With

Nivedita

Example: “he was cracking nuts

with his teeth”

the softer, usu. edible part contained in the

shell of a nut or of a fruit.

the central or most important part of

anything; essence; core

reduced to or comprising only the basic or essential elements of something.

Example:

“a bare-bones version of the story”

“he told us only the bare bones of the story”

work very hard.

Example

"Auntie can work

her fingers to the

bone, but it's Miss

Green that gets

the thanks"

the most important aspects or practical

details of a subject or situation.

Example: "let's get down to the nitty-

gritty of finding a job“

synonyms: basics, essentials, essential part,

essence, main point, fundamental point,

fundamentals, heart of the matter, core,

nub, centre, quintessence, crux, gist, salient

point, focal point, nucleus, nuts and bolts

and the list goes on

the spongy white tissue lining the rind of

oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruits.

the essence of something.

Example: "the pith of the argument"

Verb use of pith: remove the pith from.

Example: "peel and pith the oranges“

the boring or laborious part of a job

Example: "supervisors who get a research

student to do the donkey work“

Synonyms:

Toil (exhausting physical labor) eg: "a life of

toil“

Slog (work hard over a period of time) eg:

"they were slogging away to meet a deadline"

SHORT LONG

Mat

Rid

Mad

Mate

Ride

Maid

if you earn the money that you use to live on

by the sweat of your brow, you earn it

yourself, by doing hard, often physical work.

Example: A Decent hard working man, he

supported his family by the sweat of his

brow.

Tom raised these vegetables by the sweat of

his brow.

Sally polished the car by the sweat

of her brow.

Toby: Are you going to the concert this Saturday?

Claire: No. I have to work Saturday night.

Toby: That's too bad - but maybe you can get off

a little early? It's usually pretty slow on the

weekends.

Claire: Because it's always so slow, Tim decided

to run a skeleton crew. There are only going to

be three of us here manning the phones.

Toby: That's too bad. Well, I'll take lots of

pictures for you.

Claire: Thanks.

Mary: Wow, the service at that restaurant was awful!

William: Well, they were running on a skeleton crew.

Mary: Really? How do you know?

William: When you were in the restroom, the waiter told me. Apparently, the manager fired a server everyone liked, so all of the servers went on strike. There was only one server for the whole restaurant tonight, and he had to act as bartender as well.

Mary: Then that explains why it seemed like he was always running around but everything came out so late.

William: Exactly. And that's why I left him a decent tip. I felt bad for him.

Sound f

Find, effort, golf,

chef.

ph

Phone, photo,

alphabet, graph.

-ough

Enough

Exception is dough

-augh

Laugh, laughter,

laughed

Exception are

daughter and

caught

Michael: Why is Oscar so upset?

Pam: You didn't hear? Everyone found out that his brother is in prison, and now he's really embarrassed.

Michael: Why? It's not like he's the one in jail.

Pam: True, but some people don't like others to know about their families' secrets. And no one likes having the skeletons in their closet revealed.

Michael: That's true. I would hate it if everyone was talking about some deep, dark secret in my family.

Adviser: So, Mrs. Smith, before you run for office, I

need to know. Do you have any skeletons in your

closet? Any affairs or other dirty little secrets?

Politician: Not that I can think of.

Adviser: You don't have any past criminal behavior -

any laws broken that might come out?

Politician: Like speeding tickets?

Adviser: No, no one cares about minor things like

that. I'm talking about major things like drinking and

driving, or a hit and run.

Politician: Nope, can't think of anything like that.

Adviser: Good. Now let's discuss marketing...

X He is a main

suspect.

X The police suspect

he is the criminal.

He is the main

suspect.

The police suspect

he is the criminal.

Context #1 – Two students are talking about the test tomorrow in class.

Jason: I stayed up all night studying for this test and I still don’t feel ready!

Celina: Really? I studied with my friends last night and I am not worried at all about this test. It’s in the bag.

Jason: I don’t know how you do it, Celina.

Celina: Well, I think it helps to study with a group of friends because then you can learn from each other. Why don’t you study with us before next week’s test?

Jason: I think I will. Hopefully, I’ll have next week’s test in the bag!

Context #2 – Two people are talking about a recent job interview

Jose: Hello, Theo. Why do you look so nervous?

Theo: Well, I just finished a job interview for a position that I have wanted for a long time. The pay is better and I can work flexible hours.

Jose: OK. Then why are you so nervous? It sounds like everything is good.

Theo: When I initially applied, I was such a good match for the position, I felt that I had the job in the bag. But after the job interview, I’m not so sure. They asked a lot of difficult questions and I don’t know if I answered everything completely.

Jose: Don’t worry so much about things, Theo! I’m sure you have the job in the bag. Just be patient.

Jeff: What a vacation! San Francisco was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Katie: I know. It’s nice to take a break from school and get out of town for a while.

Jeff: Yes, but now it’s back to school. I want to take the TOEFL test in January, so I really have to hit the books. I don’t think I have been studying enough.

Katie: Don’t worry! You still have time to study. However, I have to take the TOEFL next week, so I have been hitting the books for the past couple of months. No breaks for me until I take that test.

Jeff: Well, good luck!

Jonathan: Hi teacher. I’m here because I noticed that I’m failing this class and that I may not be able to go to the next level. Is there anything I can do?

Timothy: Well, the first thing you must do is hit the books, since we have tests in a couple of days. Then, you need to attend class every day and come on time.

Jonathan: I know. I’m really going to try to do better. I have just been a little lonely and homesick lately. I really miss my family back home.

Timothy: In addition to hitting the books, practicing and talking to people in English outside of class will help your studies and your loneliness. Maybe if you make more friends to talk to in English, you won’t be as homesick.

Jonathan: You are right. I feel lonely sometimes, so it would be good to make more friends and go out more often. Then, I could also learn more English. Thank you for the advice!