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SPEAKING EXERCISE - QUESTIONS USING BODY IDIOMS
EAR
To play music by ear: to play it from memory.
To have a good ear for sthg: (e.g. music, pronunciation of foreign languages) to be able to discriminate sounds and tones accurately.
To be all ears: to listen eagerly or curiously.
To be up to the ears in sthg: (e.g. work, problems) to be very busy or to have a lot of trouble with it.
EYE
To see eye to eye with sby on sthg: to have the same opinion as sby about sthg.
To have an eye for sthg: (e.g. fashion, colour, beauty) to be a good judge of it or to have a good sense of appreciation for it.
To keep an eye on sthg / sby: to observe it / him continually and carefully. It also means to look after it / him when sby else is not there.
HAND
To be at hand: to be very near, close to one.
To have sthg in hand: (e.g. a job, a problem, a situation) to have it under one’s control and to be working on it.
To take sthg in hand: to deal with it, to take control of it.
To be / get out of hand: to become out of control
To live from hand to mouth: to live without saving money, spending it as soon as it is earned.
HEAD
To have a good head for sthg: (e.g. figures) to be naturally good at sthg which requires logic and precise thinking.
To lose one’s head: to panic, lose control or act in a confused way.
To keep one’s head: to remain calm, not to panic.
One can’t make head or tail of sthg: one cannot understand it at all, i.e. the matter is unclear or too difficult to understand.
To put an idea into sby’s head: to give him an idea or suggestion to think about.
To talk over sby’s head: to talk about things which are too difficult or specialised for him to understand.
NOSE
To pay through the nose: to pay more money for sthg than it is worth.
To poke one’s nose into sby’s / sby else’s business: to interfere with matters which do not concern one.
To be as plain as the nose on your face: to be very clear to see or guess; to be very obvious.
USING THE PREVIOUS EXPRESIONS ANSWER THIS QUESTIONS
- Do you have a good ear for music?
- On what dates are you up to your ears with work / studies?
- Do you usually see eye to eye with people? What kind of people do you see eye to eye with?
- Do you have an eye for fashion?
- Have you ever kept an eye on someone? Does anyone keep an eye on you? If so, how do you feel about it?
- Have you ever lived a situation that eventually got out of hand?
- A recent survey concluded that the Spanish live hand to mouth? Do you agree? What is the reason for this. What kind of things do Spanish people spend their money on?
- Do you have a good head for numbers?
- Have you ever lost your head? What happened?
- Is there a situation / problem / political matter... you can’t make head or tail of?
- Do you know anyone who usually talks over his / her head?
- Have you ever paid through the nose for something? What was it? How did you feel later on?
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