Unit 3 Around the House

Unit 3 Around the House

Keep house to do the needed chores around the house

             Related form: housekeeper (noun)

             USAGE NOTE: Housekeeper refers to a special person who is hired to keep house.

             ▪ In modern societies, husbands and wives share in keeping house.

             ▪ The Amantes hired the a housekeeper to do most of the household chores.

Clean up to arrange neatly, to put in order

             Also: pick up, tidy up, strighten up

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: These idioms are separable. They are used for the general cleaning of homes, rooms, closets, work areas, and so on.

             ▪ Mrs. Potter told her son to clean up his room before going outside.

             ▪ Didn’t I tell you to pick your things up right away?

             ▪ The Richards tidied up the house before their guests arrived.

             ▪ Look at the mess in your closet! Straighten it up right now.

Put back to return to the proper place

             Also: put away

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: These idioms are separable. They are usually used to refer to specific items in a house or room.

             ▪ You’re supposed to put the dictionary back on the shelf after you’ve used it.

             ▪ We put away the Christmas decorations until next year.

Fix the meal to prepare the meal

             Also: fix breakfast, fix lunch, fix supper, fix dinner

             ▪ Jack fixed the meal Saturday night because his wife was sick.

             ▪ Some busy people don’t have time to fix breakfast in the morning.

             ▪ We decided to go to a restaurant instead of fixing dinner.

Do the dishes wash the dishes

             ▪ Older children are often responsible for doing the dishes at night.

             ▪ The Nelsons decided to do the dishes in the morning because it was so late.

Take out to remove unwanted items from the home

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: This idiom is separable. It is often used with the objects garbahe and trash.

             ▪ Could you please take out the garbage for me?

             ▪ It’s time to take the trash out. It’s beginning to smell.

Odds and ends various tasks that need to be done

             ▪ This weekend I stayed home and did some odds and ends around the house.

             ▪ Mrs. Aston drove into town because she had a few odds and ends to do.

Garage sale a special sale held in front of a house for the purpose of selling household items that are no longer needed

             Also: yard sale

             ▪ I put an ad in the newspaper for the garage sale we’re having this weekend.

             ▪ Some people make money by going to yard sales, buying items cheaply, and then reselling them.

Clean out to clean by removing unnecessary items

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: This idiom is separable. It is often used when an enclosed place such as a garage or other storage area needs cleaning after a long period of time.

             ▪ The Wilsons cleaned out their garage to prepare for a yard sale.

             ▪ There are so many old things stored in our closets that we should clean them up soon.

Fix up to repair, to fix

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: This idiom is separable. It generally refers to making improvements in appearance.

             ▪ We needed to fix up the front of the house before my parents visited.

             ▪ The Garretts like to buy older homes, fix them up, and then sell them for a profit.