1. Complete the sentences with the correct words.
1) How much did you pay for that jacket? What a ____________-off!
2) If I weren’t so ____________, I could afford to come out tonight.
3) Vic used to be ____________ off before his business failed and he lost everything.
4) Do you think it’s possible to be ____________ up, but still be very happy?
5) You can often buy fruit and vegetables dirt ____________ at the weekly market.
6) family aren’t exactly ____________ in it, but we live quite comfortably.
Show answers
1) rip 2) broke / hard up / poor 3) well 4) hard
5) cheap 6) rolling
2. Match the sentence halves.
1) I’ll have to tighten
2) You’ll never make ends
3) After living hand to
4) Very few people make
5) Ben’s careful with money so he’s never been in
6) We had to pay
7) I often dream about living in
a the red for very long.
b mouth for years, she finally became a successful writer.
c a fortune through playing the lottery.
d belt next month or I’ll soon run out of money.
e the lap of luxury, but it’s unlikely to happen.
f meet if you spend more than you earn.
g through the nose for the concert tickets, but it was worth it!
Show answers
1) d 2) f 3) b 4) c 5) a 6) g 7) e
3. Tick the pairs of idioms that have a similar meaning.
1) live hand to mouth / be well off
2) be rolling in it / live in the lap of luxury
3) be hard up / be a rip-off
4) make a killing / make a fortune
5) be broke / be in the red
6) make ends meet / pay through the nose
7) be dirt cheap / tighten one’s belt
Show answers
2) , 4) , 5)
4. Complete the text with idioms from exercise 3.
Many common idioms have interesting origins which can help to explain their meanings. For instance, 1) _________ apparently replaced the former ‘be dog cheap’ to indicate something of very little value. 2) _________ comes from the accounting practice of using that colour ink for debts and black for credit. 3) _________ may also come from accounting, when the ‘ends’ or bottoms of the columns for the incomes and expenses were the same amount, or ‘met’, showing that more wasn’t being spent than was earned. 4) _________ comes from prison slang, in which ‘rip’ means ‘steal’, so someone who does this to others is a thief. 5) _________ apparently dates back to a 16th century famine when people were so poor that any food they got was eaten immediately so that no one else could have it. 6) _________ is thought to date from the Great Depression of the 1930s, when hungry Americans lost so much weight that their clothes became loose.
Show answers
1) be dirt cheap 2) Be in the red 3) Make ends meet
4) Be a rip-off 5) Live hand to mouth
6) Tighten your / one’s belt
VOCAB BOOST!
Try to find out the literal meaning of idioms to help make them more memorable. Often, although not always, this meaning has a logical or metaphonical connection to the meaning of the idiom.
5. Read the Vocab boost! box. Then match the idioms and their literal meanings (1-4) with their actual meanings (a-d).
1) to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth
Spoons are often given to babies as presents. Silver used to be an expensive metal and it’s probable that richer children were given silver spoons.
2) a cash cow
This is a metaphor for a dairy now, which produces milk.
3) to live on the breadline
In America during the Depression, people would wait in line to be given free food, paid for by the government.
4) money for old rope
The original meaning for this term meant to make money by selling something that has been used an ought to be worthless. It comes from the days of sailing ships, when sailors would cut damaged rope into shorter, undamaged lengths to sell on land. At sea, long ropes are needed, but on land, shorter lengths were still useful and could be sold.
a to be very poor
b to make money for very little effort
c to be privileged
d business or invention that returns a good level of profit every year
Show answers
1) c 2) d 3) a 4) b
6. Check the meaning of these idioms in a dictionary.
1) feel the pinch
2) cost the earth
3) work for peanuts
4) cost an arm and a leg
5) keep your head above water
6) put your money where your mouth is
Show answers
1) To have problems with money.
2) To be very expensive.
3) To work for very little money.
4) To be very expensive.
5) To have just enough money to live and not get into debt.
6) To show with actions (not just words) that you believe what you say.
Extra exercises
1. Complete the sentences with money idioms formed from the word in brackets.
1) They’ll be ____________ until they finish paying for their new house. (hard)
2) Despite the country’s supposed wealth, many of the citizens live ________ (hand)
3) What must it feel like to never have to work and live in ____________ ? (lap)
4) I forgot phone charger so I had to pay ____________ for a new one at the airport. (nose)
5) sister’s a single parent, so she finds it hard to ________ (ends)
6) bank notifies me if I am ____________ so that I can make a deposit before I get charged. (red)
Show answers
1) hard up 2) hand to mouth 3) the lap of luxury
4) through the nose 5) make ends meet 6) in the red
2. Complete the definitions with words related to advertising.
1) A l_______ is an image that represents a company.
2) A c_______ is an advert on the radio or the TV.
3) A b_______ is a type of product made by a company.
4) A l_______ is the moment a product is made available to the public for the first time.
5) A s_______ is a memorable phrase often used to draw people’s attention to commercial products.
6) A j_______ is a tune that is easy to remember.
Show answers
1) logo 2) commercial 3) brand 4) launch 5) slogan
6) jingle
3. Complete the responses with the phrases below.
Another thing is For one thing For those reasons
I definitely think I don’t have any On top of that
Thinking about it
a Is it better to buy books online or from a bookshop?
B 1 _______ , I suppose that it’s better to buy them online.
C 2 _______ it’s better to buy them from a bookshop. 3) _______ , you can read the first page to make sure you like the book. 4) _______ that you don’t have to wait for it to arrive to start reading it. 5) _______ we need to support bookshops or they might die out. 6) _______ , I think it’s better to buy books from a bookshop than to buy them online.
D7 _______ strong opinions about that.
Show answers
1) Thinking about it 2) I definitely think 3) For one thing
4) Another thing is 5) On top of that 6) For those reasons
7) I don’t have any
