18. Explain the meanings and give the context of the following idioms:

• love the sound of your own voice

• play it by ear

• have (got) an ear for smth.

• have(got) a familiar ring to it

• be out on your ear

• make a lot of noise (about smth.)

• a big noise

• be like music to your ears

• go in one ear and out the other

• face the music

A Decide which noun completes the expression on the left. The first has been done for you.

	ear	sound	noise	music	ring
1 hove (got) on____________for sth
2 face the_______________
3 be out on your__________
4 moke a lot of _________(about sth)
5 play it by___________
6 a big______________
7 love the_________of your own voice
8 go in one ________and out the other
9 have (got) a familiar _________to it
10 be like _____________to your ears

В Using the expressions from above, how can you say the following more idiomatically?

I recognize it.	It…_____________________________
He enjoys speaking a lot.	________________________________
It's really good to hear that.	_________________________________
I won't plan things—I'll just see how things go.	_________________________________
I'll have to accept the criticism for what I've done.	_________________________________
She's good at imitating the sounds of other languages.	She has an ear for languages_________
He never pays attention to what I say.	It________________________________
He's an important person.	_________________________________

C In the dialogue below, one word in each idiom is incorrect. Can you find the errors and correct them?

believe

Jo I just can't -understand- my ears, it seems so incredible! So, what happened next? I'm total ears.

Jen Well, later that evening, we went to Pete's. You should have heard what he was saying about Cathy! I told him to calm down but it just fell on closed ears.

Jo And?

Jen In walked Cathy. The front door was open, only Tom didn't notice.

Jo What happened?

Jen Tom eventually realized, and of course we were all really embarrassed. You could've heard a feather drop. Nobody said a word.

Jo What about Cathy?

Jen Finally, she turned to Tom and said, "My ears were steaming. I thought I'd come round here and find out exactly what you thought of me."

Jo Oh dear.

Jen She stormed out, packed a suitcase and left. Tom can't believe it but for shouting out loud, what does he expect? He said some terrible things.

Jo What's the situation now?

Jen Your guess is as good as mine. Keep your ear to the floor and let me know if you hear anything.