Put each of the following colloquial words or phrases in its correct place in the sentences below.

the salt of the earth full of beans

a butter-fingers nuts

a piece of cake peanuts

money for jam the cream

cup of tea in a jam

a vegetable sour grapes

1. Throw it to me! Oh, I've dropped it! I am _______.

2. I said I'd pay him today, but my money's in the bank and it's just closed. Now I'm______.

3. That's a high salary for an easy job. It's.

4. He never wants to do anything interesting. He just sits around all day. He's a bit of _____.

5. To me $1, 000 is a lot of money, but to a millionaire it's ____.

6. That firm only employs the very best graduates. They only take ______.

7. I think people who help the old, sick and homeless are _____.

8. He's a bit tired and lifeless now, but after a nap he'll be ______.

9. She now says she didn't really want the job that she failed to get, but I think it's just ______.

10. That's a crazy idea of hers. She must be ______.

11. She likes literature and classical music. Discotheques are not her ______.

12. The exam was very easy. It was ______.

Use the colloquial words and phrases from above in the sentences of your own.

Make up a story to illustrate one of the following proverbs.

1. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

2. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs.

3. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

4. Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

5. Eat at pleasure, drink with measure.

6. Every cook praises his own broth.

7. A watched pot never boils.

8. It's no use crying over spilt milk.

9. Great boast, small roast.

10. Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.

24. Memorize the following idioms and idiomatic phrases and use them in a natural context. First make sure that you know what they mean:

1) to eat like wolf;

2) to eat somebody out of the house;

3) to be in one’s plate;

4) to fill up the cup;

5) to make two bites of a cherry;

6) to make an omelette without breaking eggs;

7) all sugar and honey;

8) to use a steam-hammer to crack nuts;

9) to be on a drink;

10) to bring the water to somebody’s mouth;

11) to stew in one’s own juice;

12) land flowing with milk and honey;

13) a sweet tooth;

14) to cut the mustard;

15) the hard stuff;

16) a stand-up meal;

17) to be of the same meal;

18) small potatoes;

19) what’s cooking?

20) A slice of the pi (a share of cake).

Complete the following idioms by choosing an end. Then try to explain what each idiom means.