Exercises on Colour Idioms

Rodzevich Alina 3-18-1

Exercises on Colour Idioms

Exercises on Colour Idioms

Red / Blue

I. Literal and non-literal meanings

To help you with some of the idioms in this unit, can you answer the following questions?
1. When a very important person arrives in your country, what colour of carpet is brought specially for them to walk on? RED
2. In your language what colour do you use to describe bruises? BLUE
3. What colour does your face go when you are embarrassed? RED
4. What colour makes bulls angry? RED
5. What colour do you call pornographic films in your language? BLUE
6. If someone punches you in the eye, what colour does the skin around your eye become? BLUE

II. Red or Blue?

Choose the colour which completes the idiom – red or blue.
1. The first time I went skiing was great fun, but I fell every five seconds! I was black and RED all over the next day – bruises everywhere.
2. I got a huge surprise last week. My cousin from Australia just arrived on my doorstep completely out of the BLUE. (suddenly)
3. I’ve just got back from visiting our Swedish factory. They were incredibly welcoming. They gave me the RED carpet treatment.
4. I used to go to the cinema quite a lot, but there’s not much I want to see these days. I only go once in a BLUE moon. (rare)
5. I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life! Just as the priest asked if anyone knew any reason why we should not be married, in walked my ex-boyfriend. I just went as RED as a beetroot. He had come with a present for us!
6. Come on, Steve! It’s your birthday! We can’t stay in tonight. Let’s go out and paint the town RED. (go out and have a party)
7. What really annoys me about getting a visa these days is all the RED tape. (bureacrucracy) You know – the documents, the paperwork, the forms to fill in. It’s ridiculous!
8. And then she accused me of lying. Can you believe it? I just saw RED (get angre) and started shouting at her.
9. I wouldn’t use Brian’s computer if I were you. He’ll scream BLUE murder if he finds out you’ve used it.
10. Look, you’ve asked me fifty times already and you can keep asking until you’re RED in the face, but the answer is still ‘No’.

III. Caught red-handed.

Complete the following dialogues with the word red or blue:
1. How can you be so sure that it was Rob who’s been stealing the CDs? – Linda saw him putting them in his bag during his lunch break. He was caught RED- handed.
2. George seems to be the boss’s favourite. He’s always nice to him. – Oh, yes. George can do no wrong. He is the BLUE- eyed boy.
3. Do you want to try that new late-night cinema? It might be quite good. – No thanks. Someone told me they show BLUE movies. I’m not interested.
4. John gets quite aggressive when you talk about politics, doesn’t he? – Absolutely. And if you criticise the Labour party it’s like a RED rag to a bull. He can’t resist trying to put you right.
5. Sorry to hear about your father. Had he been ill for some time or… - No, it was a heart attack. Totally unexpected – a complete bolt of lightning out of the BLUE.
6. You look worried. Is everything OK? - Not really. I’m in the RED again (to have money problems)/ I’m having real money problems.
7. Why did they spend so long at the meeting talking about the colour of the chairs? – It was a complete RED herring – just a total waste of time!
8. You can drive, can’t you Helen? Was it difficult to learn? – Oh, I found it really hard – especially the test. I failed it three times. The day I passed was a RED- letter day for me. I remember it like it was yesterday.