color idioms

Black

black and white

MEANING: think of everything or judge everything as either good or bad

EXAMPLE:

” He tries to see everything in black and white although he knows this is impossible.”


black out
MEANING: 1. to darken by putting out or dimming electric lights
2. to lose consciousness

EXAMPLE:

1. During the war people in the cities were forced to black out their windows so that the enemy aircraft could not see them.
2. Suddenly the man blacked out during the parade and had to be helped to a quiet place.


black sheep (of the family)

MEANING: a person who is a disgrace or embarrassment to a family or group

EXAMPLE:

The man is the black sheep in his family and is the only member who has not had a successful career and life.


in the black

MEANING: successful or profitable

EXAMPLE:

The company has been in the black since they began to adopt many new ideas to cut costs.



Blue

to appear/happen out of the blue

MEANING:
1. to arrive unexpectedly, usually after a long absence.
2. to happen very suddenly and unexpectedly

EXAMPLE:

1. "My brother suddenly appeared out of the blue yesterday. We hadn't seen him for years.”
2. “I was driving home when out of the blue a deer jumped out in front of my car. I braked just in time to avoid it. We were both very lucky not to be hurt.”

to blue pencil something

MEANING: to censor something.


EXAMPLE:

”Reports on the mistreatment of the political prisoners were blue pencilled by the authorities”

a blue-eyed boy

MEANING: critical description of a boy/young man who has been singled out for special favours by someone in authority.

EXAMPLE:

”John is a real blue-eyed boy. The team manager always gives him special treatment. It isn’t fair to the rest of us.”
a bolt from the blue

MEANING: some unexpected bad news.


EXAMPLE:

"It came like a bolt from the blue that they are getting divorced.”




to look / feel blue

MEANING: - to look / feel depressed or discontented.

EXAMPLE:

"Things are looking blue for Tom these days. His wife has left him."

blue in the face

MEANING: to make a huge but vain effort to win a person's agreement.

EXAMPLE:

“I told him he was making a mistake until I was blue in the face but he wouldn’t listen.”



once in a blue moon

MEANING: to occur extremely rarely or only once in a life-time.

EXAMPLE:

”My brother only rings home once in a blue moon. I wish he would ring our parents more often"



men/boys in blue

MEANING: the police because of the colour of their uniforms.

EXAMPLE:

"Let’s get out of here! The boys in blue are coming."


Brown

to be browned off

MEANING: to be bored, annoyed at something

EXAMPLE:

I’m browned off with this place. There is nothing to do here.



Colourless

to be colourless

MEANING: to lack personality, to be boring.

EXAMPLE:

“Nothing he said stands out in my memory. I'm afraid he's a dull, colourless man.'

to be off colour

MEANING: to be not quite at one's best, to feel queasy or slightly ill.
EXAMPLE:

"She's a little off colour today because she was up very late last night and had too much to drink!."

to give/lend colour to

MEANING: to make (an account, story, explanation, etc.) more credible or more believable.

EXAMPLE:

" The broken window on the ground floor lent colour to her story that
her house had been burgled"


a highly coloured report


MEANING: a report that is exaggerated or biased.
EXAMPLE:

"I read the government’s highly coloured report on the great state of the health services."


to see someone in his true colours

MEANING: to understand someone's true character, often for the first time.

EXAMPLE:

”'As soon as he made a fuss about returning her money, I saw him in his true colours."


to show oneself in one's true colours

MEANING: to reveal one's true nature.

EXAMPLE:

"'When he lost his temper at the party, he showed himself in his true colours"


with flying colours

MEANING: with great success, with distinction.

EXAMPLE:

“We were all expecting him to fail, but he passed with flying colours.”


to paint in bright/dark colours

MEANING: to describe something in a flattering or unflattering way.

EXAMPLE:

“My brother pretended he was doing well financially and painted his life there in the brightest colours.”



Green

to be green

MEANING: inexperienced, immature

EXAMPLE:

He is rather green and doesn’t have enough experience to drive the large piece of machinery yet.

green with envy

MEANING: full of envy, very jealous

EXAMPLE:

I was green with envy when I heard that she would be going to London for a month while I had to stay and work.

give someone the green light

MEANING: give permission to go ahead with a project

EXAMPLE:

We were finally given the green light to begin setting up the new project.

get the green light
MEANING: receive permission to go ahead with a project

EXAMPLE:

We got the green light to go ahead with the new advertising campaign.

grass is always greener on the other side
MEANING: a place that is far away or different seems better than where we are now

EXAMPLE:

He realized that the grass is always greener on the other side when he saw that his new job wasn’t perfect and had its own problems too.

green belt
MEANING: an area of fields and trees around a town

EXAMPLE:

The city has a policy of increasing the green belt around the city.


green thumb

MEANING: a talent for gardening, ability to make things grow

EXAMPLE:

She has a green thumb and is able to grow one of the best gardens in our neighbourhood.



Golden

a golden opportunity

MEANING: a great opportunity that might never come again
EXAMPLE:

This is a golden opportunity to make a business deal with that big company.


a golden handshake

MEANING: a large sum of money paid to a retiring manager or director, or to a redundant worker.

EXAMPLE:

The company chairman received a huge golden handshake on retiring.

a golden boy

MEANING: a young man idolized for a great skill, usually in sport.

EXAMPLE:

"David Beckham is the golden boy of English soccer”


Pink

tickled pink

MEANING: be very pleased, thrilled, delighted

EXAMPLE:

She was tickled pink that you made the effort to go and visit her when you were in town.


Red

to be shown the red card

MEANING: to be dismissed from your job.

EXAMPLE:

"The accountant was shown the red card for hiding company money.”



to be in the red

MEANING: to have an overdraft, to be in debt.

EXAMPLE:

”I am overdrawn again. I hate being in the red.”

to catch someone red-handed

MEANING: to catch someone in the act of committing a crime, usually a theft.

EXAMPLE:

" The manager caught the new employee red-handed taking money out of the box."


to look through rose-coloured/tinted spectacles

MEANING: to see things in a flattering or over-optimistic light.

EXAMPLE:

"It annoys me that she sees everything through rose-coloured spectacles, but
she would feel differently if she had to live there."

to see red

MEANING: to react with uncontrollable rage against someone or something.

EXAMPLE:

"John saw red when he saw his girlfriend laughing with another guy."


red tape

MEANING: bureaucratic delay, excessive attention to rules and regulations, often resulting in injustice to the ordinary citizen.

EXAMPLE:

"I want to start a new business but the red tape involved is very frustrating."


to see the red light

MEANING: to recognize approaching danger, the red light being a danger signal.

EXAMPLE:

"When the doctor warned his patient that further drinking would damage his liver, the man saw the red light and quit."



paint the town red

MEANING: go out and party and have a good time

EXAMPLE:

” When my cousin came to visit us we decided to go out and paint the town red.”

roll out the red carpet

MEANING: greet a person with great respect, give a big welcome

EXAMPLE:

When Nelson Mandela visited Washington, they rolled out the red carpet and gave him a great welcome.

a redneck

MEANING: an ignorant, insensitive person.
EXAMPLE:

"Our new co-worker is a real redneck. He doesn’t seem to know anything about life."


Silver

the silver screen

MEANING: the cinema


EXAMPLE:

Valentino was one of the earliest stars of the silver screen.


White

as white as a sheet
MEANING: in a state of great fear

EXAMPLE:

You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Your face is as white as a sheet.


white elephant

MEANING: a useless possession

EXAMPLE:

The new stereo that he bought is a white elephant and he doesn’t need it at all.


white as a ghost

MEANING: very pale because of fear, shock, illness etc.

EXAMPLE:

My sister became white as a ghost when she saw the man at the window.



a white lie

MEANING: a harmless lie (told to be polite or to do something not seriously wrong)

EXAMPLE:

I told my boss a white lie and said that I was sick yesterday when actually I wasn’t.

a white-collar worker

MEANING: a professional or office worker who wear a shirt with a white collar.

EXAMPLE:

"The recession has hit factory workers (blue-collar workers) much harder than white-collar workers."


Yellow


yellow-bellied

MEANING: extremely timid, cowardly

EXAMPLE:

He is a yellow-bellied coward and never is willing to fight for what is right.


a yellow streak

MEANING: cowardice in character


EXAMPLE:

He has a yellow streak running down his back and is not a good person to expect to support you when things become difficult.

Example of Text Genre Assignment

Group Members:

1. Dwi (11)
   
2. Faozan (15)
   
3. Haryanti (20)
   

Text Genre : PROCEDURE

Communicative Purpose : To tell the steps in doing or making something in a sequential order.

Text Organization :

• Goal
• Materials
• Steps

Language Features:

• Present tense
• Adjectives
• Nouns
• Imperatives
• Quantifiers
• Sequence connectors

Examples of Procedure Text:

• Instruction manuals
• recipes
• directions

Reading Exercises


Text 1

Please follow these procedures in order to make a machine withdrawal from your country Bank checking or saving accounts:

1. insert your card facing up into the card slot of the teller machine.
2. enter your four-digit identification number on the numbered buttons.
3. press the withdrawal for checking or the button for saving.
4. enter the amount of withdrawal on the numbered buttons, and wait for your receipt to be printed.
5. remove your card from the slot. the drawer will open with a receipt and your cash withdrawal.
   

All costumers are limited to two withdrawal in a twenty-hour period. If you attempt to withdraw more than the limited number of time, your card will be retained in the machine, and you will have to reclaim it in person at your main branch bank.

Question no 1-5

1. What is the passage about?

a. How to get a Country Bank card
b. How to make a loan at country Bank
c. How to use the Country Bank teller machine
d. How to open an account at Country Bank
e. How to make a deposit and withdrawal at Country Bank
Answer : C

gerunds and infinitives exercises

Please complete the following sentences with the correct verbs form!

1. My father quit ________________(smoke) three years ago.
2. They discuss ____________(buy) a new sport car.
3. I stopped ____________(take) my mother's birthday cake at the bakery.
4. We decided ___________(change) the color of our classroom wall.
5. I hope ____________(see) you again soon.
6. The thief admits ______________(steal) the jewelry from the museum.
7. My mother remembered ______________(sew) clothes.
8. Don't forget ___________(close) the windows before you leave the house.
9. Would you mind ____________(help) me carry this bag?
10. I heard that the committee will begin _____________(vote) for the new leader.
11. Mike said that he wanted ____________(marry) Issabela.
12. Goerge really hates ____________(stand) in a very long queue.
13. Please remember, because you've promised _____________(lend) me the book.
14. I regret __________ (leave) you alone last night.
15. I think this car needs_____________(fix) immediately.
16. It's unbelievable that the little girl learned _______________(drive) by herself.
17. She doesn't continue her study because she can't afford ___________(pay) the college fee.
18. Do not become so unwise by postponing ___________(tell) your mother about the truth.
19. Her son loves______________(play) football so much.
20. The parents refuse ____________(sign) their daughter approval letter.

Gerunds and Infinitves

...and what Precedes them

Gerunds and infinitives are forms of verbs that act like nouns.

Ali quit smoking in 1977.

He just decided to quit one day.

A gerund is a verb + -ing. An infinitive is to + the verb.

In both the examples above, the gerund and the infinitive are the objects of the verbs in the sentence. However, as noun substitutes, gerunds and infinitives can also be the subject of a sentence.

Smoking is hard habit to give up.

To quit takes a lot of will power.

This lesson will focus primarily on verbs that precede infinitives and gerunds when they are used as objects in a sentence.

Some common verbs are always followed by a gerund:

Jeannie admitted taking the money from the desk.

The teacher considered calling the police.

Jeannie said she was so embarrassed that she felt like dying.

The teacher finally said she would recommend giving Jeannie a light punishment.

Some verbs are always followed by infinitives.

The president said he aimed to bring down taxes.

He asked Congress to pass a tax reduction bill.

The president's party consented to lower the taxes.

However, the opposition refused to cooperate.

The president promised to fight for lower taxes in the next term.

Some verbs can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive.

Edina's husband, Bob, began taking cooking lessons last month.

Soon he began to try out all his new creations on her.

Edina said she likes eating as much as Bob likes to cook.

She loves to sample his new recipes and she loves not cooking herself.

However, she told me she regrets eating so much rich food.

She's going to try eating less of his great food...and, she's going to try not to hurt Bob's feelings!

Go, go, go!

A common expression in English is

go + an activity

We go swimming,

we go shopping,

we go fishing,

we go jogging,

we go sightseeing, and

we go bar-hopping (or, so I've heard).

Not always exactly the same...

Some verbs have the same meaning when followed by an infinitive or a gerund:

The same:	I like going to the races.
	I like to go to the races.
The same:	I hate going to the dentist.
	I hate to go to the dentist.
The same:	It began raining.
	It began to rain.

However, some verbs have a slightly different meaning when followed by an infinitive as opposed to a gerund.

• remember, forget, stop

The difference is often in the sequence of events.
See what you think about the following pairs of sentences:

I remembered to feed the dog this morning.	I remember feeding him his favorite food.
-----first--------- second	---second----first
(I remembered and then I fed him.)	(I fed him and later I remembered the action.)

I forgot to go to the bank.	I forgot going to the bank.
-----------------	second first
(I didn't remember and I didn't go to the bank.)	(I went to the bank, but later I forgot that I did.)

I stopped to smoke.	I stopped smoking.
---first----- second	--second-- first
(I paused what I was doing to have a cigarette.)	(I was a smoker, but now I'm not.)

One more difference

You can also use either an infinitive or a gerund after go on. However, note the difference:

I told Billy to stop, but he went on putting his fingers in the soup.

(The use of a gerund after go on indicates a continuing or persistent activity.)

I was very proud of Billy. We went on to become a famous chef.

(The use of an infinitive after go on indicates a noteworthy or notorious future activity.)

The real test for you will be how well you get the feel of when to use infinitives or gerunds. You can get a better understanding of this if you read English novels and other materials critically.

Gerunds and Infinitives List

Verb + Gerund	Verb +Preposition +Gerund	Be +Adjective +Preposition +Gerund	Verb + Infinitive	Verb +Inifinitive or Gerund
acknowledge	adapt to	be accustomed to	agree	attempt
admit	adjust to	be afraid of	aim	begin
advise	agree (with) on	be angry about	afford	can/can't bear
anticipate	apologize for	be ashamed of	appear	can/can't stand
appreciate	approve of	be capable of	arrange	cease
avoid	argue about	be certain about	ask	continue
consider	ask about	be concerned with	care	forget
defend	believe in	be critical of	choose	go on
defer	blame for	be discouraged from	claim	hate
delay	care about	be enthusiastic about	consent	like
deny	complain about	be familiar with	dare	love
detest	consist of	be famous for	decide	neglect
discuss	decided on	be fond of	decline	prefer
dislike	depend on	be glad about	demand	regret
endure	disapprove of	be good at	deserve	propose
enjoy	discourage from	be happy about	desire	remember
escape	engage in	be interested in	expect	see
excuse	forgive for	be known for	fail	start
feel like	give up	be nervous about	guarantee	stop
finish	help with	be perfect for	happen	try
go	inquire about	be proud of	hope
imagine	insist on	be responsible for	intend
involve	interfere with	be sad about	know
keep	keep on	be successful in	learn
mention	look forward to	be suitable for	manage
mind (object to)	object to	be tired of	need
miss	participate in	be tolerant of	offer
need (passive)	persist in	be upset about	plan
omit	plan on	be used to	pledge
postpone	prepare for	be useful for	prepare
practice	profit from	be worried about	pretend
prevent	prohibit from		promise
quit	put off		refuse
recall	result from		resolve
recollect	succeed in		seem
recommend	suffer from		tend
regret	talk about		struggle
resent	take part in		swear
resist	there's no point in		volunteer
resume	think about		wait
risk	warn about		want
suggest	work on		wish
tolerate	worry about		would like
understand

gerund and infinitives by David Tillyer
taken from :http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7583/gerinfless.html

Noun Phrase, Pre and Post Modifier

Nouns

To begin our discussion, we must first establish the notion of a noun.

English teachers commonly identify nouns by their content. They describe nouns as words that "identify people, places, or things," as well as feelings or ideas—words like salesman , farm , balcony , bicycle , and trust. If you can usually put the word a or the before a word, it’s a noun. If you can make the word plural or singular, it's a noun. But don't worry...all that is needed at the moment is a sense of what a noun might be.

Noun Pre-Modifiers

What if a single noun isn't specific enough for our purposes? How then do we modify a noun to construct a more specific reference?

English places modifiers before a noun. Here we indicate the noun that is at the center of a noun phrase by an asterisk (*) and modifiers by arrows pointed toward the noun they modify.

white house

*

large man

*

Modification is a somewhat technical term in linguistics. It does not mean to change something, as when we "modify" a car or dress. To modify means to limit, restrict, characterize, or otherwise focus meaning. We use this meaning throughout the discussion here.

Modifiers before the noun are called pre-modifiers. All of the pre-modifiers that are present and the noun together form a noun phrase .

NOUN PHRASE

pre-modifiers noun

*

By contrast, languages such as Spanish and French place modifiers after the noun

casa blanca white house

*

homme grand big man

*

The most common pre-modifiers are adjectives, such as red , long , hot . Other types of words often play this same role. Not only articles

the water

*

but also verbs

running water

*

and possessive pronouns

her thoughts

*

Premodifiers limit the reference in a wide variety of ways.

Order: second, last

Location: kitchen, westerly

Source or Origin: Canadian

Color: red, dark

Smell: acrid, scented

Material: metal, oak

Size: large, 5-inch

Weight: heavy

Luster: shiny, dull

A number of pre-modifiers must appear first if they appear at all.

Specification: a, the, every

Designation: this, that, those, these

Ownership/Possessive: my, your, its, their, Mary’s

Number: one, many

These words typically signal the beginning of a noun phrase.

Some noun phrases are short:

the table

® *

Some are long:

the second shiny red Swedish touring sedan

*

a large smelly red Irish setter

*

my carved green Venetian glass salad bowl

*

the three old Democratic legislators

*

Notice that each construction would function as a single unit within a sentence. (We offer a test for this below,)

The noun phrase is the most common unit in English sentences. That prevalence can be seen in the following excerpt from an example from the section on the choice of language:

The stock market’s summer swoon turned into a dramatic rout
Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged.

The stock market’s summer swoon turned into a dramatic rout * *

Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged.
* *

To appreciate the rich possibilities of pre-modifiers, you have only to see how much you can expand a premodifier in a noun phrase:

the book
the history book
the American history book
the illustrated American history book
the recent illustrated American history book
the recent controversial illustrated American history book
the recent controversial illustrated leather bound American history book

Noun Post-Modifiers

We were all taught about pre -modifiers: adjectives appearing before a noun in school. Teachers rarely speak as much about adding words after the initial reference. Just as we find pre -modifiers, we also find post -modifiers—modifiers coming after a noun.

The most common post-modifier is prepositional phrases:

the book on the table

*

civil conflict in Africa

*

the Senate of the United States

*

Post-modifiers can be short

a dream deferred

*

or long, as in Martin Luther King Jr.’s reference to

a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves

*

and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together

at a table of brotherhood.

What does King have? A dream? No. He has a specific dream. Once we are sensitive to the existence of noun phrases, we recognize a relatively simple structure to the sentence. Here we recognize a noun phrase with a very long post-modifier—thirty-two words to be exact.

We do not get lost in the flow of words, but recognize structure. At the point that we recognize structure within the sentence, we recognize meaning. (Notice also that post-modifiers often include clauses which themselves include complete sentences, as in the last example above.)

Post-modifiers commonly answer the traditional news reporting questions of who , what , where , when , how , or why . Noun post-modifiers commonly take the following forms:

prepositional phrase the dog in the store

*

_ing phrase the girl running to the store

*

_ed past tense the man wanted by the police

*

wh - clauses the house where I was born

*

that/which clauses the thought that I had yesterday

*

If you see a preposition, wh - word ( which, who, when where ), -ing verb form, or that or which after a noun, you can suspect a post-modifier and the completion of a noun phrase.

The noun together with all pre- and post-modifiers constitutes a single unit, a noun phrase that indicates the complete reference. Any agreement in terms of singular/plural is with the noun at the center.

The boys on top of the house are .............

*

Here the noun at the center of the noun phrase is plural, so a plural form of the verb is called for (not a singular form to agree with the singular house)

taken form: Dan Kurland's www.criticalreading.com