III. Complete the following sentences using the idioms studied

1. Soon this humour vanished and Miss Aldclyffe understood it was absolutely necessary …

2. She remembered her school friends only …

3. The family believed the uncle could help them and … he would help his relatives out of the predicament.

4. She was in high spirits that night and … that people looked at her with admiration.

5. At heart he regrets the pains he would have to take to put things right. He’ll …

6. I’ll give in if …

7. This suspense, I know, …

8. Why! He’ll be fighting before …

9. Though my friend said it just in passing, the news had me …

10. Good for you, but that’s …

11. My friend persuaded me to do so before …

12. The news simply had me …

VII. Make the following extract from the book “Under the Net” by I. Murdoch more idiomatic using the idioms studied

It was certainly something of a problem to know where to go next. I wondered if Dave Gellman would harbour us. I fondled the idea, though I suspected it was no good. Dave is an old friend but he is a philosopher, not the kind that tells you about your horoscope and the number of the beast, but a real one like Kant and Plato, so of course he has no money. I used to talk a lot with Dave about abstract things. I was pleased when I first got to know him to hear that he was a philosopher, and I thought that he might tell me some important truths. At that time I used to read Hegel and Spinoza, though I confess I never understood them much, and I hope to be able to discuss with Dave. But somehow we never seemed to be anywhere, and most of our conversations consisted of my saying something and Dave saying he didn’t understand what I meant and I saying it again and Dave getting very impatient. It took me some time to realize when Dave said he didn’t understand, what he meant was that what I said was nonsense.

Lesson 5

to be cocksure- to be quite certain; to be selfconfident

1. Soames’s gorge rose. “You seem very cocksure”, he said; “ my nephew has by no means made his mind”. (J. Galsworthy)

2. Jim Nelson studied him. “How come you’re so cocksure?” (D.Carter)

3. Had people ever been as nasty, as self- indulgent, as dull, as miserable, as cocksure, as bad as art, as dismally ludicrous or as wrong as they’d been in the Middle Ages?

not to turn a hair ( not to bat an eyelash)- to show no signs of any feeling, worry or anxiety

1. “Ah!” he said. “What do you think of her?”-“Fascinating!”- “I’ll tell her that, she won’t turn a hair. The earth’s most matter-of-fact young woman”. (J. Galsworthy)

2. My Dad seems to me a perfect babe; his thinking apparatus hasn’t turn a hair. (J. Galsworthy)

3. Their was that woman, went out that day like an avenging fury, she’d have shot down a regiment in cold blood without turning a hair just to get her child back… (A. Christie)

at random- without aim or purpose

1. … he then, with a fine air of casualness, stuck a pin into the list at random. (J. Wain)

2. “I think it must be the fat one in the mask”, Wormold said at random. (Gr. Greene)

3. She took up half-a-dozen of his photographs at random and looked at them carefully one by one. (W. S. Maugham)

to kill two birds with one stone-to effect two results with one expenditure of trouble; to gain two objects by one exertion

1. “I perceive”, said Jolyon, “that you are trying to kill two birds with one stone”. (J. Galsworthy)

2. Hubert and Jean were expected in time for dinner, and she wished to kill all her birds with one stone. (J. Galsworthy)

3. “Aunt May”,Dinny murmured, “was saying: why not cure unemployment by a National Slum Clearance effort and kill the two birds with one stone?” (J Galsworthy)

that’s (just) it- that and nothing more, that’s the thing

1. “Just tell me one thing. You need to make more money, is that it?”-“That’s it”, said Charles. (J. Wain)

2. “This is it, Bart, my boy,”- he said to himself. “This must be the real thing”. (D. Cusack)

3. “What is your secret sorrow?” asked Virginia. “Has anyone bitten you?”- “That’s just it”,said Lord Caterham mournfully. Virginia looked puzzled. (A. Christie)

to lose touch with- no longer be in touch with; in (out of) touch (with)- in ( not in) social or intellectual relation (with) or correspondence ( with)

To keep in touch with- to contact, to get in touch with.

1. No one whom Dave has taught seems ever to lose touch with him. (I. Murdoch)

2. My dear, you look worn out. Don’t worry: just rest down there with the children. We’ll keep in touch with you. (J.Galsworthy)

3. I’ll order an ambulance and you’ll have to take Miss Blakeley home. You’d better get in touch with her sister so she’ll know when to expect her. (D. Cusack)

to talk one into doing (out of doing) something- to persuade (to dissuade) somebody to do something

1. “Edna talked him into going”, said Tony. (M. Wilson)

2. He acted immediately and calmly. Bunder would never, of course, let himself be talked into stopping so that they could give themselves up. Yes, stop they must. He moved forward slightly and grasped the hand- brake. (J. Wain)

3. “My mind’s made up”, said Mrs. Watkins aggressively, …”and I won’t be talked out of it”. (J. Lindsay)

to get somebody (something) out of one’s mind ( head)- to stop thinking about somebody (something); to dismiss somebody (something) from one’s mind

1. Charles knew that he would never get that smile out of his mind again. (J. Wain)

2. I wish you’d get Dr. Hasselbacher out of your head. (Gr.Greene)

3. Then the pair moved off and were lost in the crowd. Andrew could not get the picture out of his head. (A.Cronin)

to feel for someone-to sympathize with

1. Oh, thank you much, Mr. Grump, I know you would feel for us in our trouble. (R. Aldington)

2. He remained absurd, but the sincerity of his passion excited one’s sympathy. I could understand how his wife must feel for him. (W. S. Maugham)

3. Well, he has told me all his story. I feel for him so much. (H. James)

to keep (a person) in the dark- to hide things from a person; to keep things secret; to be in the dark about- not to know about or not to understand fully; to keep ( a thing) dark- to keep it a secret

1. He must keep Bunder absolutely and permanently in the dark about Dogson and his mission to reveal the secrets of the drug traffic. (J.Wain)

2. Besides, she was in the dark about his feeling now. (J.Galsworthy)

3. I don’t see how anyone else but Parker could have sent it. Depend upon it, his own man. But keep it dark- we don’t want to alarm him just yet. (A. Christie)