1) Excuse me! I need to clear my throat.

a) I need to cough.

b) I need to eat something.

2) Sorry! I've got a frog in my throat.

a) I'm having difficulty speaking because my throat is dry and I want to cough.

b) I've just swallowed something and it's stuck.

3) There's no need to jump down my throat like that!

a) There's no need to say that you agree with me.

b) There's no need to react angrily to what I've just said.

4) I had a lump in my throat when the movie finished.

a) I felt as if I wanted to cry.

b) I felt as if I wanted to laugh.

5) Okay. I heard you the first time. There's no need to ram it down my throat.

a) There's no need to agree with everything I say.

b) There's no need to force me to listen to your opinion and try and make me agree with it.

6) It sticks in my throat to have to say it, but she's done a very good job.

a) It makes me angry and I don't want to say it really but ...

b) It gives me great pleasure to have to say it ...

Out on your ear

Can you match each of these ear phrases with its meaning?

1) to bend someone's ear

2) to turn a deaf ear

3) to have your ear to the ground

4) to be out on your ear

5 to make a pig's ear of something

6) to go in one ear and out of the other

7) to send someone away with a flea in their ear

8) to play it by ear

9) to lend an ear

10) to be easy on the ear

a) to pay great attention to what's happening around you so you can get as much information as possible

b) to be understood and remembered one minute and to be completely forgotten the next

c) to be made to leave a job or a place because you've done something wrong

d) to angrily tell someone to go away

e) to do something very badly or messily

f) to deal with a situation as it develops and not act according to plans you've made earlier

g) to totally ignore someone by pretending you haven't heard what they have said

h) to talk to someone too much about a problem you have got

i) to listen to someone in a caring way

j) to be pleasant to listen to

Keep your nose out!

What would you say?

1) If someone was really annoying you by what they were saying and you wanted them to stop

2) If you want to ask someone why they always give the impression that they think they are more important than you

3) If you want to tell someone to avoid getting into serious trouble

4) If you want to ask someone why they are not accepting something that they think is not good enough for them

5) If you want to tell someone not to get involved

6) If you wanted to tell someone to stop asking so many personal questions

a) keep your nose clean

b) you are getting up my nose

c) keep your nose out

d) why do you always look down your nose at me?

e) why are you turning your nose up?

f) don't be so nosey!

Answers

Out on your ear

1. h, 2. g, 3. a, 4. c, 5. e, 6. b, 7. d, 8. f, 9. i, 10. j

Have you got a frog in your throat?

1. a, 2. a, 3. b, 4. a, 5. b, 6. a

Keep your nose out

1. b, 2. d, 3. a, 4. e, 5. c, 6. f