Look up the following phrasal verbs in a dictionary and comment on their contextual meanings. Use the verbs to fill in the gaps in the sentences below

- to be laid up - to grow on smb

- to call upon smb (to do smth) - to hold out

- to carry smth out - to put oneself out

- to give in (to smb/ smth) - to throw up smth

- to go back on smth/ smb

 

1) The chairman spoke so forcefully that the rest of the committee ___ ___ his opinion.

2) Why did you ___ ___ such a good job, when they are so hard to get?

3) Religious people ___ ___ God to help them.

4) Only a coward ___ ___ his fate.

5) I’ve been ___ ___ since Christmas with a bad cough.

6) Don’t ___ ___ your education by leaving now.

7) The town was surrounded, but the citizens ___ ___ until help came.

8) The gunmen ___ ___ their threat and shot the man.

9) Mother was ___ ___ for a month – so ill she was after the operation.

10) Saving regularly soon ___ ___ you.

11) Say thank you to your aunt – she ___ herself ___ to take care of you when you were ill.

12) They ___ ___ their word and refused to lend us money.

13) His music is difficult to listen to, but after a while it starts ___ ___ you.

14) You should never ___ ___ your friends.

15) Do not give up. ___ ___ and fortify!

16) Ann is a very considerate girl, always willing to ___ herself ___ to help others.

Match the following idioms with their definitions and then use them in the sentences below.

	Idiom		Definition
	At the bottom of one’s heart	A	to not make any effort to help someone
	Be as good as his/ her word	B	not to take, touch, disturb etc smb
	Be at death’s door	C	to do what you want, often despite the wishes or feelings of others
	Be out of the question	D	to marry in a church, to wed
	Distract one’s mind	E	to do what you have promised
	Do smth behind smb’s back	F	to be so ill that you might die
	Do one’s bit	G	to enjoy yourself; be very happy or excited
	Follow smb to the grave	H	to be in a very dangerous or uncertain situation
	Hang by a thread	I	what a person really/ secretly thinks/ feels
	Have one’s own way	J	something will be impossible or not allowed
	Have the time of one’s life	K	to do one’s duty, one’s share of responsibility
	Lead smb to the altar	L	to die very soon after someone else
	Leave smb/ smth alone	M	to do smth without smb’s knowing, especially because they would not like it
	(not) lift/ raise/ stir a finger	N	(make smb) relax or stop thinking about important/ grave matters

 

1) I feel guilty about complaining to the boss ________. I should have warned my colleagues before.

2) I was amazed to see how good he was at the job, chatting with the customers, obviously ________.

3) Hopkins had spent so much time ________ for the past years, that the final act of passing through it must have been for him pretty much of a routine affair.

4) For weeks after the accident, her life ________.

5) Patriotism united the British nation, regardless of class, age or political views, during the Great War when everyone _________ as a matter of course.

6) We moved furniture all day long, and Sara never ________ to help us.

7) You’ll find that she ________ – she always comes if she says she will.

8) Kitty kept saying that she would go, though ________ she knew that she couldn’t.

9) Once Stan threatened to make the letter public and he was ________.

10) A house was ________ then, as we lived in a rented flat.

11) Molly was so tired that she decided to make a break and go out somewhere to ________.

12) She outlived her husband by three months and soon ________.

13) Isabelle seemed to have got over Edward and a couple of months later Bateman, the devoted friend, ________.

14) You are bound to get into trouble, interfering in other people’s problems. Why can’t you ________?

6. Look up the following synonymous and semantically related words. Explain their difference and illustrate them by your own examples.

a) Delicate – gentle – tactful;

b) Delicate – frail – fragile – groggy – shaky – weak;

c) To adore – dote on – worship smb

Describe the characters of the story using the words and expressions below.

A) Louise

a (complete) humbug

frail, thin, delicate, with pale cheeks

leave smb with a weak heart

to take the greatest care of oneself

to be dismayed

to have a heart attack; her heart failed her

to be laid up

to hang by a thread

to have an unconquerable spirit

to be at death’s door

to fall down dead

to outlive/ survive smb;

to survive smth (a shock, a strain etc)

to save smb trouble

delicate/ precarious health

a wretched invalid

a submissive wife

to follow smb to the grave

(not) to give way to a private grief

uncomplaining

to carry out a stupendous bluff

to have the time of one’s life

to be prepared for the worst

on smb’s account

to be a burden to smb

to cultivate the society of painters and artists

to worship smb with an anxious adoration

B) Louise’s husbands: Tom Maitland and George Hobhouse

a big husky fellow

a fine athlete

to entrust smb to smb as a sacred charge

to excel in games

to undertake the charge

to dote upon smb

to catch one’s death of cold

to keep smb warm

to leave smb a comfortable fortune

to resign one’s commission

to have (no) stamina

to throw up one’s career

to grow on smb

to rejoin one’s regiment

not to let smb stir a finger

to redouble one’s attention towards smb

C) Iris, Louise’s daughter

to take care of smb

to live with an invalid

to sacrifice oneself for smb’s sake

to have a chance to lead a life of one’s own

to issue invitations

to postpone marriage indefinitely

to desert smb

to be hard on smb

to beg smb on one’s bended knees

to be radiant

to lead to the altar

D) the story-teller

to bother with smb

not to lose the opportunity of doing

to say smth (disagreeable) behind smb’s back

to make one’s meaning plain

coarse, brutal, vulgar

to be puzzled

to drop smb

to seek smb’s acquaintance

to gall/ cross smb

to look upon smb as smb (a comic figure)

to acknowledge oneself mistaken and defeated

to share a secret

to look at smb full and square

to have (no) compassion for smb