CHAPTER
IV
PART
VII: THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE
Loitering
with intent
And if all these things were not enough, some unexpected
visitors turned up: the Danes and the Vikings, who had left their homes in Denmark and Norway Scandinavia .
They wanted a change of scene and
raided most of northwestern Europe between the 8th and the 11th
centuries (it is even said that they arrived in America Britain
Angles and Saxons were very... . Sorry. Angles, Saxons... and Jutes were very tall but these
Norwegians and Danes were even taller; the Germanic settlers were blond but
these Scandinavian people were blonder; the droves which invaded Britain
They did not fear
death, as long as it happened violently. This may sound amazing but if a Viking
died in the course of a battle with a sword in his hand, that was a stroke of luck; incredibly nothing
could be better for them than to have their stomachs pierced by the spear,
knife or sword of their enemies since that meant that they would receive their
eternal reward: a never-ending banquet in the company of their beloved Woden,
the god of poetry and war, two things which are not very related perhaps, but
there must have been scarcity of gods and probably they had to take several
jobs. Women did not go to this “heaven” (or Valhalla , literally “hall
of the slain”) because they did not fight in wars, so bad luck! The only women
in Valhalla were the Valkyries, the maidens of
Woden (or Odin). They ushered the heroes slain in battle into the presence of
their celestial lord and served them with the most delicate and delightful
dishes of the heavenly cuisine and with ale, which was poured into the skulls
of the enemies defeated in battle. Revolting, isn’t it?
So these were the
Vikings. Their fellows, the Danes, were much of the same kind, the only
difference being that the former were fonder of having their long blond hair
twisted in a couple of plaits and fonder of using metal helmets with a horn on
each side. A Viking was, therefore, one of the few people who could wear the
horns without being called a cuckold.
And this pretty lot was wandering around the British shores
by the end of the 8th century! At first they only raided. The first
mention of them is recorded in The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. According to this work, these Northerners
disembarked at Portland , Dorset in 789; it was a
short visit of only a few days, enough time to stretch their legs, kill some hundred Saxons and go back home; in
793 they returned, this time to the North, but people from Northumbria
Raising
Cain (Run for your lives!)
These Scandinavian sea dogs had raided along the British
coast and had not occasioned too much harm..., just a few churches burnt, a few
villages demolished and a few hundred people killed..., nothing too serious;
churches could be rebuilt, villages could be reconstructed, and dead people could...
. Well, there were still many living people, so why worry? Not too much harm...
for the moment, we should add. Those who had already experienced the
Scandinavian rage knew very well that those kind of people would not content
themselves with making a few raids. There was a period of relative calm after the first incursions,
providing that we can use the adjective calm
to define a period during which only a couple of battles are worthy of mention:
the defeat of a Viking force in 838 by King Egbert and the Anglo-Saxon victory
won by Aethelwulf, his successor, in 851. But the Saxons knew that meanwhile
thousands and thousands of Vikings and Danes were sharpening their swords in
their home towns. That period of time was just the lull before the storm. In 865, one year before King Aethelbert
died and was succeeded by Aethelred I, the Vikings and Danes invaded Britain
The Vikings preferred to attack the Irish and Scottish lands
and set up encampments on the Orkney and the Shetland islands, north of Scotland , whence they moved southwards,
conquering a vast territory in northern England ;
the Danes landed in eastern England ,
subdued central England and
tried to do the same with Wessex
King Aethelred I led the resistance to this invasion. The
Saxons were down in the dumps; they
needed some victories to cheer themselves up. The battle of Ashdown on the
Berkshire Downs (871) was a boost to their morale, but very soon the Saxons
suffered heavy defeats and the king himself died at the battle of Merton the
same year.
He was succeeded by a man who has been praised for long, not
only for his warlike activities but also for his contribution to the revival of
learning at a time when people were too busy fighting. He was a man who did not know the meaning of the word
“fear”, one of the most esteemed British kings, a man who was in a class of his own, a hero from the cradle to the grave...: King
Alfred, who, being worthy of all that string of virtues and glories, could not
be known by any other name except the
Great.
A Triton
among the minnows
Alfred made his “debut” as a military strategist at the
battle of Ashdown, where he and his brother Aethelred I, still the king, won the day. When “the Great” became
king, he promised himself that he would free his people from the hordes of
Scandinavian invaders, and he threw himself wholeheartedly into this matter. At
least he was able to drive out the Danes in 877. The following year they
counter-attacked and this time it was Alfred who had to flee and lie doggo. He retired to Somerset Wessex Wessex and retire into East Anglia Wessex
from the Danelaw along Watling
Street London to Chester
The Danes had not got all that they had expected; they had
come to Britain France ,
where they founded the land which they called Normandy France Britain
Alfred had reinforced his country..., and he had done it not
only from the military point of view. He devoted a great part of his time to
spreading culture to the farthest corners of the island and to making it
accessible to most of the people. That involved teaching the illiterate their
own language and translating classical works into English. He himself took over
as translator of several works originally written in Latin, and it is thought
that he directed the compilation of The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. He established numerous teaching centres for all the
children to learn to read and write and encouraged scholars from other
countries to come to Wessex ,
especially to Winchester , the capital of the
kingdom, which became England
When Alfred died,
he was only fifty years old and was succeeded by his son Edward (the Elder).
A
never-ending story...?
Alfred had tried to make peace with the Danes and had ceded
part of England
Alfred had two children:
one son, Edward, who succeeded him at the age of twenty-two, and a daughter,
Aethelflaed, who married the Mercian leader called (of course!) Aethelred. Both
of his children became the sovereigns of their respective kingdoms and fought
together to crush the new rebellions of their restless neighbours. At
Tettenhall, Staffordshire, Edward managed to crush the Danes (910) and started
the advance into the Danelaw from the south. His sister did the same from the
north. The Danes in the middle understood what a piece of cheese must feel like
in a sandwich.
In 925 Athelstan succeeded. He joined forces with the Mercians against the Northumbrians, who had
rebelled (again), supported by Danes from Ireland Britain
For a time everything seemed uneventful, but that could not
last long. Things changed when Olaf of Dublin seized Northumbria
and part of Mercia Norway
to raise the Vikings from Northumbria Northumbria
Eadwig (or Edwy) succeeded his uncle Eadred. He was not a
king much loved by his subjects, who in fact preferred his brother Edgar on the
throne. Edgar became king of Wessex
in 959, when he was only a teenager, and king of England Canterbury London
Edgar married twice. His first wife was called Aethelflaed,
like approximately fifty per cent of the women in those days, and she gave birth to a child who was called
Edward. When she died, Edgar married again. His new wife, Aelfthryth, bore him another son, who was called
Aethelred, like approximately fifty per cent of the men in those days. Both
Edward and Aethelred became kings; the former only for three years, the latter
for thirty-eight. Aethelred’s mother had
much to do with this numerical difference.
On the
way out, on the way to heaven
King Edgar’s elder son, Edward, was known as Edward the
Martyr. Martyrs are people who are killed because of their religious or
political beliefs. Martyrs become admired and respected and executioners become
despised. You may become one of them by being burned at the stake, by being
hanged, by being tortured to death or by being obliged to watch stupid
programes on the television for hours...; there is a wide range of
possibilities for everyone. Those who make you become a martyr are normally
people who belong to other political or religious groups, but not usually to
your own family. However, there are exceptions, especially if there is a throne
in the way, as in the process of Edward becoming a martyr. Edward was murdered
by order of his stepmother Aelfthryth. There is no proving evidence concerning
this matter, but most of the historians point
the finger at her as responsible for her young stepson’s death. As we can
see clearly, the traditional belief of stepmothers being wicked is not only
reflected in children’s stories such as Cinderella
or Snow-White; history itself also
has good examples of it.
Edward came to an
early grave. He did not have time to enjoy the pleasures of being a king,
since he was killed in cold blood at
the age of fifteen. This tragic event took place on the 18th of
March, 978, while he was visiting his stepmother and half-brother Aethelred at
their castle in Corfe, Dorset. No sooner had he dismounted from his horse, so it
is said, that Aelfthryth’s servants dispatched him in a few seconds...Poor boy!
Perhaps he had gone to visit his family at the weekend after a long time away
from them! Perhaps he had been longing for that moment to arrive for the whole week!. Perhaps he wanted
to tell his stepmother that he had been a good boy and had got good marks at
school that week! Perhaps he was feeling on
top of the world when he saw her waiting for him at the drawbridge beside
her servants while he was galloping towards her!:
‘Mummy, mummy...,
sorry..., stepmummy, stepmummy! Look at my marks! I’ve got three A’s this week:
Maths, French and Geography...! And I am especially proud of the last one
because it is National Geography!’
‘OK, boy, that’s great..., but get down
from your horse first. My servants will help you...’
‘I’m overjoyed, stepmummy. I am very
happy. I am... Ouch!!!... But..., but..., stepmummy..., what’s the meaning of this?’
‘It means: bye, boy,
bye... And excuse me...,one last thing..., I’ll take the crown from your head
before you fall down.’
Edward was buried. Aelfthryth and Aethelred shed crocodile tears. One month later,
Aethelred was crowned.
A blind
leader of the blind (Are you ready...?)
Aethelred was weak..., he was a man of straw. It had been thanks to his mother’s ambition and
evil that he had become a king, but she did not know what was needed to rule a
country in times of war and her son did not have the makings of a king at all. Aethelred was, not to put too fine a point on it,
feeble and inept, ...dead from the neck
up..., a puppet whom his mother had led
by the nose. And now a paper tiger
had to govern a country which was continuously menaced by fierce invaders.
When he was crowned, he was only a teenager tied to his mother’s apron-strings and
unable to give orders or to gain respect. It is not hard to imagine that
Aelfthryth was the power behind the
throne. Aethelred was called the
Unready, which derived from the Old English Redeless, or “ill-counselled”, but the present meaning of the adjective,
as the opposite of “ready”, is more appropriate for him than the old one. He
was never ready to rule the country and he should have never done it. The main
problem he had to face (sorry, we cannot say the main problem he had to “solve”) was, to keep up the tradition,
the struggle to resist invasion. After a relatively long pause during the reign
of his father, the raids were resumed in 980, and they increased in intensity
and regularity from 991 on under the leadership of Olaf Tryggvason, later King
of Norway, and Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark.
In his day Aethelred’s great-great-grandfather, Alfred (we’d
better not mention his nickname to avoid too much reiteration), had used a
curious method to content the invaders. He had bought their retreat and their
promise not to attack with money: “Now be
good boys, stop shouting, sheathe your swords and move a couple of miles
backwards. Here, have a few coins; buy something nice or go to a barber’s and
have a shave... All right?”. We all know what one is capable of doing for
money; even a Viking would stop practising his favourite hobby for a pretty penny. This system had had
good results with Alfred, but it did not work with the weak king.
A leopard can never
change its spots, and after some years on the throne Aethelred kept on
being “unready”. He made excessive use of this wild-beast-soothing method,
which was also known as Danegeld.
Money had been a powerful ally for Alfred but money is also the root of
all evil. There was something that Aethelred had not foreseen: if he
started to offer money to the Danes, there could come the moment when they
asked for more. And that is exactly what happened. The tribute to be paid
increased more and more month by month, year by year: ‘If they can pay 20,000
pounds of silver, they can pay 24,000’, they
probably thought. England England
Let’s have a look at these changes we have mentioned:
Sweyn, King of
King of
|
m. Emma of
|
m.Elgiva = Aethelred II = m. Emma of Normandy
(978-1016)
|
Hardicanute (1040-1042)
|
Harold (Harefoot) (1035-1040)
|
Godwine, Earl of
|
Edmund II
Ironside
(1016)
|
Alfred
|
Edward the Confessor
(1042-1066)
|
=
|
m. Edith
|
Harold II
(1066)
|
A
hand-changing crown
The massacre of St Brice’s Day was nothing compared with the
revenge that Sweyn took on Aethelred. Most of the Danes in the south of England Denmark
As soon as Sweyn’s
army landed on British soil, the carnage started. Aethelred stopped the Danes
by paying them a great amount of money, as usual, but that left the country in
the most absolute poverty. Sweyn went back home (perhaps to spend the money he
had got) but returned some years later, now accompanied by his son Canute, so
that the father could instruct the child in his future job: ‘Listen, son. Very soon you’ll meet the
people I’ve been talking to you about for so long..., those who killed Auntie
Gunnhild..., our source of income...; when you see them, don’t get nervous;
always stay behind me and do as I do. With a little bit of luck, this time
we’ll get the land we have been fighting for. And I’ll be the King of England
So they finally
accepted Sweyn as King of England; Aethelred and his second wife, Emma, had to
seek asylum in Normandy
Canute had not disappeared from the scene. He
remembered quite well the words that his father had told him once: ‘Some day that kingdom will be yours’.
He wanted his father’s wish to come true, and when Aethelred died he saw it was
his chance. He renewed the invasions, but now there was a new adversary
opposite him: Edmund II Ironside, Aethelred’s successor and son by his first
marriage. Edmund was heavily defeated at Ashingdon (October 18th,
1016) and had to cede Canute all of England
except Wessex
Canute had finally “caught” what his ancestors had been
trying to “catch” for a couple of centuries and he could not let go of it. He needed a way to ensure
the continuity on the throne for his descendants. And he thought of Emma. She
was now a widow and had two sons, Alfred and Edward. They were a menace to the
Danish permanence in England
and were not allowed to live on the island; so they were sent to Normandy
Canute’s reign was not so bad as anyone could expect. In
fact he allowed other people to have power too, a really commendable show of
generosity from him. The Saxon earls enjoyed certain privileges and some of
them became very powerful, especially Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Godwine, Earl
of Wessex. The first is famous because of his wife, Lady Godiva, who rode in her birthday suit through the
streets of Coventry in order to convince her husband that he should free the
town from some heavy taxes; the second because of his son Harold, who would be
the last Saxon king in England some years later, ...and because of himself,
since he ordered the imprisonment of Alfred, the elder son of Aethelred and
Emma, and possible claimant to the throne.
Canute and Emma had one son: Hardicanute (or Harthacnut).
Canute had one more son by another marriage, Harold Harefoot. Both of them were
also kings of England Britain
There was only one possible candidate for the throne, but he
was in France
Edward was known as
the Confessor because of his liking for religion; he was a little more worried
about God than about his people and lived an ascetic life. He did not even like
war, so many considered him to be a weirdo. He built Westminster Abbey and
moved the court from Winchester to Westminster Normandy
There was someone
who preferred to stay in Normandy Britain
‘What a nice country you’ve got, cousin Edward...! If
only I could have a whole island for
myself... Oh, cousin, you are so lucky!’
‘Do you want it? I have no children to succeed me. You
are my cousin, so...’
‘Are you kidding? Will you give it to me?...Yes? Say
you will, yes, say you will, oh please!’
‘Yes, it will be yours. I promise.’
‘OK, it’s a deal! Let’s shake on it!’
For the Witan, however, Harold, who had succeeded his father
as Earl of Wessex, was a better candidate for the throne. He did not have blue blood in his veins but he had proved to be brave and powerful.
Ill luck made a ship Harold was sailing in be driven on to the coast of Normandy
‘I’ll only let you go
when you promise me that you won’t claim the throne of England’
‘Well..., I hadn’t thought of claiming
it, but now that you mention it...’
‘Swear that you won’t try to get it...
Will you recognize me as the only heir...?
Yes?... Say
you will, yes, say you will, oh please!’
‘OK, don’t insist. It will be yours. I
promise.’
So Harold was freed and he returned to England Westminster
Harold was crowned, but he joined the list of the kings who
were in power for less than one year. His reign started in January and ended in
October. While he was in the north of England
trying to suppress a new Danish rebellion, William and his men were landing in
the south of England
The two contenders met at Hastings Britain Hastings
Chapter IV: Exercises
1.- A well-deserved epithet
Well is very often the beginning of some compound adjectives. Complete the following sentences with the compounds in the box:
1.1.- someone who is sensible and does not have emotional problems is a __________ person.
1.2.- someone who wears smart or elegant clothes is a __________ person.
1.3.- someone who is wealthy is __________.
1.4.- something that has existed for a long time and is successful is __________.
1.5.- something that is intended to be helpful but it has unfortunate results is __________.
1.6.- someone who belongs to an upper-class family is a __________ person.
1.7.- if someone behaves in a way that is considered correct, they are __________ people.
1.8.- someone who has good manners is a __________ person. A synonym is “well-mannered”.
1.9.- someone who is admired and respected is a __________ person
1.10.- a room which is always neat and tidy is a __________ room.
1.11.- if you have been working hard, you may take a __________ rest.
1.12.- someone who is strong and muscular is __________.
1.13.- someone who has influential relations or friends is a __________ person.
1.14.- someone who gets food regularly is __________.
1.15.- an old person who still looks young is __________.
1.16.- someone who has a lot of books and has learnt a lot from them is a __________ person.
1.17.- an action which is done at the most appropriate time is a __________ action.
1.18.- someone who knows much about a particular subject is __________ in it.
1.19.- if you are willing to take part in an activity, you are __________ to it.
1.20.- someone who receives a good salary is __________.
well-connected
well-timed
well-versed
well-born
well-earned
|
well-paid
well-off
well-behaved
well-dressed
well-learned
|
well-built
well-fed
well-kept
well-meant
well-preserved
|
well-balanced
well-bred
well-disposed
well-established
well-thought-of
|
2.- They knew which side their bread was buttered on
Note the use of the preposition at the end of the sentence. This is not strange in English. For example:
I am afraid of something + What? = What are you afraid of?
Now do as in the example:
2.1.- I am looking at something + What...? = ____________________?
2.2.- I’m fed up with something + What...? = ____________________?
2.3.- I’m getting married next week + Who...? = ____________________?
2.4.- I’m getting into trouble + What kind of trouble...? = ____________________?
Sometimes the preposition can be placed at the beginning of the clause, but this is more common in a formal style. So To whom were you talking? is more formal than Who were you talking to?.
Now make the following sentences a bit more formal:
2.5.- The house we live in is quite old: _________________________
2.6.- I need an assistant to work with: _________________________
2.7.- Who was penicillin discovered by?: _________________________
2.8.- I wanted to know whose side he was on: _________________________
2.9.- I don’t remember which shelf I left my book on: _________________________
2.10.-That is the firm I worked for in 1989: _________________________
3.- In two shakes of a lamb’s tail
Lamb, as many other words which refer to animals, is used in a few expressions in English. So for example, someone who acts like a lamb does things obediently without causing any trouble. One more expression which uses this word is mutton dressed as lamb, but what does it mean? Choose one of the following options:
a.- a person who pretends to be a friend but who wants to cause you some harm or trouble
b.- a promise which is unrealistic
c.- a person you go to for help when there is urgent need or great difficulty
d.- someone who tries to look younger than they are in order to appear attractive to other people.
The correct answer is: ...........................
The other expressions which do not correspond to the correct definition above are any port in a storm, a snake in the grass and a pie in the sky. Could you now connect them with their correct definition?
1.- any port in a storm:
2.- a snake in the grass:
3.- a pie in the sky:
4.- The down-and-outs
The phrase down-and-out consists of three words which are joined by hyphens. There are other substantives in English which are formed in the same way. In the following examples there is always one missing word. Complete the compound nouns with them.
4.1.- son-___-law 4.2.- forget-___-not 4.3.- love-___-a-mist
4.4.- lady-___-waiting 4.5.- toad-___-the-hole 4.6.- ___-islander
4.7.- passer-___ 4.8.- ___-licence 4.9.- drop-___
4.10.- ___-goat 4.11.- hanger-___ 4.12.- looker-___
4.13.- runner-___
by in in in in off off she up on on me out
|
5.- Red tape / To catch some red-handed / To roll out the red carpet
Expressions with colours are very frequent in English and you have found many examples of them in this book. Red is one of the many colours used in these set phrases. Connect the following ones with their meanings:
a.- to see red
b.- to see the red light
c.- a red-letter day
d.- a red herring
e.- to paint the town red
f.- to be in the red
g.- like a red rag to a bull
h.- the red-light district
|
1.- to owe money to one’s bank
2.- an important or joyful occasion in one’s life
3.- the area of a city where prostitutes work
4.- provocative, which makes you extremely angry
5.- to become suddenly angry
6.- to celebrate something noisily in the street or other public
places
7.- to recognize danger
8.- an unimportant matter which is introduced into a discussion in
order to distract attention from the important matter being
discussed
|
a.-
b.-
c.-
d.-
e.-
f.-
g.-
h.-
|
6.- Birds of a feather
This phrase can be followed by some more words in order to form a proverb. The second part of it rhymes with the first. Try to guess what the ending of the proverb is.
Birds of a feather...
|
...stay together
...fly for ever
..are at the end of their tether
...flock together
...don’t change the weather
|
..................................................
|
7.- He turned a deaf ear to their grief
Here you have other phrases with the word ear. Complete them with the words in the box.
7.1.- To __________ music by ear
7.2.- To have a __________ ear for something
7.3.- To be __________ ears
7.4.- To be __________ to the ears in something
7.5.- To be wet __________ the ears
7.6.- Something goes in one ear and out the __________
7.7.- To keep/have your ears to the __________
7.8.- To listen to something/someone with only __________ an ear
half other all behind good ground up play
|
8.- In deep water / To go through fire and water
Now here are some other idioms with the word water. They have been split into two parts and mixed in the box below. Put their beginnings and endings together.
the bridge to get into to pour oil on an idea
like water water under to keep one’s hot water
to pour cold water to spend one´s money
run deep still waters head above the water on troubled waters
|
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
¨ ...............................................................................................
9.- A nine days’ wonder / Number one / Two’s company, three’s a crowd
Below there are some common expressions in which numbers from one to ten appear. Complete them with the number that you consider appropriate. (Note: some of these numbers must be written in their plural form, that is, fives, sixes, etc...)
- a _____-armed bandit - a _____-letter word - Number _____ (an address)
- a ____-man band - a _____-faced person - the ____ senses
- a rule of _____ - _____-o’clock shadow - a _____-point turn
- to be at _____ and sevens - to look out for number _____ - to be on cloud _____
- _____ to one - to dress yourself up to the _____
- the _____ corners of the earth - _____ of one and half a dozen of the other
(The meanings of these expressions appear in the GLOSSARY)
10.- Grave
This word has appeared in four expressions in this chapter. In the previous chapter, there was one more which also used it. Let’s check if you remember all of them. You are given some help below.
10.1.- One of them means “to do something foolish or dangerous which will cause your own failure”.
That expression is to dig ____________________ grave.
10.2.- Another expression refers to a hypothetical situation. If someone who is dead knew something
very shocking which is happening now perhaps they would turn _____________ graves.
10.3.- When someone is about to die, you can say that they have _________________ grave.
10.4.- If someone dies when they are very young, they come ___________________ grave.
10.5.- And the last of them is used when you want to refer to something which happens throughout one’s
life. Then you can say that something happens from _________________ the grave.
11.- Let’s strike a happy medium / To seek asylum
Medium and asylum are words which come from Latin. The ending –um was typical in that language. Classical languages have had influence on English in the course of its history. A proof of that is the endings of some words and the plural forms that they take. So the plural of medium is media, except when medium refers to a person who is able to contact and speak to dead people, in which case the plural form is mediums. As we can see, these foreign plurals and the regular ones are both possible, although their use is different. Formula is another example of this: its plural form is formulas when we are speaking in general, but formulae when we are studying Mathematics. Could you now give the plural forms of these Latin/Greek words which are used in English? (Note: some of them accept both types)
Word Regular plural Foreign plural Word Regular plural Foreign plural
focus
locus
genus
arena
electron
album
criterion
crisis
axis
parenthesis
demon
stratum
|
focuses
X
|
foci
loci
|
circus
thesis
stimulus
phenomenon
antenna
stadium
bacterium
index
era
larva
matrix
analysis
|
circuses
X
|
X
theses
|
12.- On second thoughts / Third time lucky / Love at first sight
Ordinal numbers from first to seventh have been dropped in the following expressions. Their meanings are given so that it can be easier for you. Could you complete them?
12.1.- the Press: the _______ estate
12.2.- something that seems as if it is part of your character: one’s _______ nature
12.3.- to know absolutely nothing about a matter: not to know the _______ thing about something
12.4.- the wife of the president of a country: the _______ Lady
12.5.- to be told about something by other people rather than learn it directly: to learn something at
_______ hand
12.6.- to lose a competition: to come off ______ best
12.7.- the cheapest and least comfortable section on a ship or train: _______-class
12.8.- something beyond the limits of normal experience: the _______ dimension
12.9.- someone who supports the enemies of the country, a traitor: a _______ columnist
12.10.- to be extremely happy: to be in the _______ heaven
12.11.- the earliest profitable results of an activity: the _______ fruits
12.12.- to be tortured: to be given the _______ degree
12.13.- to have supernatural powers: to have a _______ sense
12.14.- one whose tastes and opinions are practically the same as yours: one’s _______ self
12.15.- to do one’s job better than anyone else having the same job: to be _______ to none
13.- A wolf in sheep’s clothing / To put the cat among the pigeons / The birds and the bees
These three phrases combine two animals in each of them. There are more expressions in which the same occurs. Which two animals for each of the following sentences are correct? Choose from the box below.
13.1.- to play _____ and _____ with someone
13.2.- to rain _____ and _____
13.3.- to lead a _____-and-_____ life
13.4.- a _____-and-_____ story
13.5.- the early _____ catches the _____
13.6.- when the _____’s away, the _____ will play
13.7.- to separate the _____ from the ____
13.8.- to set a _____ to keep the _____
fox worm cats cat cat cat bird bull dog dogs mouse mice goats geese sheep cock
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14.- The green-eyed monster / Red-handed
The words eyed and handed can be called “false participles” because they are nouns with an ending which is typical of verbs. Using this structure, how could you call the following items?
14.1.- a girl who has red hair: ____________________
14.2.- a woman who has long legs: ____________________
14.3.- a baby with blue eyes: ____________________
14.4.- a man with only one arm: ____________________
14.5.- a shirt with long sleeves: ____________________
14.6.- a house with a flat roof: ____________________
14.7.- a plane with four engines: ____________________
15.- The black sheep of the family / A black eye
The word black is used in short phrases such as a black box, the black market, a black spot, a blackleg, blackmail, a black list, a black-letter day, black ice, black money, etc..., and also in some longer expressions as the ones which appear below. They have been split in several parts and put in the boxes. Write them correctly, but take into account that two boxes belonging to the same phrase can never be in contact with each other.
so black as
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something in
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to be in
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dressed
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to have
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to be
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someone black
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black
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to beat
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painted
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and blue
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someone’s black
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and white
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to be not
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black
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books
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in
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one is
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¨ ...........................................................................................................
¨ ...........................................................................................................
¨ ...........................................................................................................
¨ ...........................................................................................................
¨ ...........................................................................................................
16.- The Holy Grail
After having read about the search for the Holy Grail, we know many expressions which are related to the fact of looking for something which seems impossible. There is one more which could be added to the list. The words which form it are below, but they have been shuffled. Order them.
the the is thought to wish father
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17.- They worked their fingers to the bone / Most of the historians point the finger at her
More expressions with the word finger appear below, but they have been mixed with their meanings. Do as in the example:
Example: to to have a be finger involved in in the one pie activity
to to have a be finger involved in in the one pie activity
The phrase is: to have a finger in the pie
The meaning is: to be involved in one activity
17.1.- to twist to someone get them round to do anything one’s one wants little them to finger do
17.2.- to have a to be finger involved in in many every activities at the pie same time
17.3.- one’s to be very fingers clumsy when you are trying to are do something with all your thumbs
hands
17.4.- to keep to hope that one’s everything will fingers happen as you crossed want it to
17.5.- to to wish them keep luck in one’s a difficulty fingers they crossed have to for someone go through
17.6.- to put to tell the the police that finger they have done on something against someone the law
17.7.- to get to suffer because one’s something you fingers did was burnt a mistake
17.8.- to have to be very green good at fingers gardening
17.9.- something you fail slips to get something through when it your has been fingers next to you
18.- Similar expressions
The following expressions have appeared in this chapter. We can put them in pairs so that there is a connection in meaning between both of them. Match one expression in the first group and one expression in the second.
1.- to disappear from the face of the earth a.- a pretty penny
2.- to take it in turns b.- to make both ends meet
3.- a king’s ransom c.- men of the same kidney
4.- to wrangle for an ass’s shadow d.- a tall story
5.- to tighten one’s belt e.- to vanish into thin air
6.- to be at death’s door f.- to make a mountain out of a molehill
7.- to breathe one’s last g.- to rise from the ashes
8.- to have an account to settle with someone h.- the ball is in someone’s court
9.- to get a second wind i.- to have one foot in the grave
10.- an old wives’ tale j.- to square accounts with someone
11.- birds of a feather k.- to kick the bucket
1- e
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2 -
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3 -
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4 -
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5 -
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6 -
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7 -
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8 -
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9 -
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10 -
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11 -
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19.- A blind leader of the blind / A man of straw / A paper tiger
King Aethelred has been described using a series of expressions which refer to a weak man who is not suitable for the job he is undertaking. One more could be added. It is in the box below. You need seven words which must be taken from it and ordered. There are two possibilities.
big round square in coin by of foot
with a hammer off pocket a nail
peg small hole huge out clock shoe
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............................................................................
20.- The end of the Anglo-Saxon period and the beginning of the Norman period
In this chapter we have seen how the feudal system started to be born. This system reached its peak, as we have read, during the Norman times. There is an expression which represents quite well the general idea of feudalism: the idea of giving something in return for another thing which is given to you by the other person. Try to find it by choosing one word or group of words from each column.
you
you can’t
where
you can’t
when
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teach
one door
scratch my
have
there’s
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back and
an old
your
a will
shuts
|
cake and
I’ll
another
dog new
there’s
|
tricks
eat it
a way
opens
scratch yours
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The expression we are looking for is: ________________________________________
The other expressions you get are: _________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
KEY TO THE EXERCISES
Chapter 4: Angleland,Saxonland, Juteland, Vikingland
1
1.1.- well-balanced; 1.2.- well-dressed; 1.3.- well-off; 1.4.- well-established; 1.5.- well-meant; 1.6.- well-born; 1.7.- well-behaved; 1.8.- well-bred; 1.9.- well-thought-of; 1.10.- well-kept; 1.11.- well-earned; 1.12.- well-built; 1.13.- well-connected; 1.14.- well-fed; 1.15.- well-preserved; 1.16.- well-learned; 1.17.- well-timed; 1.18.- well-versed; 1.19.- well-disposed; 1.20.- well-paid
2
2.1.- What are you looking at?; 2.2.- What are you fed up with?; 2.3.- Who are you getting married to?; 2.4.- What kind of trouble are you getting into? 2.5.- The house in which we live is quite old; 2.6.- I need an assistant with whom to work; 2.7.- By whom was penicillin discovered?; 2.8.- I wanted to know on whose side he was; 2.9.- I don’t remember on which shelf I left my book; 2.10.- That is the firm for which I worked in 1989
3 The correct answer is: d.
1-c; 2-a; 3-b
4
4.1.- son-in-law; 4.2.- forget-me-not; 4.3.- love-in-a-mist; 4.4.- lady-in-waiting; 4.5.- toad-in-the-hole; 4.6.- off-islander; 4.7.- passer-by; 4.8.- off-licence; 4.9.- drop-out; 4.10.- she-goat; 4.11.- hanger-on; 4.12.- looker-on; 4.13.- runner-up
5 a-5; b-7; c-2; d-8; e-6; f-1; g-4; h-3
6 ...flock together
7
7.1.- play; 7.2.- good; 7.3.- all; 7.4.- up; 7.5.- behind; 7.6.- other; 7.7.- ground; 7.8.- half
8 water under the bridge; to pour cold water on an idea; to keep one’s head above water; to get into hot water; to spend one’s money like water; to pour oil on troubled waters; still waters run deep
the five senses; a rule of three; five-o’clock shadow; a three-point turn; to be at sixes and sevens;
to look out for number one; to be on cloud nine; ten to one; to dress yourself up to the nines; the four corners of the earth; six of one and half a dozen of the other
10
10.1.- your own; 10.2.- in their; 10.3.- one foot in the; 10.4.- to an early; 10.5.- the cradle to
11
focus
locus
genus
arena
electron
album
criterion
crisis
axis
parenthesis
demon
stratum
|
focuses
X
X
arenas
electrons
albums
X
X
X
X
demons
X
|
foci
loci
genera
X
X
X
criteria
crises
axes
parentheses
X
strata
|
circus
thesis
stimulus
phenomenon
antenna
stadium
bacterium
index
era
larva
matrix
analysis
|
circuses
X
X
X
antennas
stadiums
X
indexes
eras
X
matrixes
X
|
X
theses
stimuli
phenomena
antennae
stadia
bacteria
indices
X
larvae
matrices
analyses
|
12
12.1.- fourth; 12.2.- second; 12.3.- first; 12.4.- First; 12.5.- second; 12.6.- second; 12.7.- third; 12.8.- fourth; 12.9.- fifth; 12.10.- seventh; 12.11.- first; 12.12.- third; 12.13.- sixth; 12.14.- second; 12.15.- second
13
13.1.- cat, mouse; 13.2.- cats, dogs; 13.3.- cat, dog; 13.4.- cock, bull; 13.5.- bird, worm;
13.6.-cat, mice; 13.7.- sheep, goats; 13.8.- fox, geese
14
14.1.- a red-haired girl; 14.2.- a long-legged woman; 14.3.- a blue-eyed baby; 14.4.- a one-armed man; 14.5.- a long-sleeved shirt; 14.6.- a flat-roofed house; 14.7.- a four-engined plane
15 to be not so black as one is painted; to have something in black and white; to be dressed in black; to beat someone black and blue; to be in someone’s black books
Ñ
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·
|
*
|
Ä
|
·
|
Ä
|
///
|
Ä
|
///
|
Ñ
|
///
|
*
|
·
|
Ñ
|
·
|
*
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Ä
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Ñ
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16 the wish is father to the thought
17
17.1.- to twist to someone get them round to do anything one’s one wants little them to finger do
17.2.- to have a to be finger involved in in many every activities at the pie same time
17.3.- one’s to be very fingers clumsy when you are trying to are do something with all your thumbs
hands
17.4.- to keep to hope that one’s everything will fingers happen as you crossed want it to
17.5.- to to wish them keep luck in one’s a difficulty fingers they crossed have to for someone go
through
17.6.- to put to tell the the police that finger they have done on something against someone the law
17.7.- to get to suffer because one’s something you fingers did was burnt a mistake
17.8.- to have to be very green good at fingers gardening
17.9.- something you fail slips to get something through when it your has been fingers next to you
18 1-e; 2-h; 3-a; 4-f; 5-b; 6-i; 7-k; 8-j; 9-g; 10-d; 11-c
20 The expression we are looking for is: you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
The other expressions are:
- you can’t have your cake and eat it
- when one door shuts another opens
- you can’t teach an old dog new tricks
- where there’s a will there’s a way
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