Idioms and Other Expressions Used For Talking About ‘Work’

Exercise 1: Choose the best definition, (a) or (b), to explain the idiom or other expression in bold in these sentences.

1. Sue has always been a high-flier.
(a) Someone who has achieved a lot and is determined to continue being successful.
(b) Someone in a company who thinks they are more important than other people.

2. I hate carrying the can for people in my department.
(a) Taking instructions from people and doing what they tell you to do.
(b) Being the person who is considered responsible for something that has gone wrong.

3. My boss is such a slave driver!
(a) Someone who never has his / her own ideas, and so steals other people’s.
(b) Someone who makes his / her employees work very hard for long hours.

4. This job can be difficult at times, but just go with the flow.
(a) Work as hard as you can for as long as you can.
(b) Do what seems like the easiest thing in a particular situation.

5. You want 2000 items delivered by Monday? That’s a tall order/.
(a) Something very difficult that someone expects you to do.
(b) Something which happens very suddenly, especially when you don’t expect it.

6. This company has a long history of employing movers and shakers.
(a) People who are powerful or have a lot of influence.
(b) People who work for a company for a very short time, then leave.

7. You’ve got a choice: you can shape up or ship out!
(a) Do a simple job and receive low pay, or do a more difficult job and get more pay.
(b) Improve your work and behaviour, or leave the company.

8. Friday is dress down day in our department.
(a) A day when employees wear what they like to work.
(b) A day when each employee’s work and performance during the week is assessed by his / her
boss.

9. Our boss always gives us a lot of ear candy, although we would rather have a pay rise instead.
(a) Kind words that praise and encourage an employee.
(b) Small gifts, such as chocolate, cinema tickets, bottles of wine, etc.

10. It’s time we cut out the dead wood in this company.
(a) Dismiss the employees who do not work very well or efficiently.
(b) Reduce the number of unnecessary meetings and discussions.

11. He’s an industrious member of staff, but his work really isn’t up to the mark.
(a) Good enough.
(b) Fast enough.

12. Our line manager is always picking holes in my work.
(a) Giving someone more work than they can do in the time allowed.
(b) Finding faults or mistakes with someone’s work.

13. This newspaper survey says that most people who call in sick on Monday are pulling a fast one.
(a) Working too hard the rest of the week, and not relaxing enough during their free time.
(b) Pretending something that is not true in order to trick someone.

14. My boss is always laying down the law.
(a) Breaking the rules in order to get what you want.
(b) Telling people what to do or how to behave.

15. Your request for a pay rise is out of the question.
(a) Not possible.
(b) Being considered by the people responsible for giving pay rises.

Correct Answers:

1. (a)
2. (b)
3. (b)
4. (b)
5. (a)
6. (a)
7. (b)
8. (a) (from the phrasal verb to dress down: to wear informal clothes)
9. (a)
10. (a)
11. (a)
12. (b)
13. (b)
14. (b)
15. (a)

Exercise 2: Choose the correct idiomatic word or expression for each of these sentences.

1. A job that offers no prospect of promotion is sometimes known as a / an____________
(a) hatchet job (b) dead-end job (c) inside job (d) nose job

2. Boring and detailed work, such as examining documents for mistakes, can be described as__________
(a) hammer and chisel work (b) nut and bolt work (c) bucket and spade work (d) pick and shovel work

3. We sometimes say that people who compete for success in business or in a career are working for the_________
(a) horse race (b) dog race (c) rat race (d) camel race

4. We might refer to a bad employer with a reputation for losing talented staff as a________
(a) people churner (b) people mixer (c) people stirrer (d) people beater

5. If you do a lot of different types of work in an office for very low pay, you could be referred to as a___________
(a) catsbody (b) pigsbody (c) ratsbody (d) dogsbody

6. When an employee telephones to say that s/he is not coming to work because s/he is ill, but in fact is only pretending to be ill, we say that s/he is throwing__________
(a) a sickie (b) the book at someone (c) a wobbly (d) a punch

7. If an employee gets very angry at work because of something bad or unpleasant that happens, we can say that they are experiencing__________
(a) office anger (b) work rage (c) shopfloor strops (d) workplace wobblies

8. Work that offers the same money for less effort than another similar job is often known as_____
(a) a cushy number (b) a doddle (c) a pushover (d) child’s play

9. When somebody is dismissed from their job, we can say that they have_______
(a) got the shoe (b) got the sandal (c) got the boot (d) got the slipper

10. Someone who receives very little money for their job can be said to make, earn or receive_________
(a) water (b) stones (c) sweets (d) peanuts

11. Someone who works extremely hard for a long time might complain that they are working their_______
(a) nose to the grindstone (b) fingers to the bone (c) ear to the ground (d) back to the wall

12. An employee who works very hard in a determined way can be said to________
(a) chisel away (b) cut away (c) beaver away (d) hammer away

13. Some people have a second job in addition to their main job, which they might want to keep secret from their employer. This is called___________
(a) sunlighting (b) starlighting (c) lamplighting (d) moonlighting

14. A lazy employee who only pretends to work is said to be__________
(a) swinging a cat (b) swinging both ways (c) swinging the lead (d) swinging the balance

15. Someone who is out of work and claiming money from the government can be said to be_________
(a) on the dole (b) on the pull (c) on the razzle (d) on the level

Correct Answers:

1. (b)
2. (d)
3. (c)
4. (a)
5. (d) (The other options are not real English words)
6. (a)
7. (b)*
8. (a)
9. (c)
10. (d)
11. (b)
12. (c) (You usually beaver away at a particular task: “She’s beavering away at her expenses”)
13. (d) (The other options are not real English words)
14. (c) (We could describe someone who swings the lead a lot as being work-shy)
15. (a) (If they are claiming money illegally – for example, if they have a job and are still on the dole – we could say that they are on the fiddle)

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