faithful to her. She was not young when I married her and we had been married for ten years. She was small and thin, and she had a bad complexion. She had a bitter tongue. She was a woman who suffered from a fury of possession, and she couldn’t bear me to be attracted to anyone but her. She was jealous not only of the women I knew, but of my friends, my cat, and my books. On one occasion in my absence she gave away a coat of mine merely because I liked none of my coats so well. But I’m of an equable temperament. I will not deny that she bored me, but accepted her acrimonious disposition as an act of God and no more thought of rebelling against it than I would against bad weather or a cold in the head. I denied her accusations as long as it was possible to deny them, and when it was impossible I shrugged my shoulders and smoked a cigarette.” (W.S. Maugham)

VII. Make up a humorous story using the idioms studied

LESSON 13

let alone – not to mention, to say nothing of

1. That was the best you could say of it – this next war could not last for months, let alone for years. (A. Barker)

2. Yet he was much, too much scared of broaching any man, let alone one in a peaked cap, to dare to ask. (D. Lawrence)

And it certainly wouldn’t be fair to her, confronting her with something that could hardly fail to disturb and upset her in the short run, let alone what might happen later. (K. Amis)

to come back to – to recall, to remember

1 .And the old saying came back to him: “A man’s fate lies in his own heart.” (J. Galsworthy)

What a time we had last night, she grinned, suddenly remembering. It came back to him now. (A. Sillitoe)

3. Everything came back to him, but came back with a wonder, came back above all with a high and magnificent beauty. (H. James)

4. It was late afternoon when he awoke. Slowly the fact of life came back to him. (J. London)

to be (all) at see – to be puzzled, not to know how to act

1. Hilary didn’t quite know what to say… He felt thoroughly at sea, conscious that this girl’s life contained a thousand things he did not know… (J. Galsworthy)

2. When I imagined that on seeing his pictures I should get a clue to the understanding of his strange character I was mistaken… They merely increased the astonishment with which he filled me. I was more at sea than ever. (W.S. Maugham)

3. “What are you doing with your life?” “I`m at sea,” she said at last. “Lots of my generation are, I think.” (H. Well)

that’s too bad – an exclamation expressing regret, pity, sympathy

1. “It is too bad, Mr.Bartlett,” said Celia when Gregg had gone. “What’s too bad?” asked Bartlett. “That you have to drink alone.”(R. Lardner)

2. “Did I bother you much last night?” “Not too much,” she said. “I seem to be getting over it a little.” “That’s too bad. Where would you like to go?” he asked. (M. Wilson)

Is Haviland around?” “Not today,” Erik let himself out through the barrier. “That’s too bad. Nobody at all seems to be around.” (M. Wilson)

to go wrong – to fail, to go amiss

1. I feel, if anything went wrong, Dad’d blame me for not looking after you better. (D. Cusack)

On a day like this everything was an adventure. You felt that nothing could go wrong. (D. Cusack)

3. The match just went down sizzling into the grayish mixture. Felicity was frantic. The whole thing was going wrong at the last moment. (I. Murdoch)

Mor studied the tower. If only there were anything, any plan, which could help. Clearly something had gone wrong about the rope. (I. Murdoch)

to make head or tail of – to understand, to comprehend (always used in the negative)

1. It was he who first made me acquainted with the Impressionists, whose pictures had recently been accepted by the Luxemburg. To my shame, I must admit that I couldn`t make head or tail of them. (W.S. Maugham)

But he remembered that she was a bit touched, and that even if anybody believed her information it would be so raveled-up that they wouldn’t be able to make head or tail of her tittle-tattle. (A. Sillitoe)

3. Mrs.Stricland pondered deeply for some time. It was clear that she could not make head or tail of my announcement. (W.S. Maugham)

4. … but I could see they couldn’t make head or tail of the old creature. (J. Galsworthy)

(for) the rest of life (evening, day, week, month; way, trip etc)– the remainder; that which is left

1. And after Chapel he walked home with Miriam, whilst Mrs.Morel spent the rest of the evening with her old friend, Mrs.Burns. (D. Lawrence)

2. “We do the rest of the way by taxi,” Rain announced. (I. Murdoch)

3. In that moment he loved her more than he ever had before, and he knew that for the rest of his life he would never forget this. (I. Murdoch)