B. TASKS

1. Complete the following phrases and sentences with one word for each gap:

- He’s been avoiding me like … since our quarrel.

- She went as white as … when she heard the news.

- She arrives every day at five, regular as … .

- The new portable computers are going like … .

- He is dead, as sure as … .

- He was like … before his driving test.

- And there she was, as large as … .

- The children were as good as … when you were out.

- Her skin is still as smooth as … .

- The children are as busy as …, helping their mother in the garden.

2. Complete the similes below:

- as … as thieves

- as … as a mule

- as … as a hatter/a March hare

- as … as a lamb

- as … as dust

- as … as a lord

- as … as dirt

- as … as an owl

- as … as a horse/ox

- as … as chalk and cheese

- as … as a picture

- as … as ABC

- as … as sin

- as … as a bug in a rug

3. Find and explain examples of metaphorical use:

- Do tear yourself from the television and come out for a walk.

- International law is a minefield for anyone not familiar with its complexity.

- Pity melted her heart.

- Overnight trading caused share prices to zoom up.

- I tried to sell him my old car, but he wouldn’t bite.

- Their house was a great barracks of a place.

- The film has been minutely dissected by the critics.

- The prospects couldn’t be rosier.

- He gave me a frosty look.

- His sinister threat chilled all who heard it.

- He had to smother a giggle.

- His hopes evaporated.

- Violence is a cancer in our society.

- When I gave a chance, he grabbed it at once.

4. Sort the sentences below into two groups to indicate a positive or a negative meaning:

- The car is incredibly, heartstoppingly beautiful.

- My own life had been so respectable and sheltered in comparison.

- Louise was small but shapely in build.

- Don’t be so childish!

- It turned out to be the most ghastly place you can imagine.

- Tenerife was certainly a disastrous choice.

- There’s one really classy hotel, with a pool in a beautiful shady garden, and a decent restaurant.

- You never saw such a barren, boring landscape in your life, like the surface of the moon in a heatwave.

- Our wedding was a particularly gruesome, with the two sets of totally incompatible relatives grinding and grating against each other.

- Those terrible overalls would make anyone look slovenly.

- Take no notice of him – you know what a show-off he is.

- I swelled with the pride of possession.

5. Study the following examples and explain how the descriptions in them are made so vivid and exciting:

- The solution to the mystery burst inside my head like a flare.

- I felt like a sponge that had been saturated and squeezed so often it had lost its spring.

- He took it as a slap in the face.

- They received him with open arms as if he was a long-lost son.

- They hadn’t given me a chance to say a word all this time – I was just looking from one to the other like a spectator at Wimbledon.

- Maureen was always brimming over with news, gossip, anecdotes, whenever we met.

- That was a possibility as remote as flying to the moon.

- I feel self-esteem leaking out of me like water from an old bucket.

- I sense a storm of depression flickering on the horizon, and a tidal wave of despair gathering itself to swamp me.

- The pen is like a tool, a cutting or digging tool, slicing down to the roots, probing the rockbed of memory.

- When I finished the course, my obsession returned like a rabid Rottweiler freed from the leash.

6. Read the advertisements and explain the use of pun:

- When you decide to give her a ring, give us a ring. (Advertisement for a jeweller’s shop)

- For a few pounds you may lose a few. (Advertisement for a slimming course)

- Go up in the world. (Advertisement to recruit air stewards and stewardesses)

- We’ll give you sound advice. (Hi-fi shop advertisement)

- Your views are reflected in the Mirror. (Advertisement for The Mirror newspaper)

- Money matters. (Title of the financial section of a newspaper)

- It’s good for you, naturally. (Advertisement for fruit juice)

- Sea for yourself. (Advertisement to attract recruits to the Royal Navy)

- Christmas is a time to think of family ties. Buy ours. (Advertisement for men’s ties)

- The weather-men can’t guarantee you an Indian summer, but we can. (Travel agency advertisement)

7. Complete the jokes with puns:

a. – Have you noticed any … in me?

– No! Why?

– I’ve just swallowed a coin accidentally.

b. – Some girls think I’m handsome and some girls think that I’m horrible. What do you think, Mary?

– A bit of both, … .

c. – You have to be rich to play golf.

– Then why are there so many … players?

d. – I think we’ve just had a puncture.

– How did it happen?

– There was a … in the road.

e. – Well, son, how was your first day at the new school?

– Great! The teacher is going to give me a gift.

– How do you know that?

– Well, when I arrived, she pointed to a chair in the corner and said, Sit over there for the … .

f. – Why did you park your car here when it’s forbidden?

– But the sign says, … FOR PARKING!

Date: 2014-12-28; view: 2063