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

B
C
D

---

Exercises
171
English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
Look at A opposite. Explain what the underlined expressions with 
thing
 and 
get
 mean 
in the following sentences.
1 Don’t make such a big thing about it. I’m only going for a few days.
2 Jess has got a thing about wanting straight hair, but her natural frizz suits her much better.
3 The thing is, I don’t know when we’ll be at home.
4 Unless things change, we won’t be able to get away for a holiday.
5 We have a number of things to get through before lunchtime.
6 I don’t get on with them very well. For one thing, we like different things. For another, I find 
them quite rude.
7 Did you get what the lecturer was saying? I didn’t get a thing.
8 I hope we can get everything sorted out today. It’s time we got it together!
What words do you think the speaker is looking for in each of these sentences? 
Choose from the words in the box.
colander hammer rolling pin protractor sieve Daniel Craig
1 Where’s the thingummy for sifting the flour so there aren’t any lumps in it?
2 Look, isn’t that whatsisname? The actor who was in the latest 
James Bond
?
3 I can’t find the thingumibob for measuring angles.
4 Have you got a whatsit, you know, for bashing in nails?
5 Where’s the thingy for draining potatoes?
6 I need a whatchamacallit – you know, one of those things for flattening pastry.
Look at the sentences in 82.2 again and find a different vague word from the one used 
in the exercise, e.g. 
Where’s the whatchamacallit for sifting the flour so there aren’t any 
lumps in it?
Look at C. Rewrite the underlined parts of these sentences in a more informal style.
1 The garden had great numbers of pink and yellow flowers.
2 I’ve asked her out a great many times, but she’s always got some excuse.
3 He hasn’t done any useful work here since he first got the job.
4 I’ve got a large number of papers I want to get rid of.
5 Alice invited a great many people to her party at the weekend.
6 Yasmin’s got a great deal of energy – I don’t know where she gets it all from!
7 A great many people were turned away because the lecture room was full.
8 She was told many times not to leave any valuables on her desk.