Exercise 24, p. 378

1. They say eighty per cent of the data (accumulated) in the

world’s computers is in English.

2. Don’t touch anything until the police arrive. - They have

already arrived. And who is it they are chasing?

3. I’m at my wit’s/wits’ end what this man wants from us. -

For God’s/goodness’/heaven’s sake don’t be so naive! All he

wants is our money but he won’t get it.

4.St. Thomas’ Hospital is one of the oldest in London. It is

within a stone’s throw, just five minutes’ walk/a five-minute

walk through St. James’s park.

5. This ring is not mine, it’s my grandmother’s. It was bought

at Tiffany’s and cost a fortune.

6. I’ve brought you a new series of Keats’/Keats’s poems. You

can read them to you heart’s content.

7. I hate that disgusting habit of your neighbours’ to turn the

television full tilt. - They bought a new Sony six months ago and

still can’t enjoy it enough.

8. Still waters run deep. - That describes him to a hair’s

breadth/to a hair. So you’d better stay away from him to keep

out of harm’s way.

9. Is that really a Dali in your grandfather’s house? - Actually

he has got two Dalis, and I remember seeing a Picasso and a

Chagall in his study.

10. Everybody is glad of/about Charles’/Charles’s success.

Let’s go and congratulate him for appearance’s sake.

 

 

11. There are reports about unusual phenomena on Mars’s

surface.

12. Of all fish I prefer trout and salmon although I’m not

much of a fish-lover.

13. The sun’s rays/sunbeams penetrated the thick foliage/

leaves and made Sir Robert Fox’s estate look even grander.

14. She forgave everybody at death’s door/on her death-bed

for the family’s sake.

15. Collins is a very reliable dictionary and I always keep it

at/within arm’s reach/at hand.

16. You are on a the razor’s/razor edge. Be careful for safety’s

sake.

17. He accepted/adopted another religion/faith at sword’s

point/at gunpoint.