COLLOCATIONS, IDIOMS, PHRASAL VERBS
Write a short story about a relationship between two people that includes, at least, 8 of the following items of vocabulary.
immediate family: your closest relatives by birth, meaning only your parents, brothers, sisters and children.
He's only bringing his immediate family. His other relatives are staying in England.
a loved one: someone you love, esp. a family member or partner.
I enjoyed the trip, but I was happy to see my loved ones again.
extended family: a family group which consists of parents and children and other relatives living together or in close contact. The extended family is larger than the nuclear family.
He maintains contact with members of his extended family.
a close-knit family: a family that holds tightly together.
We are a very close-knit family and support each other through any crises.
a lone-parent family, one-parent family, single-parent family
the difficulties faced by one-parent families
a distant relative: a relative you share distant family ties with.
We've got some distant relatives in Scotland, but we don't even know their names.
a close / good friend (of mine / of yours / of ours...)
be best / bosom /ˈbʊzəm/ friends: be closest friends.
Robert and I were best friends in high school.
to have a lot in common: to share similar interests.
to see eye to eye: to agree with someone, or to have the same opinion as them.
an (old) acquaintance /əˈkweɪntəns/: someone you know a little, who is not a close friend.
a total / complete / perfect stranger
a broken home: a family in which the parents have separated or divorced.
Most street kids come from broken homes.
She came from a broken home, but she studied hard and became a doctor.
to bear a resemblance (to sb/sth): to look like, or be similar to, somebody or something.
She bears a striking resemblance to her grandmother.
a familiar face: someone you know personally.
I was glad to see a familiar face when I got to the party.
Sandra gets a bit nervous when she looks for familiar faces in a crowd, but can't find any.
to get to know: to get familiar with somebody after spending time with them.
He's a bit shy, but you'll like him when you get to know him.
It's too soon to think about marriage. We're still getting to know each other.
to make friends: to form new friendships.
Jenny finds it hard to make friends.
David's made friends with the kids next door.
to strike up a friendship, a relationship: to start being friends or begin a relationship with someone in an informal way.
to hit it off: to quickly become good friends with.
I didn’t really hit it off with his sister.
to go on a date: to go out with someone you're dating.
Would you like to go on a date with him?
He called me and we're going on a date next Saturday night.
to be in a relationship: to be romantically involved with someone.
a casual relationship: a relationship that isn't serious or long-term.
It's just a casual relationship, but we enjoy each other's company.
We thought we were in a casual relationship, but it soon became quite serious.
to fall (head over heels) in love: to suddenly feel love for someone you're attracted to.
Romeo and Juliet fell in love soon after they met.
After falling in love, they started meeting late at night.
to fall for sb: to be very attracted to someone and to start to love them.
He fell for Rosie when he was in hospital and she was his nurse.
I'm falling for the new man in my office, he's so handsome!
crush: a feeling of love and admiration for someone, often someone you know you cannot have a relationship with.
It wasn’t really love, just a schoolgirl crush.
to have a crush on someone
I used to have a massive crush on my geography teacher.
to love / to be love at first sight: to fall in love immediately you meet someone.
to get on like a house on fire: to like someone’s company very much indeed.
to get on (well) with: to understand someone and enjoy similar interests.
a healthy relationship: a good, positive relationship.
to look up to: to respect and admire someone.
She's always looked up to her mother. She wants to be just like her.
to pop the question: to ask someone to marry you.
to settle down: to give up the single life and start a family.
to tie the knot: to get married.
to marry
(1a) [transitive] if someone marries someone else, they are formally joined in marriage with that person
The day I married Sarah was the happiest day of my life.
(1b) to perform the ceremony in which two people are formally joined in marriage
The priest will only marry you if you are members of the church.
marry 2 [intransitive] if someone marries, they are formally joined in marriage with someone
When two people marry, they enter into a contract with each other.
get married: to marry somebody, or marry each other
Tom and Nicole are getting married next month.
Do you think gay couples should be allowed to get married if they want to?
Don’t use the preposition with after get married or be married. Use to (except if you want to mention the number of children somebody has: E.g. He is married with two children:
✗ A girl shouldn’t be forced to get married
✓ A girl shouldn’t be forced to get married to a man she doesn’t like.
✗ Getting married
✓ Getting married to somebody you have only just met can be dangerous.
The verb to marry takes a direct object. It means the same as get married to, but is more formal:
Charles Darwin married his cousin and such marriages were quite common at that time.
Don’t say marry
✗ Most people marry
✓ Most people marry a person they love.
to divorce: [intransitive/transitive] to take legal action to end your marriage.
She still refuses to divorce him.
Paula’s parents divorced when she was 14.
to separate, break up or split up: to end a romantic relationship. Two people agree to stop living together, but do not legally end their marriage.
Millie’s parents separated when she was three.
a long-lasting relationship: continuing for a long time.
one's private life: aspects of someone's life that aren't related to work or other public roles
His private life has nothing to do with his ability to do the job.
We print articles about the private lives of celebrities because our readers love them.
a serious relationship: a romantic relationship that you take seriously.
I don't think my daughter's ready for a serious relationship yet.
You can't say their relationship isn't serious just because they're teenagers.
unconditional love: love that isn't based on conditions or requirements.
Mum's love was unconditional, though we didn't always deserve it.
Diana says her cats give her unconditional love, but I think they just love her food.
unrequited love /ˌʌnrɪˈkwaɪtɪd/ : love you feel for someone who doesn't love you.
She knew her love was unrequited, but she still hoped he'd return her love one day.
Most people experience unrequited love at some time in their lives.
good company: [uncountable] if someone says you're good company, they enjoy spending time with you.
Joe and Susie are good company, so we always invite them to our parties.
Harry's such good company. Whenever I see him we have a great time.
to have ups and downs: to have good and bad times
We've had our ups and downs but things are going fairly well now.
to enjoy someone’s company: [uncountable] to like spending time with someone
I enjoy Jo's company (= I enjoy being with her).
She enjoys her own company (= being by herself) when she is travelling.
to work at a relationship: to try to maintain a positive relationship with someone
to put up with: to tolerate; to accept an unpleasant situation, although you do not like it.
I don't know how she puts up with him.
How has Jan put up with him for so long?
to part company: to end a relationship or partnership.
After being in a relationship for six months, we parted company and went our separate ways.
The band have parted company with their manager.
to fall out with: to have a disagreement and stop being friends
She fell out with her sister after her sister borrowed her camera then lost it.
to drift apart: to become less close to someone
to keep in touch with: to keep in contact with
to lose touch with: to not see or hear from someone any longer
guilty conscience: a feeling of shame or remorse after doing something wrong or bad
Everyone could see that he had a guilty conscience.
His guilty conscience made it hard for him to look his victims in the eye.
to hurt sb's feelings: to upset somebody by being insensitive to their feelings.
We'll hurt her feelings if we tell her she's got a terrible singing voice.
I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I was just trying to be honest.
to put down: to say bad things about someone; to insult. Humiliate.
It makes me angry when she puts me down in front of my friends.
to tell sb your innermost thoughts: tell sb about your most personal and private thoughts.
to make amends /əˈmendz/: to do something to show you're sorry for your bad behaviour in the past.
I tried to make amends by apologizing and returning all the money I'd stolen.
common ground: opinions, interests and aims that you share with somebody, although you may not agree with them about other things.
Despite our disagreements, we have been able to find some common ground.
We found ourselves on common ground on the question of education.
to find common ground between the two sides
to kiss and make up / make up (with sb): to forgive someone and be friends again.
They were very angry, but in the end they (kissed and) made up.
I'm sorry. Let's (kiss and ) make up.
mixed feelings or mixed emotions: different emotions, or conflicting impulses, felt at the same time.
I arrived at my wedding with mixed feelings; excited and scared at the same time.
My feelings about quitting are mixed. I love my job, but I really want to start my own business.
to owe an explanation: if you think someone owes you an explanation, you think they should explain why they did something that badly affected you.
Don't you think you owe us an explanation for what you did?
We think the company owes us a better explanation than "it was an error" for overcharging us!
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