Unit 8.2 & 8.3 Flashcards
a Never before … b Only once in my life … c Scarcely … when … d No sooner … (past perfect) than … e Hardly … when … f Not until last month ... g Seldom ... h Rarely ... i Had it not been for the fact that ...
a Never before … b Only once in my life … c Scarcely … when … d No sooner … (past perfect) than … e Hardly … when … f Not until last month ... g Seldom ... h Rarely ... i Had it not been for the fact that ...
seldom
almost never:
Now that we have a baby, we seldom get the chance to go to the cinema.
forlorn
very unlikely to be achieved or to succeed:
Their only hope now is that the outside world will intervene but it is an increasingly forlorn hope.
deafening/thunderous
extremely loud:
The music was deafening.
not sleep a wink
to not sleep at all:
I didn’t sleep a wink last night with all that noise.
crawl
to move slowly or with difficulty, especially with your body stretched out along the ground or on hands and knees:
The child crawled across the floor.
The injured soldier crawled to safety.
outcry
a strong expression of anger and disapproval about something, made by a group of people or by the public:
The release from prison of two of the terrorists has provoked a public outcry.
stool
a seat without any support for the back or arms:
a bar/kitchen/piano stool
steel yourself
to prepare yourself to do something that you know will be unpleasant or upsetting:
He steeled himself not to look away.
lash down
to rain in large amounts and with a lot of force
It’s been lashing down for an hour.
rickety
in bad condition and therefore weak and likely to break:
Careful! That chair’s a bit rickety.
She slowly climbed the rickety wooden steps.
relish
to like or enjoy something:
I always relish a challenge.
dead end
a situation that has no hope of making progress:
Negotiators have reached a dead end in their attempts to find a peaceful solution.
trepidation
fear or worry about what is going to happen:
We view future developments with some trepidation.
welcoming
friendly or making you feel welcome:
She gave everyone a welcoming smile.
a The question is complex … b All things considered … c … is a separate issue. d One definite disadvantage is … e That is not to say that … f The third and perhaps most important … g Take the area of … h To evaluate this … i By way of illustration … j Moving on to … k Taking everything into account … l More specifically …
a The question is complex … b All things considered … c … is a separate issue. d One definite disadvantage is … e That is not to say that … f The third and perhaps most important … g Take the area of … h To evaluate this … i By way of illustration … j Moving on to … k Taking everything into account … l More specifically …
occupancy
someone’s use of a room or building for the purposes of living or working:
The family’s occupancy of the apartment lasted only six months.
out of the frame
not involved in something, or not being considered for something
With Steve out of the frame, I knew I had a chance with Sarah.
take place
to happen:
The concert takes place next Thursday.
out of place
in the wrong place or looking wrong:
The boy looked uncomfortable and out of place among the adults.
in place
If something is in place, it is in its usual or correct position:
The chairs are all in place.
He screwed the shelf in place.
organized:
The arrangements are all in place for the concert next Thursday.
burn your boats/bridges
If you are in a situation and you burn your boats/bridges, you destroy all possible ways of going back to that situation.
in a nutshell
very briefly, giving only the main points:
“What went wrong?” “In a nutshell, everything.”
trivial
having little value or importance:
I don’t know why he gets so upset about something so trivial.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is not a trivial matter.
A trivial problem is easy to solve:
Getting computers to understand human language is not a trivial problem.
have money to burn
to spend a lot of money on things that are not necessary:
I don’t know what her job is but she certainly seems to have money to burn.
get/have your fingers burned
to suffer unpleasant results of an action, especially loss of money, so you do not want to do the same thing again:
She’d invested extensively in stocks and got her fingers burned when the market collapsed.
burn a hole in sb’s pocket
If money is burning a hole in your pocket, you are very eager to spend it.
the best of both worlds
a situation in which you can enjoy the advantages of two very different things at the same time:
She works in the city and lives in the country, so she gets the best of both worlds.
burn the midnight oil
to work late into the night:
Chris is asleep after burning the midnight oil trying to finish his article
fiddle
to move things about or touch things with no particular purpose:
Put your papers down and stop fiddling with them!
fiddle while Rome burns
to enjoy yourself or continue working as normal and not give any attention to something important and unpleasant that is happening that you should be taking action to prevent:
Environmentalists claimed governments were fiddling while Rome burned.
readily
quickly, immediately, willingly, or without any problem:
He readily agreed to help.
Larger sizes are readily available.
