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

profitably. You can also talk about investing time, using it in a way that you think will pay 
dividends in future. 
[bring you advantages]
• Business is likened to a military operation; 
strategies,
 
tactics and campaigns are used in both 
contexts. So a company might 
launch an advertising campaign, for example, or work on its 
marketing strategy.
A
B
C

---

Exercises
193
English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
Choose a word from the box that can be used metaphorically to complete the sentence.
ball eye hands head heart jungle mouth light rein thumb
1 Helen asked me to keep a close 
on her little boy while the children were playing in 
the garden.
2 You don’t need to worry about your grandfather – he’s in safe 
in the hospital.
3 Our hotel offers excellent facilities in the 
of the old city centre.
4 When the writer refers to the urban 
, he is suggesting that the city is a dangerous 
and unpleasant place.
5 As a rule of 
, you can expect to deal with about 20 orders a day.
6 Joe is always on the 
; he always knows what’s going on.
7 Can you see that small boat at the 
of the river?
8 It is up to the 
of the school how the budget is spent.
9 I’m afraid we need to keep a tight 
on our spending this year.
10 I never used to understand opera, but an excellent TV series helped me to see the 
.
Here are some more idioms which are based on metaphors. What is the idiom in each 
sentence and what does it mean? What aspect of life does it draw its image from?
1 Oscar’s going to be holding the reins while the boss is on holiday.
2 It’s hard to know what to do when management keeps moving the goalposts.
3 Starting his own dry-cleaning business was just another of his half-baked ideas.
4 We’ve had to tighten our belts since Sam lost his job.
5 The company needs to take its customers’ criticisms on board.
6 Are you still on track to finish your essay by this evening?
7 Jana worked around the clock to finish decorating the room before her parents came home.
8 I’m sure you can take him at face value – he seems perfectly honest to me.