IDIOMS/PHRASES
143. a white elephant,                    151. The prodigal son was left high     159. We wanted to give Rita a
       (1) a rare species of elephants          and dry by his friends, when             surprise party but John let the
       (2) an expensive gift                    he lost all his money.                   cat out of the bag.
       (3) a costly but useless posses-         (1) wounded                              (1) spoilt the party with a cat
           sion                                 (2) alone                                (2) gave her a party himself
       (4) a worthless thing                    (3) depressed                            (3) told her about it uninten-
                                                (4) neglected                                tionally
144. ins and outs
                                          152. The success of his first novel            (4) prevented her from attending it
       (1) entry and exit points
                                                completely turned his head.       160. Why should you read between
       (2) full details
                                                (1) made him vain                        the lines whenever I say this to
       (3) tactical moves                                                                you?
       (4) complexity of character              (2) made him look back
                                                (3) changed him completely               (1) read the lines with great
145. All his ventures went to the                                                            speed
       winds.                                   (4) made him think
                                                                                         (2) interpret the lines wrongly
       (1) dissipated                     153. She turns up her nose at this             (3) find more meaning than the
       (2) spread all over                      kind of dress.                               words appear to express
       (3) got speed of the winds.              (1) despises
                                                                                         (4) read a text line-by-line slowly
       (4) became well-known                    (2) loves
                                                                                  161. The Earl of Leicester threw
                                                (3) sees no harm in                      down the glove.
     Directions (146 – 155) : In the
following questions, four alternatives          (4) can just tolerate                    (1) accepted defeat
are given for the Idiom/Phrase in bold    154. At last the rioters fell back.            (2) rejected the prize
in the sentence. Choose the alternative         (1) fell on the ground                   (3) resorted to wrong tactics
which best expresses the meaning of             (2) yielded                              (4) gave a challenge
the Idiom/Phrase.                               (3) ran back                      162. Ravi fought to the bitter end.
        (SSC Tax Assistant (Income Tax &        (4) turned back                          (1) fought to the last point of
        Central Excise) Exam. 14.12.2008) 155. The Madagascar Coup attempt                   enemy’s position
146. Don’t worry about the silly row.           ended in a fiasco.                       (2) died fighting
       It was just a storm in a tea cup.        (1) had no effect                        (3) carried on a contest regardless
       (1) important matter dealt with          (2) was an utter failure                     of the consequences
           ease                                 (3) resulted in blood-shed               (4) fought a losing battle
       (2) hot tea being served                 (4) was a disaster                163. I joined college late and found it
       (3) commotion over a trivial            Directions (156-165) : In the             difficult to catch up with other
           matter                         following questions, four alternatives         students.
                                          are given Idiom/Phrase in bold.                (1) to compete with
       (4) confusion and chaos
                                          Choose the alternative which best              (2) to come to their level
147. The Rajput warriors set their                                                       (3) to overtake them
                                          expresses the meaning of the given
       face against the invader.
                                          Idiom/Phrase.                                  (4) to hold them and stop
       (1) became enemies                        (SSC Tax Assistant (Income Tax & 164. They have made many changes
       (2) turned away from                     Central Excise) Exam. 29.03.2009)        in the policy, but how many of
       (3) faced difficulty               156. His parents cut h im o ff,                these changes are going to affect
       (4) opposed strongly                     without a shilling.                      the man in the street?
148. Syria is now currying favour               (1) disinherited him                     (1) the homeless man
       with America.                            (2) snubbed him                          (2) the ordinary man
       (1) pleasing                             (3) gave him only a shilling             (3) the man who works on the
       (2) favouring                            (4) sent him away with a shilling            street
       (3) obliging                       157. The carefully worked–out plan             (4) the man who repairs roads
       (4) ingratiating itself with             fell through because of an        165. The students wanted a holiday,
                                                unexpected event.                        but the Principal put his foot
149. Our Principal is not a man to
                                                (1) came out successfully                down and said, ‘No’.
       mince matters.
                                                (2) had a steep fall                     (1) asserted his authority
       (1) to confuse issues                                                             (2) kicked them
       (2) to say something mildly              (3) was shattered
                                                                                         (3) stepped out
       (3) to mix everything together           (4) failed
                                                                                         (4) came downstairs
       (4) to be very modest              158. He has too many irons in the
                                                fire.                                  Directions (166-170) : In the
150. We tend to take for granted the                                              following questions four alternatives
                                                (1) is engaged in too many
       conveniences of modern life.                                               are given for the Idiom/Phrase in bold
                                                    enterprises at the same time
       (1) to consider                                                            in the sentence. Choose the alternative
                                                (2) has several problems          which best expresses the meaning of
       (2) to admit
                                                (3) has many ideas in his head    the Idiom/Phrase.
       (3) to accept readily                    (4) has a fire burning constantly               (SSC SAS Exam. 26.06.2010
       (4) to care for                              in his house                                                    (Paper-I)
                                                          SEE–715