English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced Book with Answers and Enhanced eBook Vocabulary Reference and Practice 3rd Edition

rose-coloured spectacles)
12
a feeling of pleasure and sometimes slight sadness 
at the same time as you think about things that 
happened in the past
Expressing regret
I 
regret not spending more time with my aunt when she was ill.
He showed no sign of 
remorse for what he had done.
She said she felt great 
shame for what had happened and 
apologised to us all. 
[embarrassment and guilt about
something bad that happened]
I felt great 
pangs of guilt and remorse thinking of all the bad things that had happened and my 
part in them. 
[sudden sharp feelings, especially of painful emotion; collocates frequently with 
guilt
, regret, 
conscience
, remorse]
Some formal, rather literary ways of expressing regret:
I 
rue the day we ever met. 
[I regret very much that we ever met; collocates strongly with ‘the day’ and ‘the fact that’]
I 
lament the passing of time. 
[I feel sad that time passes]
I 
mourn my lost opportunities. 
[I feel sad about opportunities I had but did not take up]
A
B
Common
 
mistakes
Don’t confuse 
remind
and 
remember
: 
Seeing the class photo again
reminded
 me of my unhappy 
schooldays 
(NOT remembered me).

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Exercises
161
English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
Fill the gaps with one word.
1 
back, I can’t believe how I survived the first day in my old job. It was horrendous.
2 What 
in my mind when I think of my schooldays was our class trip to 
Edinburgh.
3 What 
of that friend of yours who wanted to be a pilot? Did he ever get to be one?
4 Do you ever hear 
your old college friend Martine these days?
5 When I 
, we had quite a hard life; my parents were poor.
6 When I get together with my old schoolmates, we often 
about the fun times we 
had.
7 I’m a bit 
of 
with what’s happening with our old hockey team since I 
stopped playing, but someone said they’re doing quite well these days.
8 I got a sudden feeling of 
as we drove past our old house. We’d had some happy 
times there.
9 When I saw the photo, it all 
back to me just what a wonderful holiday we had had.
10 You’re always looking at the past through rose- 
spectacles. It wasn’t all wonderful, 
you know.
11 I have only a very 
memory of my early childhood in Canada. It was all so long ago!
12 What happened to your sister? If I 
, she wanted to study chemistry, didn’t she? Did 
she ever do that?