CBSE Class 10 English Idioms and Phrases Worksheet

Question. Add insult to injury ?
a) Make a bad situation even worse
b) Play a prank on someone
c) Say words that are very offensive
d) Hurt someone physically

Answer : A

Question. In the blink of an eye ?
a) Something that is not real
b) Within a very short period of time
c) Within a very long period of time
d) Something that is unavoidable

Answer : B

Question. Like talking to a brick wall ?
a) Frightened
b) Inattentive
c) Curious
d) Fascinated

Answer : B

Question. Have you heard the news that Hema is looking for greener pastures ?
a) has been transferred
b) was feeling rejected
c) exploring new opportunities
d) has been fired

Answer : C

Question. Actions speak louder than words ?
a) do something without planning
b) look for solutions in the wrong place
c) what you do is more important than what you say
d) take up a task that you cannot finish

Answer : C

Question. Now that Mr. Krishna Murthy has retired from the company, his daughter is ______. ?
a) In the doghouse
b) In the driver’s seat
c) In the lap of luxury
d) In the pink

Answer : B

Question. Keep up appearances ?
a) To waste a lot of money on mindless shopping and not bother about the consequences
b) To deliberately appear shabby and not care to impress people
c) To pretend to be happier or richer so as to conceal the real situation
d) To spend a lot of time on appearances to lead the fashion world

Answer : C

Question. If we lay our heads together, we will surely find a solution. ?
a) If we lay our heads together, we will surely find a solution. ?
b) work in isolation
c) rest for a while
d) work in consultation

Answer : D

Question. Not mince (your) words ?
a) Say words that are confusing
b) Eat a lot clumsily
c) State your opinion clearly
d) Not to have clarity

Answer : C

Question. Touch and go ?
a) Unchanging
b) Unimportant
c) Undoubted
d) Uncertain

Answer : D

Question. Hang one’s head ?
a) To be proud
b) To be ashamed
c) To punish
d) To be greedy

Answer : B

Question. The sword of Damocles ?
a) an impending threat
b) an authentic sword
c) a poignant weapon
d) a rare artifact

Answer : A

Question. There was no one in the team who could bell the cat and tell t he producer the truth. ?
a) tame some animals
b) warn the owners
c) do the impossible task
d) ring the bells regularly

Answer : C

Question. Caught red-handed ?
a) To try to arrest someone without any evidence
b) To catch a thief who steals red paints
c) to catch someone doing something illegal
d) to discover a murderer using the clues

Answer : C

Question. Sitting on a gold mine ?
a) wasting a vast treasure
b) secretly hunting for something precious
c) to own something potentially valuable
d) not availing of an opportunity

Answer : C

Question. We enjoyed watching the film because it was a down–to-earth depiction of modern life. ?
a) short and meaningful
b) pleasing and entertaining
c) practical and direct
d) fanciful and dreamlike

Answer : C

Question. The man heaved a sigh of relief when he was sure he was out of the woods. ?
a) Discharged from hospital
b) Released from prison
c) Out of danger
d) Out of the forest

Answer : C

Question. Rule the roost ?
a) To frequently pick a quarrel
b) To blindly follow others
c) To make all the decisions
d) To be prosperous but generous

Answer : C

Question. Information and technology has developed by leaps and bounds. ?
a) in far off places
b) through unfair means
c) at a rapid pace
d) very gradually

Answer : C

Question. Take something with a pinch of salt ?
a) To consider everyone a liar
b) To think of oneself as always right
c) To believe only part of something
d) To take long to understand what is being said

Answer : C

Question. Handle with kid gloves ?
a) to treat someone with extreme care
b) to accomplish something too ambitious
c) to show someone your creativity
d) to remove all hurdles to start something

Answer : B

Question. Bite off more than one can chew ?
a) To taste something while cooking
b) To cheat someone and get away
c) To eat quickly and run away
d) To take on more than one can deal with

Answer : D

Question. Work against the clock ?
a) Work late in the night
b) Work against all problems
c) Work with concentration
d) Work in great hurry

Answer : D

Question. Neither fish nor fowl ?
a) Something which can neither be supplied easily nor be made available readily
b) Something which can neither be purchased nor be grown
c) Something which can neither be purchased nor be grown
d) Something which can neither be categorized easily nor be accepted befittingly

Answer : D

Question. On the double ?
a) on the verge of collapse
b) between two undesirable things
c) at a fast pace
d) out of order

Answer : C

Question. Lock, stock and barrel ?
a) immediately
b) partly
c) rarely
d) completely

Answer : D

Question. Once bitten, twice shy ?
a) Someone who doesn't learn from his previous experiences
b) An unpleasant experience induces caution
c) Someone who is afraid of taking challenges
d) to keep something precious safely

Answer : B

Question. Please come to the point, don't beat around the bush. ?
a) Avoid the topic
b) Hide behind a bush
c) Make excuses
d) Accept defeat

Answer : A

Question. Off the cuff ?
a) To be lazy
b) To be in a hurry
c) Without preparation
d) Without any loss

Answer : C

Question. The idea of making a children's park has been nipped in the bud by the local council. ?
a) Encouraged strongly
b) Changed completely
c) Dropped at an early stage
d) Included somewhere else

Answer : C

Question. Sell like hot cakes ?
a) To face hardship
b) To sell quickly
c) To agree fully
d) To deal with a problem

Answer : B

Question. To be tight-lipped ?
a) To keep record
b) To keep quiet
c) To keep a fast
d) To keep up the spirit

Answer : B

Question. Apples and oranges ?
a) Fresh things
b) Same things
c) Nutritious things
d) Different things

Answer : D

Idioms and Phrases for Class 10 English

Some Commonly Used Idioms

• To eat humble pie (to have to humiliate oneself) : Since none came to his support he had to eat humble pie and give in to their demands.
• To eat one’s words (to retract one’s assertions under compulsion) : It is hard for a haughty man to have to eat his words.
• To throw down the gauntlet, to take up the gauntlet (to offer or give a challenge, to accept a challenge) : It is not for a small country to throw down the gauntlet to the right and the left.
• To run the gauntlet (to undergo severe criticism or ill treatment) : Most trend-setting books have to run the gauntlet of the literary critics.
• To burn one’s fingers (to get oneself into unexpected trouble) : They were happily placed in the woollen industry. But they went in for cosmetics and burnt their fingers.
• To force one’s hands (to compel one to do something unwillingly or earlier than he wished to do it) : The Government wanted to do all that they could to meet the workers’ demands. But the violence by the strikers forced their hands to declare a lockout.
• To haul over the coals (to scold a man, reprove him) : If your bad habits become known, you will get hauled over the coals and richly deserve it.
• To let the grass grow under your feet (to be inert and passive to things around) : The authorities should listen to students’ grievances. By being indifferent they would only let the grass grow under their feet till it will be too late to turn these young people away from the path of violence.
• To put in a nutshell (this is said of a thing which is capable of, or presented in, brief expression) : His conduct is weird. To put in a nutshell he is insane. The explanation of his conduct can be put in a nutshell - he is insane.
• To let loose the dogs of war (to set in motion the destructive forces of war) : Pakistan has let loose the dogs of war in Kashmir, through organised terrorism.
• To lord it over someone (to domineer over someone, to act as a lord) : The love of power is so strong in human nature, that when a man becomes popular he seeks to lord it over his fellows.
• To mind one’s Ps and Qs (to be punctilious) : The manager suspects his chief clerk of dishonesty, and if the clerk does not mind his Ps and Qs, he will soon find himself without a job.
• To muster in force (to assemble in large numbers) : The citizens mustered in force to welcome their beloved leader.
• To pay one back in one’s own coin (to give tit for tat, to retaliate) : Howsoever revengeful you may be, unless you are strong enough you cannot pay him back in his own coin.
• To plough a lonely furrow (to work without help or support) : In the organised society of today no individual or nation can plough a lonely furrow.
• To poison the ears or mind (to prejudice another person) : A judge must not allow anyone to poison his mind against either the plaintiff or the defendant.
• To rest on one’s laurels (to rest satisfied with honours already won, and to make no attempt to gain further distinction) : Even if he wins the biggest award, a film star will never rest on his laurels. He will try to rise higher and higher.
• To rest on one’s oars (to suspend efforts after something has been attained) : The agitators have been vigorously at work during the winter, but at present they seem to be resting on their oars.
• To harp on the same string (to keep repeating the same sentiment over and again) : This gentleman keeps harping on the same string: he is from Oxford and deserves this and deserves that etc.
• To rise like a phoenix from its ashes (the phoenix was a fabulous Arabian bird. It had no mate but when about to die, made a funeral pile of wood and aromatic gums and on it burned itself to ashes. From the ashes a young phoenix was believed to rise) : Germany was completely decimated in the Second World War. But she has risen like a phoenix from its ashes.
• To rule the roast or roost (to lord it over others in a party or group) : In almost every party there is some overbearing person who tries to rule the roost.
• To run in the same groove (to move forward on the same path, to advance in harmony) : It is clear that the ideas of both reformers run in the same groove.
• To run in the blood (a peculiarity which clings to certain families) : Snobbery runs in the blood of the Englishmen.
• To scatter to the winds (to waste, to scatter abroad) : We have scattered to the winds what we had gained by our independence.
• To be on the right scent (to be on the right track) : The customs have decided to patrol the Kerala seas to nab smugglers from Dubai. They are on the right scent (Its opposite is to be on the wrong scent or wrong track)

Idioms and Phrases for Class 10 English Exam

1 Open the floodgates
Meaning: Release something that was previously under control
Example: Economists fear that relaxing price control will open the floodgates to inflation.

2. Out of the blue
Meaning: Happen unexpectedly
Example: She had given up all hope when out of the blue she got a call from Harvard.

3. Out on a limb
Meaning: Do something risky or something that others do not support (leaving the doer in a difficult situation)
Example: She was out on a limb with her project – nobody supported her idea.

4. Work your fingers to the bone
Meaning: Extreme hard work
Example: She totally deserves the success; she worked her fingers to the bone when she started out as a model.

5. Worm’s eye view
Meaning: A perspective seen from below or from a low or inferior position
Example: The trainees get only a worm’s eye view of the corporate structure.

6. Worth one’s salt
Meaning: Good or competent at the job or profession specified
Example: She deserves respect as she is totally worth her salt.

7. Over the top
Meaning: Totally excessive and not suitable for the occasion.
Example: Her sari was way over the top for a sombre occasion like this.

8. Cut the mustard
Meaning: Perform satisfactorily; to succeed.
Example: We need a better catcher; this one just doesn’t cut the mustard.

9. Hit the nail on the head
Meaning: To do or say exactly the right thing.
Example: You’ve spotted the flaw, Robert. You’ve hit the nail on the head.

10. Hit the sack/sheets/hay
Meaning: To go to bed.
Example: I’m exhausted. I think I’ll just hit the sack.

11. Not a spark of decency
Meaning: A person who has no manners
Example: Her brother has not a spark of decency. I don’t like the way he acts in public.

12. Off the record
Meaning: Not made as an official or attributable statement; unofficial; confidential
Example: He accepted his fault off the record and hence it could not be used by the prosecutor in the court.

13. In the heat of the moment
Meaning: Overwhelmed by what’s happening at the moment.
Example: He doesn’t hate you. He just said that in the heat of the moment.

14. Devil’s advocate
Meaning: To present a counter argument
Example: The teacher always played devil’s advocate to provoke discussion in the classroom.

15. Don’t count your chickens before the eggs have hatched.
Meaning: Don’t make plans for something that might not happen.
Example: You might not win the prize and you’ve already spent the money? Don’t count your chickens before the eggs have hatched.