Ex. 3 p. 195

as dead as a post (door-nail/ doornail/ herring / dodo/ Julius Caesar/ mutton); as cold as ice; as bold as brass; as pale as a ghost (ashes/ death); as ugly as sin; as true as I stand here; as sure as eggs is eggs (a gun/ death/ fate/ I’m alive/ I’m sitting here/ I stand here/ you’re born); as neat as a new pin (bandbox/ ninepence); as plain as day (daylight/ pikestaff / packstaff/ the nose on your face/ the sun at noonday/ Salisbury); as mad as a March hare (hatter); as light as a feather (thistle-down); as different as chalk and cheese; as large as life; as hard (tough) as nails; as quick as a flash (lightning/ thought); as flat as a pancake (board / a flounder/ your hand); as fresh as a daisy (a rose/ paint); as good as gold, as cool as a cucumber, as dry as a bone.

Ex. 4 p. 195

1) a heart of gold, a cold fish, an awkward customer, a pain in the neck, quick off the mark, a slowcoach, a fast worker, an odd-ball, round the bend, middle-of-the-road, over the top;

2) teacher’s pet, top of the class, a real know-all, a big-head, a lazy bones, to have a good head for figures, to have a head like a sieve;

3) to be on cloud nine, to be in high spirits, to keep one’s chin up, to look down in the dumps, to be in a black mood, like a bear with a sore head, to be over the moon, to feel as pleased as Punch, to feel browned off;

4) to be head and shoulders above smb., to be streets ahead of, to knock spots off, out of this world, to be a dab-hand at smth., first-rate, top-notch, to be really on the ball, to have the gift of the gab;

5) to talk down to smb., to talk behind smb’s back, small talk, to talk shop, to give a talking to smb., to put it in an nutshell, to talk rubbish, to be long-winded, to talk sense, to get to the point, to speak one’s mind, to wrap up the discussion, to talk at cross purposes, to get a word in edgeways, don’t ‘let’s’.

Ex. 6 p. 196

1. bull, verbal; 2. lamb, substantive; 3. dog, verbal; 4. snake, verbal; 5. pig, substantive; 6. fly, verbal; 7. fish, substantive; 8. chicken, verbal; 9. bee, verbal; 10. cat, substantive.

Ex. 8 p. 197

1. b 2. a 3. c 4. b 5. c 6. c 7. b 8. a 9. a 10. b