Idioms in Context

Explain the meaning of the idiom 'piece of cake'.

• Something that is extremely difficult

• A type of dance move

• Something that is very easy to do

• A type of dessert made with flour and sugar

Can you use the idiom 'raining cats and dogs' in a sentence?

• No, it was raining money and diamonds yesterday.

• Yes, it was raining sunshine and rainbows yesterday.

• Yes, it was raining cats and dogs yesterday.

• No, it was raining elephants and giraffes yesterday.

After going to the zoo, the mall, and the movies, Cassie was sick of bending over backwards to entertain her nieces.

• Cassie was doing very little to entertain her nieces.

• Cassie was making small efforts to entertain her nieces.

• Cassie was trying very hard to entertain her nieces.

• Cassie was not trying at all to entertain her nieces.

Bobby would have been playing ball until the cows came home if it hadn’t been for Suzie dragging him home for dinner.

• Bobby was just about to stop playing ball.

• b. Bobby didn’t even want to play ball to begin with

• c. Bobby prefers nature to athletics.

• d. Bobby would have continued playing ball for a long time.

Eric wanted to fix his cousin’s computer, but he was already having problems setting up his Aunt’s Wi-Fi network and he didn’t want to open a whole new can of worms.

• Eric was sick of spending his time helping his family.

• Eric wanted to go fishing instead of working on computers.

• Eric was having difficulties untangling the computer wires.

• Eric was not ready to begin working on a complicated new problem.

Even though Candace already had a new job, she submitted her two week notice and conducted herself in a professional way at her old job because she didn’t want to burn bridges.

• Candace didn’t want to ruin her positive relationship with her old employer.

• Candace wasn’t ready to start her new job.

• Candace was really going to miss her old job.

• Candace was waiting until her last day to rub it in everyone’s face that she was leaving.

Mrs. Robinson expects Cassie and my presentation to be good, but we have been working on it every night for the last week, so we are really going to knock her socks off.

• a. Cassie and the speaker are not prepared to give a good presentation.

• b. Cassie and the speaker intend on hitting Mrs. Robinson rather than presenting.

• c. Cassie and the speaker’s presentation will far exceed Mrs. Robinson’s expectations.

• d. Cassie and the speaker’s presentation will meet Mrs. Robison’s expectations.

Jose had a hard time comparing the iPhone to the Samsung phone because to him they were apples and oranges.

• Jose can hardly tell the difference between the two phones because they are so similar.

• Jose believes that the phones are so different from one another that they cannot be compared.

• Jose doesn’t know anything about phones so he may as well be thinking about fruits.

• Jose is too hungry to think about phones at this time.

When Brian felt pretty good about getting the a pair of roller-skates for his birthday, until he saw his twin brother Ryan open up his GameBox X-9000, and then Brian felt like he got the short end of the stick.

• Brian felt like Ryan received a better gift than he.

• Brian was quite pleased with his roller skates.

• Brian wanted a long stick that he could use to support himself on hikes.

• Brian feels bad for Ryan because Ryan wanted roller-skates.

After Ms. Smith caught Darnisha chewing gum for the third time, Ms. Smith scheduled a parent teacher conference with Darnisha’s mother. When Darnisha’s mother came into Ms. Smith’s classroom, she was chewing gum. Ms. Smith thought to herself, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

• Ms. Smith thinks that Darnisha dresses like her mother.

• Ms. Smith thinks that Darnisha acts a lot like her mother.

• Ms. Smith is surprised to see that Darnisha’s mother came.

• Ms. Smith thinks that Darnisha’s mother lives very close to the school.