Idioms and Phrases Exercise with Answer

Idioms and Phrases Exercise with Answer

21. Be in the mire :

(a) Be under dept
(b) Be in love
(c) Be in difficulties
(d) Be uneasy

22. To give a rap on the knuckles :

(a) To eulogise
(b) To chatise
(c) To condemn
(d) To rebuke

23. To be above board.

(a) To have a good height
(b) To be honest in any business deal
(c) Having no debts
(d) To try to be beautiful

24. To cry wolf.

(a) To listen eagerly
(b) To give false alarm
(c) To turn pale
(d) To keep off starvation

25. He is on the wrong side of seventy.

(a) more than seventy years old
(b) less than seventy years old
(c) seventy years old
(d) eighty years old

26. To have an axe to grind.

(a) a private end to serve
(b) to fail to arouse interest
(c) to have no result
(d) to work for both sides

27. To drive home.

(a) To find one’s root
(b) To return to place of rest
(c) Back to original position
(d) To emphasise

28. Once the case reached the court, the police washed their hands off it.

(a) waited for a response to
(b) claimed credit for
(c) disassociated themselves from
(d) seemed eager to continue

29. She wanted to go hitch-hiking but her mother put her foot down and now she’s going by bus.

(a) took a firm stand
(b) expressed her displeasure
(c) scolded her badly
(d) got irritated

30. Adolescence is a period of halcyon days.

(a) hard days
(b) of mental pressure
(c) happy days
(d) days of preparation

31. My sincere advice to my maidservant fell on stony ground.

(a) was counter productive
(b) had a strong impact
(c) made on stubborn
(d) had little success

32. He has all his ducks in a row; he is complacent.

(a) has everything ready
(b) is well organised
(c) always scores a zero
(d) never gets confused

33. With great difficulty, he was able to carve out a niche for himself.

(a) became a sculptor
(b) did the best he could do
(c) destroyed his career
(d) developed a specific position for himself

34. You will succeed if you follow my advice to the letter.

(a) about writing letters
(b) written in the letter
(c) in every detail
(d) very thoughtfully

35. A critic’s work is to read between the lines.

(a) to comprehend the meaning
(b) to appreciate the inner beauty
(c) to understand the inner meaning
(d) to read carefully

36. Where discipline is concerned I put my foot down.

(a) take a firm stand
(b) take a light stand
(c) take a heavy stand
(d) take a shaky stand

37. The convict claimed innocence and stood his ground in spite of the repeated accusations.

(a) knelt
(b) surrendered
(c) kept standing
(d) refused to yield

38. We must work with all our might and main, otherwise we cannot succeed.

(a) full force
(b) complete trust
(c) exceptional skill
(d) full unity

39. The sailors nailed their colours to their mast.

(a) put up a colourful mast
(b) refused to climb down
(c) took over the ship
(d) decided to abandon the ship

40. We had (had) better batten down the hatches. The weather is unpredictable.

(a) stay in-door
(b) prepare for a difficult situation
(c) go somewhere safe
(d) face the obstacles

41. It is difficult to have a sensible discussion with her as she flies off at a tangent.

(a) gets carried away
(b) starts discussing something irrelevant
(c) loses her temper easily
(d) does not really understand anything

42. The students found it hard to go at equal speed with the professor.

(a) get away from
(b) put up with
(c) keep up with
(d) race against

43. To be above board.

(a) To have a good height
(b) To be honest in any business deal
(c) Having no debts
(d) To try to be beautiful

44. To cry wolf.

(a) To listen eagerly
(b) To give false alarm
(c) To turn pale
(d) To keep off starvation

45. He is on the wrong side of seventy.

(a) more than seventy years old
(b) less than seventy years old
(c) seventy years old
(d) eighty years old

46. To have an axe to grind.

(a) a private end to serve
(b) to fail to arouse interest
(c) to have no result
(d) to work for both sides

47. To drive home.

(a) To find one’s root
(b) To return to place of rest
(c) Back to original position
(d) To emphasise

1. Idioms and Phrases Exercise
2. Idioms and Phrases Exercise with Answer
3. SSC Word Power Test
4. SSC One Word Substitution Test
5. Antonyms Exercises with Answers
6. Synonyms Exercises with Answers