• He sent us on a wild-goose chase for a book that isn’t being published until next year.
• She sent us on a wild-goose chase looking for their beach house.

• The salary they were offering was chicken feed compared to what I could earn as a consultant.
• You can only make chicken feed profits teaching English on the Internet.

• The salary won’t allow me to buy very much but it should keep the wolf from the door.
• We need to get in some immediate income to keep the wolf from the door.

• I know it wasn’t a major problem but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as I was concerned.
• When they told me I had to work on Christmas Day, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I left.

• This room looks like a pigsty.
• The factory was like a pigsty with materials everywhere.

• They fought like cat and dog over the decision.
• They can’t work together. They fight like cat and dog.

• Now he has been promoted, he thinks he’s the cat’s whiskers.
• Don’t start thinking you are the cat’s whiskers because you are not.

• He’s like a cat on a hot tin roof.
• She’s like a cat on hot bricks.

• Tidy yourself up. You look like something the cat brought in.
• He turned up looking like something the cat dragged in.

• We have a cat in hell’s chance of getting the contract.
• He has a cat in hell’s chance of going out with her.

• They are playing cat and mouse with us about renewing the contract.
• I don’t have any time for these cat and mouse games.

• The announcement of the takeover by Glazer has really put the cat among the pigeons.
• We need to find a way to put the cat among the pigeons and shake them up a bit.

• He’s got a bee in his bonnet about politically correct language.
• She’s got a bee in her bonnet about recycling.

• There are plenty more fish in the sea.
• There are other fish in the sea.

• The President’s visit was supposed to be confidential but somebody must have let the cat out of the bag.
• He thought she knew the secret and so he told her and let the cat out of the bag.

• When they started talking about nuclear physics I felt like a fish out of water.
• I couldn’t understand anything I read or heard in Tokyo and I was a real fish out of water.

• I decided to take the bull by the horns and go in and ask for a raise.
• If he’s not doing his job, you are going to have to take the bull by the horns and tell him.

• He can’t keep still. He’s got ants in his pants.
• The long wait made the children antsy.

• I was always considered the black sheep of my family because I was a socialist.
• My uncle went to prison and is considered the black sheep of the family.

• They could argue until the cows come home and still not reach an agreement.
• “I could dance with you till the cows come home. Better still, I’ll dance with the cows and you come home.” (Groucho Marx)

• There is no room to swing a cat.

• Stop monkeying around and get on with some work!
• Who has been monkeying around with this machine?

• They said they will honor the contract but I smell a rat.
• He said he was qualified but I smelled a rat, checked up on him and found out that he wasn’t.

• Since he took over as chairman, the company has gone to the dogs.
• This part of town has really gone to the dogs in the last few years.

• Several members broke away and formed their own group.
• Some of the members of the party disagreed with their policy and broke away to form their own party.

‘to break away’ also means to separate or move away from someone who is holding you.

• She broke away from her mother and ran out of the room.
• Although he was holding her by the arms, she managed to break away.

‘to break down’ is used when a machine or vehicle stops working.

• We broke down about two kilometres out of town and had to walk home.
• This machine is very old and is always breaking down. We need to change it.

‘to break down’ is also used when a discussion or arrangement fails due to disagreement.

• Talks have broken down. They are unable to reach an agreement.
• Negotiations broke down when the unions turned down the company’s latest offer.

‘to break down’ an idea or work means to separate it into small pieces in order to deal with it more easily.

• If you break down the big jobs into individual tasks, they are much more manageable.
• We have broken the costs down by area so we can see what regions are less profitable.

‘to break down’ also is used when someone starts crying uncontrollably or becomes very ill when they cannot cope with their problems.

• When we told her what had happened she broke down and cried.
• When she broke down after a long period of stress and was hospitalised for several months.

‘to break in’ means to enter a property by force or illegally.

• Burglars have broken into several properties in the area recently.
• They broke in through the window and stole jewellery, cash and my laptop.

‘to break in’ also means to interrupt someone when they are speaking.

• As usual, when I was talking, she broke in and didn’t let me finish my story.
• We were talking about Ralph when Sue broke in and said we didn’t know anything about him.

‘to blow about’ means that the wind moves something in different directions.

• After the concert, there was a lot of litter blowing about in the park.
• We tried to collect up all the rubbish and plastic bags that were blowing about in the wind.

‘to blow away’ means that the wind blows something from the place it was in to another.

• We fixed the tent securely so that it wouldn’t be blown away in the strong wind.
• The wind blew all the labels away so I didn’t know what I had planted in the garden.

‘to blow back’ means that the wind blows something in the direction it came from.

• When I turned the corner, the wind was so strong I just got blown back.
• The wind blew the smoke back down the chimney into the room.

‘to blow down’ means that the wind makes something fall to the ground.

• A tree was blocking the road. It had been blown down in the storm.
• The hurricane had blown down the traffic signals and electricity cables all over town.

‘to blow off’ means that the winds removes something from a position on something.

• I was trying to pick up my hat that had been blown off in the wind.
• The wind was so strong, I got blown off my bicycle.

‘to blow out’ means to extinguish a fire or flame.

• I couldn’t light the campfire. The wind kept blowing it out.
• Happy Birthday! Blow out the candles on your cake.

‘to blow over’ means that an argument or some trouble has come to an end.

• I thought that the argument would quickly blow over but it didn’t.
• All that has blown over now. We’ve forgotten about it.

‘to blow up’ means to destroy something by an explosion.

• The vehicle was blown up when it drove over a landmine.
• They were carrying homemade bombs to blow up the plane mid-flight.

‘to blow up’ also means to lose your temper, to become very angry.

• He was furious. He just blew up and started shouting at everyone.
• My parents blew up when they found me smoking. They were so angry.

‘to blow up’ also means to put air into something.

• That tire looks flat. I must go blow it up.
• I spent the afternoon blowing up balloons for the party.

• Sandra won’t be back until next month, she is away in China at the moment.
• I’m sorry but Martin is away on holiday this week. Can I help you?

• Until I found a new job, I was down for a long time.
• Sue has been down since she turned 50.

• The dollar is down one cent against the euro.
• Profits are down this quarter due to bad sales in Europe.

• I tried to phone Donna last night but she wasn’t in so I couldn’t speak to her.
• I’ll be in this afternoon if you’d like to come for tea.

• I’ll see you tomorrow morning, I’m off now. Have a nice evening.
• We’re off to Florida on Tuesday. The flight leaves at ten o’clock.

• Don’t eat that yoghurt, I think it’s off. It’s been in the fridge for ages.
• Smell the milk, I think it’s off.

• That documentary is on TV tonight but I don’t know which channel it is on.
• Let’s go shopping on Saturday. The sales are on at the moment.

• I think he must be deaf, the TV was on very loud.
• When I arrived, the lights were on but nobody was at home.

• I’m sorry but Jack’s out. Can I take a message?
• Marie is out until lunchtime. She’s got an appointment at the dentist this morning.

• Prices are up more than ten per cent.
• Unfortunately our costs are up more than twenty per cent because of the increase in the cost of petrol.

• Sue was asking after you. I told her you were fine.
• He asked after my mother. He wanted to know how she was doing.

‘to ask around’ means to ask several people for help or information.

• I asked around to see if anyone knew someone who could rent me a room.
• When I needed to buy a new car, I asked around and someone offered me this one.

‘to ask for’ means to say that you want something.

• I asked for the chicken but you have brought me the beef.
• I must remember to ask for a receipt so that I can get reimbursed.

‘to ask for’ can also mean to do something which is likely to lead to trouble or problems.

• Walking around the streets alone at night was asking for trouble.
• If you go to that part of town, you’re asking for trouble. It’s very dangerous there.

‘to ask for someone’ means to ask to speak to them.

• He asked for Carol but there is no one working here called Carol.
• If you need anything, ask for Henry. He’ll be able to help you.

‘to ask someone in’ means to invite them into the room or your home.

• If someone comes to the door, don’t ask them in.
• Sometimes when I’m out in the garden, the neighbours ask me in for a drink.

‘to ask someone out’ means to invite them to go somewhere with you.

• He asked me out so I expected him to pay for dinner.
• We often invite our friends out for a drink in the pub.

‘to ask someone over’ means to invite them to come visit you in your home.

• I’ve asked Diane from across the road over for a cup of coffee later.
• He asked me over to see what they had done in the garden.

• I want a free copy so I’ll write away for one.
• She has written away for a brochure with details of the course.

• I sent him a letter but he didn’t write back.
• I wrote back saying that we would be happy to accept their invitation.

• So I don’t forget, can you write that down, please?
• I wrote down his phone number on a piece of paper but I can’t find it now.

• To give us your comments on today’s show, write in to the usual address.
• The first one hundred people who write in will receive a free copy.

• Children who are not academic are often written off by schools instead of being helped.
• Most companies write off any employee over fifty-five as they assume they are profitable.

• She has had only one accident but she did write the car off.
• There really isn’t much damage to the car. It won’t be written off by the insurance.

• The rich countries in the West should write off the debts of the Third World.
• We had to write off quite a lot of bad debts at the end of the year.

• Can you write me out a receipt for my accounts, please?
• The doctor wrote out a prescription for the drugs and handed it to me.

• After every class, I always write up my notes straight away.
• She wrote up the minutes of the meeting and distributed them the next day.

• The teacher wrote her name up on the board.
• If you want to join, just write your name up on the notice board.

• When you are applying for a job, age often works against you.
• Their image works against them. They need to change it if they are going to succeed.

• When I got back to the office, he was still working away at his report.
• He’s been working away at it all afternoon but you can’t really see what he has achieved.

• We can’t change it. We’ll just have to work around it.
• The deadlines are very short but I’m sure you can find a way to work around them.

• I feel totally stressed. I’m going to go work it off at the gym.
• We ate too much at lunch so we went out into the garden to work it off.

• In training, he’s been working on improving the weak parts of his game.
• I’ve been working on my level of fitness before I go on this walking holiday.

• I’ve never been very good at maths. I couldn’t work out the rate per week.
• The bill is $98, so who can work out how much each of us must pay?

• We don’t want a strike. I hope that someone can work out a way to avoid it.
• Nobody has worked out a solution to this problem. We are still spending too much.

• He runs at the weekend and works out twice a week in the gym.
• I worked out a lot when I was younger but now I prefer easier exercise like walking!

• It’s not very important. Don’t get so worked up about it!
• He got very worked up about the interview.  He really wanted the job and got very stressed about it.

‘to work up to’ something means to gradually do more of something until you reach a certain level.

• He started training with small weights and worked up to 100 kilos.
• You should start by doing a few minutes exercise and work up to half an hour a day.

• You are responsible for this. You can’t just walk away.
• Don’t get involved in an argument. Just walk away.

• They were whispering. I think I walked in on a private conversation.
• He walked in on me when I was getting changed in my office.

• I really didn’t see this coming. I just walked straight into it.
• I didn’t realise I was just walking into a trap. He planned it beautifully.

• After university, he just walked into a very good job in the bank.
• Thanks to her father and his connections, she walked into a very well paid job.

• The best thing to do was to go out and walk off my bad mood.
• I had a terrible headache but managed to walk it off.

• When they evacuated the shop, customers walked off with lots of things.
• Kate has just walked off with my sweater and new boots. She’s always doing that.

• He just walked out half way through and left us sitting there.
• Some of the audience walked out during the play, they weren’t enjoying it at all.

• All the technicians in production walked out in support of their pay claim.
• The drivers walked out when they heard that one of them had been sacked.

• His girlfriend walked out on him after a big argument about money.
• My father walked out on us when I was very young.

• He just walks all over her. He does just as he pleases.
• He lets her walk all over him. He never says no to her.

• I’d like to see the other side. Can you turn it over, please?
• Turn over and lie on your back.

• During the investigation all the documents were turned over to the police.
• They were turned over to the immigration authorities as soon as they landed at the airport.

• It lost a lot of money last year but the new management have turned it round.
• All political parties promise to turn the economy round if elected but they never do!

• Let’s turn that question round and look at it from a different point of view.
• He always turns what I say round to make me look stupid.

• I need help and I don’t know who to turn to.
• She doesn’t seem to have any friends to turn to when she needs help.

• Let’s turn our attention to the question of finance next.
• Let’s move on and turn to an important problem we are facing – drop in sales.

• It is cold in here. Can you turn up the heating, please?
• I can’t hear it. Can you turn it up, please?

• He finally turned up at my house half an hour late.
• You don’t need to book. You can just turn up and buy a ticket at the door.

• You’ll find a job. I’m sure something will turn up quite soon.
• Jane didn’t call to ask if she could come, she just turned up and stayed the weekend.