Unit 4 On the Job

Do for a living to be someone’s job

             GRAMMAR NOTE/USAGE NOTES: This idiom usually occurs in a direct or indirect question. It is used to ask someone you have met recently about his or her employment.

             ▪ If you don’t mind my asking, what do you do for a living?

             ▪ I didn’t ask him what he did for a living because I knew he was unemployed.

Make a living to be employed, to earn enough money to servive

             Also: earn a living

             USAGE NOTE: Adjectives such as decent and good can be used.

             ▪ My new next-door neighbor makes a living as a car mechanic.

             ▪ It’s difficult for single parents to earn a decent living.

White-collar having to do with an office environment

             Related idiom: blue-collar (having to do with a nonoffice work environment)

             USAGE NOTE: These adjective forms are used before nouns such as worker and job.

             ▪ White-collar workers generally earn more money than blue-collar workers.

             ▪ Blue-collar jobs such as police work and postal delivery are usually well paying.

Put in to spend time at work

             ▪ Some workers choose to put in ten hours a day in order to work only four days a week.

             ▪ Frieda had to put in a busy day at the office after she was sick at home for three days.

Clock in to begin work

             Opposite meaning: clock out

             USAGE NOTE: These idioms were first used for jobs where workers’ hours were checked with time cards and time clocks. They are still used to refer to the time when someone starts and stops work, even when there is no time clock.

             ▪ Factory workers are among those who still clock in at the beginning of a shift and clock out at the end.

             ▪ Even though I’m expected to clock in at 9:00 A.M, I generally get to work around 9:15.

Get off (work) to leave work at the end of the workday

             ▪ Deborah got off work early because she didn’t feel well.

             ▪ I’ll stop by the bank after I get off today.

Call it a day to stop working

             Also: call it a night, call it quits

             USAGE NOTE: These idioms can also be used for schoolwork or physical labor.

             ▪ Look, it’s already 4:30. Time to call it a day.

             ▪ After four hours of studying this evening, I called it a night.

             ▪ We’ve been working in the garden for six hours. It’s time to call it quits.

Close up (shop) to close a business at the end of a workday

             ▪ I rushed to the bank but I got there just as they were closing up.

             ▪ There weren’t many customers on the holiday evening, so Mr. Merkur closed up shop early.

Graveyard shift an eight-hour work period through the early morning hours

             ▪ Some factory workers work the graveyard shift, generally from midnight to 8:00 A.M.

             ▪ Patrica works the graveyard shift at the service station so that she can go to school during the day.

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.

Unit 2 In the Evening

Go out to leave home to do an activity (usually in the evening)

             ▪ Marco went out with his friends very often until he got married.

             ▪ Mr. and Mrs. Faulk go out for a walk almost every evening.

Stay out to remain away from home at night

             Opposite meaning: stay in (to stay at home)

             ▪ On New Year’s Eve many people stay out late at night.

             ▪ There was such a bad storm last night that we decided to stay in instead of going out.

Stay up to remain awake at night

             Related idiom: wait up

             USAGE NOTE: Wait up is often used when somone has to wait for another person, such as a child, to come home at night. Stay up can be used for this purpose, but it also has a more general meaning.

             ▪ Lisa was too tired to stay up for the late-night movie that she had planned to see.

             ▪ I can’t believe that my parents are going to wait up until I get home tonight.

Be tired out to be completely tired (usually at the end of the day)

             Also: be tuckered out

             USAGE NOTE: Be tuckered out is more informal than be tired out.

             ▪ I’m sorry that I’m too tired out to attend the lecture with you tonight.

             ▪ After a hard day’s work in the yard, Mr. Coulson said, “I’m tuckered out!”

Fall asleep to begin sleeping

             Also: drop off to sleep, doze off

             ▪ Terence fell asleep on the couch while watching a boring movie on TV.

             ▪ I like to read in the evening until I drop off to sleep around 10:00 P.M.

             ▪ One person in the theater audience started snoring after he dozed off.

Turn in to retire, to enter one’s bed

             Also: go to sleep, go to bed

             ▪ The Fares always turn in after watching the eleven o’clock news.

             ▪ When do you generally              go to sleep at night?

             ▪ Nancy was so tired that she couldn’t wait to go to bed.

Hit the sack to sleep

             Also: hit the hay, crash out

             USAGE NOTE: These idioms are more informal than turn in, go to sleep, and go to bed.

             ▪ I’m so tired that the only thing I want to do is take a shower and hit the sack.

             ▪ Arnold stumbled into the house at midnight and said, “Time to hit the hay!”

             ▪ Carla didn’t mind crashing out in her friend’s living room during her visit.

Bed down to prepare a temporary place to sleep

             USAGE NOTE: This idiom is usually used for sleeping outdoors in a temporary location.

             ▪ The hikers bedded down in a different place each night of their weeklong trip.

             ▪ The soldiers were told to bed down in the barn of an old farmhouse.

After hours after the normal, or permitted, time

             USAGE NOTE: After hours can be used as an adjecrive when it is hyphenated (-).

             ▪ Most large cities have a part of town where people can go after hours.

             ▪ The popular nightclub stayed open for a special after-hours party.