Idioms and collocations

Ex. Fill in the gaps with one correct option each. 

1. I think everyone has a/an ___-day sometimes.

     A. off   B. out  C. away   D. outside   E. colour

2. The rain has ___ in and the weather is really depressing.

     A. caught   B. fixed   C. set   D. got   E. arrived

3. I have to go to bed. I’m not a night ___, you know.

     A. Mark   B. owl   C. vampire   D. bat   E. ghost

4. When Pete first went to the gym, he was as thin as a ___.

     A. stick insect   B. finger   C. piece of paper   D. spider   E. rake

5. You won’t get on with Pam if you bear a/an ___ against her.

     A. grudge   B. curse   C. spell   D. offence   E. misgiving

6. Are you sure the puppy is ___?

     A. house-trained   B. home-trained   C. potty-trained   D. house-exercised   E. home-taught

7. The police are searching ___ for the criminal.

     A. dawn and dusk   B. high and dry  C. left and right   D. to and fro   E. high and low

8. Many Poles consider the Palace of Culture and Science ___ and want it demolished.

     A. uglifying   B. an eyesore   C. all the rage   D. browned off   E. red tape

9. The Kardashians ___ a loud party last night.

     A. sprang   B. tore   C. set   D. threw   E. cast

10. I hope you’ll pass the exam with ___ colours.

     A. bright   B. light   C. shining   D. pretty   E. flying

11. I have no idea what the man means. It's all ___ to me.

     A. Welsh   B. Chinese   C. French   D. Latin   E. Greek 

12. It's utter nonsense. You're full of ___, you know.

     A. prunes   B. pears   C. apples   D. oranges   E. lemons

13. Johnny may be strong, but he's not smart. In fact he's as thick as ___.

     A. a mule   B. a grey donkey   C. a broken branch   D. two short planks   E. a boot

14. Two and two make four. It's as plain as ___.

     A. the moon in the sky  B. the sea   C. the nose on your face   D. a peacock   E. the world

15. Jane's getting married this Saturday. It's a ___ letter day for all of us.

     A. red   B. gold   C. silver   D. blue   E. white

KEY

1A, 2C, 3B, 4E, 5A, 6A, 7E, 8B, 9D, 10E, 11E, 12A, 13D, 14C, 15A

Pronunciation of British place names

To create this post I used howjsay.com and ipa.typeit.org. The default accent on my blog is British RP.

Ex. Spell the following words phonetically.

1. Reading, 2. the Thames, 3. Leicester, 4. Gloucester, 5. Worcester, 6. Powys, 7. Torquay, 8. Edinburgh, 9. Isles of Scilly, 10. Inverness


KEY
1. /'redɪŋ/, 2. /ðə 'temz/, 3. /'lestə/, 4. /'glɒstə/, 5. /ˈwʊstə/, 6. /'poʊɪs/, /'pɑʊɪs/, 7. /tɔː'kiː/, 8. /'edɪnbᵊrə/, 9. /ɑɪlz əv 'sɪli/, 10. /ɪnvəˈnes/

Emphasis: Cleft sentences and wh-fronting

This post is loosely based on the structures dealt with in Unit 14 of Michael Vince's Advanced Languge Practice (1994).

Ex. 1. Paraphrase the following sentences using the words provided so that the meaning remains as similar as possible. e.g. 0. Iwant the blue one!  It is the blue one that I want!

1. I don't know where Johnny found that rusty knife.
Where ........................................................................
2. We don't know why Pauline left her husband.
Why ...........................................................................
3. Kate was the person who drove me home.
It ................................................................................
4. In the end Kate drove me home.
What Kate .................................................................
5. A cup of coffee is all I need now.
What ........................................................................
All ...........................................................................
6. California was the place where Julia met her boyfriend.
It ..............................................................................
7. Whatever are you doing with my glasses?!
............... earth are ..................................................?!
8. On Monday we finally got back home.
It ..............................................................................
9. She works 10 hours a day and goes to the gym three times a week. I have no idea how she manages to do it all.
She works 10 hours a day and goes to the gym three times a week. How ...............................
10. No, Jack lives in Norway, not Sweden.
No, it ......................................................................
11. The reason why we stayed home was that it was raining.
It was ......................................................................

KEY
1. Where Johnny found that rusty knife I don't know.
2. Why (ever) Pauline left her husband we don't know.
3. It was Kate who/that drove me home.
4. What Kate did in the end was (to) drive me home.
5. What I need now is a cup of coffee. All (that) I need now is a cup of coffee.
6. It was in California that/where Julia met her boyfriend.
7. What on earth are you doing with my glasses?!
8. It was (on) Monday that/when we finally got back home.
9. How she manages to do it all I have no idea.
10. No, it is in Norway that/where Jack lives, not Sweden.
11. It was because it was raining that we stayed home. / It was the rain that made us stay home.

Countable and uncountable, singular and plural nouns

Many nouns that are countable in Polish are uncountable in English. Take the word news. It is countable and generally used in the plural in Polish (wiadomość, -ci) but it cannot be counted in English, hence news is used, while a piece of news or a news item replace the general word when we wish to emphasise its countability. There are, however, exceptions to these rules, e.g. hair is generally uncountable, however single hairs are countable.

Ex. Correct the following sentences. Some of the sentences are correct.

1. No news are good news.
2. We bought some furnitures at the IKEA last Saturday. We bought a few furnitures.
3. The colonisers encountered aboriginal peoples on the island.
4. I had no time to wash my hairs in the morning.
5. Jane found two hairs in her soup.
6. Have you got any informations for me?
7. Money do not bring happiness.
8. The contract specified how the moneys were to be paid.
9. The police is searching for the dangerous criminal.
10. The team were founded in 1957.
11. The team were tired but happy after the game.
12. Are one of the doors open?
13. Heavy metal is still very popular in Finland. When I went there, I could see longhairs everywhere.
14. Have you seen my scissor? I must have lost them.
15. The soldiers were told to stay in an old barracks for a month.

KEY
1. is => are, 2. some furniture; a few pieces of furniture, 3. OK, 4. hair, 5. OK, 6. information,
7. do => does, 8. OK (also: monies), 9. is => are (the police = police officers, not the institution), 10. was, 11. OK (here we refer to the players, not to the team as a whole), 12. Is (the Polish word drzwi is always plural, the English word door is not), 13. OK, 14. scissors, 15. OK (despite the -s suffix the word is singular here)

Phrasal verbs with "bring"

Ex. Paraphrase the following sentences using the keywords provided so that the meaning changes as little as possible. Use phrasal verbs.

1. Electronics caused the decline of mechanical calculators. BROUGHT

2. These days it's difficult to raise a child. BRING

3. When Smith was shown a red card, Jones was told to play. BROUGHT

4. After the financial scandal it was said Mr Green would be deposed as Prime Minister. BROUGHT

5. 2010's have caused beards to be popular again. BROUGHT

6. I'm ready for the English test - let it start! BRING

7. Please go first and I'll be at the back. REAR

8. We succeeded in presenting the paper. BROUGHT

9. I had a rash after eating the nuts. BROUGHT

10. Adele's performance delighted the audience. HOUSE

11. I'm sorry, I just can't remember the title of the novel. BRING

12. Please don't mention it again. BRING

KEY
1. Electronics brought about the decline...
2. These days it's difficult to bring up a child / bring a child up.
3. ... Jones was brought on.
4. ... Mr Green would be brought down.
5. ... have brought beards back.
6. I'm ready for the English test - bring it on!
7. Please go first and I'll bring up the rear.
8. We brought off the paper/presentation.
9. The nuts brought on a/my rash. / My rash was brought on by the nuts.
10. Adele/Adele's performance brought the house down.
11. I'm sorry, I just can't bring the title of the novel to mind.
12. Please don't bring it up again.

I used Cambridge Dictionary online (dictionary.cambridge.org) but modified the sentences.

Adjectives and adverbs

I. Correct the errors in the following sentences and put a tick next to those which are correct.

e.g. Kate is well at maths. good

1. The house looked very largely. 2. This book is usefuller than that one. 3. Henry is my elder brother. 4. This is the older theatre in Manchester. 5. John worked very hardly and passed his exam with flying colours. 6. Do I look well in this dress? 7. Drive more fastly or we’ll be late. 8. This is the boringest lecture I’ve been to. 9. Just wait here and I’ll get the car ready. 10. I don’t want to paint the house pinkly.

II. Put the adjectives and other modifiers in the correct order.

1. the (large/three/brick/first/brown) houses   2. those (metal/ugly/flower/other) pots  

3. a(n) (old/English/beautiful) garden, 4. the (extraordinary/next/military) victory   

5. those (pretty/blue/little/four) flowers   6. a (brown/mahogany/small/square) box   7. a (young/polite/-faced/handsome) man   8. a(n) (Japanese/green/big/sports) car   9. that (terrifying/fierce/big) Alsatian   10. (Riding/Red/Little) Hood

III. Decide which of the two sentences in each pair is incorrect and explain why. 

1. a) The weather was depressing. b) Jane was depressing.

2. a) The cat was still alive. b) It was an alive cat.

3. a) Ban Ki-Moon is the General-Secretary of the UN. b) He is the Secretary-General of the UN.

4. a) He’s a mere child. b) This child is mere.

5. a) She was an afraid girl. b) She was afraid.

6. a) That was a three-mile-long road. b) That was a three-miles road. 7. a) These are my running shoes. b) These shoes of mine are running.

KEY

I. 1. large, 2. more useful, 3. OK, 4. oldest, 5. hard, 6. good, 7. faster, 8. most boring, 9. OK, 10. pink

II. 1. the first three large brown brick houses, 2. those other ugly metal flower pots, 3. a beautiful old English garden, 4. the next extraordinary military victory, 5. those four pretty little blue flowers, 6. a small square brown mahogany box, 7. a polite handsome-faced young man, 8. a big green Japanese sports car, 9. that terrifying big fierce Alsatian, 10. Little Red Riding Hood

III. 1. b) a person can be depressed 2. b) Alive can be used only after a verb, 3. a) General after the noun means ‘the most important person, the president’, 4. b) You cannot use mere before a noun, 5. a) You cannot use afraid before a noun, 6. b) You cannot use the plural in the attributive position., 7. b) Running denotes a purpose, not something the shoes do on their own.

Perfect forms of modal verbs

Paraphrase the following sentences using the words provided so that the meaning changes as little as possible. Use perfect forms of modal verbs.

1. I'm sure that John went to London last year.
John must ........................................................................... last year.
2. It's impossible that you saw Jane at the gym. She hates sports.
You .............................................. Jane at the gym. She hates sports.
3. You bought ten oranges although it wasn't necessary.
You ............................................................................... ten oranges.
4. It's bad that you told Lilly about her husband's affairs.
You oughtn't ............................................ about her husband's affairs.
5. I didn't help Jim because he didn't ask me.
If Jim ................................................................................... done it.
6. It was a bad idea to have that old car repaired.
You shouldn't ..................................................................... repaired.
7. She was free to visit me during my duty hours (but she never did).
She could ....................................................... during my duty hours.
8. At the end of the week our course will be over.
By the end of the week we ............................................ our course.
9. Perhaps this book belonged to Grandma.
This book ................................................................... to Grandma.
10. It's certain that Tim took your umbrella by mistake.
Tim ................................................... taken your umbrella by mistake.

KEY
1. have gone to London, 2. can't have seen, 3. needn't have bought, 4. to have told Lilly, 5. had asked me to help him, I would have, 6. have had that old car, 7. have visited me, 8. will have completed, 9. may/might have belonged, 10. must have

While making this exercise I got a little help from this website: http://www.learnamericanenglishonline.com/Yellow%20Level/Y12%20Perfect%20Modals.html
I also had a look at this book: Close, R.A. 1975. A Reference grammar for students of English. London: Longman.