Idioms and Phrases Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Makes my mouth water means stimulates my appetite.

Food that makes your mouth water looks or smells so good that it makes you hungry; literally, the smell triggers the flow of saliva in anticipation of eating.

Giddiness, vomiting and sickness are unpleasant reactions, the reverse of the pleasant hunger the expression describes.

Answer: B

Well off means rich.

To be well off is to be wealthy or financially comfortable: He is rich these days. The phrase is often used of a change in fortune, as the words these days suggest.

Poor is the opposite. Happy and sad describe feelings, not money; a well-off person may be either, so neither replaces the phrase.

The opposite phrase is badly off, meaning poor. Well off for something means having plenty of it: The town is well off for schools.

Answer: B

In a fix means confused.

To be in a fix is to be in a difficult or awkward situation where one does not know what to do. The rest of the sentence makes the sense clear: the speaker cannot decide whether to help him or not.

Satisfied is the opposite of the uncertainty described, and angry is a different feeling altogether. Since confused fits, "None of these" is wrong.

Similar idioms for a difficult position are in a spot, in a jam and in a dilemma, the last used when there are two choices, as here.

Answer: C

Dead against means strongly opposed to.

Dead here is an intensifier meaning "completely", so dead against is completely or firmly against: I am strongly opposed to the practice of dowry.

Strong liking to and strongly happy to express approval, the reverse of the meaning, and neither is idiomatic English. Because the third option fits exactly, "None of these" is wrong.

Other phrases built the same way are dead tired (very tired) and dead certain (completely certain).

Answer: D

Beat about the bush means to talk irrelevantly.

To beat about the bush is to avoid the main point by talking around it, without saying directly what one means. The sentence sets it against come to the point, which confirms the sense.

To talk to the point and to talk relevantly are the opposite of the idiom; they describe what the speaker is asking for. To talk angrily is about tone, not about avoiding the subject.

The idiom is also written beat around the bush, the usual form in American English.

Answer: D

The phrase means uncomfortable.

To feel like a fish out of water is to feel awkward and ill at ease in unfamiliar surroundings, the way a fish is helpless on land. A new apprentice in his first week fits that picture exactly.

Frustrated and disappointed describe feelings about failure or unmet hopes, not about being in strange surroundings, and homeless takes the image too literally.

Answer: C

The phrase means puzzled.

To be all at sea is to be confused and not know what to do, like a ship far from land with no sight of the coast.

Drowning and out of reach take the image literally, and very happy has nothing to do with it. The idiom is about bewilderment.

Other idioms from the sea work the same way: to be 'in deep water' is to be in serious trouble, and to 'sail close to the wind' is to take risks.

Answer: A

The phrase means open.

Above board means honest and done openly, with nothing hidden. The expression is said to come from card games, where a player who keeps his hands above the table cannot be cheating.

Decent and friendly describe good manners or warmth rather than openness, and simple means uncomplicated. The idiom stresses that nothing is concealed.

Answer: B

The phrase means rapidly.

By leaps and bounds means very quickly and in large amounts, so prices going up by leaps and bounds are rising fast.

Gradually is the opposite, slowly and step by step. Irregularly and systematically describe the pattern of the rise rather than its speed, so neither captures the idiom.

The idiom is usually used for progress or growth, as in 'her English improved by leaps and bounds'.

Answer: A

The phrase means Her fame grew.

If something spreads far and wide, it reaches a great many places and people. Her fame spreading far and wide means it grew and became widely known, which fits the reason given: she was a talented singer.

The phrase says nothing about her fame lessening or ending, and it describes fame that already existed, not fame that was just beginning.

For example: 'News of the discovery spread far and wide within a week.'