Using idioms with the word "CUT"

How well do you know the following idioms?

CUT IT CLOSE; CUT CORNERS; CUT OUT FOR; CUT OUT TO; MAKE THE CUT; 
CUT SOMEONE SOME SLACK; CUT IT OUT; CUT THE CRAP; NOT CUT IT

If you're familiar with all of them, then head over to our main blog for a quick exercise & check how well you can use these idioms in sentences.

If you're unsure about what some or all of them mean, read on for our quick lesson and look at the examples below first before heading to our main blog and trying the exercise.

-- CUTTING IT CLOSE means to almost be late for something or to not give yourself ample (enough) time before a scheduled event.

Give yourself ample time for your flight. You don't want to CUT IT TOO CLOSE and be stressed going through airport security. 

-- CUT CORNERS means to miss steps in a process.
His manager advised him not to CUT CORNERS in order to make a good impression with his colleagues.

Adriane's tips for improving your English

The latest teacher featured on our main blog is Adriane Lee, a senior ESL instructor and former coordinator at New York Language Center's Jackson Heights branch. Adriane has a long personal and professional background in dance performance and choreography, which she equates with TESOL. Read about Adriane's profile at our main blog.

Adriane motivates students to work on their English by encouraging them to do something fun, such as watching your favorite tv shows and movies and using these fun and relaxing activities to improve your skills in reading, listening, vocabulary, and pronunciation. She says you can accomplish this by repeating subtitles until you're comfortable saying the sentences, yourself. You can also press the mute button and voice the conversations on the screen. She also suggests recording yourselves using your phones for one minute and transcribing (writing down) what you've said so you can check for grammatical mistakes.

An exercise on WISHING correctly

How good are you at WISHING in English? Have you read our four-part lesson on how to wish correctly? If you need a refresher, go to PART 1 to review wishing in the present, PART 2 to read about wishing someone the best, PART 3 for wishing about the future, and PART 4 for wishing about the past, also known as regret or blame. Once you're ready, try the following exercise. (You'll find the answers below.) GOOD LUCK!

1. Sarah wishes she _________ a larger oven. (She doesn't have a larger oven.)
2. Tom wishes Sarah _________ at the party. (Sarah was not at the party.)
3. John wished they __________ tear down the old, historic building downtown. (They will tear it down soon.)
4. Tom decided to go to the party. Now, he wishes he ___________; he's bored.
5. The Smiths own a beautiful boat, but sometimes they wish they ________. Maintenance is so expensive & they hardly use it.
6. They wish the kids __________ the horror movie. Now, they can't sleep.
7. When the job gets too stressful, Peter wishes he __________ the manager. (But he is.)
8. He wishes Sally __________ to his party. She's not going because she has to work.
9. She wishes she ________ to set her alarm. (She forgot to do it.)
10. John wishes he _______ sick. He'd be more productive. (He's not feeling well.)

How did you do? Did you find the practice helpful? Share it with friends! You can use the buttons below; you can also share it on Facebook and on Twitter. Just tag your posts #ilovenylc. Thanks!

ANSWERS: 1. HAD   2. HAD BEEN   3. WOULDN'T   4. HADN'T GONE   5. DIDN'T   6. HADN'T SEEN/HADN'T WATCHED   7. WEREN'T   8. WERE GOING/WOULD GO   9. HADN'T FORGOTTEN   10. WEREN'T/DIDN'T FEEL

-- Joe Yu, ESL instructor