Essential vocabulary. Phrases and word combinations

Phrases and Word Combinations

SPEECH PATTERNS

Commentary

1. The Fabian Society — a British organisation of left wing thinkers which was a founder or the Labour Party and used to have an important influence on it.

2. Oliver Sir Lawrence, also Larry (1907-1989). English actor thought of by many people as the greatest of the 20th century. He was the first director of the National Theatre and the first actor to be made a life peer. Most people know his films of Shakespeare's plays Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III.

3. Old Vic — a London theatre originally opened in 1818, the full name of which is the Royal Victoria Theatre.

4. Apartheid in South Africa.

The system established by the Government of keeping dif­ferent races separate so as to give advantage to white people. The South African government is now removing the apartheid laws and ending the system.

1. I learned much from those visits, restricted though they were.

Hard working though he was, there was never enough money to pay the bills.

Strange though it may seem I am a great admirer of the great film-makers of those days.

2. The Moscow Arts Theatre performed Chekhov as sad comedy rather than as tragedy with humour. Astrov was presened as a young prophet rather than as the cynic of Olivier's interpretation at the Old Vic.

3. The ballet... called on her to act rather than to dance.

These short visits are more likely to mislead rather than to educate.

to cany the seeds of to be all the rage

destruction to sweep (the country, the

to reinforce the hostilily place) like a hurricane

to be restored to glory to be in key positions

to see smb at smb's best to be beyond price

to give smb a headache an ally against smb

in the early years after the War signs of the cultural thaw

1. include vt to bring in, to regard as part of the whole, e. g. This atlas contains fifty maps, including six of North Amer­ica. The price is ten dollars, postage included.

Ant. exclude (from) 1) to prevent smb from getting in some­where, as to exclude a person from membership of a society, immigrants from a country. 2) to prevent the chance of smth arising, as to exclude all possibility of doubt

inclusion n including or being included, e. g. The inclusion of several new themes made the novel much more interesting.

inclusive a including, e. g. Russian students' winter holi­days lasHrom January 25 to February 6 inclusive.

Ant. exclusive (of people, societies, clubs, etc.), e. g. The ex­clusive right of a company to print, publish and sell an author's books is known as copyright.

2. account vt/i 1) for a) to explain the cause of; serve as an explanation of, answer (to smb for smth), e. g. He has been asked to account for his conduct. Ah, that accounts for it! There's no accounting for tastes, b) to give a reckoning of (money that has been entrusted to one), e. g. The boy has to account to his parents for the money they give him for school expenses. 2) to consider, as to account smb wise (a hero), e. g. In English law a man is accounted innocent until he is proved guilty.

account n 1) a statement of money (to be) paid or received for goods or services, e. g. I.would like to open an account with your bank. Put the goods down to my account 2) a credit arrange­ment with a bank or business firm.

to square (balance) accounts with smb (fig.) to remove moral grievances between people by giving or taking punish­ment, e. g. Let us square accounts. David said he was going to square accounts with the man who had given false testimony against him.

3) a report, description, narrative, e. g. By all accounts the trip has been a success. He doesn't believe newspaper ac­counts of the new developments there. 4) consideration

to take smth into account, to take no account of smth, e. g. Please take into account the fact that he has very little money. Take no account of such slanderous gossip, we know it's not true.

5) reason, cause

on account of because of, e. g. On account of his age he wasn't allowed into the pub.

on no account, not on any account in no case, for no reason, e. g. Don't on any account leave the baby alone in the house.

accountant n

Syn. book-keeper

3. preserve vt I) to keep from spoiling, from decay, from risk of going bad (by boiling, pickling, making into jam, etc.) as to preserve fruit, eggs, milk, vegetables, e g. It's easy to pre­serve vegetables in vinegar.

to preserve monuments to keep from harm, e. g. The ancient monument was preserved by the local people.

2) to keep up, as to preserve peace, to preserve one's eye­sight, to preserve the memory of another, to preserve one's looks, strength, composure, to preserve appearances, silence, to preserve old customs, a well-preserved old man, e. g. Don't

read in poor light if you want to preserve your good eyesight. The leader's main aim was to preserve peace.

4. erratic a irregular in behaviour or opinion (of a person or his behaviour); likely to do unusual or unexpected things, e. g. She's so erratic I never know how she's going to react to my suggestions.

error n smth done wrong, a mistake, as spelling errors; an error of judgement, e. g. Not to commit an error of judge­ment he looked for more evidence.

err vi (formal) to make mistakes; to do or to be wrong, e. g. To err is human.

5. make vt/i 1) (used with a large number of nouns in special senses) to make a clean breast of; to make a full disclo­sure or confession, e. g. Susan is going to make a clean breast of her extravagance as soon as her husband gets home.

to make ends meet to live within one's income, e. g. The Evans family found it very difficult to make ends meet after the birth of the new baby.

to make haste to hurry, e. g. Make haste or we shall miss the train. If you don't make haste, the stores will be closed, (the most frequent uses are in the present and the imperative)

to make head or tail (of smth) to understand, to make sense of it (colloq.), e. g. I have read the document through three times, but I cant make head or tail of it.

to make it to get to a destination or an appointment in time (si or eolloq,), e, g. I had hoped to get to the meeting, but I found at the last minute that I couldn't make it.

to make much of to make a great fuss of, e. g. The news­papers all made much of his achievement.

2) (used with adverbial particles and prepositions).

to make smth of smb (smth) to understand, interpret, e. g. What are we to make of his behaviour?

to make off to run away, to bolt, e. g. The thieves smashed the shop window and made off with a large amount of jewelry.

to make smth out 1) to write out, e. g. Make out a cheque for $ 10. 2) to manage to see, read, e. g. We made out a figure in the darkness. The outline of the house could just be made out. 3) to understand, e. g. I can't make out what he wants. She's a strange sort of person; I can't make her put.

to make up 1) to compose; invent, e. g. The teacher asked the children to make up a poem about their summer holidays.

2) to use cosmetics (in ordinary life and on the stage), e. g. At one time it was not considered good taste for women to make up. 3) to become reconciled after a quarrel, e. g. When a quarrel has been made up, the best thing to do is to forget it.

to make it up to smb to compensate smb for smth missed or suffered, or for money, etc. spent, e. g. Thanks for buying my ticket, I'll make it up to you later.

6. pure a 1) unmixed with any other substance, as pure water, milk, gold, wool, e. g. My granny uses only pure wool when knitting cardigans for little children. 2) morally clean, without evil or sin, e. g. The new ruler of Wales was to be pure and honest, speak no English and to have been born on pie Welsh soil. 3) mere; nothing but, as pure mischief; a pure waste of time; laziness pure and simple, e. g. I call it pure stupidity to go out in the cold without a hat. What he said was the truth pure and simple.

purely adv entirely; merely, e. g. It's purely a matter of taste.

purity n the state or quality of being pure, e. g. The purity of the mountain air will do you a lot of good. The statue is a work of remarkable purity of line.

purist n a person who pays great attention to the correct use of words, language, etc.,

e. g. A purist of the English language would never use any Americanisms.

7. consent vi to give agreement or permission, as to consent to smth, e. g. He consented to the proposal. Anne's father would not consent to her marrying the old man.

consent n permission, agreement, e. g. He was chosen leader by general consent. Silence gives consent.

consensus n general agreement (of opinion, etc.), e. g. Con­sensus politics is the practice of basing policies on what will gain wide support. By consensus of opinion the group decided not to visit the museum.

8. ware n 1) (in compounds) manufactured goods, as silver­ware, hardware, ironware, stoneware, e. g. Every morning the maid cleaned the silverware. 2) (pl) articles offered for sale, e. g. The master displayed his wares.

hardware n 1) tools and household implements, e. g. You can buy most kitchen utensils in the hardware store. 2) military hardware: weapons, machinery, armoured vehicles; 3) computer hardware: mechanical equipment and electronic parts of a com-

puter (contrasted with information and programmes called "soft­ware"), e. g. The computer hardware was still intact but the software had been damaged by the electricity failure.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27