I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a better/greater/deeper understanding
▪
All of this will lead to a better understanding of the overseas market.
a bit better/older/easier etc
▪
I feel a bit better now.
a clear/good picture
▪
He still didn’t have a clear picture of what had happened.
a freight/goods train
▪
a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals
a good atmosphere
▪
The club has a good atmosphere.
a good base
▪
This data provided a good base for further research.
a good basis
▪
Love and trust form a good basis for marriage.
a good businessman (= good at doing business )
▪
He had researched the costs, like any good businessman.
a good cause (= one that is worth supporting, for example a charity )
▪
The money we are raising is for a good cause.
a good chance (= when something is likely )
▪
I think there is a good chance that he will say yes.
a good citizen
▪
One of the aims of education is to produce good citizens.
a good compromise
▪
I hope we can reach a good compromise.
a good copy (= one that is very like the original )
▪
The painting is a good copy of the original.
a good crowd (= a big one )
▪
There was a good crowd on the first night of the show.
a good customer (= who buys a lot from you, or uses your service a lot )
▪
Good products attract good customers.
a good day (= in which things have happened in the way you want )
▪
Have you had a good day at work?
a good deal (= a good price, offer, or arrangement )
▪
You can buy two for £10, which sounds like a good deal.
a good decision
▪
It was a good decision to change the name of the product.
a good degree (= that you pass at a good level )
▪
Mature students are more likely to get a good degree.
a good driver
▪
He thinks he’s a very good driver.
a good eater (= someone who eats all the food on their plate )
▪
All her children were good eaters.
a good education
▪
All parents want a good education for their children.
a good excuse
▪
A sunny day is a good excuse to go to the beach.
a good grip (= a grip with which you can keep hold of something )
▪
The rocks were wet and slippery and it was difficult to get a good grip.
a good guess (= one that is likely to be right )
▪
I'm not sure how old she is, but I can make a good guess!
a good imagination
▪
She's a lively child, with a good imagination.
a good investment
▪
Property is usually a good investment.
a good kick (= a strong kick )
▪
The only way to make the drinks dispenser work is to give it a good kick.
a good laugh
▪
We all got a good laugh out of it later.
a good liar ( also an accomplished liar formal ) (= someone who tells believable lies )
▪
He's an accomplished liar who lies as easily as other men breathe.
a good meal (= a meal that is large enough and tastes good )
▪
We’ll get a good meal there.
a good mood
▪
He was in a good mood when he got home from work.
a good name
▪
The company wants to maintain its good name.
a good night’s sleep (= when you sleep well )
▪
I woke up refreshed after a good night’s sleep.
a good number (= quite a lot )
▪
He has written a good number of books for children.
a good part
▪
Every time we do a play, the boys get all the good parts.
a good partnership
▪
It’s a good partnership and we think it’s going to get better.
a good point
▪
I think that’s a very good point.
a good portion (= large )
▪
She spends a good portion of her paycheck on clothes and entertainment.
a good price (= quite high )
▪
Did you get a good price for your car?
a good profit
▪
There is a good profit to be made in selling cars.
a good punch
▪
Tyson landed one good punch but it wasn’t enough.
a good question (= interesting or difficult to answer )
▪
That’s a good question.
a good reader
▪
He's not a good reader but he wants to try a new story.
a good reason
▪
There is usually a good reason why the price is so cheap.
a good rest (= a complete rest that relaxes you )
▪
I’m sure you need a good rest.
a good seat (= one from which you can see well )
▪
I managed to get a fairly good seat, near the front.
a good selection
▪
There is a good selection of bars and cafés nearby.
a good shot (= one that hits what you aim at )
▪
It was difficult to get a good shot in the dense forest.
a good solution
▪
A good solution is to harvest the crop early in September.
a good supply
▪
In hot countries, always carry a good supply of water.
a good talk (= a long talk about important or interesting things )
▪
She was upset, but we’ve had a good talk and things are okay now.
a good try
▪
‘Do you really think you can win?’ ‘I’m going to have a darn good try.’
a good understanding
▪
The sales force has a good understanding of the market.
a good upbringing
▪
However good their upbringing, young people may still behave badly.
a good view
▪
From here we get a good view of the fortress.
a good wash (= a thorough wash )
▪
Those jeans need a good wash .
a good way
▪
Parent and toddler groups are a good way to meet other mums.
a good/attractive alternative
▪
If you don’t want curtains, blinds are a good alternative.
a good/bad child
▪
Be a good child and sit down!
a good/bad etc kisser
a good/bad experience
▪
On the whole, going to boarding school was a good experience for him.
▪
I've had some bad experiences when I've been travelling on my own.
a good/bad habit
▪
Eating healthy food as snacks is a good habit to get into.
a good/bad idea
▪
Keeping the drinks cold in the bath was a good idea.
▪
Knocking down this wall was a really bad idea.
a good/bad spell
▪
The team had some good spells during the match.
a good/bad/ill omen
▪
The mist seemed like a bad omen and Sara’s heart sank a little.
a good/better option
▪
Renting a house may be a better option than buying.
a good/better option
▪
Renting a house may be a better option than buying.
a good/close friend (= one of the friends you like the most )
▪
She’s a good friend of mine.
a good/close/reasonable approximation
a good/decent living (= enough money )
▪
Her husband makes a good living.
a good/effective leader
▪
What characteristics make a good leader?
a good/encouraging response (= when people like something or show interest )
▪
We’ve had a good response from the public.
a good/excellent etc buy
▪
The wine is a good buy at $6.50.
▪
It’s worth shopping around for the best buy what you want at the lowest price .
a good/excellent suggestion
▪
I think that’s an excellent suggestion.
a good/excellent/interesting article
▪
There was an interesting article on Russia in the paper today.
a good/excellent/rich source (= a source that provides a lot of something )
▪
Milk is a good source of calcium.
a good/fair/nice size (= fairly big )
▪
The garden is a good size.
a good/fine/great actor
▪
He had a reputation as a fine actor.
a good/firm/thorough etc grasp of sth
▪
Steve has a good grasp of the European legal system.
a good/funny joke
▪
I heard a really good joke the other day.
a good/great sense of sth
▪
He is a popular boy with a good sense of humour.
a good/great start
▪
A 3-0 win is a good start for the team.
a good/great writer
▪
She was a very good writer.
▪
Dr Johnson was already a great writer at the age of thirty-five.
a good/great/wonderful etc feeling
▪
It's a great feeling when you try something new and it works.
a good/great/wonderful etc opportunity
▪
It's a great opportunity to try new things.
a good/healthy appetite
▪
Growing children should have a healthy appetite.
a good/healthy balance
▪
You should eat a good balance of carbohydrates and protein.
▪
Are you eating a healthy balance of foods?
a good/keen/acute sense of sth
▪
Pigs have a keen sense of smell.
a good/kind heart (= a kind character )
▪
My father had a good heart.
a good/nice Christmas
▪
Did you have a good Christmas?
a good/perfect/wonderful companion
▪
For older people a pet cat can be a very good companion.
a good/positive example
▪
The older boys should set a positive example for the rest of the school.
a good/positive image
▪
We want to give people a positive image of the town.
a good/positive impression
▪
He was keen to make a good impression on his boss.
a good/positive influence
▪
Television can have a positive influence on young people.
a good/positive/encouraging/hopeful sign
▪
If she can move her legs, that’s a good sign.
a good/proper breakfast (= big and healthy )
▪
I think kids need a good breakfast before they go to school.
a good/quick brain
▪
It was obvious that Ann had a good brain.
a good/satisfactory recovery
▪
He is making a good recovery from a knee injury.
a good/smart/wise move (= sensible )
▪
I’m not sure it was a good move giving him the job.
a good/strong melody
▪
It’s hard to find rules about what makes a good melody.
a good/strong team
▪
We have a very strong sales team.
a good/successful season
▪
The club has had another successful season.
a good/thorough/solid etc grounding
▪
The aim of the course is to give students a thorough grounding in English pronunciation.
a good/typical example
▪
This painting is a good example of his early work.
a good/useful/helpful/handy tip
▪
Go to their website to find useful tips on buying and selling a home.
a great many/a good many/very many (= a very large number )
▪
Most of the young men went off to the war, and a great many never came back.
▪
It all happened a good many years ago.
a little more/better/further etc
▪
We’ll have to wait a little longer to see what happens.
a nice/good guy
▪
People say he’s a nice guy.
a run of good/bad luck (= a series of good or bad things )
▪
The team has had a run of bad luck lately, losing their last five games.
a shade better/quicker/faster etc
▪
The results were a shade better than we expected.
a strong/good position (= a situation in which you have an advantage )
▪
A victory tonight will put them in a very strong position to win the cup.
a strong/good possibility (= something that is very likely )
▪
There is a strong possibility that the drug causes similar damage in humans.
a substantial/good discount (= a fairly big one )
▪
Insurance companies give substantial discounts to mature drivers.
acted in good faith
▪
The company had acted in good faith .
against your better judgment (= even though you think your action might be wrong )
▪
I lent him the money, against my better judgment.
are better left unsaid (= it is better not to mention them )
▪
Some things are better left unsaid .
artistic/nervous/good etc temperament
▪
Jill has such a lovely relaxed temperament.
at best...at worst
▪
Choosing the right software can be time-consuming at best and confusing or frustrating at worst .
be better off doing sth (= used to give advice or an opinion )
▪
He’d be better off starting with something simpler.
be good/bad for morale
▪
Well-deserved praise is always good for morale.
be good/bad for the environment
▪
Plastic bags are bad for the environment.
be good/bad for your health
▪
Eating plenty of vegetables is good for your health.
be good/pleasant company (= be a cheerful person who is enjoyable to be with )
▪
I always liked seeing Rob – he was such good company.
be in good heart (= to be happy and confident )
▪
The team was in good heart, despite their loss this weekend.
be in good/perfect/full etc working order
▪
The car was old, but the engine was still in good working order.
be in good/poor health (= be healthy/unhealthy )
▪
Her parents were elderly and in poor health.
be onto a good thing/a winner
▪
I think she’s onto a real winner with this song.
best endeavours
▪
Despite our best endeavours , we couldn’t start the car.
best man
best practice
better nature (= his feelings of kindness )
▪
I tried appealing to his better nature but he wouldn’t agree to help us.
better off
▪
She’ll be about £50 a week better off.
better or worse
▪
I wasn’t sure whether his behaviour was getting better or worse.
bring sb (good/bad) luck
▪
He always carried the stone in his pocket; he reckoned it brought him luck.
brown goods
capital goods
clear/good
▪
His directions were very clear and easy to follow.
clear/perfect/good etc diction
▪
She had perfect diction.
come off second best (= lose a game or competition, or not be as successful as someone else )
consumer goods
consumer goods/products (= things that people buy for their own use )
▪
Our demand for consumer goods increases all the time.
counterfeit goods/software etc
create a good/bad atmosphere
▪
Lighting is one of the most effective ways of creating a good atmosphere.
curiosity gets the better of sb/overcomes sb (= makes you do something that you are trying not to do )
▪
Curiosity got the better of me and I opened her diary.
deliver the goods (= do what they have promised )
▪
the failure of some services to deliver the goods
deserve better ( also deserve a better deal ) (= deserve to be treated better or to be in a better situation )
▪
They treated him badly at work and I thought he deserved better.
do more harm than good (= used to say that something had a bad effect rather than a good one )
▪
I followed his advice but it did more harm than good.
do more harm than good (= cause more problems rather than improve a situation )
▪
If you don’t warm up properly, exercise may do more harm than good.
do sb good (= make someone feel better )
do some/any/no good (= improve a situation )
▪
It might do some good if you talk to him about the problem.
▪
The fresh air has done me good.
dry goods
▪
a dry goods store
durable goods
earn good money (= earn a lot of money )
▪
You can earn good money working in London.
electrical equipment/goods/appliances etc
enjoy good relations (= have good relations )
▪
For years, the company enjoyed good relations with its workers
far better/easier etc
▪
The new system is far better than the old one.
▪
There are a far greater number of women working in television than twenty years ago.
feel fine/good/comfortable etc
▪
I’m feeling a little better today.
▪
Marie immediately felt guilty.
fetch a good/high etc price British English , bring a good, high etc price American English (= be sold for a particular amount of money )
▪
I’m sure the painting would fetch a good price in London.
food smells good
▪
The food smelt good to her.
food tastes good/delicious etc
▪
The food at Jan’s house always tastes good.
for reasons best known to sb (= used when you do not understand someone’s behaviour )
▪
For reasons best known to herself, she decided to sell the house.
get a good deal (= buy something at a good price )
▪
He thought he had got a good deal.
get a good hiding
▪
You’ll get a good hiding when you come home!
get a good price for
▪
Did you get a good price for it?
get a good/reasonable etc price (= be paid a particular amount for something )
▪
Farmers now get a decent price for their crop.
get off to a good/bad etc start
▪
On your first day at work, you want to get off to a good start.
give good/excellent etc service (= work well and last a long time )
▪
Steel tools give good service for years.
good afternoon
good and evil
▪
You have to teach your kids about right and wrong, good and evil.
good breeding
▪
The young lieutenant had an air of wealth and good breeding .
good cheer
▪
‘Hello,’ said Auguste cheerily. His good cheer was not returned.
good cholesterol
good citizenship
▪
The schools should be responsible for teaching our children good citizenship .
good clean fun British English (= not offensive or not involving sex )
▪
The show is good clean fun for all the family.
good communication
▪
In our company, there is good communication between the various departments.
Good day to you
▪
I must get back. Good day to you .
good day
▪
I must get back. Good day to you .
good deeds
▪
After the morning’s good deeds he deserved a rest.
Good dog! (= said to a dog when it obeys you )
▪
Sit! Good dog!
good evening
good exercise
▪
Swimming is very good exercise for your muscles.
good faith
▪
The company had acted in good faith .
Good Friday
good fun British English
▪
I never realized what good fun fishing could be.
good going/not bad going
▪
We climbed the mountain in three hours, which wasn’t bad going.
good hard
▪
Jane gave the door a good hard push.
good humour
▪
At 80 her eyes still sparkled with good humour.
good intentions/the best (of) intentions (= intentions to do something good or kind, especially when you do not succeed in doing it )
▪
He thinks the minister is full of good intentions that won’t be carried out.
good intentions/the best (of) intentions (= intentions to do something good or kind, especially when you do not succeed in doing it )
▪
He thinks the minister is full of good intentions that won’t be carried out.
good look (= searched carefully )
▪
She had a good look through the files.
good looks
▪
his natural good looks
good looks
▪
You get your good looks from your mother.
good luck
▪
These birds are said to bring good luck.
good manners
▪
Good manners could not prevent her from asking the question.
good money (= a lot of money )
▪
Preston earns good money as a lawyer.
good morning
good name
▪
It threatened to damage the good name of the firm.
good nature
▪
He had his father’s good looks and his mother’s good nature.
good neighbourliness
good news
▪
He’s feeling much better, so that’s good news.
good night
▪
Good night. Sleep well.
good planning
▪
Good planning will ensure the move is as trouble-free as possible.
good points
▪
Every system has its good points and its drawbacks.
good PR
▪
The band have been getting a lot of good PR recently.
good protection
▪
This lightweight jacket gives good protection from the rain and wind.
good publicity
▪
Top exam results are good publicity for schools.
good sense
▪
Mrs Booth showed a lot of good sense.
good sight
▪
Many types of fish have good sight.
good skills
▪
He’s got good management skills.
good stuff British English (= used to tell someone that their work is good )
▪
This is good stuff.
good theatre (= good entertainment )
▪
Yeats’ plays are great poetry but they are not good theatre .
good thinking (= used to say that an idea is good )
▪
‘We’d better lock the door.’ ‘Good thinking.’
good track record
▪
The fund has a good track record of investing in the equity market.
good working knowledge
▪
A good working knowledge of the building regulations is necessary for the job.
good write-up (= it was praised )
▪
The play got a really good write-up in the press.
good
▪
Good design is very important in a house.
good
▪
Her descriptions of the natural world are very good.
good
▪
He is out of hospital and making good progress.
good
▪
England needs to produce another good performance against France.
good
▪
The work was steady and the pay was pretty good.
good
▪
Inflation can sometimes have some good effects on the economy.
good
▪
Your eyesight must be very good if you can read the sign from here.
good
▪
If you study hard, you get good grades, and you get into good schools.
good
▪
The late frosts ended hopes of a good harvest that year.
good
▪
Physical exercise is essential to good health.
good
▪
Relations between neighbours on the estate are very good.
good
▪
They were earning good wages.
▪
Wages are good compared to other occupations.
good
▪
I have good vision in my right eye.
good (= bright enough )
▪
Stand over here where the light is good.
good/bad circulation
▪
Doctors had to remove her leg because of bad circulation.
good/bad dancer
▪
Dave’s a good dancer.
good/bad etc at (doing) sth
▪
I’ve always been good at maths.
▪
Matt’s bad at handling people.
good/bad etc memories
▪
He left school with good memories of his time there.
good/bad etc posture
▪
Poor posture can lead to muscular problems.
good/bad etc vibes
▪
I have good vibes about this contract.
good/bad karma
▪
The house had a lot of bad karma.
good/bad loser (= someone who behaves well or badly after losing )
good/bad management
▪
good management and co-operation with staff
good/bad
▪
The boys were suspended from school for bad behaviour.
▪
His good behaviour did not last long.
good/bad
▪
a lazy student with a bad attitude
good/bad/poor sportsmanship (= good or bad behaviour in a sport )
▪
We try to teach the kids good sportsmanship.
good/bad/slow etc service
▪
The service was terrible and so was the food.
good/best mate
▪
He’s good mates with John.
good/best mate
▪
He’s good mates with John.
good/clear/strong evidence
▪
There is clear evidence that smoking causes heart disease.
good/close/effective etc working relationship
▪
We have a close working relationship with other voluntary groups.
good/excellent qualifications
▪
Good qualifications are a passport to success.
good/excellent
▪
The hotel was nice and the food was really good.
good/excellent
▪
I wish my memory was as good as yours.
good/excellent
▪
The university has a very good reputation.
good/excellent/useful/helpful
▪
The book is full of good advice.
good/glad tidings (= good news )
good/great
▪
Over the years, we’ve developed a good relationship.
good/great
▪
That’s a great song!
good/healthy/clear (= smooth and without any red spots )
▪
Vitamin E helps keep your skin healthy.
good/high
▪
I was impressed that the quality of their work was so high.
good/ideal preparation (= very useful )
▪
The game was good preparation for our match at Torquay next week.
good/lovely/beautiful
▪
He wrote, in his lovely handwriting, a letter asking Ramsey to visit him.
good/neat/fancy etc footwork
▪
The England keeper revealed some fancy footwork in the victory over Nottingham Forest.
good/nice/lovely (= not wet )
▪
We’ll go out if the weather is good.
good/perfect
▪
She smiled, showing a mouthful of perfect teeth.
good/perfect/true etc likeness
good/pleasant/comfortable
▪
Have a good flight!
good/poor prognosis
▪
Doctors said Blake’s long-term prognosis is good.
good/poor visibility
▪
The search for survivors was abandoned because of poor visibility.
good/poor/proper hygiene
▪
The Consumers’ Association blames poor hygiene standards.
good/rich/fertile (= good for growing plants )
▪
The fertile soil produces delicious wines.
goods and chattels
good/sharp/acute
▪
My hearing isn't as good as it used to be.
▪
Owls and other predatory birds have very acute hearing.
good/strong swimmer
▪
Peter’s a very strong swimmer.
good/strong/firm discipline (= clear rules that people understand and must obey )
▪
Without good discipline in a school, the standard of teaching suffers.
greater/better protection
▪
The law should give greater protection to victims.
great/good
▪
The country has a great future.
had a good go (= tried hard )
▪
I had a good go at cleaning the silver.
handling stolen goods
▪
Bennet was charged with handling stolen goods .
have a good/bad etc reputation
▪
The law firm has an excellent reputation.
have a good/bad etc start
▪
We’ve had a disappointing start but we are hoping to improve.
have a good/bad/long etc day
▪
Simon looked as if he’d had a bad day at the office.
have a good/long/unusual etc menu
▪
The new restaurant on Fifth Street has an excellent menu.
have a good/nice etc birthday
▪
Did you have a nice birthday?
have a good/religious/tough etc upbringing
▪
He had a rather unsettled upbringing, moving with his father from town to town.
have a good/terrible etc time
▪
Thanks for everything – we had a great time.
have a nice/good day! spoken (= used when saying goodbye to someone in a friendly way )
▪
Bye Sam! Have a good day!
have (good) reason to complain
▪
We felt we had good reason to complain about the food at the hotel.
have good/bad etc hearing
▪
Dogs have excellent hearing.
have good/bad etc weather
▪
We have had lovely weather all week.
have good/bad luck
▪
I’ve had a bit of bad luck.
have good/bad manners
▪
All their children have such good manners.
have good/quick/slow reflexes
▪
A tennis player needs to have very quick reflexes.
have the (good/bad) luck to do sth
▪
He had the good luck to meet a man who could help him.
healthy/good
▪
A healthy diet includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
heaps better/bigger etc (= much better, bigger etc )
heavy goods vehicle
higher/better
▪
Workers demanded higher pay.
high/good
▪
Morale among the staff was high.
high/good
▪
She moved to a job with a higher salary.
high/good (= used when saying that someone is happy and excited )
▪
The players were all in high spirits.
high/good
▪
The standard of their work was generally very high.
hold true/good
▪
Twenty years on, his advice still holds good.
hope for the best (= hope that a situation will end well when there is a risk of things going wrong )
▪
Liam decided to ignore the warning and just hope for the best .
household goods/products/items etc
▪
washing powder and other household products
▪
household chores
how best (= the best way )
▪
advice on how best to invest your money
how much better/nicer/easier etc
▪
I was surprised to see how much better she was looking.
▪
How much better life would be if we returned to the values of the past!
in a good/positive/relaxed etc frame of mind
▪
She returned from lunch in a happier frame of mind.
in good/bad/terrible etc condition
▪
How do you keep your hair in such perfect condition?
in good/fine/great form
▪
He’s been in good form all this season.
inferior goods/products
▪
The public are being deceived into buying inferior goods.
is best known for (= people are most likely to be familiar with )
▪
Hepburn is best known for her roles in classic films such as ‘My Fair Lady’.
it seemed like a good idea
▪
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
it’s good/bad manners to do sth
▪
It’s bad manners to chew with your mouth open.
jolly good fun
▪
It was all jolly good fun .
jolly good
▪
Sounds like a jolly good idea to me.
judge it best/better to do sth (= think that something is the best thing to do )
▪
Robert wanted to go and help him, but judged it best to stay where he was.
judge it best/better to do sth (= think that something is the best thing to do )
▪
Robert wanted to go and help him, but judged it best to stay where he was.
keep up the good work! (= continue to work hard and well )
kiss sb goodbye/good night etc
▪
Kiss Daddy good night.
knew better than to
▪
Eva knew better than to interrupt one of Mark’s jokes.
like best (= like most of all )
▪
The time I like best is the evening when it’s cool.
little more/better etc (than sth)
▪
His voice was little more than a whisper.
look good/bad etc
▪
The future’s looking good.
luxury items/goods (= expensive things )
▪
At Christmas we try to afford a few luxury items.
make a good team (= work well together as a team )
▪
You and I make a good team.
make a good/bad/early etc start
▪
He made a flying start at college, but then he didn't manage to keep it up.
make good your escape literary (= to succeed in escaping )
▪
Dillinger handcuffed the deputy to the desk and made good his escape.
make good/ideal etc pets (= be good/very good as pets )
▪
Do rabbits make good pets?
make sth the best/worst/most expensive etc
▪
Over 80,000 people attended, making it the biggest sporting event in the area.
makes good sense (= is sensible )
▪
It makes good sense to do some research before buying.
material goods/possessions/wealth etc
▪
The spiritual life is more important than material possessions.
▪
a society that places high importance on material rewards
meant it for the best (= wanted to be helpful, although my actions had the wrong effect )
▪
I wasn’t criticizing you, I really meant it for the best .
move on to higher/better things (= get a better job or social position – used humorously )
▪
Jeremy’s leaving the company to move on to higher things.
much better/greater/easier etc
▪
Henry’s room is much bigger than mine.
▪
These shoes are much more comfortable.
much the best/most interesting etc British English
▪
It’s much the best way to do it.
need a (good) wash/clean/cut etc (= ought to be washed, cleaned etc )
▪
His hair needs a wash.
not good enough (= not satisfactory or acceptable )
▪
You’re late. It’s just not good enough .
of good/high/international etc repute
▪
a man of high repute
of the worst/best etc kind
▪
This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
oh, good/great
▪
Oh, good, you’re still here.
opportunity...too good to miss
▪
The opportunity was too good to miss so we left immediately.
pay a good/low etc price
▪
I paid a very reasonable price for my guitar.
perfect/good/bad etc timing
▪
He was just walking into the restaurant when we got there. Perfect timing.
piece of luck/good fortune
▪
It really was an extraordinary piece of luck.
poor/good nutrition
▪
Poor nutrition can cause heart disease in later life.
positive/good/poor/negative self-image
▪
Depression affects people with a poor self-image.
prevention is better than cure British English , an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure American English (= used to say that it is better to prevent illness than to cure it )
prevention is better than cure (= it is better to stop something bad from happening than to remove the problem once it has happened )
▪
You know what they say, prevention is better than cure .
put in/up a (good/bad etc) performance
▪
Liverpool put in a marvellous performance in the second half.
put/place sb in a good/awkward etc position
▪
I'm sorry if I put you in an awkward position.
run of good/bad luck
▪
Losing my job was the start of a run of bad luck that year.
sb is old enough to know better (= used when you think someone should behave more sensibly )
▪
He’s old enough to know better, but he went and did it anyway!
sb’s best clothes
▪
They wore their best clothes for the photograph.
sb’s best friend (= the friend you like the most )
▪
Fiona was her best friend.
sb’s best guess (= one that you think is most likely to be right )
▪
My best guess is that it will take around six months.
sb’s best handwriting
▪
In his best handwriting, he wrote, 'Happy Father’s Day, Dad'.
second best
▪
Allie was the second best shooter on the rifle team.
second best
▪
I’m not going to settle for second best .
settle for second best
▪
I’m not going to settle for second best .
shoddy goods/service/workmanship etc
▪
We’re not paying good money for shoddy goods.
should know better
▪
It’s just prejudice from educated people who should know better .
significantly better/greater/worse etc
▪
Delia’s work has been significantly better this year.
sign/show/gesture etc of good faith
▪
A ceasefire was declared as a sign of good faith.
slightly higher/lower/better/larger etc
▪
January’s sales were slightly better than average.
smell good/nice etc
▪
The food smelled good.
somebody new/different/good etc
▪
We need somebody neutral to sort this out.
something new/old/good etc
▪
It’s a good car, but I’m looking for something newer.
sporting goods American English
▪
a sporting goods store
take a turn for the worse/better
▪
Two days after the operation, Dad took a turn for the worse.
taste good/nice/delicious/great
▪
The apples weren’t very big but they tasted good.
the best available
▪
We use the best available technology.
the best means
▪
Is this really the best means of achieving our goal?
the best plan British English (= the best thing to do )
▪
I think the best plan is to take the train.
the best route
▪
Let's look at the map and work out the best route.
the best way
▪
Doing the job is often regarded as the best way of learning the job.
the best/greatest etc that/who ever lived (= the best, greatest etc who has been alive at any time )
▪
He’s probably the best journalist who ever lived.
the best/perfect/ideal solution
▪
Locking people in prison is not necessarily the ideal solution.
the best/tallest etc in the world
▪
We want to become the best team in the world.
the best/worst kind
▪
Not knowing what had happened to her was the worst kind of torture.
the best/worst part
▪
The worst part was having to work even when it was raining.
the future looks good/bright etc
▪
The future looks good for the company.
the good guy (= a man in a book or movie who does good things and beats the bad characters )
▪
He’s one of the good guys in the 'Star Wars' films.
the good news is …/the bad news is ... (= used to introduce a piece of good and bad news )
▪
The good news is that most stores have the game in stock; the bad news is that it's not cheap.
the very best/latest/worst etc
▪
We only use the very best ingredients.
the world’s best/tallest etc
▪
It is the world’s largest car manufacturer.
to (the best of) my recollection (= used when you are unsure if you remember correctly )
▪
To the best of my recollection, she drives a Mercedes.
▪
Noone, to my recollection, gave a second thought to the risks involved.
try your best/hardest (= make as much effort as possible )
▪
Try your best to block out other distractions.
unfailing good humour
▪
She battled against cancer with unfailing good humour .
up to no good (= doing something bad )
▪
I always suspected that he was up to no good .
white goods
wide/broad/good spread of sth
▪
We have a good spread of ages in the department.
▪
a broad spread of investments
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪
For its weight, therefore, the strength of timber is as good or better than most of its competitors.
▪
But the great ones always can be as good as somebody, even at the end.
▪
Anything's only as good as the foundation it's built on.
▪
Now she proved to be as good as, or even better than, her word!
▪
Would they stop a great painter painting just because his eyes were going and his brushwork wasn't as good ?
▪
Zack was right, the hamburgers were as good as he had promised.
▪
This is about as good as figurative painting gets.
▪
He's playing in the Olympics a couple of weeks ago, and he looks as good as ever.
even
▪
Molecular nitrogen, a very stable molecule, is even better .
▪
Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪
We are not concerned to turn out good workmen or even good citizens, but a complete individual.
▪
Visually, the series is even better than Hollywood special effects.
▪
This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪
This year could be even better .
▪
The news was even better for producer prices.
far
▪
Sometimes a crisis focuses the attention far better than if you're doing well.
▪
Some bond funds performed far better than others last year.
▪
They did far better than that, with about 600.
▪
Now their earnings prospects look bright, and they have lately done far better than the giants.
▪
Felicity loves it too, and probably takes far better care of it than I ever did.
▪
A far better alternative was to walk the back roads and country lanes.
▪
The Museum's policy is that it is far better to leave such time-capsules undisturbed.
▪
A good mineralogical museum is a far better place to see good crystals.
much
▪
Yes, that was a much better way to think.
▪
He has lost some weight, and his blood pressure is under much better control.
▪
And at the end he said, they're not much good .
▪
Son, you never was much good at lying.
▪
But in fact I knew you much better .
▪
And I think individual clubs can do a much better job of that than the league.
▪
I found that if I did this, I felt much better and had the feeling that everything would be all right.
▪
How much better a living baby smelled!
pretty
▪
I had tried to make myself look pretty good .
▪
Robert has turned out to be a pretty good father.
▪
The surviving trio, it must be said, looked pretty good .
▪
That might be a pretty good arrangement, just to help make associations.
▪
It's pretty good fun - I like the noise it makes when it breaks.
▪
More than half were pretty good , with two rising to the top of the taste test.
▪
She was getting pretty good at inventing details for him to note down.
▪
I once had one of my speeches transcribed, one that sounded pretty good .
really
▪
If thicker shells are really better for the snail, why don't they have them anyway?
▪
The next few years were really good , I guess you might say.
▪
Male speaker It's absolutely excellent, really good fun, very realistic.
▪
Belis is a really good name.
▪
It was excellent fun and a really good chance to catch up with friends I hadn't seen since graduation.
▪
Our educational system is really better at training than educating.
▪
Conclusion On the good side, the Lakewood amp is crammed with features and it essentially sounds really good.
▪
I felt really good about our chances.
so
▪
It's not quite so good the second time around, never mind the fourth or fifth.
▪
This place is so good that some Peak activists reckon they will take their holidays indoors next year!
▪
He was so good in every department, they figured it would be easy for him to learn this one little thing.
▪
It simply was not fair that anyone could look so good in absolutely everything!
▪
The Super Bowl should be so good .
▪
It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪
They're so good you could actually enjoy them just by reading them.
too
▪
A golf tournament with royal patronage was too good an opportunity for a publicity-minded company to miss.
▪
This is too good to be true, you figure.
▪
It was, had been, too good an evening to spoil it with a half-soaked wrangle.
▪
He had been let to get too good a start on a wrong path.
▪
It was too good an opportunity to miss.
▪
Being left-handed, he was too good to release, but never good enough to hold his place.
▪
Much too good for the animals.
▪
Sound too good to be true?
very
▪
This can cause problems on the news desk and does not create a very good impression.
▪
She graduated with very good grades and went on to graduate school.
▪
Finally, I admit our shared deficiency: that of not being very good at snooker.
▪
Suddenly, for the first time in months, I found myself in a very good mood.
▪
We finished with some very good summer pudding and an okay cheese board.
▪
Ride, acceleration and handling: Very good all around.
▪
The sun is a very good symbol and can be used to show the contrast in the tone between the stanzas.
▪
Economics is very good when it comes to assessing fundamental forces and pressures.
■ NOUN
chance
▪
They also have a slim but slightly better chance of winning a vote for a referendum.
▪
Then there is a good chance of finding the global energy minimum.
▪
You make more plays than the other guys, you got a good chance to win the football game.
▪
Portsmouth soon equalised and a stalemate followed in the second half, although Alton had some good chances .
▪
Look for anything that gives them a better chance of following the plot.
▪
You have a much better chance of success next time because you will have learnt from your previous experience.
▪
We believe that the best chance of keeping out imports is to improve the efficiency and productivity of the industry.
condition
▪
It is all made of wood and is in good condition .
▪
He is in very good condition .
▪
All your gear must be in good condition and regular checks cost nothing.
▪
Now times are hard and selling the family silver is one way of keeping Harcourt Manor in good condition .
▪
A Lycoming in good condition is usually easy to fire up and these were no exception.
▪
Ovation Legend Custom acoustic, 9 years old, good condition , with case, £850.
▪
If in good condition , each coin should fetch between £60.00 and £70.00.
day
▪
Not a good day , one of the worst.
▪
March 16 dawned bright and sunny, the first really good day of the year.
▪
Today had been a good day .
▪
Not all good day care is so costly.
▪
Karpov's play in game 17 was a text book model of strategy, redolent of his very best days .
▪
I have heard many good speakers in my life, but no one any better than Ed Sadlowski on a good day .
▪
He chose a good day to raise the matter, because only yesterday the hospital opened a new out-patients department.
▪
But the pay is paltry compared with the hundreds that can be made on a good day of lobstering.
deal
▪
This is hardly surprising amongst members of a profession who earn a good deal of their living by talking.
▪
Apollonius influenced Virgil a good deal .
▪
However, this still leaves the court a good deal of scope for readjusting the express rules.
▪
He turned down what any of his peers would have called a much better deal today.
▪
There was a good deal of quarrelling - an average of about eight fights, or potential fights, per hour.
▪
A dime taken from any other kid was a good deal .
▪
A good deal of straight forward social activity is almost always associated with the actual political engagement.
example
▪
Pusch Ridge is a good example .
▪
A good example is the construction of teeth, about which a certain amount is known.
▪
A better example , of course, is Fife Symington.
▪
It was quite a good example of lobbying, in fact.
▪
NETtalk is a good example of applying neural networks to problems handled well by this technology.
▪
Perhaps the best example of the problems that this approach can cause is the Atari desktop publishing system.
▪
The annual crowd of movers and shakers at the National Press Foundation dinner presents a good example .
faith
▪
Professionalism implies a contract with society; a promise that good faith will be justified.
▪
To show his good faith , White even gives Blue an advance of ten fifty-dollar bills.
▪
Check that promises made in good faith in your first paragraph have been delivered by your last paragraph. 2.
▪
Whilst still in employment, there was an implied term imposing a duty of good faith .
▪
The clause was not framed as an obligation on the vendor to negotiate with the purchaser in good faith .
▪
Such a State should act in good faith so as not to frustrate the objects of the treaty.
▪
Have both the parties acted in good faith ?
fortune
▪
There weren't all that many twenty-four-year-old graduates with the good fortune to run their own successful public relations business in London.
▪
Through a stroke of geologic good fortune , hydrothermal water percolates up through the landscape and feeds into the Colorado.
▪
In the summer of 1962, I had another piece of good fortune .
▪
He told her that he could see that she was highly born and blessed by good fortune .
▪
Anthony Coburn got the commission to write the first story by a notable stroke of good fortune .
▪
Given better fortune , shots that bounced off hillocks and into bunkers might have bounced on to greens.
▪
But after eight issues, early in 1967, the paper had a stroke of good fortune .
▪
It was necessary to appear as though innate good fortune made one invulnerable.
friend
▪
Was it possible her friend had been matchmaking - her stepbrother and her best friend?
▪
He was a man whose birthday was being celebrated by his wife, his daughter, and his best friend .
▪
Didn't any of his best friends tell him?
▪
She is anticipating a visit from Varvara, her best friend , who will arrive later this summer.
▪
You don't imagine I could confide in my best friends , do you?
▪
Q: You and Faye Dunaway are good friends .
▪
Suzy Levine and Seth had been lovers when he was writing Homeboy, best friends ever since.
▪
For eight or nine years we were not only collaborators and partners, we were best friends .
health
▪
The fact is that we are contemplating not a two-tier health service but a better health service.
▪
On paper, the banks' appear in good health .
▪
The child was born three weeks premature, but is believed to be in good health .
▪
With muscles showing complete or near-complete return of potential, bed rest, exercise, and overall good health formed the pattern.
▪
Six foot one; grey hair; good health .
▪
I am 64 and in good health .
▪
Anyone can start giving blood as long as they are between 18 and 60 years old and in good health .
idea
▪
His involvement with Cairngorm Rope coincided with Dave Wotherspoon having a very good idea indeed.
▪
Often, it happens because good ideas bubble up from employees who actually do the work and deal with the customers.
▪
We must ensure Brian Wilson's blank sheet of paper is full of good ideas before too long.
▪
If we had a good idea , it would be put into action.
▪
First, it's a good idea to decide where you want to live.
▪
We have some fairly good ideas of where it goes instead.
▪
There is general agreement that copyright is a good idea .
▪
The whole proposal was unsatisfying, but no one came up with a better idea than this Half-Way Covenant.
job
▪
Despite the demands they face, all Red Arrows will tell you it's the best job in the world.
▪
The other believed you use money to enhance the business to get people-to do the very best job for you.
▪
I have no doubt you will do a good job , but things are run a little differently out here.
▪
For an eagle who had been so ill Minch was doing a good job being terrifying.
▪
The way I grew up, success means having a good job , having money.
▪
With your qualifications you could have had a much better job , a better salary.
▪
And I think individual clubs can do a much better job of that than the league.
life
▪
Cycling makes you fitter and gives you a better life expectancy.
▪
He and his family had a good life in the country.
▪
Writers have described their versions of the good life and suggested ways of achieving them.
▪
She was driven to provide a good life for the two of them, no matter the cost.
▪
Can we define the good life ?
▪
When she got pregnant again, she decided she wanted a better life for her child.
▪
And bananas about Hickory ... the baby monkey getting a taste of the good life .
▪
She knows how good life is and how hard it is to make life good.
luck
▪
I sometimes could not believe my good luck , and was grateful for it.
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Pausing at the Lagonda, he touched the steering-wheel for good luck .
▪
The elves never returned, but the shoemaker continued to prosper and had good luck in everything he did.
▪
Simon did well after that but made a pretence of simple good luck to anyone who questioned his apparent good fortune.
▪
In April 1911, he seemingly had better luck .
▪
Superstitious attachment good luck symbols and mascots are attempts to keep fear at bay.
▪
I want to know about good luck and bad luck.
man
▪
Couldn't ask to have a better man around.
▪
As he said, he was a good man , even if he was a bad Wizard.
▪
He's a good man , you've probably heard of him.
▪
Front forces, in particular, lost a very high percentage of their best men in 1968.
▪
How crowded it is with pictures of our good men , whose hearts gave out to disease in the end.
▪
At the beginning, Ben Corum, one of our best men , had gone down to Texas.
▪
Because Kenamun has lost his best man , and I have no faith in his ability to solve this on his own.
news
▪
For the good news see Helpful behaviour on page 84.
▪
They say that it's good news ... there's going to be some celebrating tonight!
▪
The good news is that people who practice the principles give themselves a real chance to change and perform.
▪
She wished so desperately that she was coming home with good news .
▪
The good news is that there are more well-made dry kosher wines than ever before.
▪
It's good news for the Chancellor ahead of the budget.
▪
The good news is that dairy foods, like milk, yogurt and cheese, help protect teeth from cavities.
night
▪
Dunne excused himself, said good night to Cassidy, nodded to the Gallaghers, and went upstairs.
▪
Cats have good night vision but can't see colour very well.
▪
It was not a good night for the vice president.
▪
Mrs Atkins had just bidden them good night and gone across to her rooms.
▪
Or else the very following things will happen: This kid came up to me and gave me a hug good night .
▪
He held hands occasionally or, if he was lucky, was granted a good night kiss on the cheek.
part
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
And the best part of visiting both is that eating haggis is not mandatory.
▪
By slow degrees, the world of the bloodstock sales lost the best part of its consuming interest for Dada.
▪
The West would be in good part built and some think ruined by that cement.
▪
They had been drinking for the best part of an hour but none were drunk.
▪
The place used to stretch for the best part of a quarter of a mile away from the town.
▪
He and his wife Billie live in a beautiful, spacious home decorated in good part with boxing memorabilia.
performance
▪
She tells me that unless you are in a state of tension you don't give your best performance .
▪
The Dow climbed 33 percent last year, one of the best performances in history.
▪
In one of the evening's best performances , she recounts a recent audition in a hilariously stilted delivery.
▪
Net margins were 14% of turnover, a very good performance considering the very unfavourable worldwide economic climate.
▪
It is doubtful that Stilwell could have prevailed even if he had managed a better performance .
▪
The best performance might relate to daily production goals, sales targets or inventory levels.
▪
Possible, although McGinest had his best performances as a Patriot the final three games of this season.
place
▪
Not only should school be a good place for children but a good place for teachers and other adult workers too!
▪
I mean, what better place to put ketchup packets under car tires?
▪
The sky seemed a good place to put my promise.
▪
Probably this text on the ancient civilization of Sumer would not be a good place to begin.
▪
Slide Sorter view is also a good place in which to make global changes.
▪
Small dreams are a good place to start.
▪
And the best place to do that, it suddenly struck her, was London.
position
▪
They collided, Hughes sensed McClair was in a better position to punish the error, but Laws recovered.
▪
If affiliated, they are in a better position to negotiate with insurers on prices of treatment.
▪
The permanent ward staff are in the best position to encourage learning.
▪
Being majority leader is a good position to be in.
▪
The best position for wall fittings is near to the centre line of the bed, with the light sources focused outwards.
▪
What needs to be discussed and understood is who is in the best position to make the final decision.
▪
It puts us in good position to make a run for the playoffs.
practice
▪
Guideline 7, Management, discusses this in more detail and sets out examples of good practice .
▪
A good practice is to salt only at the end of a recipe.
▪
The full texts of eight relocation policies from named companies are given as examples of good practice in Appendix 1.
▪
She has just finished a good practice .
▪
There was an even more profound sense in which the prevailing version of good practice was deficient.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
An example of good practice in incorporating disabled people into an allocations policy was again provided by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council.
▪
A continuing programme to investigate, evaluate, and disseminate best practice information on teaching large classes has also been developed.
quality
▪
They know that if an item has the Royal Navy's endorsement it is bound to be of good quality .
▪
On the surface, at least, Bonita Vista has all the best qualities of a racially diverse campus.
▪
The glass is of good quality .
▪
Try to obtain a good quality plug, preferably gold-plated, to replace the existing one.
▪
A good quality tape-measure that will not stretch is necessary for general sewing use.
▪
Make sure it has been made with ripstop nylon and has good quality spars and reinforced pockets to receive them.
▪
Eaten raw in salads, it becomes more interesting if it is topped with herbs and a good quality olive oil.
reason
▪
He had good reason , of course.
▪
You had a good reason for every dumb thing you did which you said I would understand someday.
▪
They also have good reason to be optimistic.
▪
They are states that all sentient beings have a good reason to want.
▪
There was a good reason for this.
▪
Until 1993, the Pusch Ridge bighorns had good reason to avoid people, since they could be legally hunted.
▪
Sean O'Dwyer, deputy chairman of Desmond &038; Sons, has good reason to agree.
▪
Three good reasons to write, I think.
sense
▪
That's perfectly understandable, but it's not good sense .
▪
He is however a Man of good sense , plain in his manners, and sincere in his friendships.
▪
Are you a jolly person; do you have a good sense of humour?
▪
In his zeal, he almost lost his good sense .
▪
The end result made solid good sense .
▪
He had a nice touch, a good sense of how to execute his shots.
▪
So, on that basis, it makes good sense to start on the bigger warrens.
▪
This bending of the rules was typical of Rabari thrift and good sense .
service
▪
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary patients are to be surveyed in a bid to provide a better service .
▪
At least as important will be who can provide the best service ?
▪
Furthermore, although charges are low, standards are going up as hosts recognise that it pays to provide a better service .
▪
In this context their role is not negative, even though you get a bag of nonsense with that good service .
▪
There is a highly-recommended restaurant and good service throughout.
▪
The Charter's commitment to modern, open services will help them to win the respect that good service deserves.
▪
For example we need to provide our Members with better services and facilities, with larger branches and with more automation.
▪
They, too, have a right to the best service we can offer.
shape
▪
All of the houses are in good shape , and there should be no trouble.
▪
He could still be in good shape .
▪
We are in much better shape than we were a year ago.
▪
Q: I have remained in good shape at age 66 by jogging regularly for the past 10 years.
▪
Choose potatoes which have shallow eyes and are of a good shape .
▪
But three hikers missing on Mount Shasta since Dec. 26 were found safe and in good shape .
▪
Oxford University are looking in good shape for Sunday's womens boat race.
▪
Make sure your car is in good shape before embarking on this trip.
start
▪
He'd made a good start but now he was faltering, and the focus of attention was drifting slowly away from him.
▪
The program was a good start , but Rowley saw it only as a prototype-and an expensive one at that.
▪
Senna said he realised that a good start was vital.
▪
The Bears had better start grabbing on to something, anything, as the outlook on the season suddenly turned very grim.
▪
Well, that was a good start - they wouldn't be difficult to sell.
▪
Having Goldberger on his side was a good start for Childs, but there were already other opinions.
▪
John had a good start in the game.
▪
The answer: a good start .
thing
▪
But he has, nevertheless, selected some good things .
▪
But the best thing about New York apartments is that you don't spend much time in them.
▪
After all, you've probably got better things to do.
▪
Also, it is important all day long to notice all the good things he does.
▪
Perhaps getting away from her for a little while would be the best thing that could happen.
▪
The best thing a leader can do for a Great Group is allow its members to discover their own greatness.
▪
However, if sterile or individual equipment is not available, the next best thing is to clean equipment using disinfectant.
▪
What good things come, surprisingly, from the trials of life...
time
▪
Sam Smith is one of many natives who wish good times had never come to Williamson County.
▪
Christmas is a good time for considering how to change ourselves and our businesses in 1999.
▪
Dimon has been loyal to Weill in good times and bad.
▪
In good times trade and investment links set up a virtuous circle where growth in one economy boosts others.
▪
Life was hard, but people found ways to have a good time .
▪
With all the new and reintroduced varieties now on the market there has never been a better time to grow from seed.
▪
He was having a whale of a good time .
use
▪
The most attractive of the prospectuses made good use of photographs.
▪
Gallegos said the region has made good use of that money.
▪
This allows good use of space, but high winds compress the sides.
▪
They also learn something apart from better skills: They learn about some better uses for their skills.
▪
Included are some suggestions for making the best use of the opportunities and for overcoming the problems.
▪
What their assets are worth is relevant for decisions about making the best use of them.
▪
Choose larger packs - these make better use of resources.
▪
Get the truth from Piper, make the best use of it, then unload a few unnecessary encumbrances.
value
▪
But, you've been good value for money.
▪
First, it has to be good value .
▪
Political scribblers were usually better value than politicians, most of them being irreverent and much better informed.
▪
It is rather faster than a Commodore 64, and has similar graphics and sound, which makes the hardware good value .
▪
The shares have recovered a bit since it was clear that the merger was doomed but still look good value .
▪
The organisers say the 4-day trip is good value at £190.
▪
The jacket is light, well made and very good value for money.
way
▪
It states that the best way to improve public services is to increase competition.
▪
The best way is to set a good example.
▪
Bricks and mortar used to much more than a sound investment - it was the best way to make serious money.
▪
There is no better way to reduce those doubts than by acting swiftly to pass clear and tough campaign finance reform laws.
▪
There is no better way to help people in need than through supporting Care.
▪
For the first time having wealth was the best way to get wealth.
▪
The best way to get scars to fade is to leave them alone.
▪
The problem was that there seemed to be all sorts of better ways of reproducing.
work
▪
Keep up the good work as I still have a lot to learn.
▪
No enduring stars did their best work under any of his logos.
▪
It would be sad to see all your good work wasted, and the place revert to its former wilderness.
▪
But it looks like he did his best work the day he fired for qualification.
▪
Eventually, Mellor gave a nod towards the good work done by the Press Fund - then made his excuses and left.
▪
Their best work is original: That talking mouse with the big ears, that cranky duck with the three nephews.
▪
Sir Charles' good work must go on.
▪
The Salvation Army is an institution that performs good works , and it is entitled to its views of homosexuality.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
good/bad timekeeper
(Good) Lord!/Oh Lord!
▪
Good Lord , Tom! What are you doing?
(get) a bigger/better etc bang for your buck
(jolly) good show
▪
Although his forecasts have been close in the past, this is his best showing .
▪
And he may have acquired an added incentive for wanting to make a good showing .
▪
It's the best show they've got.
▪
Just how good shows in the figures.
▪
The royals will try to shrug off their problems and put on a good show for Margaret.
(that's a) good question!
▪
"Does the program allow you to do that?" "That's a good question - I don't know."
God/oh (my) God/good God (almighty)
God/oh (my) God/good God/God almighty
I couldn't wish for a nicer/better etc ...
I have it on good authority
▪
I have it on good authority that the school board wants to fire the principal.
I must/I'd better be getting along
I'd better mosey along/be moseying along
I/you can't/couldn't ask for a better sth
a (damn/darned/darn) sight more/better etc
▪
Actually, a damn sight more than from that stiff gherkin Smott.
▪
I prefer my women a little older and a damn sight more sober.
▪
If he listened to Anthony Scrivener, he would be a darned sight better.
▪
Perhaps not up there with Wilburforce but a damn sight more daring than anything Diana ever did!
▪
The Galapagos finch was a darn sight more valuable than Sandra Willmot.
▪
We were a darned sight better than them.
a (good) catch
▪
A man in a uniform was a good catch in these parts.
▪
And keep medicines up high, also with a catch on the cupboard.
▪
He caught 89 passes last year, but he averaged just 7. 7 yards a catch.
▪
He went to it at once, looking for a catch , a way of releasing it, but there was nothing.
▪
Since a doctor or a lawyer is a good catch , he can attract a woman whose family is wealthy.
▪
The law has a catch , however.
▪
There is a catch , however!
▪
Within minutes, Honaker felt the telltale movement of a catch moving up the tube.
a difficult/hard/good etc one
▪
But what is temperament, and how do we define what is a good one ?
▪
I knew there was no sense in trying to do a better one .
▪
Maybe it was a crackpot theory, but it was a good one .
▪
Nevertheless, it was always clear that Schmidt's third term in office would prove a difficult one .
▪
Payno was gleeful, for his idea was a good one .
▪
The belief that hierarchical organizational structure makes for good business is a difficult one to give up.
▪
The Berlin Philharmonic as it exists today may be a happier orchestra, but it is in no way a better one .
▪
Then I became a lead project manager and, I have to say, I was a good one .
a fast/good/long etc ball
▪
A bit like Dorigo ie he can cross a good ball when necessary.
▪
Anyway he is 24, is a good ball winner and throws himself around a bit.
▪
Jackson will supplant Charlie Ward as the starting point guard, giving the team a better ball distributor.
▪
Leeds do play a lot of football, but they hit a long ball as well.
▪
Phillips seized on a long ball and found himself with only Manninger to beat.
▪
Pow, Janir hit a long ball into the blackberry bushes beside the creek.
▪
Root threw me a fast ball .
a good night's sleep
▪
All you need is a good night's sleep.
▪
Night before 1 Try to ensure a good night's sleep. 2 Alleviate any anxiety if possible.
a good read
▪
It's not great literature, but it's a good read .
▪
Barnes and Hughes for a good read , Levin ton for the examinations.
▪
He seems to have a good read on his players and good rapport with them.
▪
I just sit and have a good read until they are done.
▪
It is certainly worth a good read , and I can recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.
▪
Journal in double triumph Roy Castle takes a break from record-breaking and relaxes with a good read .
▪
Le Carre can always be counted on to deliver a good read .
▪
Taken as a good read , this is an excellent book.
a good screw
a good sport
▪
I don't like playing with him - he's not a very good sport .
▪
All in all, Fred was a good sport and said he enjoyed the meal.
▪
But she was such a good sport about it.
a good/bad etc shot
▪
But Nogai's a good shot .
▪
Ed Kelley was a good shot .
▪
He made a good shot from there and holed a three-foot putt for a quadruple-bogey eight.
▪
If I hit a bad shot , I try to minimize its effect.
▪
Klingler made it clear at the end of 1996 that he wanted a better shot at moving up the depth chart.
▪
That much was the least expected of a hunter who had made a bad shot .
▪
They have a better shot at claiming the governorship.
▪
Tom played a bad shot out of the bunker, and he does no more than charge straight at this press guy.
a good/bad judge of sth
▪
Sarah's not a very good judge of character.
▪
And for all his imagination, he was not a good judge of character on limited acquaintance.
▪
But Anya's a better judge of character than she used to be, back in the old homeland.
▪
He's also a good judge of a quick run.
▪
He was a good judge of character, hated hypocrisy, and had no time for conceit.
▪
I didn't protest as it was his fence officially, and he was supposed to be a good judge of torque.
▪
It was not that he was too sure of himself simply that he was a good judge of the possible.
▪
Munnings, he told reporters, was a better judge of horses than paintings.
a good/large part of sth
▪
Married couples make up a large part of the church's congregation.
▪
Checheno-Ingushetia was abolished, and a large part of the Ingushi lands had been ceded to North Ossetia and repopulated by Ossetes.
▪
Had Therese spent a large part of her salary on a dress she would never wear again?
▪
His energies were never enormous, but limited though they were, he used a large part of them outside the business.
▪
Many young people are now attracted to the idea of producing a large part of their own food.
▪
So did a large part of the local population, including Morag Paterson.
▪
So that a large part of every day is not determined by thought at all, it more or less just happens because of habit.
▪
Social services take up a large part of the council budget.
▪
Ten black men took a sledge-hammer to the work, and knocked off a large part of his face.
a good/safe bet
▪
The earrings seemed like a good bet for a birthday present.
▪
Cohen says companies like PictureTel have improved transmission quality, making video conferencing a better bet than in years past.
▪
Even if you spend more and risk recurring sticker shock, the place is a good bet to tranquilize you.
▪
It was always a safe bet , of course, that Hillsborough would be just about the least dangerous place in Britain yesterday.
▪
Only a few months ago he had looked like a good bet .
▪
Still, if a well-equipped sporty car is in your heart, the fifth-generation Prelude probably is a good bet .
▪
That makes them a good bet if you travel with a laptop computer.
▪
The supermodels are a safe bet and, in times of recession, that is what matters.
a good/sympathetic listener
▪
And apart from the information you get, being a good listener helps the other side to relax and have confidence in you.
▪
Be a good listener and do not demand that children reveal all that they do or think.
▪
In the Collins family, Kevin was not actually told stories about how he, too, was a good listener .
▪
It will give you the opportunity to discuss your problems with a sympathetic listener .
▪
Lady Thatcher never drew breath, while John Major was a good listener .
▪
People liked her because she was steady, sensible, a good listener .
▪
Seek not only to be understood but to understand-be a good listener .
▪
Zach said he was a good listener and that he was a sensitive being.
a great/good deal
▪
A single incident suggests a great deal about Hennepinhis prudery, his belligerence, his sensitivity.
▪
In the last ten years, we have learned a great deal more about this interplay.
▪
Neither girl took a great deal of interest in me.
▪
One particular candidate responding to the survey went to a great deal of trouble to commit his decidedly anti-headhunting views to paper.
▪
She spoke a great deal about poetry.
▪
Teachers also received a great deal of support and help from both popular organizations and from communities to ease their situation.
▪
The movement of earthworms throughout layers can also cause a great deal of disruption, blurring the divisions.
▪
Very frequently, speechwriters are recruited from the ranks of journalism, which accounts for a great deal .
a happy/good hunting ground (for sth)
▪
I pass up a roadside rest area, a happy hunting ground for new cars and ready cash.
▪
In the early years of this century, many a collector found Madeira a happy hunting ground.
▪
Scandinavia was a happy hunting ground for him and he did the same for Nicolai Gedda.
a nod's as good as a wink
a rattling good yarn/story/read
▪
On one level, it is vastly entertaining and a rattling good read.
▪
We bet the Weatherfield Advertiser was a rattling good read under Ken's editorship.
all in good time
▪
But don't fret, you shall have a puppy all in good time .
all the best
▪
Tell him I said goodbye and wish him all the best .
▪
A facility that's said to represent all the best in car manufacturing worldwide.
▪
He wanted to give it all the best that was in him, of which he had more than he needed.
▪
In fact they are regularly seen around all the best joints.
▪
Maybe it was true that the Devil got all the best lines.
▪
On the surface, at least, Bonita Vista has all the best qualities of a racially diverse campus.
▪
The movement has got all the best stories, even if it's a little short on facts.
▪
They came, all the best and noblest, to join the company.
▪
They still kept almost all the best in-state players.
all the better/easier/more etc
▪
He offsets Roberts' operatic evil with a performance that commands all the more notice for its minimalism.
▪
His job was made all the more easier by drivers who hadn't bothered to take measures to stop people like him.
▪
If there is some meat left on the bones, all the better.
▪
It makes it all the more opportune.
▪
Superb defence by Karpov, all the more praiseworthy in that he was now in desperate time trouble.
▪
The dispute was all the more bitter because a prize was at stake.
▪
The inadequacy and treachery of the old leaderships of the working class have made the need all the more imperative.
▪
Weather experts say it was a relatively dry winter which makes the water recovery all the more remarkable.
appeal to sb's better nature/sense of justice etc
as best you can
▪
I'll deal with the problem as best I can.
▪
I cleaned the car up as best I could, but it still looked a mess.
▪
We'll have to manage as best we can without you.
▪
And her reaction to her illness was, as best I can glean, fraught with fear, discouragement, and depression.
▪
I would therefore be grateful if you could refer back to the letter I wrote and respond as best you can.
▪
It is therefore necessary to locate as best we can the final resting place or incidence of the major types of taxes.
▪
Only a proportion of them are successful and the rest must struggle as best they can to obtain mates.
▪
Our culture has no Obon ready-made, but we are filling in as best we can.
▪
Then you gently and gradually work the new feather on, positioning it to match the original plumage as best you can.
▪
We must also imagine our way into myth, as best we can, like actors in a play.
▪
You just have to wait and catch your moment or piece things together as best you can.
at a good/rapid/fast etc clip
▪
He was walking along at a good clip , his eyes idly panning the facades of the brownstone houses.
▪
Up ahead, a thoroughfare Traffic was going across the intersection at a good clip in both directions.
at best
▪
At best , sales have been good but not great.
▪
Public transportation is at best limited.
at the best of times
▪
Even at the best of times the roads are dangerous.
▪
A salmon is slippery enough to handle at the best of times, but one of this size ....
▪
But reason told her it was a precarious business at the best of times.
▪
In fact Polanski, unconventional at the best of times, takes us to the limit - and beyond.
▪
It was run on a shoestring at the best of times and Kelly was merely adding to his problems.
▪
Listening is a difficult and complex skill at the best of times.
▪
Memory was mischievously selective at the best of times Trivia stuck limpet-like and the useful filtered away.
▪
Rising living standards and well-being are ambiguously related at the best of times, and not simply for ecological reasons.
▪
The mind was a delicate mechanism that he disliked interfering with at the best of times.
at your best
▪
At his best , he's one of the most exciting tennis players in the world.
▪
This recording captures Grappelli at his very best .
▪
And if I sometimes see them at their worst, I sometimes see them at their best as well.
▪
Augusta was not at her best yesterday on a drab, grey day.
▪
But like Natalie Merchant, Cerbone is at her best when composing character sketches.
▪
Still, quarterbacks are not at their best when their throwing motion is impeded.
▪
The answer, in brief, is the method of empirical inquiry, at its best the method of science.
▪
The early 1960s showed such policy at its best .
▪
The formal work of the House is often seen at its best in committee.
▪
The Machine is at its best in primaries, but Daley was taking no chances.
at your best/worst/most effective etc
bad/good sailor
▪
Although he was a good sailor , Columbus was a bad governor.
▪
As a yacht delivery skipper he had to be a damn good sailor .
▪
Even the best sailors can be swept into them, apart from which they can cause all sorts of damage to your equipment.
▪
How he got there no-one knows, but he was a very good sailor and an even better artist.
▪
I have never been a good sailor , and kept to my bunk for the first part of the journey.
▪
Ironically I do not make a very good sailor .
▪
Turns out all of us are pretty good sailors .
be a good/quick/easy etc lay
▪
I don't deny it was a good lay .
be a good/wonderful/terrible etc cook
▪
As a result, the adult John is obsessed with food, has an overstocked fridge and is a good cook .
▪
Franca, said to be a good cook , was not a good cook, just an ingenious cook.
▪
He is a good cook , isn't he?
▪
My aunt and I are good cooks .
▪
Nils may be a good cook , but his time will be better spent away from the galley.
▪
Of motivation to get good grades in school or to be a good cook ?
▪
To be a good cook you have to do a lot of things precisely, but it requires no understanding.
▪
Zelah was a good cook and he enjoyed the meal.
be all the better for sth
▪
And it was all the better for being hosted by real-deal Alice Cooper rather than fat phoney Phill Jupitus.
▪
And the piece was all the better for it.
▪
My grandmother therefore moulded my life, and I believe I am all the better for it.
▪
Spa towns, though, are all the better for looking somewhat passé and Eaux-Bonnes is more passé than most.
▪
The game at Twickenham today will be all the better for the inclusion of the National Anthem.
▪
Well, a statement like that is all the better for proof, but go on, anyway.
be for the best
▪
Even though I lost my job, I knew it was for the best . It gave me the chance to start again.
▪
After all, it may be for the best .
▪
Anything that spurs creativity behind the bar must be for the best .
▪
He can smell nothing, which is for the best .
▪
I decided to decide that it was for the best .
▪
It may well be for the best .
▪
Maybe it is for the best .
▪
No one has been so heartless as to suggest we skip the picnic, but it is for the best .
▪
Still, perhaps it was for the best .
be good for the soul
▪
Confession is good for the soul , particularly when it comes from journalists, who have a notoriously difficult time admitting error.
▪
Heat lightning was breaking outside and there was a breeze from the ocean that was good for the soul .
▪
Perhaps some teachers and others believe that, nevertheless, such practice is good for the soul !
▪
What happened Saturday night was good for the soul .
▪
Which was good for the soul , but bad for knees and dignity.
be good/bad news for sb
▪
House prices are very low, which is good news for first-time buyers.
▪
Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little, too late.
▪
As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, and that may be good news for President Clinton.
▪
Gordon Brown also promised Labour would be good news for big employers ... like the nearby Rover plant in Cowley.
▪
Growing demand for such equipment is good news for the helicopter's distributors McAlpine based at Kidlington in Oxfordshire.
▪
Paperwork for files has been reduced and the threshold for compliance raised; both changes are good news for filers.
▪
The latest financial results are good news for a company that has struggled for years.
▪
This is good news for the hotelier who is prepared.
▪
This theft can only be bad news for the preservation movement.
be in (good) working/running order
▪
Hall of Power - a range of engines and heavy machinery, most of which are in working order and operated daily.
▪
The locomotive was in working order at the time and negotiations proceeded which resulted in transportation to Swanage as described above.
▪
To this day the milling machinery is in working order .
▪
Two isn't multiplicity and Castelfonte never was in running order , and now they were living in hotels.
be in a good/bad etc place
be in good company
▪
If you can't program your VCR, you're in good company .
▪
But even if she never escapes from its shadow, history shows her to be in good company .
▪
But for the United States, to be alone is to be in good company .
▪
Clinton is in good company , but I think he wants to be remembered for more than that.
▪
He is in good company when it comes to losing Tests that do not mat ter all that much.
▪
If these are your worries you are in good company .
▪
If you are, you are in good company with some one like Alfred North Whitehead.
▪
The new managers were in good company .
▪
We were in good company , though.
be in good heart
▪
Far from bumping along on the bottom, desperate for money, it is in good heart .
▪
I can see the land is in good heart , and I remember enough to know the extent of the estates.
▪
The gelding show-ed he was in good heart this week by winning at Edinburgh on Thursday.
▪
With the prospect of William and Harry joining them for a holiday afterwards, Diana was in good heart .
be in good/fine/great etc form
▪
At least he is in good form again.
▪
Davies, now in his 80s, is in fine form .
▪
Fortunately, Alan Judge was in fine form , pulling off a great save to keep Hereford in the game.
▪
Health Management Associates Inc., known as the Wal-Mart of hospital operators, appears to be in fine form .
▪
I was in good form that night.
▪
Office manager is on holiday this week., and assistant manager are in good form .
▪
That is our strength and our forwards are in good form at the moment.
be in sb's good/bad books
be just (good) friends
▪
""Are you going out with Liam?'' ""No, we're just good friends .''
▪
I'm not going out with Nathan, you know - we're just friends .
▪
I keep telling my mother that Peter and I are just friends but she doesn't seem to believe me.
▪
Billy and I were just good friends , really good mates.
▪
But maybe he and Jane were just friends .
▪
Maureen and I - we thought we were just friends .
▪
My wife and I are just good friends .
▪
They were just friends , and he was fun to be with.
be meant to be good/excellent/bad etc
be of Scottish/Protestant/good etc stock
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be onto a good thing
▪
His senses told him he was onto a good thing and his senses were rarely wrong.
▪
Many directors who take dividends in lieu of salary may think they are onto a good thing .
▪
Maybe he thought he was onto a good thing .
▪
Multiply that up by two or three hundred stores, and you will see he was onto a good thing .
▪
The plots were essentially the same; like any successful entrepreneur, Alger knew when he was onto a good thing .
▪
They felt they might be onto a good thing .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪
Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪
Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪
Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪
The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪
Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪
We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
better late than never
▪
While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better luck next time
▪
Ah well, better luck next time, Andy.
▪
And if you didn't win, better luck next time.
▪
Back to the West Indies with it, and better luck next time.
better the devil you know (than the devil you don't)
better yourself
▪
A lot of people are trying to better themselves.
▪
And she feels better herself - after two weeks, her headaches and tiredness have gone.
▪
He doesn't criticize the vice-president marketing's expert judgement nor pretend he could do better himself.
▪
I couldn't have done better myself.
▪
I teach them to better themselves.
▪
It is a way in which diversity and the desire to better oneself can be accommodated.
▪
She would do anything to better herself.
▪
Wilson speeches often praise the gumption of illegal immigrants who take risks and endure hardships to better themselves and their families.
better/harder/worse etc still
▪
And 245 specialty stock funds that focus on particular industries did better still , averaging a 6. 5 percent gain.
▪
But perhaps the early evening was better still ?
▪
He didn't talk because he was afraid of losing the pole or, worse still , falling in.
▪
I started to hunt for a cheap restaurant or, better still , a snack shop.
▪
I thought that it would soon pass, and it did - for you to work harder still .
▪
Or better still , make a real talent show instead.
▪
Or better still , there was the village school practically next door!
▪
With hindsight, it would have better still to lock in a few more gains.
bid sb good afternoon/good morning etc
bring out the best/worst in sb
▪
Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.
▪
And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.
▪
But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.
▪
But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.
▪
Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.
▪
It brings out the best in us.
▪
Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.
▪
So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
▪
Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.
come good/right
▪
In both cases, prices came right back down within three months.
▪
It seemed clear Corbett wanted me to work at Salomon, but he never came right out and proposed.
▪
It will all come right, now that a different period of history has begun.
▪
More generally, the logistical strengths that the Dole campaign had counted on began to come good.
▪
Periodically, these letters come right out of the woodwork.
▪
Since I was the best spinner of my type in the world, eventually it would all come right.
▪
The light comes right through our curtains and makes sleeping difficult.
▪
The wasp took off as if in fright, but she came right back.
come off best/better/worst etc
▪
Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.
▪
Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.
▪
His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.
▪
It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.
▪
Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.
▪
The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.
▪
The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.
come up with the goods/deliver the goods
▪
Neil Young's annual fall concert always delivers the goods with famous musicians and good music.
couldn't be better/worse/more pleased etc
damaged goods
▪
If there was actual combustion of the damaged goods , however caused, there has been damage by fire.
▪
On 5 September a credit note No. 19 was received from A. Creditor in respect of damaged goods valued £5.00 returned by the hotel.
▪
She didn't, but something about the way she moved confirmed my suspicion that she saw herself as damaged goods .
▪
We all pass through this life as damaged goods , and the repair work is ongoing.
discretion is the better part of valour
do better
▪
Harris argued that the economy is doing better than it was five years ago.
▪
I was convinced that many of the students could have done better if they'd tried.
▪
If you are saving 5 percent of your income each year, you're doing better than most people.
▪
Mark ran the distance in 30 minutes in the fall, but we're hoping he'll do better this season.
▪
Some roses do better in different types of soil.
▪
The British champion has completed the course in three minutes -- let's see if his Canadian rival can do better .
▪
We did better than we expected.
▪
Alamaro and Patrick think they can do better .
▪
Incumbents who vote against new regulations, paperwork and taxes -- usually conservatives -- do better on the scorecard.
▪
It leads to a lethargy I think we do better without.
▪
Some may do better than our scenario represents.
▪
Surely we can do better for people with mental problems and their families?
▪
The index did better than the broader market.
▪
We can do better than that now.
▪
We need to do better than that, and we can.
do sb a good/bad turn
▪
She was only trying to do James a good turn .
do sb a power of good
▪
It can also be funny and it can do you a power of good.
▪
Yeltsin could do his country a power of good by directing public attention to these issues.
do sb a world of good
▪
A week by the ocean will do you a world of good.
▪
A good run in pastures new would do you a world of good.
▪
All of them stressed that a holiday would do Valerie the world of good.
▪
All the family can enjoy eating the low-fat way and it will do everyone a world of good.
▪
But physically - this type of exercise will do you the world of good.
▪
Come on a Club 18-30 holiday and there's every chance it will do you the world of good.
▪
He could become so unaccountably miserable that a small amount of collusion some-times did him a world of good.
▪
Not only do they do you a world of good if you drink them but they also have cosmetic uses.
do your best
▪
But I did my best to feed them both.
▪
He wanted to do his best the first time he performed, and knew he was not in peak condition.
▪
Like Truman two decades earlier, Humphrey did his best to overcome the severe handicap of a badly split party.
▪
Once there, Drachenfels will do his best to isolate the crystal-wielding characters and rob them of their treasures.
▪
Remember, always do your best , don't let them hook you, however tempting the bait.
▪
We can only do our best .
▪
What I learned from them specifically of the techniques of teaching I have had to do my best to unlearn since.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪
But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪
He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪
I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪
It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪
Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪
There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪
This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪
What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
every bit as good/important etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪
In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪
The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪
Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪
To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
fare well/badly/better etc
▪
I think the men fared better than the women.
▪
It can be seen that, whilst all regions reflected the higher national unemployment rate, some regions fared better than others.
▪
It still fared better than the broader market.
▪
Life may be regarded as an austere struggle, blighted by fate, where only the rich and the lucky fare well.
▪
Not faring well, but resting.
▪
Obviously some clothiers fared better than others for there were quite a large number of bankruptcies between 1800 and 1840.
▪
The Bloomberg Indiana Index fared better than the benchmark Standard&.
▪
There is no reason to believe that diabetic patients fare better and they may do less well.
for better or (for) worse
▪
The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.
▪
All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.
▪
And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.
▪
And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.
▪
Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.
▪
He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.
▪
He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.
▪
Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.
▪
Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.
for good measure
▪
Why don't you try calling them one more time, for good measure .
▪
Add David Robinson for good measure .
▪
And let's add Godel for good measure .
▪
Even old Henry Spalding, who had returned to Lapwai in the spring, added his signature for good measure .
▪
For the rest it's twenty five minutes of speed and skill ... and then two more laps for good measure .
▪
I gave her a good strong look just for good measure .
▪
Network South East has its patriotic red, white, and blue bands with grey thrown in for good measure .
▪
Take your governing body licence along for good measure .
▪
This pudding also includes a little cocoa powder for good measure .
for the better
▪
Anything they can do to improve children's health is for the better .
▪
Besides, in some ways the change was for the better .
▪
Cloud changed things, all right, and not all for the better .
▪
That may be for the better .
▪
The formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 did not automatically change any of that for the better .
▪
The way was set for much-needed change, but would things change for the better ?
▪
This change has not necessarily been one for the better .
▪
What about learning how to change things for the better rather than merely learning to adapt to the way things are now?
for want of a better word/phrase etc
▪
Just horses and ploughs and, for want of a better word, peasants.
▪
Now, hands are, well, handed for want of a better word.
for want of anything better (to do)
get off to a good/bad etc start
get the better of sb
▪
Alison Leigh refuses to let circumstances get the better of her.
▪
Kramer's temper sometimes gets the better of him.
▪
At the same time he said he had had to select his shots wisely to get the better of Chesnokov.
▪
Blaise Cendrars witnessed a fight in which she was getting the better of Modigliani.
▪
Bored in the isolation of his taxi, curiosity and perhaps hunger got the better of him.
▪
But kids have a long tradition of getting the better of adults, going back to the Famous Five and beyond.
▪
I allowed my feelings to get the better of me.
▪
I run my fingers over this invisible object, and little by little curiosity gets the better of me.
▪
So mortals learned that it is not possible to get the better of Zeus or ever deceive him.
▪
We killed him, but that really got the better of us.
get/have a good press
▪
Because officials are so anxious to get good press , there is often tremendous pressure on the government press agent.
▪
Even Quayle is getting better press than me.
▪
Even testosterone, so often blamed for aggressive behavior in men, is getting better press .
▪
For now Harriet's keener on seeing chess get a better press .
give a good/poor account of yourself
▪
Cooper gave a good account of himself in the fight.
▪
Sussex's Wood gave a good account of herself and should have claimed the second set.
▪
Thirteen-year-old Patsy, who could always give a good account of herself, looked upset.
▪
Though it gave a good account of itself, Dave gently persuaded the fish close enough to be lifted aboard the boat.
give as good as you get
▪
At 87, Juran is still able to give as good as he gets.
▪
Don't you worry about Tim. He may be small but he gives as good as he gets!
▪
It was a tough interview, but I thought the President gave as good as he got.
▪
The youngest of three sons, Dave can give as good as he gets.
give sb a (good) run for their money
▪
Slosser gave Boyd a run for his money in the 1996 GOP primary.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
go one better (than sb)
▪
Beth Wolff, president of her own residential real estate company, likes to go one better .
▪
But even if Forbes loses his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, he may still go one better than his father.
▪
Ford went one better and put 60 two-stroke Fiestas on the roads.
▪
Laker's return of 9 for 37 was outstanding, but he was to go one better when the Aussies followed on.
▪
Like an aphid, then, the caterpillar employs ants as bodyguards, but it goes one better .
▪
She goes one better than last year.
▪
The Bristol & West have now gone one better than the standard endowment mortgage.
▪
They have followed each other up the ladder, but whenever he has reached the same rung she has gone one better .
good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc
good Samaritan
▪
Had she been prompted by curiosity or the instincts of the good Samaritan , Theodora wondered.
good and proper
▪
Now, eight years after the original bike was launched, Ducati has addressed the issue good and proper .
▪
We got our revenge on Kel for 1960 good and proper , and no one else was in it.
▪
Well, they both got it around in 75 and the crowd was on Seve's side good and proper .
good copy
▪
A good copy , painted by a twentieth-century court painter, but nevertheless a copy.
▪
Even those students intending to make a good copy of their rough essay may plan their writing.
▪
For, if he used her as a model, she used him as good copy .
▪
He told himself it was all good copy for his next novel.
▪
He wanted to make good copy for himself and his plays.
▪
Insipid daft doesn't make good copy .
▪
It may not be a very good copy of this, of this thing for your thing.
▪
Once the original is lost, the best copy you can make is less good than it was before.
good egg
▪
What a good egg she was!
good evening
▪
A bad morning, a good afternoon and - perhaps - an even better evening .
▪
A policeman walked by, wished me good evening and ushered a warning.
▪
Ah, good evening , Lestrade!
▪
Behind the glass I see her tell everyone good evening .
▪
But for now from all the team, have a very good evening .
▪
Dearest Timothy: It is a good evening to sit in this pleasant room and write a letter.
▪
Have a good evening . 1904 How can you, you have class tomorrow night?
▪
We exchange slightly embarrassed good evenings with them as we leave.
good faith
▪
As a sign of his good faith , the company has agreed to replace the defective parts for free.
▪
And I believe President Clinton is a person of good faith as well.
▪
As a result, both parties should always behave in good faith .
▪
Avoid apologizing if you've made a criticism in good faith .
▪
However, we judge the Government's good faith in terms of their track record.
▪
So we paid an exorbitant price for the decisions that were made in good faith and for good purpose.
▪
Special offers are quoted in good faith based on information supplied by retailers.
▪
These duties seek to regulate the conduct of partners and promote good faith between them.
▪
Whilst still in employment, there was an implied term imposing a duty of good faith .
good grief!
▪
Good grief ! Look the mess in here!
good luck to sb
▪
And finally good luck to Woodstock-based football manager Jim Smith the on Sunday.
▪
Anyway, good-by and good luck to you.
▪
If they start talking high teens, good luck to them.
▪
In which case, good luck to them both.
▪
Simon did well after that but made a pretence of simple good luck to anyone who questioned his apparent good fortune.
▪
So good luck to you, Susan.
▪
We can only wish good luck to the chairmen or directors of Morgan Grenfell, Amec.
▪
Well, cheers and good luck to you both.
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good mixer
▪
Moore Councill says each piece is designed to be a stand-alone winner, as well as a good mixer .
good morrow
▪
King: How now, my noble lords, good morrow !
good riddance (to sb)
▪
But if this is what the club resorts to than good riddance to them.
▪
If they can't accept me as I am, good riddance .
▪
So any docks, dandelions and creeping buttercup go straight to the tip and good riddance to them too.
▪
Then I thought: good riddance .
▪
To man qua man we readily say good riddance .
▪
We were all annoyed with him over not helping with the hay, and I thought good riddance .
good with your hands
▪
He was good with his hands .
▪
The psychologist had said he was good with his hands .
good/bad/poor etc effort
▪
Batter Up Despite my best efforts , I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.
▪
Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.
▪
Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort .
▪
However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.
▪
In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts , the moran evaded his supervision.
▪
In spite of the rain's best efforts , I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.
▪
Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts .
▪
Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.
good/bad/poor etc seller
▪
Alcohol and western cigarettes are best sellers .
▪
Convinced it had a best seller on its hands, Random House came up with the unorthodox idea of relaunching the book.
▪
Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.
▪
His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.
▪
It was the earliest best seller .
▪
Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?
▪
The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.
▪
Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.
good/bad/poor etc speller
▪
Only good spellers can spell easily orally.
▪
They give the good speller a chance to use his skill, but may depress a poor speller.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
good/better/healthy etc start (in life)
▪
A good start is one where you pass close behind the start boat going at speed.
▪
But it wasn't a good start in the lessons of love, and left me very arid in such matters.
▪
He had better start by accepting that if he does the right things, they will not be popular ones.
▪
It wasn't a very good start .
▪
Not a good start , but a start, nevertheless.
▪
The auditor may enjoy the gifts, but he had better start looking for a sympathy engram not yet suspected or tapped.
▪
The problem was the middle and end, when the team sacrificed rebounding for getting out to a good start .
▪
They will, however, be getting a new center, and that is a good start , he believes.
good/hard/quick etc worker
▪
He is supposedly not the hardest worker ever.
▪
He made Mrs Timms look uninterested in her store, the Reliance Market, and she was a hard worker .
▪
He was a good, hard worker .
▪
She was known to be very tough and a very hard worker .
▪
She was such a hard worker and a wonderful cook.
▪
The girl was a good worker who came and went quietly about her business.
good/top/poor etc performer
▪
Almost all the poor performers were to be found in the economically-disadvantaged regions.
▪
Both Cisco and Stratacom are among the top performers on Wall Street.
▪
But these top performers are aware of the requirements for effective training as well as its limitations.
▪
Deals are also being offered to companies as alternative incentive perks to top performers .
▪
He chose an all-or-nothing strategy to put himself in the top performers in the Great Grain Challenge.
▪
It took me seven months to really understand that I have an individual who is a good performer .
▪
Strasser pointed to the construction, cable, chemical, tire and engineering industries as the likely best performers this year.
▪
The poorer performers tend to die; the better ones, to reproduce.
greater/more/better etc than the sum of its parts
▪
Or is the organisation more than the sum of its parts?
had best
▪
They had best be careful.
▪
All due, of course, to the fact that she had bested Travis McKenna.
▪
But pitchers had best take note as well.
▪
If so, we had best listen closely, since we will not get another chance.
▪
Meanwhile we had best prepare the way by showing that a medicine beyond verbal shamanism is an aching need.
▪
Perhaps we had best ask ourselves why our political institutions function as they do.
▪
Poets like Woodhouse had best go back to their jobs.
▪
The concept of differentiation is a key theme of our work, and we had best discuss it as the book unfolds.
had better
▪
I'd better not go out tonight; I'm really tired.
▪
You'd better phone Julie to say you'll be late.
▪
After what he has now said about a referendum, he had better watch out.
▪
Any organisation dismissing that vision as science-fiction had better look out.
▪
But Walter is a poor shade of what we have had better done.
▪
He thought he had better reread that part of the book.
▪
I did not want to go, but Dana said we had better do as they asked.
▪
I realized I had better hustle him out of there before he was asked about his acting career.
▪
In April 1911, he seemingly had better luck.
▪
They told Weary that he and Billy had better find somebody to surrender to.
half a loaf (is better than none)
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
have a (good) nose for sth
▪
He must have a nose for money better than any hound for any fox.
▪
I have a nose for one thing.
have a (good) root round
have a (good) run for your money
have a good/fine/thick etc head of hair
have a high/low/good/bad etc opinion of sb/sth
▪
All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.
▪
He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.
▪
Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.
▪
She does not seem to have a high opinion of married life.
have an eye/a good eye for sth
▪
Greene has an eye for detail.
▪
Confidence men always have an eye for extra exits.
▪
She says women have an eye for minutiae, they see the curtain hasn't been drawn or the untied shoelace.
▪
They also have an eye for a catchy phrase.
have seen better days
▪
Ms. Davis's car had certainly seen better days.
▪
Virginia's car had definitely seen better days.
▪
We are working at Nanking University, in rather cramped and primitive conditions, for the buildings have seen better days.
have/get the goods on sb
▪
The two detectives went undercover to get the goods on the Parducci family.
▪
It is get the goods on him.
he/she had a good innings
hotter/colder/better etc than ever
▪
And that incentive was increased when they got personal recognition and satisfaction from doing it better than ever before.
▪
He says the new films are better than ever .
▪
Organised by the Alton and District Arts Council, the week promises to be better than ever .
▪
The moviemaking machine that Walt Disney created sixty years ago is working better than ever today.
▪
The National Health Service is now better than ever .
▪
The opportunities now are better than ever .
▪
This year's attractions are bigger and better than ever , with events running from Tuesday to Saturday.
▪
Watermen talked about their catches so far this year, which they said have been better than ever .
if you know what's good for you
in (good) trim
▪
All that time I've kept myself in trim .
▪
Fruit bushes, roses and other plants can be kept in trim with ease, keeping your garden tidy all year round.
▪
I need to keep my voice in trim since I still perform as a narrator.
▪
It is, and keeping yourself in trim is very important when you're not working.
▪
The 6, 000 middle-grade employees who work there are technically outstanding and in good trim .
▪
To this day Souness is obsessed with fitness, healthy dieting, pectoral pride and keeping his body in trim .
▪
You get in trim , he gets to drink more turpentine, and everybody's happy.
in a good/an ill/a bad humour
in fine/good fettle
▪
When I visited Mahatma Gandhi again at the end of June, 1946, he was in fine fettle .
in good nick/in bad nick etc
in good/bad/poor etc shape
▪
But if I was in better shape , I'd be sitting up there.
▪
He could still be in good shape .
▪
He said Texpool is in good shape now.
▪
If only he could tell them he was all right, in good shape , considering ....
▪
This saw the band in good shape , retaining their traditions of twisted passions and bleak emotional narratives.
▪
This year, however, Dole appears in good shape in both locations.
▪
Uptown was still in bad shape .
▪
We found he was in good shape , but had no food in his intestines.
in good/poor etc repair
▪
Almost 40% of unfit properties, and 35% of properties in poor repair , were occupied by people aged 60 and over.
▪
Drains: A properly constructed system, in good repair , does not normally require cleaning.
▪
It was the only door on Dreadnought which could be considered in good repair .
▪
Or Arthur McAlister; who had taken the responsibility of having their lawn mowed and keeping the house in good repair .
▪
Specific buildings, notably those on Castle Hill, including the cathedral and palaces, are restored and in good repair .
▪
The fences on either side of the track were in poor repair and in April 1965 children were seen on the line.
▪
The gallery is a very fine example and in good repair .
▪
The power station was in poor repair , and Smith set about installing new insulators and restoring good practice.
in your own (good) time
▪
Before, they used to count their breaks in the twelve hours, now their breaks are in their own time .
▪
Blue Mooney, a living legend in his own time .
▪
He should take his own route in his own time and avoid the tendency to see through others' eyes.
▪
Let me tell them myself, in my own time .
▪
Nurses in training who work hard physically, study in their own time and have numerous personal commitments are under pressure.
▪
The recognition that exceptional holiness and spirituality continue to manifest themselves in our own time is also a central pentecostal conviction.
▪
There were realistic hopes for Surrey as Mark Butcher and Stewart appeared to be building a stand in their own time .
▪
You would be healthy in your own time .
it does your heart good to see/hear sth
it's a good thing (that)
▪
But it's a good thing it happened now...
▪
I decide it's a good thing that I don't see Sean try to capture Ian's incandescent dance.
▪
I think it's a good thing .
▪
So it's a good thing to get one's mind off in one's spare time.
▪
Still, it's a good thing from the hunt's point of view that new blood is coming along, surely?
jolly good!
just as good/bad/big etc
▪
And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.
▪
At home it was just as bad.
▪
I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.
▪
It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.
▪
Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.
▪
Or something else, just as bad, could happen.
▪
People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.
▪
Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.
keep perfect/good etc time
▪
But like a single gear in a mechanical clock, timeless can not keep good time all by itself.
▪
Nothing unusual - clocks behaving as before, keeping good time and continuing to emit their light beams.
▪
Running in a clump through a crowded station, like the Bash Street Kids, keeping perfect time with chant and clap.
kiss sth better
know better
▪
Parents should know better than their children, but they don't always necessarily do.
▪
The man said it was an 18 carat diamond, but Dina knew better.
▪
But there were some rules he knew better than she ever would.
▪
Even people who should know better have ended up paying a price for denying what they are feeling.
▪
Guess he should have known better.
▪
Now you know better, thass all.
▪
Then I would have known better.
▪
Time you knew better, young lady.
▪
Yamazaki seems unconcerned by the fact that he's taking on problems that have defeated many who should have known better.
let the good times roll
light years ahead/better etc than sth
make a good/bad fist of sth
make good time
▪
Once we got on the freeway, we made good time .
▪
After the ferry incident, we make good time .
▪
But DeLatorre, leading the convoy, made better time than he expected.
▪
I made good time back over the motorway.
▪
I was no weight, we made good time .
▪
The weather was not too promising, but we made good time and were soon at the first terrace.
▪
They made good time thereafter, considering the darkness, encountering no problems.
▪
We had made good time and had to ease speed to avoid closing the island in darkness.
▪
We were making good time through the foothills.
make the best of sth
▪
It's not going to be fun, but we might as well make the best of it.
▪
A good travel partner laughs and makes the best of it.
▪
For the most part, however, he made the best of contemporary information.
▪
In these circumstances one makes the best of limited information.
▪
Jack made the best of his bad luck at being captured and found plenty to occupy his time.
▪
One has to make the best of a situation, after all.
▪
When Miihlenberg learned that it was indeed a free country, he made the best of things.
▪
Yet despite her palpable alienation from suburban stay-at-home motherhood, she is determined to make the best of it.
man's best friend
miles older/better/too difficult etc
my (good) man
▪
As for fitzAlan ... did you think killing three of my men would go unnoticed?
▪
But my man fires his gun.
▪
But was it necessary to kill my men in cold blood?
▪
Hey Timmy, how are you, my man ?
▪
I called my men to drive them back.
▪
I decided like a good captain to remain with my men .
▪
I heard my men going after him with their guns - and then everything went black.
no news is good news
▪
I always say, no news is good news.
none the worse/better etc (for sth)
▪
Although the animal glowed rosy-pink, it appeared none the worse for its ordeal.
▪
I recovered, my mouth none the worse for it, after all.
▪
Peter's little pet was clearly none the worse for its time in the underworld.
not half as/so good/interesting etc (as sb/sth)
not in (all/good) conscience
▪
And apologists for Labour's refusal to organise in Northern Ireland can not in all conscience describe themselves as democrats.
▪
I have a hard time separating one statement resulting from torture from another and I can not in good conscience do so.
▪
Yet as Dunkers they could not in conscience support the use of force or pay disrespect to the Crown.
not know any better
▪
Before Sinai, one could argue, the people had the excuse of not knowing any better.
not so big/good/bad etc
▪
But so happen, one little boy not so good.
▪
But it's not so bad down here.
▪
Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.
▪
It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪
My tongue not so good anyway.
▪
She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.
▪
Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.
▪
When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.
not very good/happy/far etc
▪
Are you - very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, or not happy at all?
▪
Governments are not very good at tinkering.
▪
He says his technique is not very good.
▪
Most humans are not very good at keeping secrets.
▪
My breathing was not very good at all.
▪
Other kids were not very good either, and we all inadvertently inhaled the pool again and again.
▪
Paul is not very good at pushing it yet.
▪
Relations with Admiral Boyd of the Joint Chiefs were not very good either.
one good turn deserves another
pay good money for sth
▪
I paid good money for that sofa, so it should last.
▪
And we'd say, we're paying good money for this.
▪
Consumer information is an asset which marketers are prepared to pay good money for.
▪
I paid good money for that, I said, can't I just have a last go on it?
▪
I paid good money for this vehicle and I won't have the likes of you doing what you're doing!
▪
It hardly surprised him that people were not too keen on paying good money for that.
▪
Why pay good money for the same effect?
▪
Women would pay good money for a glimpse of his guardsman's helmet.
put in a (good) word for sb
▪
I'll put in a good word for you with the management.
▪
He put in a good word for him at meetings of the Jockey Club.
▪
Only those who keep a dialogue going will be able to put in a word for persons in need of intercession.
put sth to (good) use
▪
I'd like a job where I could put my degree in languages to good use .
▪
But I am putting it to use .
▪
How do you put it to use in daily practice?
▪
It does not seem regressive to put it to use in the service of gay survival as well.
▪
Many large and medium size companies, government departments and Local authorities are putting Dataease to use somewhere within their organisations.
▪
Much of ecology is about this process: finding energy; putting it to use .
▪
The time has come to put your skills to use by developing a more useful and complex object orientated program.
▪
The trouble is we never stop long enough to put them to good use .
▪
Throughout the 1980s, researchers and company executives struggled with how to put Al to use .
put up a good fight
put up a good/poor etc show
▪
He might have put up a good show the other day, but that was because he was frightened.
▪
She put up a better show in the 1980s.
put/turn sth to good account
▪
The extra time was turned to good account .
quite a few/a good few/not a few
sb had better/best do sth
sb is (great/good) fun
▪
But it is fun for me to look up from my Sunday paper and watch them try to cope.
▪
Chasing and racing is fun for a time but you end up yearning for something different.
▪
In beautifully landscaped settings, this unique zoo is great fun for all the family.
▪
It is fun to have competitions to see who can sleep their yo-yo longer.
▪
Much of the film is fun , but a lot is confusing.
▪
Some of this is great fun , but it pulls the production two ways, blunting its focus.
▪
This is fun , unfussy, honest fare that calls for a glass of cold beer.
▪
This is just a whim but it is great fun .
sb is a (good) laugh
▪
Across the room, a table of young men in fitted shirts is laughing heartily and splashing out wine.
▪
Dennis is laughing , head held back.
▪
Her head is thrown back, and she is laughing .
▪
I can't understand what is said, but one of the technicians is laughing .
▪
I notice Harding is collapsed beside McMurphy and is laughs ing too.
▪
The banter between us is a laugh .
▪
What you want to do is laugh , but everyone is afraid to laugh.
sb knows best
sb's good offices/the good offices of sb
send your love/regards/best wishes etc
▪
He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.
▪
Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.
show sb in a good/bad etc light
show sth to (good/great) advantage
▪
He has joined to a fine genius all that can set him off and show him to advantage .
▪
It may be that the product would be shown off to best advantage in use.
so far so good
▪
"How's your new job?" "So far so good."
so much the better
▪
If it makes illegal drug use even more difficult, so much the better .
▪
You can use dried parsley, but if you have fresh, so much the better .
▪
And if I am Peter, so much the better .
▪
And if that can change things, so much the better Female speaker He's the little man having a kick.
▪
But if I can manage with fewer trips to the store, so much the better .
▪
If love eventually grows, so much the better .
▪
If they are alive so much the better , but they can be persuaded to take dead ones.
▪
If they can fit in with the room's general style, so much the better .
▪
If we can improve the team another way, so much the better .
▪
So a single fluorescent tube will be adequate, and if you have used floating plants, so much the better .
stand/serve/hold sb in good stead
▪
As a small boy, I devised my own set of cartoon animals, and they now stood me in good stead .
▪
But her beloved circus may have served her in better stead than regular outings to, say, the ballet.
▪
Despite his lack of political experience, Clouthier's 20-year leadership of business organisations stood him in good stead .
▪
Insomnia would stand him in good stead in this expanse of knee-high cover.
▪
Now we had moved on to bigger and better things, this predictability still stood us in good stead .
▪
These shoes had stood him in good stead .
▪
This habit of work, which is by now natural to me, has stood me in good stead .
▪
Those contacts, he says, still serve him in good stead today.
take sth in good part
that's a good girl/that's a clever dog etc
the (good ol') U.S. of A.
the Good Book
the best
▪
I chose a Japanese camera because I wanted to have the best .
▪
She's the best of the new young writers.
▪
She was the best in her class at college.
▪
When it comes to cancer research, Professor Williams is probably the best in her field.
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best of a bad lot/bunch
the best of both worlds
▪
Job-sharing gives me the best of both worlds - I can be with my children and keep my professional status.
▪
All in all, a great place to enjoy the best of both worlds.
▪
An arrangement like this can often be the best of both worlds.
▪
And taking into account the prices of both the ME-6 and ME-10 they really are the best of both worlds.
▪
But if the eye can remain open without being seen, then the prey has the best of both worlds.
▪
Supporters say this type of extended day is the best of both worlds.
▪
This is the best of both worlds.
▪
Used in conjunction with a moisturising conditioner, it will give your lank locks the best of both worlds.
▪
You get the best of both worlds in a job like this: use your strong back and your agile mind.
the best of sth
▪
At the best of times, the industry is very competitive, but this is not the best of times.
▪
But Black Mountain was often not the best of all possible worlds.
▪
But they clearly were not the best of their time, and that should be the No. 1 voting criterion.
▪
He is the first to admit that he was not the best of patients.
▪
Obviously, not the best of plans.
▪
Seb was not the best of patients.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
▪
Converse drank the better part of the rum.
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
▪
It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
▪
This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪
And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
▪
Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪
That's the biggest understatement of all time !
▪
You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
▪
Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
▪
But me third was the best of the bunch .
▪
Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
▪
Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
▪
He may be the best of the bunch .
▪
It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
▪
Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
▪
Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the better
the forces of good/evil etc
▪
At the core of Hampden Babylon is a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It could fight the forces of evil.
▪
It is an age-old heresy to see the world as a battleground between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It will be a struggle between your hero and whatever associates he may have and the forces of evil opposed to him.
▪
Now he's restating his submission to the Bara Bhai and the forces of good.
▪
Television is therefore seen to be taking the moral high ground, the side of the punter against the forces of evil.
the great and the good
the next best thing
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
the powers of good/evil/darkness
▪
May we seek to develop the powers of good that lie within us.
▪
So close to the powers of evil she must have lived that she still breathed more freely in their air.
the sooner ( ... ) the better
▪
The sooner we get these bills paid off, the better.
▪
They knew they had to leave town, and the sooner the better.
the sooner the better/the bigger the better etc
there's a good boy/clever dog etc
think better of it
▪
She felt like slapping him in the face, but thought better of it.
▪
But he thought better of it and slowly breathed out the air through his nose.
▪
But then she thought better of it.
▪
Cowher said later he momentarily contemplated tackling Hudson, but thought better of it.
▪
He thought better of it, and despite a case of galloping homesickness, decided not to go home at all.
▪
He could have forced the window in time, anyone could, but he seemed suddenly to think better of it.
▪
He passed Miguel the joint but Miguel thought better of it.
▪
Then he thought better of it.
think the best/worst of sb
▪
Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.
▪
He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.
▪
I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.
▪
My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.
▪
The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.
▪
Why should you think the worst of me?
▪
You always think the worst of me.
to good/great/no etc effect
▪
And the book eschews alphabetical order in favour of thematic logic - to good effect .
▪
Any ball direct to deane was usually flicked on to no effect .
▪
But nobody demonized the opposition to greater effect than did Clinton strategist James Carville during the 1992 presidential campaign.
▪
Jones has turned the Trust's restrictions on the use of agrochemicals to good effect .
▪
The bi-colour l.e.d. can utilise a transparent lens-clip to good effect .
▪
The task of management is to use these to greatest effect .
▪
The threefold model of church growth of cell, congregation and celebration works at Ichthus to great effect .
▪
Video is a relatively new medium for in-house communications and is used by some companies to great effect .
to the best of your ability
▪
All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
▪
I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
to the best of your knowledge/belief/ability etc
too clever/rich/good etc by half
▪
The arithmetic can not be faulted - and may well be judged too clever by half .
trump/best/strongest card
▪
And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
▪
In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
▪
Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
▪
That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
▪
That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
▪
The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
▪
This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
▪
We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
two heads are better than one
use/turn sth to your/good advantage
▪
First and foremost, Borland have taken the Windows interface and used it to good advantage .
▪
Homeloans are one of the cheapest ways of borrowing money - find out how to use them to your advantage .
▪
If you would like to reassess your life and learn how to use stress to your advantage , come along.
▪
Parents may feel suspicious of these, or resentful, and will need help in using them to best advantage .
▪
Professionals need to be aware of such things and use them to good advantage .
vote sth a success/the best etc
▪
But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.
▪
They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.
while the going's good
▪
Let's get out while the going's good.
wish sb (the best of) luck
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
▪
I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
▪
James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
▪
Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
▪
She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
▪
Well, I wish you luck .
▪
Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with (a) good/bad grace
▪
Admit temporary defeat with good grace , retreat, reconsider and wait.
▪
But he tucked his manuscript away with a good grace .
▪
He threw himself with good grace into everything, even this.
▪
Life is very crude, and bonnie Princes Street a dream, but we soldier on with a good grace .
▪
Mr Macmillan was, according to colleagues, prepared to give way with good grace when he could not carry the Cabinet.
▪
Sport only thrives if both parties play by the rules, and accept the results with good grace .
▪
They accept his habitual interruptions with good grace .
▪
This must have been irksome for them, but Mrs Webster accepted it as her war work with good grace .
with the best of intentions/for the best of reasons
with the best will in the world
▪
And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
▪
Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
withdraw/retreat in good order
would you be good/kind enough to do sth?
you'd better believe it!
▪
"Do they make money on them?" "You'd better believe it!"
your Sunday best
your Sunday best
your best bet
▪
For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
▪
We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
▪
Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your better half/other half
your good deed for the day
your guess is as good as mine
▪
"When's the next bus coming?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
▪
"Who do you think will win the World Cup?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
your/her/my etc Sunday best
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"Why don't you write to your bank and ask for a loan?'' "That's a good idea.''
▪
Good music seems to be a thing of the past.
▪
good weather
▪
a good -sized house
▪
a good quality car
▪
a good woman
▪
Andrea is a good cook.
▪
Bates would be a good person to have on the team.
▪
Be a good boy and eat your vegetables.
▪
Bye now Jessie. Be good .
▪
Did you have good weather in France?
▪
Did you have a good weekend?
▪
Everyone has the capability of making themselves something good to eat when they get home in the evening.
▪
Frank had always been a good football player, and it was no surprise when he was chosen for the team.
▪
Harry's work is always very good .
▪
Have a good weekend!
▪
He's a good little boy.
▪
He had always tried to lead a good life.
▪
Her early work is much better than her more recent stuff.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Actually, every good family has a story of a spectacular plumbing disaster.
▪
But a good time wasn't to be.
▪
Noticing good behaviour Look actively for the good in your child.
▪
On Sunday we rose early and after a good breakfast were eager to get out on the hills.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
The more you practise the better you will become at selecting historical information to suit firstly your essay and secondly your argument.
▪
To Our Readers, Publications, like people, have good years and better years.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
great
▪
That generosity is a greater good than selfishness.
▪
This, I learned, was standard practice when a customer was about to be sacrificed for the greater good of Salomon.
■ VERB
do
▪
Some of those wishing to do good embarked on the road to hell and dragged others along with them.
▪
We could do a little business, do us both some good .
▪
Even moving up in weight did no good .
▪
I had to run under some pines to take cover; this did no good .
▪
Checking more than one box does no one any good .
▪
Actually, the stove did little good unless you stood right in front of it.
produce
▪
Suppose that the number of firms competing to produce a good in one country is smaller than the number in another.
▪
And the sacrifice they make by not producing a good is their opportunity cost.
▪
So if R is to be the same in all countries, all firms producing a good must have the same output.
▪
A firm might be a single individual who produces a good from her own resources.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
good/bad timekeeper
(Good) Lord!/Oh Lord!
▪
Good Lord , Tom! What are you doing?
(a) fat lot of good/use
▪
A fat lot of good it did me!
▪
Frederick Bissett was a member of the Institute of Professional Scientists, and a fat lot of good that did him.
▪
Getting the pound down was what Labour governments did with metronomic regularity. Fat lot of good it did them.
(get) a bigger/better etc bang for your buck
(jolly) good show
▪
Although his forecasts have been close in the past, this is his best showing .
▪
And he may have acquired an added incentive for wanting to make a good showing .
▪
It's the best show they've got.
▪
Just how good shows in the figures.
▪
The royals will try to shrug off their problems and put on a good show for Margaret.
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪
We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
(that's a) good question!
▪
"Does the program allow you to do that?" "That's a good question - I don't know."
God/oh (my) God/good God (almighty)
God/oh (my) God/good God/God almighty
I couldn't wish for a nicer/better etc ...
I have it on good authority
▪
I have it on good authority that the school board wants to fire the principal.
I must/I'd better be getting along
I'd better mosey along/be moseying along
I/you can't/couldn't ask for a better sth
a (damn/darned/darn) sight more/better etc
▪
Actually, a damn sight more than from that stiff gherkin Smott.
▪
I prefer my women a little older and a damn sight more sober.
▪
If he listened to Anthony Scrivener, he would be a darned sight better.
▪
Perhaps not up there with Wilburforce but a damn sight more daring than anything Diana ever did!
▪
The Galapagos finch was a darn sight more valuable than Sandra Willmot.
▪
We were a darned sight better than them.
a (good) catch
▪
A man in a uniform was a good catch in these parts.
▪
And keep medicines up high, also with a catch on the cupboard.
▪
He caught 89 passes last year, but he averaged just 7. 7 yards a catch.
▪
He went to it at once, looking for a catch , a way of releasing it, but there was nothing.
▪
Since a doctor or a lawyer is a good catch , he can attract a woman whose family is wealthy.
▪
The law has a catch , however.
▪
There is a catch , however!
▪
Within minutes, Honaker felt the telltale movement of a catch moving up the tube.
a damn sight more/better etc
▪
Actually, a damn sight more than from that stiff gherkin Smott.
▪
I prefer my women a little older and a damn sight more sober.
▪
Perhaps not up there with Wilburforce but a damn sight more daring than anything Diana ever did!
a darn sight better/harder etc
a difficult/hard/good etc one
▪
But what is temperament, and how do we define what is a good one ?
▪
I knew there was no sense in trying to do a better one .
▪
Maybe it was a crackpot theory, but it was a good one .
▪
Nevertheless, it was always clear that Schmidt's third term in office would prove a difficult one .
▪
Payno was gleeful, for his idea was a good one .
▪
The belief that hierarchical organizational structure makes for good business is a difficult one to give up.
▪
The Berlin Philharmonic as it exists today may be a happier orchestra, but it is in no way a better one .
▪
Then I became a lead project manager and, I have to say, I was a good one .
a fast/good/long etc ball
▪
A bit like Dorigo ie he can cross a good ball when necessary.
▪
Anyway he is 24, is a good ball winner and throws himself around a bit.
▪
Jackson will supplant Charlie Ward as the starting point guard, giving the team a better ball distributor.
▪
Leeds do play a lot of football, but they hit a long ball as well.
▪
Phillips seized on a long ball and found himself with only Manninger to beat.
▪
Pow, Janir hit a long ball into the blackberry bushes beside the creek.
▪
Root threw me a fast ball .
a good night's sleep
▪
All you need is a good night's sleep.
▪
Night before 1 Try to ensure a good night's sleep. 2 Alleviate any anxiety if possible.
a good old sth
▪
We had a good old time at the reunion.
▪
But even marriage to a good old boy has not opened all arms to Fonda.
▪
He was a good old man, and I still miss him.
▪
He was a good old mule.
▪
If you need thrills, excitement and a good old dose of adrenalin, then the Ducati is a top option.
▪
It was high time, he intimated, that he and old Barney got together for a good old chinwag.
▪
One of these days Sam is going to come up against a good old time proper door.
▪
Our only hope is a good old winter storm over the Christmas holiday.
a good read
▪
It's not great literature, but it's a good read .
▪
Barnes and Hughes for a good read , Levin ton for the examinations.
▪
He seems to have a good read on his players and good rapport with them.
▪
I just sit and have a good read until they are done.
▪
It is certainly worth a good read , and I can recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.
▪
Journal in double triumph Roy Castle takes a break from record-breaking and relaxes with a good read .
▪
Le Carre can always be counted on to deliver a good read .
▪
Taken as a good read , this is an excellent book.
a good screw
a good sport
▪
I don't like playing with him - he's not a very good sport .
▪
All in all, Fred was a good sport and said he enjoyed the meal.
▪
But she was such a good sport about it.
a good/bad etc shot
▪
But Nogai's a good shot .
▪
Ed Kelley was a good shot .
▪
He made a good shot from there and holed a three-foot putt for a quadruple-bogey eight.
▪
If I hit a bad shot , I try to minimize its effect.
▪
Klingler made it clear at the end of 1996 that he wanted a better shot at moving up the depth chart.
▪
That much was the least expected of a hunter who had made a bad shot .
▪
They have a better shot at claiming the governorship.
▪
Tom played a bad shot out of the bunker, and he does no more than charge straight at this press guy.
a good/bad judge of sth
▪
Sarah's not a very good judge of character.
▪
And for all his imagination, he was not a good judge of character on limited acquaintance.
▪
But Anya's a better judge of character than she used to be, back in the old homeland.
▪
He's also a good judge of a quick run.
▪
He was a good judge of character, hated hypocrisy, and had no time for conceit.
▪
I didn't protest as it was his fence officially, and he was supposed to be a good judge of torque.
▪
It was not that he was too sure of himself simply that he was a good judge of the possible.
▪
Munnings, he told reporters, was a better judge of horses than paintings.
a good/large part of sth
▪
Married couples make up a large part of the church's congregation.
▪
Checheno-Ingushetia was abolished, and a large part of the Ingushi lands had been ceded to North Ossetia and repopulated by Ossetes.
▪
Had Therese spent a large part of her salary on a dress she would never wear again?
▪
His energies were never enormous, but limited though they were, he used a large part of them outside the business.
▪
Many young people are now attracted to the idea of producing a large part of their own food.
▪
So did a large part of the local population, including Morag Paterson.
▪
So that a large part of every day is not determined by thought at all, it more or less just happens because of habit.
▪
Social services take up a large part of the council budget.
▪
Ten black men took a sledge-hammer to the work, and knocked off a large part of his face.
a good/safe bet
▪
The earrings seemed like a good bet for a birthday present.
▪
Cohen says companies like PictureTel have improved transmission quality, making video conferencing a better bet than in years past.
▪
Even if you spend more and risk recurring sticker shock, the place is a good bet to tranquilize you.
▪
It was always a safe bet , of course, that Hillsborough would be just about the least dangerous place in Britain yesterday.
▪
Only a few months ago he had looked like a good bet .
▪
Still, if a well-equipped sporty car is in your heart, the fifth-generation Prelude probably is a good bet .
▪
That makes them a good bet if you travel with a laptop computer.
▪
The supermodels are a safe bet and, in times of recession, that is what matters.
a good/sympathetic listener
▪
And apart from the information you get, being a good listener helps the other side to relax and have confidence in you.
▪
Be a good listener and do not demand that children reveal all that they do or think.
▪
In the Collins family, Kevin was not actually told stories about how he, too, was a good listener .
▪
It will give you the opportunity to discuss your problems with a sympathetic listener .
▪
Lady Thatcher never drew breath, while John Major was a good listener .
▪
People liked her because she was steady, sensible, a good listener .
▪
Seek not only to be understood but to understand-be a good listener .
▪
Zach said he was a good listener and that he was a sensitive being.
a great/good deal
▪
A single incident suggests a great deal about Hennepinhis prudery, his belligerence, his sensitivity.
▪
In the last ten years, we have learned a great deal more about this interplay.
▪
Neither girl took a great deal of interest in me.
▪
One particular candidate responding to the survey went to a great deal of trouble to commit his decidedly anti-headhunting views to paper.
▪
She spoke a great deal about poetry.
▪
Teachers also received a great deal of support and help from both popular organizations and from communities to ease their situation.
▪
The movement of earthworms throughout layers can also cause a great deal of disruption, blurring the divisions.
▪
Very frequently, speechwriters are recruited from the ranks of journalism, which accounts for a great deal .
a happy/good hunting ground (for sth)
▪
I pass up a roadside rest area, a happy hunting ground for new cars and ready cash.
▪
In the early years of this century, many a collector found Madeira a happy hunting ground.
▪
Scandinavia was a happy hunting ground for him and he did the same for Nicolai Gedda.
a nod's as good as a wink
a rattling good yarn/story/read
▪
On one level, it is vastly entertaining and a rattling good read.
▪
We bet the Weatherfield Advertiser was a rattling good read under Ken's editorship.
all in good time
▪
But don't fret, you shall have a puppy all in good time .
all the best
▪
Tell him I said goodbye and wish him all the best .
▪
A facility that's said to represent all the best in car manufacturing worldwide.
▪
He wanted to give it all the best that was in him, of which he had more than he needed.
▪
In fact they are regularly seen around all the best joints.
▪
Maybe it was true that the Devil got all the best lines.
▪
On the surface, at least, Bonita Vista has all the best qualities of a racially diverse campus.
▪
The movement has got all the best stories, even if it's a little short on facts.
▪
They came, all the best and noblest, to join the company.
▪
They still kept almost all the best in-state players.
all the better/easier/more etc
▪
He offsets Roberts' operatic evil with a performance that commands all the more notice for its minimalism.
▪
His job was made all the more easier by drivers who hadn't bothered to take measures to stop people like him.
▪
If there is some meat left on the bones, all the better.
▪
It makes it all the more opportune.
▪
Superb defence by Karpov, all the more praiseworthy in that he was now in desperate time trouble.
▪
The dispute was all the more bitter because a prize was at stake.
▪
The inadequacy and treachery of the old leaderships of the working class have made the need all the more imperative.
▪
Weather experts say it was a relatively dry winter which makes the water recovery all the more remarkable.
appeal to sb's better nature/sense of justice etc
as best you can
▪
I'll deal with the problem as best I can.
▪
I cleaned the car up as best I could, but it still looked a mess.
▪
We'll have to manage as best we can without you.
▪
And her reaction to her illness was, as best I can glean, fraught with fear, discouragement, and depression.
▪
I would therefore be grateful if you could refer back to the letter I wrote and respond as best you can.
▪
It is therefore necessary to locate as best we can the final resting place or incidence of the major types of taxes.
▪
Only a proportion of them are successful and the rest must struggle as best they can to obtain mates.
▪
Our culture has no Obon ready-made, but we are filling in as best we can.
▪
Then you gently and gradually work the new feather on, positioning it to match the original plumage as best you can.
▪
We must also imagine our way into myth, as best we can, like actors in a play.
▪
You just have to wait and catch your moment or piece things together as best you can.
at a good/rapid/fast etc clip
▪
He was walking along at a good clip , his eyes idly panning the facades of the brownstone houses.
▪
Up ahead, a thoroughfare Traffic was going across the intersection at a good clip in both directions.
at best
▪
At best , sales have been good but not great.
▪
Public transportation is at best limited.
at the best of times
▪
Even at the best of times the roads are dangerous.
▪
A salmon is slippery enough to handle at the best of times, but one of this size ....
▪
But reason told her it was a precarious business at the best of times.
▪
In fact Polanski, unconventional at the best of times, takes us to the limit - and beyond.
▪
It was run on a shoestring at the best of times and Kelly was merely adding to his problems.
▪
Listening is a difficult and complex skill at the best of times.
▪
Memory was mischievously selective at the best of times Trivia stuck limpet-like and the useful filtered away.
▪
Rising living standards and well-being are ambiguously related at the best of times, and not simply for ecological reasons.
▪
The mind was a delicate mechanism that he disliked interfering with at the best of times.
at your best
▪
At his best , he's one of the most exciting tennis players in the world.
▪
This recording captures Grappelli at his very best .
▪
And if I sometimes see them at their worst, I sometimes see them at their best as well.
▪
Augusta was not at her best yesterday on a drab, grey day.
▪
But like Natalie Merchant, Cerbone is at her best when composing character sketches.
▪
Still, quarterbacks are not at their best when their throwing motion is impeded.
▪
The answer, in brief, is the method of empirical inquiry, at its best the method of science.
▪
The early 1960s showed such policy at its best .
▪
The formal work of the House is often seen at its best in committee.
▪
The Machine is at its best in primaries, but Daley was taking no chances.
at your best/worst/most effective etc
bad/good sailor
▪
Although he was a good sailor , Columbus was a bad governor.
▪
As a yacht delivery skipper he had to be a damn good sailor .
▪
Even the best sailors can be swept into them, apart from which they can cause all sorts of damage to your equipment.
▪
How he got there no-one knows, but he was a very good sailor and an even better artist.
▪
I have never been a good sailor , and kept to my bunk for the first part of the journey.
▪
Ironically I do not make a very good sailor .
▪
Turns out all of us are pretty good sailors .
be a good/quick/easy etc lay
▪
I don't deny it was a good lay .
be a good/wonderful/terrible etc cook
▪
As a result, the adult John is obsessed with food, has an overstocked fridge and is a good cook .
▪
Franca, said to be a good cook , was not a good cook, just an ingenious cook.
▪
He is a good cook , isn't he?
▪
My aunt and I are good cooks .
▪
Nils may be a good cook , but his time will be better spent away from the galley.
▪
Of motivation to get good grades in school or to be a good cook ?
▪
To be a good cook you have to do a lot of things precisely, but it requires no understanding.
▪
Zelah was a good cook and he enjoyed the meal.
be all the better for sth
▪
And it was all the better for being hosted by real-deal Alice Cooper rather than fat phoney Phill Jupitus.
▪
And the piece was all the better for it.
▪
My grandmother therefore moulded my life, and I believe I am all the better for it.
▪
Spa towns, though, are all the better for looking somewhat passé and Eaux-Bonnes is more passé than most.
▪
The game at Twickenham today will be all the better for the inclusion of the National Anthem.
▪
Well, a statement like that is all the better for proof, but go on, anyway.
be for the best
▪
Even though I lost my job, I knew it was for the best . It gave me the chance to start again.
▪
After all, it may be for the best .
▪
Anything that spurs creativity behind the bar must be for the best .
▪
He can smell nothing, which is for the best .
▪
I decided to decide that it was for the best .
▪
It may well be for the best .
▪
Maybe it is for the best .
▪
No one has been so heartless as to suggest we skip the picnic, but it is for the best .
▪
Still, perhaps it was for the best .
be in (good) working/running order
▪
Hall of Power - a range of engines and heavy machinery, most of which are in working order and operated daily.
▪
The locomotive was in working order at the time and negotiations proceeded which resulted in transportation to Swanage as described above.
▪
To this day the milling machinery is in working order .
▪
Two isn't multiplicity and Castelfonte never was in running order , and now they were living in hotels.
be in a good/bad etc place
be in good company
▪
If you can't program your VCR, you're in good company .
▪
But even if she never escapes from its shadow, history shows her to be in good company .
▪
But for the United States, to be alone is to be in good company .
▪
Clinton is in good company , but I think he wants to be remembered for more than that.
▪
He is in good company when it comes to losing Tests that do not mat ter all that much.
▪
If these are your worries you are in good company .
▪
If you are, you are in good company with some one like Alfred North Whitehead.
▪
The new managers were in good company .
▪
We were in good company , though.
be in good heart
▪
Far from bumping along on the bottom, desperate for money, it is in good heart .
▪
I can see the land is in good heart , and I remember enough to know the extent of the estates.
▪
The gelding show-ed he was in good heart this week by winning at Edinburgh on Thursday.
▪
With the prospect of William and Harry joining them for a holiday afterwards, Diana was in good heart .
be in good/fine/great etc form
▪
At least he is in good form again.
▪
Davies, now in his 80s, is in fine form .
▪
Fortunately, Alan Judge was in fine form , pulling off a great save to keep Hereford in the game.
▪
Health Management Associates Inc., known as the Wal-Mart of hospital operators, appears to be in fine form .
▪
I was in good form that night.
▪
Office manager is on holiday this week., and assistant manager are in good form .
▪
That is our strength and our forwards are in good form at the moment.
be in sb's good/bad books
be just (good) friends
▪
""Are you going out with Liam?'' ""No, we're just good friends .''
▪
I'm not going out with Nathan, you know - we're just friends .
▪
I keep telling my mother that Peter and I are just friends but she doesn't seem to believe me.
▪
Billy and I were just good friends , really good mates.
▪
But maybe he and Jane were just friends .
▪
Maureen and I - we thought we were just friends .
▪
My wife and I are just good friends .
▪
They were just friends , and he was fun to be with.
be meant to be good/excellent/bad etc
be of Scottish/Protestant/good etc stock
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be onto a good thing
▪
His senses told him he was onto a good thing and his senses were rarely wrong.
▪
Many directors who take dividends in lieu of salary may think they are onto a good thing .
▪
Maybe he thought he was onto a good thing .
▪
Multiply that up by two or three hundred stores, and you will see he was onto a good thing .
▪
The plots were essentially the same; like any successful entrepreneur, Alger knew when he was onto a good thing .
▪
They felt they might be onto a good thing .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best before
best dress/shoes/clothes etc
▪
Everyone was in black because their best clothes were for funerals, and everyone danced.
▪
I washed them, then dressed them in their best clothes, but never new ones.
▪
She had her best shoes on, and a new hat.
▪
She had the best dress sense of any girl in Benedict's and a passion for altering the colour of her hair.
▪
The best car, the wittiest put-down, and the best dress.
▪
The first best clothes were only for Sunday and when visitors came.
▪
The princess arrayed herself in her best clothes and jewels.
▪
They would never let you in alone, even though you are wearing your best clothes.
best friend
▪
Caroline and her best friend both had babies within three weeks of each other.
▪
Stuart is just my brother's best friend - I've known him since I was six.
▪
We lived next door to each other when we were kids, and we've been best friends ever since.
▪
After all - the man was one of his best friends, wasn't he?
▪
Although many people would disagree, radio is without doubt the musician's best friend.
▪
Didn't any of his best friends tell him?
▪
He was like a kid who had found a new best friend, and she was it.
▪
He was not allowed to mention the slaughtering to anyone, not even as a special secret between best friends.
▪
I also learned to become my own best friend.
▪
Trials so that her injured best friend Kay Poe could advance.
▪
When Julie had a home problem, her two best friends at work tried to offer advice based on their own experiences.
best of all
▪
You can lose five pounds a week on this diet. And best of all, you never have to feel hungry.
▪
But Black Mountain was often not the best of all possible worlds.
▪
I'd have liked best of all to have stuffed his mouth with hay.
▪
I appeal to all who have ever known this best of all hospitals - fight for Bart's.
▪
Of all the participants Reagan came out best of all.
▪
Oh, but best of all was the chair in which I myself was destined momentarily to sit.
▪
That was the thing he loved best of all: running free.
▪
The Corps was a know-how, can-do outfit, possibly the best of all the outfits that came to town.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪
Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪
Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪
Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪
The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪
Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪
We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
better (to be) safe than sorry
▪
I think I'll take my umbrella along - better safe than sorry.
▪
Anyway, better safe than sorry.
▪
The overall message of precaution-better safe than sorry-has intuitive appeal.
better Red than dead
better late than never
▪
"The pictures have finally arrived.'' "Well, better late than never.''
▪
While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better late than never
▪
While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better luck next time
▪
Ah well, better luck next time, Andy.
▪
And if you didn't win, better luck next time.
▪
Back to the West Indies with it, and better luck next time.
better yourself
▪
A lot of people are trying to better themselves.
▪
And she feels better herself - after two weeks, her headaches and tiredness have gone.
▪
He doesn't criticize the vice-president marketing's expert judgement nor pretend he could do better himself.
▪
I couldn't have done better myself.
▪
I teach them to better themselves.
▪
It is a way in which diversity and the desire to better oneself can be accommodated.
▪
She would do anything to better herself.
▪
Wilson speeches often praise the gumption of illegal immigrants who take risks and endure hardships to better themselves and their families.
better/harder/worse etc still
▪
And 245 specialty stock funds that focus on particular industries did better still , averaging a 6. 5 percent gain.
▪
But perhaps the early evening was better still ?
▪
He didn't talk because he was afraid of losing the pole or, worse still , falling in.
▪
I started to hunt for a cheap restaurant or, better still , a snack shop.
▪
I thought that it would soon pass, and it did - for you to work harder still .
▪
Or better still , make a real talent show instead.
▪
Or better still , there was the village school practically next door!
▪
With hindsight, it would have better still to lock in a few more gains.
bid sb good afternoon/good morning etc
bring out the best/worst in sb
▪
Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.
▪
And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.
▪
But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.
▪
But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.
▪
Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.
▪
It brings out the best in us.
▪
Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.
▪
So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
▪
Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.
come good/right
▪
In both cases, prices came right back down within three months.
▪
It seemed clear Corbett wanted me to work at Salomon, but he never came right out and proposed.
▪
It will all come right, now that a different period of history has begun.
▪
More generally, the logistical strengths that the Dole campaign had counted on began to come good.
▪
Periodically, these letters come right out of the woodwork.
▪
Since I was the best spinner of my type in the world, eventually it would all come right.
▪
The light comes right through our curtains and makes sleeping difficult.
▪
The wasp took off as if in fright, but she came right back.
come off best/better/worst etc
▪
Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.
▪
Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.
▪
His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.
▪
It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.
▪
Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.
▪
The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.
▪
The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.
come up with the goods/deliver the goods
▪
Neil Young's annual fall concert always delivers the goods with famous musicians and good music.
couldn't be better/worse/more pleased etc
damaged goods
▪
If there was actual combustion of the damaged goods , however caused, there has been damage by fire.
▪
On 5 September a credit note No. 19 was received from A. Creditor in respect of damaged goods valued £5.00 returned by the hotel.
▪
She didn't, but something about the way she moved confirmed my suspicion that she saw herself as damaged goods .
▪
We all pass through this life as damaged goods , and the repair work is ongoing.
discretion is the better part of valour
do better
▪
Harris argued that the economy is doing better than it was five years ago.
▪
I was convinced that many of the students could have done better if they'd tried.
▪
If you are saving 5 percent of your income each year, you're doing better than most people.
▪
Mark ran the distance in 30 minutes in the fall, but we're hoping he'll do better this season.
▪
Some roses do better in different types of soil.
▪
The British champion has completed the course in three minutes -- let's see if his Canadian rival can do better .
▪
We did better than we expected.
▪
Alamaro and Patrick think they can do better .
▪
Incumbents who vote against new regulations, paperwork and taxes -- usually conservatives -- do better on the scorecard.
▪
It leads to a lethargy I think we do better without.
▪
Some may do better than our scenario represents.
▪
Surely we can do better for people with mental problems and their families?
▪
The index did better than the broader market.
▪
We can do better than that now.
▪
We need to do better than that, and we can.
do sb a good/bad turn
▪
She was only trying to do James a good turn .
do sb a power of good
▪
It can also be funny and it can do you a power of good.
▪
Yeltsin could do his country a power of good by directing public attention to these issues.
do sb a world of good
▪
A week by the ocean will do you a world of good.
▪
A good run in pastures new would do you a world of good.
▪
All of them stressed that a holiday would do Valerie the world of good.
▪
All the family can enjoy eating the low-fat way and it will do everyone a world of good.
▪
But physically - this type of exercise will do you the world of good.
▪
Come on a Club 18-30 holiday and there's every chance it will do you the world of good.
▪
He could become so unaccountably miserable that a small amount of collusion some-times did him a world of good.
▪
Not only do they do you a world of good if you drink them but they also have cosmetic uses.
do your best
▪
But I did my best to feed them both.
▪
He wanted to do his best the first time he performed, and knew he was not in peak condition.
▪
Like Truman two decades earlier, Humphrey did his best to overcome the severe handicap of a badly split party.
▪
Once there, Drachenfels will do his best to isolate the crystal-wielding characters and rob them of their treasures.
▪
Remember, always do your best , don't let them hook you, however tempting the bait.
▪
We can only do our best .
▪
What I learned from them specifically of the techniques of teaching I have had to do my best to unlearn since.
do your level best (to do sth)
▪
Even so he did his level best with the new ball.
▪
We did our level best to look fascinated.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪
But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪
He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪
I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪
It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪
Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪
There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪
This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪
What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
every bit as good/important etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪
In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪
The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪
Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪
To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
fare well/badly/better etc
▪
I think the men fared better than the women.
▪
It can be seen that, whilst all regions reflected the higher national unemployment rate, some regions fared better than others.
▪
It still fared better than the broader market.
▪
Life may be regarded as an austere struggle, blighted by fate, where only the rich and the lucky fare well.
▪
Not faring well, but resting.
▪
Obviously some clothiers fared better than others for there were quite a large number of bankruptcies between 1800 and 1840.
▪
The Bloomberg Indiana Index fared better than the benchmark Standard&.
▪
There is no reason to believe that diabetic patients fare better and they may do less well.
for better or (for) worse
▪
The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.
▪
All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.
▪
And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.
▪
And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.
▪
Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.
▪
He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.
▪
He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.
▪
Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.
▪
Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.
for good measure
▪
Why don't you try calling them one more time, for good measure .
▪
Add David Robinson for good measure .
▪
And let's add Godel for good measure .
▪
Even old Henry Spalding, who had returned to Lapwai in the spring, added his signature for good measure .
▪
For the rest it's twenty five minutes of speed and skill ... and then two more laps for good measure .
▪
I gave her a good strong look just for good measure .
▪
Network South East has its patriotic red, white, and blue bands with grey thrown in for good measure .
▪
Take your governing body licence along for good measure .
▪
This pudding also includes a little cocoa powder for good measure .
for the better
▪
Anything they can do to improve children's health is for the better .
▪
Besides, in some ways the change was for the better .
▪
Cloud changed things, all right, and not all for the better .
▪
That may be for the better .
▪
The formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 did not automatically change any of that for the better .
▪
The way was set for much-needed change, but would things change for the better ?
▪
This change has not necessarily been one for the better .
▪
What about learning how to change things for the better rather than merely learning to adapt to the way things are now?
for want of a better word/phrase etc
▪
Just horses and ploughs and, for want of a better word, peasants.
▪
Now, hands are, well, handed for want of a better word.
for want of anything better (to do)
for your own good/safety/benefit etc
▪
He will work for your financial independence and will never take advantage or misuse your money for his own good.
▪
Intelligent Buildings Too smart for their own good?
▪
It looked as if the transports were advancing too fast for their own safety.
▪
Lewin and Nnah were also led away for their own safety.
▪
Of course they kept a sharp lookout in such congested waters for their own safety.
▪
Often one step too many for his own good.
▪
We got too famous for our own good.
▪
You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
get better
▪
Braden's teams always get better as the season goes on.
▪
Get some rest and get better , okay?
▪
I didn't remember anything about the accident, but little by little, as I got better , memories started coming back to me.
▪
I don't mind training hard, because you get better and better all the time.
▪
I hope the weather gets better soon.
▪
I hope you get better soon.
▪
If things don't get better , we may end up having to sell the house.
▪
Living conditions may get worse before they get better .
▪
My back has been quite bad recently, but it's getting better slowly.
▪
The first part of the book is pretty boring, but it gets a lot better as the story goes on.
▪
And has it got better or worse?
▪
At school I sometimes used to get better marks than him, but that was when he chose not to exert himself.
▪
Even Quayle is getting better press than me.
▪
Four decades ago in Britain girls were getting better results than boys in the 11-plus exam.
▪
He was getting better every day, so much better, and yet business got worse and worse.
▪
So the Giants do have to get better , and history suggests rather strongly that better means not staying the same.
▪
To keep getting better , you must improve.
▪
When you've been blown to bits, as Zimmerman had, you either train hard or you don't get better .
get off to a good/bad etc start
get the better of sb
▪
Alison Leigh refuses to let circumstances get the better of her.
▪
Kramer's temper sometimes gets the better of him.
▪
At the same time he said he had had to select his shots wisely to get the better of Chesnokov.
▪
Blaise Cendrars witnessed a fight in which she was getting the better of Modigliani.
▪
Bored in the isolation of his taxi, curiosity and perhaps hunger got the better of him.
▪
But kids have a long tradition of getting the better of adults, going back to the Famous Five and beyond.
▪
I allowed my feelings to get the better of me.
▪
I run my fingers over this invisible object, and little by little curiosity gets the better of me.
▪
So mortals learned that it is not possible to get the better of Zeus or ever deceive him.
▪
We killed him, but that really got the better of us.
get/have a good press
▪
Because officials are so anxious to get good press , there is often tremendous pressure on the government press agent.
▪
Even Quayle is getting better press than me.
▪
Even testosterone, so often blamed for aggressive behavior in men, is getting better press .
▪
For now Harriet's keener on seeing chess get a better press .
give a good/poor account of yourself
▪
Cooper gave a good account of himself in the fight.
▪
Sussex's Wood gave a good account of herself and should have claimed the second set.
▪
Thirteen-year-old Patsy, who could always give a good account of herself, looked upset.
▪
Though it gave a good account of itself, Dave gently persuaded the fish close enough to be lifted aboard the boat.
give as good as you get
▪
At 87, Juran is still able to give as good as he gets.
▪
Don't you worry about Tim. He may be small but he gives as good as he gets!
▪
It was a tough interview, but I thought the President gave as good as he got.
▪
The youngest of three sons, Dave can give as good as he gets.
give sb a (good) run for their money
▪
Slosser gave Boyd a run for his money in the 1996 GOP primary.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
go one better (than sb)
▪
Beth Wolff, president of her own residential real estate company, likes to go one better .
▪
But even if Forbes loses his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, he may still go one better than his father.
▪
Ford went one better and put 60 two-stroke Fiestas on the roads.
▪
Laker's return of 9 for 37 was outstanding, but he was to go one better when the Aussies followed on.
▪
Like an aphid, then, the caterpillar employs ants as bodyguards, but it goes one better .
▪
She goes one better than last year.
▪
The Bristol & West have now gone one better than the standard endowment mortgage.
▪
They have followed each other up the ladder, but whenever he has reached the same rung she has gone one better .
good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc
good Samaritan
▪
Had she been prompted by curiosity or the instincts of the good Samaritan , Theodora wondered.
good and proper
▪
Now, eight years after the original bike was launched, Ducati has addressed the issue good and proper .
▪
We got our revenge on Kel for 1960 good and proper , and no one else was in it.
▪
Well, they both got it around in 75 and the crowd was on Seve's side good and proper .
good copy
▪
A good copy , painted by a twentieth-century court painter, but nevertheless a copy.
▪
Even those students intending to make a good copy of their rough essay may plan their writing.
▪
For, if he used her as a model, she used him as good copy .
▪
He told himself it was all good copy for his next novel.
▪
He wanted to make good copy for himself and his plays.
▪
Insipid daft doesn't make good copy .
▪
It may not be a very good copy of this, of this thing for your thing.
▪
Once the original is lost, the best copy you can make is less good than it was before.
good egg
▪
What a good egg she was!
good evening
▪
A bad morning, a good afternoon and - perhaps - an even better evening .
▪
A policeman walked by, wished me good evening and ushered a warning.
▪
Ah, good evening , Lestrade!
▪
Behind the glass I see her tell everyone good evening .
▪
But for now from all the team, have a very good evening .
▪
Dearest Timothy: It is a good evening to sit in this pleasant room and write a letter.
▪
Have a good evening . 1904 How can you, you have class tomorrow night?
▪
We exchange slightly embarrassed good evenings with them as we leave.
good faith
▪
As a sign of his good faith , the company has agreed to replace the defective parts for free.
▪
And I believe President Clinton is a person of good faith as well.
▪
As a result, both parties should always behave in good faith .
▪
Avoid apologizing if you've made a criticism in good faith .
▪
However, we judge the Government's good faith in terms of their track record.
▪
So we paid an exorbitant price for the decisions that were made in good faith and for good purpose.
▪
Special offers are quoted in good faith based on information supplied by retailers.
▪
These duties seek to regulate the conduct of partners and promote good faith between them.
▪
Whilst still in employment, there was an implied term imposing a duty of good faith .
good grief!
▪
Good grief ! Look the mess in here!
good luck to sb
▪
And finally good luck to Woodstock-based football manager Jim Smith the on Sunday.
▪
Anyway, good-by and good luck to you.
▪
If they start talking high teens, good luck to them.
▪
In which case, good luck to them both.
▪
Simon did well after that but made a pretence of simple good luck to anyone who questioned his apparent good fortune.
▪
So good luck to you, Susan.
▪
We can only wish good luck to the chairmen or directors of Morgan Grenfell, Amec.
▪
Well, cheers and good luck to you both.
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good mixer
▪
Moore Councill says each piece is designed to be a stand-alone winner, as well as a good mixer .
good morrow
▪
King: How now, my noble lords, good morrow !
good riddance (to sb)
▪
But if this is what the club resorts to than good riddance to them.
▪
If they can't accept me as I am, good riddance .
▪
So any docks, dandelions and creeping buttercup go straight to the tip and good riddance to them too.
▪
Then I thought: good riddance .
▪
To man qua man we readily say good riddance .
▪
We were all annoyed with him over not helping with the hay, and I thought good riddance .
good with your hands
▪
He was good with his hands .
▪
The psychologist had said he was good with his hands .
good/bad/poor etc effort
▪
Batter Up Despite my best efforts , I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.
▪
Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.
▪
Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort .
▪
However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.
▪
In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts , the moran evaded his supervision.
▪
In spite of the rain's best efforts , I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.
▪
Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts .
▪
Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.
good/bad/poor etc seller
▪
Alcohol and western cigarettes are best sellers .
▪
Convinced it had a best seller on its hands, Random House came up with the unorthodox idea of relaunching the book.
▪
Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.
▪
His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.
▪
It was the earliest best seller .
▪
Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?
▪
The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.
▪
Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.
good/bad/poor etc speller
▪
Only good spellers can spell easily orally.
▪
They give the good speller a chance to use his skill, but may depress a poor speller.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
good/better/healthy etc start (in life)
▪
A good start is one where you pass close behind the start boat going at speed.
▪
But it wasn't a good start in the lessons of love, and left me very arid in such matters.
▪
He had better start by accepting that if he does the right things, they will not be popular ones.
▪
It wasn't a very good start .
▪
Not a good start , but a start, nevertheless.
▪
The auditor may enjoy the gifts, but he had better start looking for a sympathy engram not yet suspected or tapped.
▪
The problem was the middle and end, when the team sacrificed rebounding for getting out to a good start .
▪
They will, however, be getting a new center, and that is a good start , he believes.
good/hard/quick etc worker
▪
He is supposedly not the hardest worker ever.
▪
He made Mrs Timms look uninterested in her store, the Reliance Market, and she was a hard worker .
▪
He was a good, hard worker .
▪
She was known to be very tough and a very hard worker .
▪
She was such a hard worker and a wonderful cook.
▪
The girl was a good worker who came and went quietly about her business.
good/poor/silly old etc sb
good/top/poor etc performer
▪
Almost all the poor performers were to be found in the economically-disadvantaged regions.
▪
Both Cisco and Stratacom are among the top performers on Wall Street.
▪
But these top performers are aware of the requirements for effective training as well as its limitations.
▪
Deals are also being offered to companies as alternative incentive perks to top performers .
▪
He chose an all-or-nothing strategy to put himself in the top performers in the Great Grain Challenge.
▪
It took me seven months to really understand that I have an individual who is a good performer .
▪
Strasser pointed to the construction, cable, chemical, tire and engineering industries as the likely best performers this year.
▪
The poorer performers tend to die; the better ones, to reproduce.
gracious (me)!/good gracious!/goodness gracious!
greater/more/better etc than the sum of its parts
▪
Or is the organisation more than the sum of its parts?
had best
▪
They had best be careful.
▪
All due, of course, to the fact that she had bested Travis McKenna.
▪
But pitchers had best take note as well.
▪
If so, we had best listen closely, since we will not get another chance.
▪
Meanwhile we had best prepare the way by showing that a medicine beyond verbal shamanism is an aching need.
▪
Perhaps we had best ask ourselves why our political institutions function as they do.
▪
Poets like Woodhouse had best go back to their jobs.
▪
The concept of differentiation is a key theme of our work, and we had best discuss it as the book unfolds.
had better
▪
I'd better not go out tonight; I'm really tired.
▪
You'd better phone Julie to say you'll be late.
▪
After what he has now said about a referendum, he had better watch out.
▪
Any organisation dismissing that vision as science-fiction had better look out.
▪
But Walter is a poor shade of what we have had better done.
▪
He thought he had better reread that part of the book.
▪
I did not want to go, but Dana said we had better do as they asked.
▪
I realized I had better hustle him out of there before he was asked about his acting career.
▪
In April 1911, he seemingly had better luck.
▪
They told Weary that he and Billy had better find somebody to surrender to.
half a loaf (is better than none)
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
have a (good) nose for sth
▪
He must have a nose for money better than any hound for any fox.
▪
I have a nose for one thing.
have a (good) root round
have a (good) run for your money
have a good/fine/thick etc head of hair
have a high/low/good/bad etc opinion of sb/sth
▪
All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.
▪
He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.
▪
Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.
▪
She does not seem to have a high opinion of married life.
have an eye/a good eye for sth
▪
Greene has an eye for detail.
▪
Confidence men always have an eye for extra exits.
▪
She says women have an eye for minutiae, they see the curtain hasn't been drawn or the untied shoelace.
▪
They also have an eye for a catchy phrase.
have seen better days
▪
Ms. Davis's car had certainly seen better days.
▪
Virginia's car had definitely seen better days.
▪
We are working at Nanking University, in rather cramped and primitive conditions, for the buildings have seen better days.
have/get the goods on sb
▪
The two detectives went undercover to get the goods on the Parducci family.
▪
It is get the goods on him.
he/she had a good innings
hotter/colder/better etc than ever
▪
And that incentive was increased when they got personal recognition and satisfaction from doing it better than ever before.
▪
He says the new films are better than ever .
▪
Organised by the Alton and District Arts Council, the week promises to be better than ever .
▪
The moviemaking machine that Walt Disney created sixty years ago is working better than ever today.
▪
The National Health Service is now better than ever .
▪
The opportunities now are better than ever .
▪
This year's attractions are bigger and better than ever , with events running from Tuesday to Saturday.
▪
Watermen talked about their catches so far this year, which they said have been better than ever .
if you know what's good for you
in (good) trim
▪
All that time I've kept myself in trim .
▪
Fruit bushes, roses and other plants can be kept in trim with ease, keeping your garden tidy all year round.
▪
I need to keep my voice in trim since I still perform as a narrator.
▪
It is, and keeping yourself in trim is very important when you're not working.
▪
The 6, 000 middle-grade employees who work there are technically outstanding and in good trim .
▪
To this day Souness is obsessed with fitness, healthy dieting, pectoral pride and keeping his body in trim .
▪
You get in trim , he gets to drink more turpentine, and everybody's happy.
in a good/an ill/a bad humour
in fine/good fettle
▪
When I visited Mahatma Gandhi again at the end of June, 1946, he was in fine fettle .
in good nick/in bad nick etc
in good/bad/poor etc shape
▪
But if I was in better shape , I'd be sitting up there.
▪
He could still be in good shape .
▪
He said Texpool is in good shape now.
▪
If only he could tell them he was all right, in good shape , considering ....
▪
This saw the band in good shape , retaining their traditions of twisted passions and bleak emotional narratives.
▪
This year, however, Dole appears in good shape in both locations.
▪
Uptown was still in bad shape .
▪
We found he was in good shape , but had no food in his intestines.
in good/poor etc repair
▪
Almost 40% of unfit properties, and 35% of properties in poor repair , were occupied by people aged 60 and over.
▪
Drains: A properly constructed system, in good repair , does not normally require cleaning.
▪
It was the only door on Dreadnought which could be considered in good repair .
▪
Or Arthur McAlister; who had taken the responsibility of having their lawn mowed and keeping the house in good repair .
▪
Specific buildings, notably those on Castle Hill, including the cathedral and palaces, are restored and in good repair .
▪
The fences on either side of the track were in poor repair and in April 1965 children were seen on the line.
▪
The gallery is a very fine example and in good repair .
▪
The power station was in poor repair , and Smith set about installing new insulators and restoring good practice.
in your own (good) time
▪
Before, they used to count their breaks in the twelve hours, now their breaks are in their own time .
▪
Blue Mooney, a living legend in his own time .
▪
He should take his own route in his own time and avoid the tendency to see through others' eyes.
▪
Let me tell them myself, in my own time .
▪
Nurses in training who work hard physically, study in their own time and have numerous personal commitments are under pressure.
▪
The recognition that exceptional holiness and spirituality continue to manifest themselves in our own time is also a central pentecostal conviction.
▪
There were realistic hopes for Surrey as Mark Butcher and Stewart appeared to be building a stand in their own time .
▪
You would be healthy in your own time .
it does your heart good to see/hear sth
it is better/it would be better
it's a good thing (that)
▪
But it's a good thing it happened now...
▪
I decide it's a good thing that I don't see Sean try to capture Ian's incandescent dance.
▪
I think it's a good thing .
▪
So it's a good thing to get one's mind off in one's spare time.
▪
Still, it's a good thing from the hunt's point of view that new blood is coming along, surely?
it's an ill wind (that blows nobody any good)
jolly good!
just as good/bad/big etc
▪
And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.
▪
At home it was just as bad.
▪
I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.
▪
It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.
▪
Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.
▪
Or something else, just as bad, could happen.
▪
People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.
▪
Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.
keep perfect/good etc time
▪
But like a single gear in a mechanical clock, timeless can not keep good time all by itself.
▪
Nothing unusual - clocks behaving as before, keeping good time and continuing to emit their light beams.
▪
Running in a clump through a crowded station, like the Bash Street Kids, keeping perfect time with chant and clap.
kiss sth better
know better
▪
Parents should know better than their children, but they don't always necessarily do.
▪
The man said it was an 18 carat diamond, but Dina knew better.
▪
But there were some rules he knew better than she ever would.
▪
Even people who should know better have ended up paying a price for denying what they are feeling.
▪
Guess he should have known better.
▪
Now you know better, thass all.
▪
Then I would have known better.
▪
Time you knew better, young lady.
▪
Yamazaki seems unconcerned by the fact that he's taking on problems that have defeated many who should have known better.
let the good times roll
light years ahead/better etc than sth
like new/as good as new
make a good/bad fist of sth
make good time
▪
Once we got on the freeway, we made good time .
▪
After the ferry incident, we make good time .
▪
But DeLatorre, leading the convoy, made better time than he expected.
▪
I made good time back over the motorway.
▪
I was no weight, we made good time .
▪
The weather was not too promising, but we made good time and were soon at the first terrace.
▪
They made good time thereafter, considering the darkness, encountering no problems.
▪
We had made good time and had to ease speed to avoid closing the island in darkness.
▪
We were making good time through the foothills.
make the best of sth
▪
It's not going to be fun, but we might as well make the best of it.
▪
A good travel partner laughs and makes the best of it.
▪
For the most part, however, he made the best of contemporary information.
▪
In these circumstances one makes the best of limited information.
▪
Jack made the best of his bad luck at being captured and found plenty to occupy his time.
▪
One has to make the best of a situation, after all.
▪
When Miihlenberg learned that it was indeed a free country, he made the best of things.
▪
Yet despite her palpable alienation from suburban stay-at-home motherhood, she is determined to make the best of it.
man's best friend
miles older/better/too difficult etc
my (good) man
▪
As for fitzAlan ... did you think killing three of my men would go unnoticed?
▪
But my man fires his gun.
▪
But was it necessary to kill my men in cold blood?
▪
Hey Timmy, how are you, my man ?
▪
I called my men to drive them back.
▪
I decided like a good captain to remain with my men .
▪
I heard my men going after him with their guns - and then everything went black.
no better
▪
Caffeine received no better press in the twentieth century.
▪
Conditions were no better in the cities.
▪
Experts agree that in reality, the company looked after the workforce no better than most other employers of that time.
▪
Havvie Blaine, for all his name and lineage, was no better than Terry Rourke.
▪
If you turned to domestic politics, the news was no better .
▪
In fact, it was no better and no worse than other Air Force major commands.
▪
Nearly a decade later, our educational system was no better off than it had been when the commission issued its report.
▪
The problem with network computers is that they are no better than the networks they are connected to.
no news is good news
▪
I always say, no news is good news.
none the worse/better etc (for sth)
▪
Although the animal glowed rosy-pink, it appeared none the worse for its ordeal.
▪
I recovered, my mouth none the worse for it, after all.
▪
Peter's little pet was clearly none the worse for its time in the underworld.
not half as/so good/interesting etc (as sb/sth)
not in (all/good) conscience
▪
And apologists for Labour's refusal to organise in Northern Ireland can not in all conscience describe themselves as democrats.
▪
I have a hard time separating one statement resulting from torture from another and I can not in good conscience do so.
▪
Yet as Dunkers they could not in conscience support the use of force or pay disrespect to the Crown.
not know any better
▪
Before Sinai, one could argue, the people had the excuse of not knowing any better.
not so big/good/bad etc
▪
But so happen, one little boy not so good.
▪
But it's not so bad down here.
▪
Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.
▪
It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪
My tongue not so good anyway.
▪
She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.
▪
Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.
▪
When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.
not very good/happy/far etc
▪
Are you - very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, or not happy at all?
▪
Governments are not very good at tinkering.
▪
He says his technique is not very good.
▪
Most humans are not very good at keeping secrets.
▪
My breathing was not very good at all.
▪
Other kids were not very good either, and we all inadvertently inhaled the pool again and again.
▪
Paul is not very good at pushing it yet.
▪
Relations with Admiral Boyd of the Joint Chiefs were not very good either.
nothing better
▪
Analysts in Harare believe Mr Mugabe would like nothing better than the chance to declare a nationwide state of emergency.
▪
For sleeping there is nothing better than cotton.
▪
He had nothing better to do.
▪
I should have remembered: our new management likes nothing better than doing things on the cheap.
▪
Learn to tie it and you will realise there is nothing better .
▪
Rowland moves outside the establishment - in fact, he likes nothing better than upsetting it.
▪
The reporters, oddly enough, just happen to be sitting there in the line of fire with nothing better to do.
▪
With nothing better to do, Billy shuffled in their direction.
one good turn deserves another
pay good money for sth
▪
I paid good money for that sofa, so it should last.
▪
And we'd say, we're paying good money for this.
▪
Consumer information is an asset which marketers are prepared to pay good money for.
▪
I paid good money for that, I said, can't I just have a last go on it?
▪
I paid good money for this vehicle and I won't have the likes of you doing what you're doing!
▪
It hardly surprised him that people were not too keen on paying good money for that.
▪
Why pay good money for the same effect?
▪
Women would pay good money for a glimpse of his guardsman's helmet.
personal best
▪
But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.
▪
Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.
▪
Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.
▪
His personal best before this season was 10. 08.
▪
I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.
▪
Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.
▪
Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.
▪
That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.
put in a (good) word for sb
▪
I'll put in a good word for you with the management.
▪
He put in a good word for him at meetings of the Jockey Club.
▪
Only those who keep a dialogue going will be able to put in a word for persons in need of intercession.
put sth to (good) use
▪
I'd like a job where I could put my degree in languages to good use .
▪
But I am putting it to use .
▪
How do you put it to use in daily practice?
▪
It does not seem regressive to put it to use in the service of gay survival as well.
▪
Many large and medium size companies, government departments and Local authorities are putting Dataease to use somewhere within their organisations.
▪
Much of ecology is about this process: finding energy; putting it to use .
▪
The time has come to put your skills to use by developing a more useful and complex object orientated program.
▪
The trouble is we never stop long enough to put them to good use .
▪
Throughout the 1980s, researchers and company executives struggled with how to put Al to use .
put up a good fight
put up a good/poor etc show
▪
He might have put up a good show the other day, but that was because he was frightened.
▪
She put up a better show in the 1980s.
put/turn sth to good account
▪
The extra time was turned to good account .
quite a few/a good few/not a few
sb had better/best do sth
sb is (great/good) fun
▪
But it is fun for me to look up from my Sunday paper and watch them try to cope.
▪
Chasing and racing is fun for a time but you end up yearning for something different.
▪
In beautifully landscaped settings, this unique zoo is great fun for all the family.
▪
It is fun to have competitions to see who can sleep their yo-yo longer.
▪
Much of the film is fun , but a lot is confusing.
▪
Some of this is great fun , but it pulls the production two ways, blunting its focus.
▪
This is fun , unfussy, honest fare that calls for a glass of cold beer.
▪
This is just a whim but it is great fun .
sb is a (good) laugh
▪
Across the room, a table of young men in fitted shirts is laughing heartily and splashing out wine.
▪
Dennis is laughing , head held back.
▪
Her head is thrown back, and she is laughing .
▪
I can't understand what is said, but one of the technicians is laughing .
▪
I notice Harding is collapsed beside McMurphy and is laughs ing too.
▪
The banter between us is a laugh .
▪
What you want to do is laugh , but everyone is afraid to laugh.
sb knows best
sb's good offices/the good offices of sb
send your love/regards/best wishes etc
▪
He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.
▪
Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.
show sb in a good/bad etc light
show sth to (good/great) advantage
▪
He has joined to a fine genius all that can set him off and show him to advantage .
▪
It may be that the product would be shown off to best advantage in use.
so far so good
▪
"How's your new job?" "So far so good."
so much the better
▪
If it makes illegal drug use even more difficult, so much the better .
▪
You can use dried parsley, but if you have fresh, so much the better .
▪
And if I am Peter, so much the better .
▪
And if that can change things, so much the better Female speaker He's the little man having a kick.
▪
But if I can manage with fewer trips to the store, so much the better .
▪
If love eventually grows, so much the better .
▪
If they are alive so much the better , but they can be persuaded to take dead ones.
▪
If they can fit in with the room's general style, so much the better .
▪
If we can improve the team another way, so much the better .
▪
So a single fluorescent tube will be adequate, and if you have used floating plants, so much the better .
stand/serve/hold sb in good stead
▪
As a small boy, I devised my own set of cartoon animals, and they now stood me in good stead .
▪
But her beloved circus may have served her in better stead than regular outings to, say, the ballet.
▪
Despite his lack of political experience, Clouthier's 20-year leadership of business organisations stood him in good stead .
▪
Insomnia would stand him in good stead in this expanse of knee-high cover.
▪
Now we had moved on to bigger and better things, this predictability still stood us in good stead .
▪
These shoes had stood him in good stead .
▪
This habit of work, which is by now natural to me, has stood me in good stead .
▪
Those contacts, he says, still serve him in good stead today.
take sth in good part
that's a good girl/that's a clever dog etc
that's better
▪
Come on, give me a hug. There, that's better , isn't it?
▪
Try keeping your arm straight when you hit the ball. That's better !
▪
But that's better than none.
▪
She had half drained her mug when she said, ` Ah, that's better !
▪
So let's try: That's better . the pages now contain both words.
▪
Surely that's better than fading away in a hospital bed somewhere?
▪
That's better , the waist is accentuated now.
▪
Well, that's better than finding half a worm!
that's/it's all well and good
▪
If that helps the government keep up with their debt repayments, that's all well and good.
the (good ol') U.S. of A.
the Good Book
the best
▪
I chose a Japanese camera because I wanted to have the best .
▪
She's the best of the new young writers.
▪
She was the best in her class at college.
▪
When it comes to cancer research, Professor Williams is probably the best in her field.
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best of a bad lot/bunch
the best of both worlds
▪
Job-sharing gives me the best of both worlds - I can be with my children and keep my professional status.
▪
All in all, a great place to enjoy the best of both worlds.
▪
An arrangement like this can often be the best of both worlds.
▪
And taking into account the prices of both the ME-6 and ME-10 they really are the best of both worlds.
▪
But if the eye can remain open without being seen, then the prey has the best of both worlds.
▪
Supporters say this type of extended day is the best of both worlds.
▪
This is the best of both worlds.
▪
Used in conjunction with a moisturising conditioner, it will give your lank locks the best of both worlds.
▪
You get the best of both worlds in a job like this: use your strong back and your agile mind.
the best of sth
▪
At the best of times, the industry is very competitive, but this is not the best of times.
▪
But Black Mountain was often not the best of all possible worlds.
▪
But they clearly were not the best of their time, and that should be the No. 1 voting criterion.
▪
He is the first to admit that he was not the best of patients.
▪
Obviously, not the best of plans.
▪
Seb was not the best of patients.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
▪
Converse drank the better part of the rum.
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
▪
It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
▪
This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪
And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
▪
Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪
That's the biggest understatement of all time !
▪
You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/biggest/fastest etc possible
▪
Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.
▪
But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.
▪
For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.
▪
Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.
▪
That way it will have the best possible start in life.
▪
The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.
▪
The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.
▪
This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
▪
Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
▪
But me third was the best of the bunch .
▪
Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
▪
Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
▪
He may be the best of the bunch .
▪
It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
▪
Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
▪
Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the better
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
▪
A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
▪
Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
▪
But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
▪
Its got to be the best ticket office going .
▪
Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
▪
There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
▪
This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
▪
What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
the common good
▪
Drunk-driving laws were made for the common good.
▪
The government creates laws for the common good.
the forces of good/evil etc
▪
At the core of Hampden Babylon is a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It could fight the forces of evil.
▪
It is an age-old heresy to see the world as a battleground between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It will be a struggle between your hero and whatever associates he may have and the forces of evil opposed to him.
▪
Now he's restating his submission to the Bara Bhai and the forces of good.
▪
Television is therefore seen to be taking the moral high ground, the side of the punter against the forces of evil.
the good old days/the bad old days
the great and the good
the greater good
▪
For the greater good of the parish or because he knew something?
▪
This, I learned, was standard practice when a customer was about to be sacrificed for the greater good of Salomon.
the next best thing
▪
If I can't be home for Christmas, this is the next best thing.
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
the next best thing
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
the powers of good/evil/darkness
▪
May we seek to develop the powers of good that lie within us.
▪
So close to the powers of evil she must have lived that she still breathed more freely in their air.
the sooner ( ... ) the better
▪
The sooner we get these bills paid off, the better.
▪
They knew they had to leave town, and the sooner the better.
the sooner the better/the bigger the better etc
there's a good boy/clever dog etc
think better of it
▪
She felt like slapping him in the face, but thought better of it.
▪
But he thought better of it and slowly breathed out the air through his nose.
▪
But then she thought better of it.
▪
Cowher said later he momentarily contemplated tackling Hudson, but thought better of it.
▪
He thought better of it, and despite a case of galloping homesickness, decided not to go home at all.
▪
He could have forced the window in time, anyone could, but he seemed suddenly to think better of it.
▪
He passed Miguel the joint but Miguel thought better of it.
▪
Then he thought better of it.
think the best/worst of sb
▪
Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.
▪
He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.
▪
I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.
▪
My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.
▪
The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.
▪
Why should you think the worst of me?
▪
You always think the worst of me.
to good/great/no etc effect
▪
And the book eschews alphabetical order in favour of thematic logic - to good effect .
▪
Any ball direct to deane was usually flicked on to no effect .
▪
But nobody demonized the opposition to greater effect than did Clinton strategist James Carville during the 1992 presidential campaign.
▪
Jones has turned the Trust's restrictions on the use of agrochemicals to good effect .
▪
The bi-colour l.e.d. can utilise a transparent lens-clip to good effect .
▪
The task of management is to use these to greatest effect .
▪
The threefold model of church growth of cell, congregation and celebration works at Ichthus to great effect .
▪
Video is a relatively new medium for in-house communications and is used by some companies to great effect .
to the best of your ability
▪
All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
▪
I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
to the best of your knowledge/belief/ability etc
too clever/rich/good etc by half
▪
The arithmetic can not be faulted - and may well be judged too clever by half .
too nice/clever etc for your own good
▪
According to her, he was too clever for his own good.
▪
That Tom was too nice for his own good.
▪
They were both too nice for their own good.
▪
You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
trump/best/strongest card
▪
And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
▪
In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
▪
Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
▪
That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
▪
That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
▪
The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
▪
This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
▪
We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
two heads are better than one
use/turn sth to your/good advantage
▪
First and foremost, Borland have taken the Windows interface and used it to good advantage .
▪
Homeloans are one of the cheapest ways of borrowing money - find out how to use them to your advantage .
▪
If you would like to reassess your life and learn how to use stress to your advantage , come along.
▪
Parents may feel suspicious of these, or resentful, and will need help in using them to best advantage .
▪
Professionals need to be aware of such things and use them to good advantage .
vote sth a success/the best etc
▪
But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.
▪
They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.
while the going's good
▪
Let's get out while the going's good.
wish sb (the best of) luck
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
▪
I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
▪
James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
▪
Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
▪
She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
▪
Well, I wish you luck .
▪
Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with (a) good/bad grace
▪
Admit temporary defeat with good grace , retreat, reconsider and wait.
▪
But he tucked his manuscript away with a good grace .
▪
He threw himself with good grace into everything, even this.
▪
Life is very crude, and bonnie Princes Street a dream, but we soldier on with a good grace .
▪
Mr Macmillan was, according to colleagues, prepared to give way with good grace when he could not carry the Cabinet.
▪
Sport only thrives if both parties play by the rules, and accept the results with good grace .
▪
They accept his habitual interruptions with good grace .
▪
This must have been irksome for them, but Mrs Webster accepted it as her war work with good grace .
with the best of intentions/for the best of reasons
with the best will in the world
▪
And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
▪
Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
withdraw/retreat in good order
worldly goods/possessions
▪
A great number of emigres arrived daily from the mainland, left homeless and often destitute of all worldly possessions.
▪
But he bought no worldly goods.
▪
He loses all his worldly goods because a law suit is not decided in his favor.
▪
My worldly goods, my total possessions.
▪
Returned that same evening to Brigade Headquarters to collect my rucksack containing all my worldly possessions and, of course, the bagpipes.
▪
They tear our houses down, burn up our worldly possessions, and sometimes even kill us.
▪
We generally promise each other all our worldly goods.
▪
Why, of course you must leave all your worldly goods to him.
would you be good/kind enough to do sth?
you'd better believe it!
▪
"Do they make money on them?" "You'd better believe it!"
your Sunday best
your Sunday best
your best bet
▪
For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
▪
We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
▪
Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your better half/other half
your good deed for the day
your guess is as good as mine
▪
"When's the next bus coming?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
▪
"Who do you think will win the World Cup?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
your/her/my etc Sunday best
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Everyone has a choice between good and evil.
▪
I just can't see any good in these people at all.
▪
In spite of his rudeness, there's a lot of good in him.
▪
the battle between good and evil
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Do you agree with those who contend that capitalism is so individualistic that it fails to protect the collective good ?
▪
I can not help feeling that any good done might have been cancelled out by oil fires in the Gulf.
III. adverb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
good/bad timekeeper
(Good) Lord!/Oh Lord!
▪
Good Lord , Tom! What are you doing?
(a) fat lot of good/use
▪
A fat lot of good it did me!
▪
Frederick Bissett was a member of the Institute of Professional Scientists, and a fat lot of good that did him.
▪
Getting the pound down was what Labour governments did with metronomic regularity. Fat lot of good it did them.
(get) a bigger/better etc bang for your buck
(jolly) good show
▪
Although his forecasts have been close in the past, this is his best showing .
▪
And he may have acquired an added incentive for wanting to make a good showing .
▪
It's the best show they've got.
▪
Just how good shows in the figures.
▪
The royals will try to shrug off their problems and put on a good show for Margaret.
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪
We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
(that's a) good question!
▪
"Does the program allow you to do that?" "That's a good question - I don't know."
God/oh (my) God/good God (almighty)
God/oh (my) God/good God/God almighty
I couldn't wish for a nicer/better etc ...
I have it on good authority
▪
I have it on good authority that the school board wants to fire the principal.
I must/I'd better be getting along
I'd better mosey along/be moseying along
I/you can't/couldn't ask for a better sth
a (damn/darned/darn) sight more/better etc
▪
Actually, a damn sight more than from that stiff gherkin Smott.
▪
I prefer my women a little older and a damn sight more sober.
▪
If he listened to Anthony Scrivener, he would be a darned sight better.
▪
Perhaps not up there with Wilburforce but a damn sight more daring than anything Diana ever did!
▪
The Galapagos finch was a darn sight more valuable than Sandra Willmot.
▪
We were a darned sight better than them.
a (good) catch
▪
A man in a uniform was a good catch in these parts.
▪
And keep medicines up high, also with a catch on the cupboard.
▪
He caught 89 passes last year, but he averaged just 7. 7 yards a catch.
▪
He went to it at once, looking for a catch , a way of releasing it, but there was nothing.
▪
Since a doctor or a lawyer is a good catch , he can attract a woman whose family is wealthy.
▪
The law has a catch , however.
▪
There is a catch , however!
▪
Within minutes, Honaker felt the telltale movement of a catch moving up the tube.
a damn sight more/better etc
▪
Actually, a damn sight more than from that stiff gherkin Smott.
▪
I prefer my women a little older and a damn sight more sober.
▪
Perhaps not up there with Wilburforce but a damn sight more daring than anything Diana ever did!
a darn sight better/harder etc
a difficult/hard/good etc one
▪
But what is temperament, and how do we define what is a good one ?
▪
I knew there was no sense in trying to do a better one .
▪
Maybe it was a crackpot theory, but it was a good one .
▪
Nevertheless, it was always clear that Schmidt's third term in office would prove a difficult one .
▪
Payno was gleeful, for his idea was a good one .
▪
The belief that hierarchical organizational structure makes for good business is a difficult one to give up.
▪
The Berlin Philharmonic as it exists today may be a happier orchestra, but it is in no way a better one .
▪
Then I became a lead project manager and, I have to say, I was a good one .
a fast/good/long etc ball
▪
A bit like Dorigo ie he can cross a good ball when necessary.
▪
Anyway he is 24, is a good ball winner and throws himself around a bit.
▪
Jackson will supplant Charlie Ward as the starting point guard, giving the team a better ball distributor.
▪
Leeds do play a lot of football, but they hit a long ball as well.
▪
Phillips seized on a long ball and found himself with only Manninger to beat.
▪
Pow, Janir hit a long ball into the blackberry bushes beside the creek.
▪
Root threw me a fast ball .
a good night's sleep
▪
All you need is a good night's sleep.
▪
Night before 1 Try to ensure a good night's sleep. 2 Alleviate any anxiety if possible.
a good old sth
▪
We had a good old time at the reunion.
▪
But even marriage to a good old boy has not opened all arms to Fonda.
▪
He was a good old man, and I still miss him.
▪
He was a good old mule.
▪
If you need thrills, excitement and a good old dose of adrenalin, then the Ducati is a top option.
▪
It was high time, he intimated, that he and old Barney got together for a good old chinwag.
▪
One of these days Sam is going to come up against a good old time proper door.
▪
Our only hope is a good old winter storm over the Christmas holiday.
a good read
▪
It's not great literature, but it's a good read .
▪
Barnes and Hughes for a good read , Levin ton for the examinations.
▪
He seems to have a good read on his players and good rapport with them.
▪
I just sit and have a good read until they are done.
▪
It is certainly worth a good read , and I can recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.
▪
Journal in double triumph Roy Castle takes a break from record-breaking and relaxes with a good read .
▪
Le Carre can always be counted on to deliver a good read .
▪
Taken as a good read , this is an excellent book.
a good screw
a good sport
▪
I don't like playing with him - he's not a very good sport .
▪
All in all, Fred was a good sport and said he enjoyed the meal.
▪
But she was such a good sport about it.
a good/bad etc shot
▪
But Nogai's a good shot .
▪
Ed Kelley was a good shot .
▪
He made a good shot from there and holed a three-foot putt for a quadruple-bogey eight.
▪
If I hit a bad shot , I try to minimize its effect.
▪
Klingler made it clear at the end of 1996 that he wanted a better shot at moving up the depth chart.
▪
That much was the least expected of a hunter who had made a bad shot .
▪
They have a better shot at claiming the governorship.
▪
Tom played a bad shot out of the bunker, and he does no more than charge straight at this press guy.
a good/bad judge of sth
▪
Sarah's not a very good judge of character.
▪
And for all his imagination, he was not a good judge of character on limited acquaintance.
▪
But Anya's a better judge of character than she used to be, back in the old homeland.
▪
He's also a good judge of a quick run.
▪
He was a good judge of character, hated hypocrisy, and had no time for conceit.
▪
I didn't protest as it was his fence officially, and he was supposed to be a good judge of torque.
▪
It was not that he was too sure of himself simply that he was a good judge of the possible.
▪
Munnings, he told reporters, was a better judge of horses than paintings.
a good/large part of sth
▪
Married couples make up a large part of the church's congregation.
▪
Checheno-Ingushetia was abolished, and a large part of the Ingushi lands had been ceded to North Ossetia and repopulated by Ossetes.
▪
Had Therese spent a large part of her salary on a dress she would never wear again?
▪
His energies were never enormous, but limited though they were, he used a large part of them outside the business.
▪
Many young people are now attracted to the idea of producing a large part of their own food.
▪
So did a large part of the local population, including Morag Paterson.
▪
So that a large part of every day is not determined by thought at all, it more or less just happens because of habit.
▪
Social services take up a large part of the council budget.
▪
Ten black men took a sledge-hammer to the work, and knocked off a large part of his face.
a good/safe bet
▪
The earrings seemed like a good bet for a birthday present.
▪
Cohen says companies like PictureTel have improved transmission quality, making video conferencing a better bet than in years past.
▪
Even if you spend more and risk recurring sticker shock, the place is a good bet to tranquilize you.
▪
It was always a safe bet , of course, that Hillsborough would be just about the least dangerous place in Britain yesterday.
▪
Only a few months ago he had looked like a good bet .
▪
Still, if a well-equipped sporty car is in your heart, the fifth-generation Prelude probably is a good bet .
▪
That makes them a good bet if you travel with a laptop computer.
▪
The supermodels are a safe bet and, in times of recession, that is what matters.
a good/sympathetic listener
▪
And apart from the information you get, being a good listener helps the other side to relax and have confidence in you.
▪
Be a good listener and do not demand that children reveal all that they do or think.
▪
In the Collins family, Kevin was not actually told stories about how he, too, was a good listener .
▪
It will give you the opportunity to discuss your problems with a sympathetic listener .
▪
Lady Thatcher never drew breath, while John Major was a good listener .
▪
People liked her because she was steady, sensible, a good listener .
▪
Seek not only to be understood but to understand-be a good listener .
▪
Zach said he was a good listener and that he was a sensitive being.
a great/good deal
▪
A single incident suggests a great deal about Hennepinhis prudery, his belligerence, his sensitivity.
▪
In the last ten years, we have learned a great deal more about this interplay.
▪
Neither girl took a great deal of interest in me.
▪
One particular candidate responding to the survey went to a great deal of trouble to commit his decidedly anti-headhunting views to paper.
▪
She spoke a great deal about poetry.
▪
Teachers also received a great deal of support and help from both popular organizations and from communities to ease their situation.
▪
The movement of earthworms throughout layers can also cause a great deal of disruption, blurring the divisions.
▪
Very frequently, speechwriters are recruited from the ranks of journalism, which accounts for a great deal .
a happy/good hunting ground (for sth)
▪
I pass up a roadside rest area, a happy hunting ground for new cars and ready cash.
▪
In the early years of this century, many a collector found Madeira a happy hunting ground.
▪
Scandinavia was a happy hunting ground for him and he did the same for Nicolai Gedda.
a nod's as good as a wink
a rattling good yarn/story/read
▪
On one level, it is vastly entertaining and a rattling good read.
▪
We bet the Weatherfield Advertiser was a rattling good read under Ken's editorship.
all in good time
▪
But don't fret, you shall have a puppy all in good time .
all the best
▪
Tell him I said goodbye and wish him all the best .
▪
A facility that's said to represent all the best in car manufacturing worldwide.
▪
He wanted to give it all the best that was in him, of which he had more than he needed.
▪
In fact they are regularly seen around all the best joints.
▪
Maybe it was true that the Devil got all the best lines.
▪
On the surface, at least, Bonita Vista has all the best qualities of a racially diverse campus.
▪
The movement has got all the best stories, even if it's a little short on facts.
▪
They came, all the best and noblest, to join the company.
▪
They still kept almost all the best in-state players.
all the better/easier/more etc
▪
He offsets Roberts' operatic evil with a performance that commands all the more notice for its minimalism.
▪
His job was made all the more easier by drivers who hadn't bothered to take measures to stop people like him.
▪
If there is some meat left on the bones, all the better.
▪
It makes it all the more opportune.
▪
Superb defence by Karpov, all the more praiseworthy in that he was now in desperate time trouble.
▪
The dispute was all the more bitter because a prize was at stake.
▪
The inadequacy and treachery of the old leaderships of the working class have made the need all the more imperative.
▪
Weather experts say it was a relatively dry winter which makes the water recovery all the more remarkable.
appeal to sb's better nature/sense of justice etc
as best you can
▪
I'll deal with the problem as best I can.
▪
I cleaned the car up as best I could, but it still looked a mess.
▪
We'll have to manage as best we can without you.
▪
And her reaction to her illness was, as best I can glean, fraught with fear, discouragement, and depression.
▪
I would therefore be grateful if you could refer back to the letter I wrote and respond as best you can.
▪
It is therefore necessary to locate as best we can the final resting place or incidence of the major types of taxes.
▪
Only a proportion of them are successful and the rest must struggle as best they can to obtain mates.
▪
Our culture has no Obon ready-made, but we are filling in as best we can.
▪
Then you gently and gradually work the new feather on, positioning it to match the original plumage as best you can.
▪
We must also imagine our way into myth, as best we can, like actors in a play.
▪
You just have to wait and catch your moment or piece things together as best you can.
at a good/rapid/fast etc clip
▪
He was walking along at a good clip , his eyes idly panning the facades of the brownstone houses.
▪
Up ahead, a thoroughfare Traffic was going across the intersection at a good clip in both directions.
at best
▪
At best , sales have been good but not great.
▪
Public transportation is at best limited.
at the best of times
▪
Even at the best of times the roads are dangerous.
▪
A salmon is slippery enough to handle at the best of times, but one of this size ....
▪
But reason told her it was a precarious business at the best of times.
▪
In fact Polanski, unconventional at the best of times, takes us to the limit - and beyond.
▪
It was run on a shoestring at the best of times and Kelly was merely adding to his problems.
▪
Listening is a difficult and complex skill at the best of times.
▪
Memory was mischievously selective at the best of times Trivia stuck limpet-like and the useful filtered away.
▪
Rising living standards and well-being are ambiguously related at the best of times, and not simply for ecological reasons.
▪
The mind was a delicate mechanism that he disliked interfering with at the best of times.
at your best
▪
At his best , he's one of the most exciting tennis players in the world.
▪
This recording captures Grappelli at his very best .
▪
And if I sometimes see them at their worst, I sometimes see them at their best as well.
▪
Augusta was not at her best yesterday on a drab, grey day.
▪
But like Natalie Merchant, Cerbone is at her best when composing character sketches.
▪
Still, quarterbacks are not at their best when their throwing motion is impeded.
▪
The answer, in brief, is the method of empirical inquiry, at its best the method of science.
▪
The early 1960s showed such policy at its best .
▪
The formal work of the House is often seen at its best in committee.
▪
The Machine is at its best in primaries, but Daley was taking no chances.
at your best/worst/most effective etc
bad/good sailor
▪
Although he was a good sailor , Columbus was a bad governor.
▪
As a yacht delivery skipper he had to be a damn good sailor .
▪
Even the best sailors can be swept into them, apart from which they can cause all sorts of damage to your equipment.
▪
How he got there no-one knows, but he was a very good sailor and an even better artist.
▪
I have never been a good sailor , and kept to my bunk for the first part of the journey.
▪
Ironically I do not make a very good sailor .
▪
Turns out all of us are pretty good sailors .
be a good/quick/easy etc lay
▪
I don't deny it was a good lay .
be a good/wonderful/terrible etc cook
▪
As a result, the adult John is obsessed with food, has an overstocked fridge and is a good cook .
▪
Franca, said to be a good cook , was not a good cook, just an ingenious cook.
▪
He is a good cook , isn't he?
▪
My aunt and I are good cooks .
▪
Nils may be a good cook , but his time will be better spent away from the galley.
▪
Of motivation to get good grades in school or to be a good cook ?
▪
To be a good cook you have to do a lot of things precisely, but it requires no understanding.
▪
Zelah was a good cook and he enjoyed the meal.
be all the better for sth
▪
And it was all the better for being hosted by real-deal Alice Cooper rather than fat phoney Phill Jupitus.
▪
And the piece was all the better for it.
▪
My grandmother therefore moulded my life, and I believe I am all the better for it.
▪
Spa towns, though, are all the better for looking somewhat passé and Eaux-Bonnes is more passé than most.
▪
The game at Twickenham today will be all the better for the inclusion of the National Anthem.
▪
Well, a statement like that is all the better for proof, but go on, anyway.
be for the best
▪
Even though I lost my job, I knew it was for the best . It gave me the chance to start again.
▪
After all, it may be for the best .
▪
Anything that spurs creativity behind the bar must be for the best .
▪
He can smell nothing, which is for the best .
▪
I decided to decide that it was for the best .
▪
It may well be for the best .
▪
Maybe it is for the best .
▪
No one has been so heartless as to suggest we skip the picnic, but it is for the best .
▪
Still, perhaps it was for the best .
be good for the soul
▪
Confession is good for the soul , particularly when it comes from journalists, who have a notoriously difficult time admitting error.
▪
Heat lightning was breaking outside and there was a breeze from the ocean that was good for the soul .
▪
Perhaps some teachers and others believe that, nevertheless, such practice is good for the soul !
▪
What happened Saturday night was good for the soul .
▪
Which was good for the soul , but bad for knees and dignity.
be good/bad news for sb
▪
House prices are very low, which is good news for first-time buyers.
▪
Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little, too late.
▪
As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, and that may be good news for President Clinton.
▪
Gordon Brown also promised Labour would be good news for big employers ... like the nearby Rover plant in Cowley.
▪
Growing demand for such equipment is good news for the helicopter's distributors McAlpine based at Kidlington in Oxfordshire.
▪
Paperwork for files has been reduced and the threshold for compliance raised; both changes are good news for filers.
▪
The latest financial results are good news for a company that has struggled for years.
▪
This is good news for the hotelier who is prepared.
▪
This theft can only be bad news for the preservation movement.
be in (good) working/running order
▪
Hall of Power - a range of engines and heavy machinery, most of which are in working order and operated daily.
▪
The locomotive was in working order at the time and negotiations proceeded which resulted in transportation to Swanage as described above.
▪
To this day the milling machinery is in working order .
▪
Two isn't multiplicity and Castelfonte never was in running order , and now they were living in hotels.
be in a good/bad etc place
be in good company
▪
If you can't program your VCR, you're in good company .
▪
But even if she never escapes from its shadow, history shows her to be in good company .
▪
But for the United States, to be alone is to be in good company .
▪
Clinton is in good company , but I think he wants to be remembered for more than that.
▪
He is in good company when it comes to losing Tests that do not mat ter all that much.
▪
If these are your worries you are in good company .
▪
If you are, you are in good company with some one like Alfred North Whitehead.
▪
The new managers were in good company .
▪
We were in good company , though.
be in good heart
▪
Far from bumping along on the bottom, desperate for money, it is in good heart .
▪
I can see the land is in good heart , and I remember enough to know the extent of the estates.
▪
The gelding show-ed he was in good heart this week by winning at Edinburgh on Thursday.
▪
With the prospect of William and Harry joining them for a holiday afterwards, Diana was in good heart .
be in good/fine/great etc form
▪
At least he is in good form again.
▪
Davies, now in his 80s, is in fine form .
▪
Fortunately, Alan Judge was in fine form , pulling off a great save to keep Hereford in the game.
▪
Health Management Associates Inc., known as the Wal-Mart of hospital operators, appears to be in fine form .
▪
I was in good form that night.
▪
Office manager is on holiday this week., and assistant manager are in good form .
▪
That is our strength and our forwards are in good form at the moment.
be in sb's good/bad books
be just (good) friends
▪
""Are you going out with Liam?'' ""No, we're just good friends .''
▪
I'm not going out with Nathan, you know - we're just friends .
▪
I keep telling my mother that Peter and I are just friends but she doesn't seem to believe me.
▪
Billy and I were just good friends , really good mates.
▪
But maybe he and Jane were just friends .
▪
Maureen and I - we thought we were just friends .
▪
My wife and I are just good friends .
▪
They were just friends , and he was fun to be with.
be meant to be good/excellent/bad etc
be of Scottish/Protestant/good etc stock
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be onto a good thing
▪
His senses told him he was onto a good thing and his senses were rarely wrong.
▪
Many directors who take dividends in lieu of salary may think they are onto a good thing .
▪
Maybe he thought he was onto a good thing .
▪
Multiply that up by two or three hundred stores, and you will see he was onto a good thing .
▪
The plots were essentially the same; like any successful entrepreneur, Alger knew when he was onto a good thing .
▪
They felt they might be onto a good thing .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best before
best dress/shoes/clothes etc
▪
Everyone was in black because their best clothes were for funerals, and everyone danced.
▪
I washed them, then dressed them in their best clothes, but never new ones.
▪
She had her best shoes on, and a new hat.
▪
She had the best dress sense of any girl in Benedict's and a passion for altering the colour of her hair.
▪
The best car, the wittiest put-down, and the best dress.
▪
The first best clothes were only for Sunday and when visitors came.
▪
The princess arrayed herself in her best clothes and jewels.
▪
They would never let you in alone, even though you are wearing your best clothes.
best friend
▪
Caroline and her best friend both had babies within three weeks of each other.
▪
Stuart is just my brother's best friend - I've known him since I was six.
▪
We lived next door to each other when we were kids, and we've been best friends ever since.
▪
After all - the man was one of his best friends, wasn't he?
▪
Although many people would disagree, radio is without doubt the musician's best friend.
▪
Didn't any of his best friends tell him?
▪
He was like a kid who had found a new best friend, and she was it.
▪
He was not allowed to mention the slaughtering to anyone, not even as a special secret between best friends.
▪
I also learned to become my own best friend.
▪
Trials so that her injured best friend Kay Poe could advance.
▪
When Julie had a home problem, her two best friends at work tried to offer advice based on their own experiences.
best of all
▪
You can lose five pounds a week on this diet. And best of all, you never have to feel hungry.
▪
But Black Mountain was often not the best of all possible worlds.
▪
I'd have liked best of all to have stuffed his mouth with hay.
▪
I appeal to all who have ever known this best of all hospitals - fight for Bart's.
▪
Of all the participants Reagan came out best of all.
▪
Oh, but best of all was the chair in which I myself was destined momentarily to sit.
▪
That was the thing he loved best of all: running free.
▪
The Corps was a know-how, can-do outfit, possibly the best of all the outfits that came to town.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪
Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪
Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪
Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪
The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪
Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪
We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
better (to be) safe than sorry
▪
I think I'll take my umbrella along - better safe than sorry.
▪
Anyway, better safe than sorry.
▪
The overall message of precaution-better safe than sorry-has intuitive appeal.
better Red than dead
better late than never
▪
"The pictures have finally arrived.'' "Well, better late than never.''
▪
While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better late than never
▪
While ongoing self-monitoring is urged, it is always better late than never.
better luck next time
▪
Ah well, better luck next time, Andy.
▪
And if you didn't win, better luck next time.
▪
Back to the West Indies with it, and better luck next time.
better the devil you know (than the devil you don't)
better yourself
▪
A lot of people are trying to better themselves.
▪
And she feels better herself - after two weeks, her headaches and tiredness have gone.
▪
He doesn't criticize the vice-president marketing's expert judgement nor pretend he could do better himself.
▪
I couldn't have done better myself.
▪
I teach them to better themselves.
▪
It is a way in which diversity and the desire to better oneself can be accommodated.
▪
She would do anything to better herself.
▪
Wilson speeches often praise the gumption of illegal immigrants who take risks and endure hardships to better themselves and their families.
better/harder/worse etc still
▪
And 245 specialty stock funds that focus on particular industries did better still , averaging a 6. 5 percent gain.
▪
But perhaps the early evening was better still ?
▪
He didn't talk because he was afraid of losing the pole or, worse still , falling in.
▪
I started to hunt for a cheap restaurant or, better still , a snack shop.
▪
I thought that it would soon pass, and it did - for you to work harder still .
▪
Or better still , make a real talent show instead.
▪
Or better still , there was the village school practically next door!
▪
With hindsight, it would have better still to lock in a few more gains.
bid sb good afternoon/good morning etc
bring out the best/worst in sb
▪
Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.
▪
And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.
▪
But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.
▪
But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.
▪
Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.
▪
It brings out the best in us.
▪
Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.
▪
So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
▪
Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.
come good/right
▪
In both cases, prices came right back down within three months.
▪
It seemed clear Corbett wanted me to work at Salomon, but he never came right out and proposed.
▪
It will all come right, now that a different period of history has begun.
▪
More generally, the logistical strengths that the Dole campaign had counted on began to come good.
▪
Periodically, these letters come right out of the woodwork.
▪
Since I was the best spinner of my type in the world, eventually it would all come right.
▪
The light comes right through our curtains and makes sleeping difficult.
▪
The wasp took off as if in fright, but she came right back.
come off best/better/worst etc
▪
Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.
▪
Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.
▪
His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.
▪
It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.
▪
Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.
▪
The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.
▪
The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.
come up with the goods/deliver the goods
▪
Neil Young's annual fall concert always delivers the goods with famous musicians and good music.
couldn't be better/worse/more pleased etc
damaged goods
▪
If there was actual combustion of the damaged goods , however caused, there has been damage by fire.
▪
On 5 September a credit note No. 19 was received from A. Creditor in respect of damaged goods valued £5.00 returned by the hotel.
▪
She didn't, but something about the way she moved confirmed my suspicion that she saw herself as damaged goods .
▪
We all pass through this life as damaged goods , and the repair work is ongoing.
discretion is the better part of valour
do better
▪
Harris argued that the economy is doing better than it was five years ago.
▪
I was convinced that many of the students could have done better if they'd tried.
▪
If you are saving 5 percent of your income each year, you're doing better than most people.
▪
Mark ran the distance in 30 minutes in the fall, but we're hoping he'll do better this season.
▪
Some roses do better in different types of soil.
▪
The British champion has completed the course in three minutes -- let's see if his Canadian rival can do better .
▪
We did better than we expected.
▪
Alamaro and Patrick think they can do better .
▪
Incumbents who vote against new regulations, paperwork and taxes -- usually conservatives -- do better on the scorecard.
▪
It leads to a lethargy I think we do better without.
▪
Some may do better than our scenario represents.
▪
Surely we can do better for people with mental problems and their families?
▪
The index did better than the broader market.
▪
We can do better than that now.
▪
We need to do better than that, and we can.
do sb a good/bad turn
▪
She was only trying to do James a good turn .
do sb a power of good
▪
It can also be funny and it can do you a power of good.
▪
Yeltsin could do his country a power of good by directing public attention to these issues.
do sb a world of good
▪
A week by the ocean will do you a world of good.
▪
A good run in pastures new would do you a world of good.
▪
All of them stressed that a holiday would do Valerie the world of good.
▪
All the family can enjoy eating the low-fat way and it will do everyone a world of good.
▪
But physically - this type of exercise will do you the world of good.
▪
Come on a Club 18-30 holiday and there's every chance it will do you the world of good.
▪
He could become so unaccountably miserable that a small amount of collusion some-times did him a world of good.
▪
Not only do they do you a world of good if you drink them but they also have cosmetic uses.
do your best
▪
But I did my best to feed them both.
▪
He wanted to do his best the first time he performed, and knew he was not in peak condition.
▪
Like Truman two decades earlier, Humphrey did his best to overcome the severe handicap of a badly split party.
▪
Once there, Drachenfels will do his best to isolate the crystal-wielding characters and rob them of their treasures.
▪
Remember, always do your best , don't let them hook you, however tempting the bait.
▪
We can only do our best .
▪
What I learned from them specifically of the techniques of teaching I have had to do my best to unlearn since.
do your level best (to do sth)
▪
Even so he did his level best with the new ball.
▪
We did our level best to look fascinated.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪
But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪
He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪
I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪
It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪
Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪
There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪
This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪
What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
every bit as good/important etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪
In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪
The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪
Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪
To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
fare well/badly/better etc
▪
I think the men fared better than the women.
▪
It can be seen that, whilst all regions reflected the higher national unemployment rate, some regions fared better than others.
▪
It still fared better than the broader market.
▪
Life may be regarded as an austere struggle, blighted by fate, where only the rich and the lucky fare well.
▪
Not faring well, but resting.
▪
Obviously some clothiers fared better than others for there were quite a large number of bankruptcies between 1800 and 1840.
▪
The Bloomberg Indiana Index fared better than the benchmark Standard&.
▪
There is no reason to believe that diabetic patients fare better and they may do less well.
for better or (for) worse
▪
The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.
▪
All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.
▪
And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.
▪
And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.
▪
Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.
▪
He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.
▪
He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.
▪
Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.
▪
Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.
for good measure
▪
Why don't you try calling them one more time, for good measure .
▪
Add David Robinson for good measure .
▪
And let's add Godel for good measure .
▪
Even old Henry Spalding, who had returned to Lapwai in the spring, added his signature for good measure .
▪
For the rest it's twenty five minutes of speed and skill ... and then two more laps for good measure .
▪
I gave her a good strong look just for good measure .
▪
Network South East has its patriotic red, white, and blue bands with grey thrown in for good measure .
▪
Take your governing body licence along for good measure .
▪
This pudding also includes a little cocoa powder for good measure .
for the better
▪
Anything they can do to improve children's health is for the better .
▪
Besides, in some ways the change was for the better .
▪
Cloud changed things, all right, and not all for the better .
▪
That may be for the better .
▪
The formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 did not automatically change any of that for the better .
▪
The way was set for much-needed change, but would things change for the better ?
▪
This change has not necessarily been one for the better .
▪
What about learning how to change things for the better rather than merely learning to adapt to the way things are now?
for want of a better word/phrase etc
▪
Just horses and ploughs and, for want of a better word, peasants.
▪
Now, hands are, well, handed for want of a better word.
for want of anything better (to do)
for your own good/safety/benefit etc
▪
He will work for your financial independence and will never take advantage or misuse your money for his own good.
▪
Intelligent Buildings Too smart for their own good?
▪
It looked as if the transports were advancing too fast for their own safety.
▪
Lewin and Nnah were also led away for their own safety.
▪
Of course they kept a sharp lookout in such congested waters for their own safety.
▪
Often one step too many for his own good.
▪
We got too famous for our own good.
▪
You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
get better
▪
Braden's teams always get better as the season goes on.
▪
Get some rest and get better , okay?
▪
I didn't remember anything about the accident, but little by little, as I got better , memories started coming back to me.
▪
I don't mind training hard, because you get better and better all the time.
▪
I hope the weather gets better soon.
▪
I hope you get better soon.
▪
If things don't get better , we may end up having to sell the house.
▪
Living conditions may get worse before they get better .
▪
My back has been quite bad recently, but it's getting better slowly.
▪
The first part of the book is pretty boring, but it gets a lot better as the story goes on.
▪
And has it got better or worse?
▪
At school I sometimes used to get better marks than him, but that was when he chose not to exert himself.
▪
Even Quayle is getting better press than me.
▪
Four decades ago in Britain girls were getting better results than boys in the 11-plus exam.
▪
He was getting better every day, so much better, and yet business got worse and worse.
▪
So the Giants do have to get better , and history suggests rather strongly that better means not staying the same.
▪
To keep getting better , you must improve.
▪
When you've been blown to bits, as Zimmerman had, you either train hard or you don't get better .
get off to a good/bad etc start
get the better of sb
▪
Alison Leigh refuses to let circumstances get the better of her.
▪
Kramer's temper sometimes gets the better of him.
▪
At the same time he said he had had to select his shots wisely to get the better of Chesnokov.
▪
Blaise Cendrars witnessed a fight in which she was getting the better of Modigliani.
▪
Bored in the isolation of his taxi, curiosity and perhaps hunger got the better of him.
▪
But kids have a long tradition of getting the better of adults, going back to the Famous Five and beyond.
▪
I allowed my feelings to get the better of me.
▪
I run my fingers over this invisible object, and little by little curiosity gets the better of me.
▪
So mortals learned that it is not possible to get the better of Zeus or ever deceive him.
▪
We killed him, but that really got the better of us.
get/have a good press
▪
Because officials are so anxious to get good press , there is often tremendous pressure on the government press agent.
▪
Even Quayle is getting better press than me.
▪
Even testosterone, so often blamed for aggressive behavior in men, is getting better press .
▪
For now Harriet's keener on seeing chess get a better press .
give a good/poor account of yourself
▪
Cooper gave a good account of himself in the fight.
▪
Sussex's Wood gave a good account of herself and should have claimed the second set.
▪
Thirteen-year-old Patsy, who could always give a good account of herself, looked upset.
▪
Though it gave a good account of itself, Dave gently persuaded the fish close enough to be lifted aboard the boat.
give as good as you get
▪
At 87, Juran is still able to give as good as he gets.
▪
Don't you worry about Tim. He may be small but he gives as good as he gets!
▪
It was a tough interview, but I thought the President gave as good as he got.
▪
The youngest of three sons, Dave can give as good as he gets.
give sb a (good) run for their money
▪
Slosser gave Boyd a run for his money in the 1996 GOP primary.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
go one better (than sb)
▪
Beth Wolff, president of her own residential real estate company, likes to go one better .
▪
But even if Forbes loses his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, he may still go one better than his father.
▪
Ford went one better and put 60 two-stroke Fiestas on the roads.
▪
Laker's return of 9 for 37 was outstanding, but he was to go one better when the Aussies followed on.
▪
Like an aphid, then, the caterpillar employs ants as bodyguards, but it goes one better .
▪
She goes one better than last year.
▪
The Bristol & West have now gone one better than the standard endowment mortgage.
▪
They have followed each other up the ladder, but whenever he has reached the same rung she has gone one better .
good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc
good Samaritan
▪
Had she been prompted by curiosity or the instincts of the good Samaritan , Theodora wondered.
good and proper
▪
Now, eight years after the original bike was launched, Ducati has addressed the issue good and proper .
▪
We got our revenge on Kel for 1960 good and proper , and no one else was in it.
▪
Well, they both got it around in 75 and the crowd was on Seve's side good and proper .
good copy
▪
A good copy , painted by a twentieth-century court painter, but nevertheless a copy.
▪
Even those students intending to make a good copy of their rough essay may plan their writing.
▪
For, if he used her as a model, she used him as good copy .
▪
He told himself it was all good copy for his next novel.
▪
He wanted to make good copy for himself and his plays.
▪
Insipid daft doesn't make good copy .
▪
It may not be a very good copy of this, of this thing for your thing.
▪
Once the original is lost, the best copy you can make is less good than it was before.
good egg
▪
What a good egg she was!
good evening
▪
A bad morning, a good afternoon and - perhaps - an even better evening .
▪
A policeman walked by, wished me good evening and ushered a warning.
▪
Ah, good evening , Lestrade!
▪
Behind the glass I see her tell everyone good evening .
▪
But for now from all the team, have a very good evening .
▪
Dearest Timothy: It is a good evening to sit in this pleasant room and write a letter.
▪
Have a good evening . 1904 How can you, you have class tomorrow night?
▪
We exchange slightly embarrassed good evenings with them as we leave.
good faith
▪
As a sign of his good faith , the company has agreed to replace the defective parts for free.
▪
And I believe President Clinton is a person of good faith as well.
▪
As a result, both parties should always behave in good faith .
▪
Avoid apologizing if you've made a criticism in good faith .
▪
However, we judge the Government's good faith in terms of their track record.
▪
So we paid an exorbitant price for the decisions that were made in good faith and for good purpose.
▪
Special offers are quoted in good faith based on information supplied by retailers.
▪
These duties seek to regulate the conduct of partners and promote good faith between them.
▪
Whilst still in employment, there was an implied term imposing a duty of good faith .
good grief!
▪
Good grief ! Look the mess in here!
good luck to sb
▪
And finally good luck to Woodstock-based football manager Jim Smith the on Sunday.
▪
Anyway, good-by and good luck to you.
▪
If they start talking high teens, good luck to them.
▪
In which case, good luck to them both.
▪
Simon did well after that but made a pretence of simple good luck to anyone who questioned his apparent good fortune.
▪
So good luck to you, Susan.
▪
We can only wish good luck to the chairmen or directors of Morgan Grenfell, Amec.
▪
Well, cheers and good luck to you both.
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good mixer
▪
Moore Councill says each piece is designed to be a stand-alone winner, as well as a good mixer .
good morrow
▪
King: How now, my noble lords, good morrow !
good riddance (to sb)
▪
But if this is what the club resorts to than good riddance to them.
▪
If they can't accept me as I am, good riddance .
▪
So any docks, dandelions and creeping buttercup go straight to the tip and good riddance to them too.
▪
Then I thought: good riddance .
▪
To man qua man we readily say good riddance .
▪
We were all annoyed with him over not helping with the hay, and I thought good riddance .
good with your hands
▪
He was good with his hands .
▪
The psychologist had said he was good with his hands .
good/bad/poor etc effort
▪
Batter Up Despite my best efforts , I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.
▪
Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.
▪
Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort .
▪
However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.
▪
In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts , the moran evaded his supervision.
▪
In spite of the rain's best efforts , I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.
▪
Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts .
▪
Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.
good/bad/poor etc seller
▪
Alcohol and western cigarettes are best sellers .
▪
Convinced it had a best seller on its hands, Random House came up with the unorthodox idea of relaunching the book.
▪
Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.
▪
His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.
▪
It was the earliest best seller .
▪
Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?
▪
The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.
▪
Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.
good/bad/poor etc speller
▪
Only good spellers can spell easily orally.
▪
They give the good speller a chance to use his skill, but may depress a poor speller.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
good/better/healthy etc start (in life)
▪
A good start is one where you pass close behind the start boat going at speed.
▪
But it wasn't a good start in the lessons of love, and left me very arid in such matters.
▪
He had better start by accepting that if he does the right things, they will not be popular ones.
▪
It wasn't a very good start .
▪
Not a good start , but a start, nevertheless.
▪
The auditor may enjoy the gifts, but he had better start looking for a sympathy engram not yet suspected or tapped.
▪
The problem was the middle and end, when the team sacrificed rebounding for getting out to a good start .
▪
They will, however, be getting a new center, and that is a good start , he believes.
good/hard/quick etc worker
▪
He is supposedly not the hardest worker ever.
▪
He made Mrs Timms look uninterested in her store, the Reliance Market, and she was a hard worker .
▪
He was a good, hard worker .
▪
She was known to be very tough and a very hard worker .
▪
She was such a hard worker and a wonderful cook.
▪
The girl was a good worker who came and went quietly about her business.
good/poor/silly old etc sb
good/top/poor etc performer
▪
Almost all the poor performers were to be found in the economically-disadvantaged regions.
▪
Both Cisco and Stratacom are among the top performers on Wall Street.
▪
But these top performers are aware of the requirements for effective training as well as its limitations.
▪
Deals are also being offered to companies as alternative incentive perks to top performers .
▪
He chose an all-or-nothing strategy to put himself in the top performers in the Great Grain Challenge.
▪
It took me seven months to really understand that I have an individual who is a good performer .
▪
Strasser pointed to the construction, cable, chemical, tire and engineering industries as the likely best performers this year.
▪
The poorer performers tend to die; the better ones, to reproduce.
gracious (me)!/good gracious!/goodness gracious!
greater/more/better etc than the sum of its parts
▪
Or is the organisation more than the sum of its parts?
had best
▪
They had best be careful.
▪
All due, of course, to the fact that she had bested Travis McKenna.
▪
But pitchers had best take note as well.
▪
If so, we had best listen closely, since we will not get another chance.
▪
Meanwhile we had best prepare the way by showing that a medicine beyond verbal shamanism is an aching need.
▪
Perhaps we had best ask ourselves why our political institutions function as they do.
▪
Poets like Woodhouse had best go back to their jobs.
▪
The concept of differentiation is a key theme of our work, and we had best discuss it as the book unfolds.
had better
▪
I'd better not go out tonight; I'm really tired.
▪
You'd better phone Julie to say you'll be late.
▪
After what he has now said about a referendum, he had better watch out.
▪
Any organisation dismissing that vision as science-fiction had better look out.
▪
But Walter is a poor shade of what we have had better done.
▪
He thought he had better reread that part of the book.
▪
I did not want to go, but Dana said we had better do as they asked.
▪
I realized I had better hustle him out of there before he was asked about his acting career.
▪
In April 1911, he seemingly had better luck.
▪
They told Weary that he and Billy had better find somebody to surrender to.
half a loaf (is better than none)
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
have a (good) nose for sth
▪
He must have a nose for money better than any hound for any fox.
▪
I have a nose for one thing.
have a (good) root round
have a (good) run for your money
have a good/fine/thick etc head of hair
have a high/low/good/bad etc opinion of sb/sth
▪
All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.
▪
He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.
▪
Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.
▪
She does not seem to have a high opinion of married life.
have an eye/a good eye for sth
▪
Greene has an eye for detail.
▪
Confidence men always have an eye for extra exits.
▪
She says women have an eye for minutiae, they see the curtain hasn't been drawn or the untied shoelace.
▪
They also have an eye for a catchy phrase.
have seen better days
▪
Ms. Davis's car had certainly seen better days.
▪
Virginia's car had definitely seen better days.
▪
We are working at Nanking University, in rather cramped and primitive conditions, for the buildings have seen better days.
have/get the goods on sb
▪
The two detectives went undercover to get the goods on the Parducci family.
▪
It is get the goods on him.
he/she had a good innings
hotter/colder/better etc than ever
▪
And that incentive was increased when they got personal recognition and satisfaction from doing it better than ever before.
▪
He says the new films are better than ever .
▪
Organised by the Alton and District Arts Council, the week promises to be better than ever .
▪
The moviemaking machine that Walt Disney created sixty years ago is working better than ever today.
▪
The National Health Service is now better than ever .
▪
The opportunities now are better than ever .
▪
This year's attractions are bigger and better than ever , with events running from Tuesday to Saturday.
▪
Watermen talked about their catches so far this year, which they said have been better than ever .
if you know what's good for you
in (good) trim
▪
All that time I've kept myself in trim .
▪
Fruit bushes, roses and other plants can be kept in trim with ease, keeping your garden tidy all year round.
▪
I need to keep my voice in trim since I still perform as a narrator.
▪
It is, and keeping yourself in trim is very important when you're not working.
▪
The 6, 000 middle-grade employees who work there are technically outstanding and in good trim .
▪
To this day Souness is obsessed with fitness, healthy dieting, pectoral pride and keeping his body in trim .
▪
You get in trim , he gets to drink more turpentine, and everybody's happy.
in a good/an ill/a bad humour
in fine/good fettle
▪
When I visited Mahatma Gandhi again at the end of June, 1946, he was in fine fettle .
in good nick/in bad nick etc
in good/bad/poor etc shape
▪
But if I was in better shape , I'd be sitting up there.
▪
He could still be in good shape .
▪
He said Texpool is in good shape now.
▪
If only he could tell them he was all right, in good shape , considering ....
▪
This saw the band in good shape , retaining their traditions of twisted passions and bleak emotional narratives.
▪
This year, however, Dole appears in good shape in both locations.
▪
Uptown was still in bad shape .
▪
We found he was in good shape , but had no food in his intestines.
in good/poor etc repair
▪
Almost 40% of unfit properties, and 35% of properties in poor repair , were occupied by people aged 60 and over.
▪
Drains: A properly constructed system, in good repair , does not normally require cleaning.
▪
It was the only door on Dreadnought which could be considered in good repair .
▪
Or Arthur McAlister; who had taken the responsibility of having their lawn mowed and keeping the house in good repair .
▪
Specific buildings, notably those on Castle Hill, including the cathedral and palaces, are restored and in good repair .
▪
The fences on either side of the track were in poor repair and in April 1965 children were seen on the line.
▪
The gallery is a very fine example and in good repair .
▪
The power station was in poor repair , and Smith set about installing new insulators and restoring good practice.
in your own (good) time
▪
Before, they used to count their breaks in the twelve hours, now their breaks are in their own time .
▪
Blue Mooney, a living legend in his own time .
▪
He should take his own route in his own time and avoid the tendency to see through others' eyes.
▪
Let me tell them myself, in my own time .
▪
Nurses in training who work hard physically, study in their own time and have numerous personal commitments are under pressure.
▪
The recognition that exceptional holiness and spirituality continue to manifest themselves in our own time is also a central pentecostal conviction.
▪
There were realistic hopes for Surrey as Mark Butcher and Stewart appeared to be building a stand in their own time .
▪
You would be healthy in your own time .
it does your heart good to see/hear sth
it is better/it would be better
it's a good thing (that)
▪
But it's a good thing it happened now...
▪
I decide it's a good thing that I don't see Sean try to capture Ian's incandescent dance.
▪
I think it's a good thing .
▪
So it's a good thing to get one's mind off in one's spare time.
▪
Still, it's a good thing from the hunt's point of view that new blood is coming along, surely?
it's an ill wind (that blows nobody any good)
jolly good!
just as good/bad/big etc
▪
And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.
▪
At home it was just as bad.
▪
I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.
▪
It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.
▪
Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.
▪
Or something else, just as bad, could happen.
▪
People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.
▪
Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.
keep perfect/good etc time
▪
But like a single gear in a mechanical clock, timeless can not keep good time all by itself.
▪
Nothing unusual - clocks behaving as before, keeping good time and continuing to emit their light beams.
▪
Running in a clump through a crowded station, like the Bash Street Kids, keeping perfect time with chant and clap.
kiss sth better
know better
▪
Parents should know better than their children, but they don't always necessarily do.
▪
The man said it was an 18 carat diamond, but Dina knew better.
▪
But there were some rules he knew better than she ever would.
▪
Even people who should know better have ended up paying a price for denying what they are feeling.
▪
Guess he should have known better.
▪
Now you know better, thass all.
▪
Then I would have known better.
▪
Time you knew better, young lady.
▪
Yamazaki seems unconcerned by the fact that he's taking on problems that have defeated many who should have known better.
let the good times roll
light years ahead/better etc than sth
like new/as good as new
make a good/bad fist of sth
make good time
▪
Once we got on the freeway, we made good time .
▪
After the ferry incident, we make good time .
▪
But DeLatorre, leading the convoy, made better time than he expected.
▪
I made good time back over the motorway.
▪
I was no weight, we made good time .
▪
The weather was not too promising, but we made good time and were soon at the first terrace.
▪
They made good time thereafter, considering the darkness, encountering no problems.
▪
We had made good time and had to ease speed to avoid closing the island in darkness.
▪
We were making good time through the foothills.
make the best of sth
▪
It's not going to be fun, but we might as well make the best of it.
▪
A good travel partner laughs and makes the best of it.
▪
For the most part, however, he made the best of contemporary information.
▪
In these circumstances one makes the best of limited information.
▪
Jack made the best of his bad luck at being captured and found plenty to occupy his time.
▪
One has to make the best of a situation, after all.
▪
When Miihlenberg learned that it was indeed a free country, he made the best of things.
▪
Yet despite her palpable alienation from suburban stay-at-home motherhood, she is determined to make the best of it.
man's best friend
miles older/better/too difficult etc
my (good) man
▪
As for fitzAlan ... did you think killing three of my men would go unnoticed?
▪
But my man fires his gun.
▪
But was it necessary to kill my men in cold blood?
▪
Hey Timmy, how are you, my man ?
▪
I called my men to drive them back.
▪
I decided like a good captain to remain with my men .
▪
I heard my men going after him with their guns - and then everything went black.
no better
▪
Caffeine received no better press in the twentieth century.
▪
Conditions were no better in the cities.
▪
Experts agree that in reality, the company looked after the workforce no better than most other employers of that time.
▪
Havvie Blaine, for all his name and lineage, was no better than Terry Rourke.
▪
If you turned to domestic politics, the news was no better .
▪
In fact, it was no better and no worse than other Air Force major commands.
▪
Nearly a decade later, our educational system was no better off than it had been when the commission issued its report.
▪
The problem with network computers is that they are no better than the networks they are connected to.
no news is good news
▪
I always say, no news is good news.
none the worse/better etc (for sth)
▪
Although the animal glowed rosy-pink, it appeared none the worse for its ordeal.
▪
I recovered, my mouth none the worse for it, after all.
▪
Peter's little pet was clearly none the worse for its time in the underworld.
not half as/so good/interesting etc (as sb/sth)
not in (all/good) conscience
▪
And apologists for Labour's refusal to organise in Northern Ireland can not in all conscience describe themselves as democrats.
▪
I have a hard time separating one statement resulting from torture from another and I can not in good conscience do so.
▪
Yet as Dunkers they could not in conscience support the use of force or pay disrespect to the Crown.
not know any better
▪
Before Sinai, one could argue, the people had the excuse of not knowing any better.
not so big/good/bad etc
▪
But so happen, one little boy not so good.
▪
But it's not so bad down here.
▪
Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.
▪
It is not so good at knowing how to do it.
▪
My tongue not so good anyway.
▪
She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.
▪
Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.
▪
When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.
not very good/happy/far etc
▪
Are you - very happy, fairly happy, not very happy, or not happy at all?
▪
Governments are not very good at tinkering.
▪
He says his technique is not very good.
▪
Most humans are not very good at keeping secrets.
▪
My breathing was not very good at all.
▪
Other kids were not very good either, and we all inadvertently inhaled the pool again and again.
▪
Paul is not very good at pushing it yet.
▪
Relations with Admiral Boyd of the Joint Chiefs were not very good either.
nothing better
▪
Analysts in Harare believe Mr Mugabe would like nothing better than the chance to declare a nationwide state of emergency.
▪
For sleeping there is nothing better than cotton.
▪
He had nothing better to do.
▪
I should have remembered: our new management likes nothing better than doing things on the cheap.
▪
Learn to tie it and you will realise there is nothing better .
▪
Rowland moves outside the establishment - in fact, he likes nothing better than upsetting it.
▪
The reporters, oddly enough, just happen to be sitting there in the line of fire with nothing better to do.
▪
With nothing better to do, Billy shuffled in their direction.
one good turn deserves another
pay good money for sth
▪
I paid good money for that sofa, so it should last.
▪
And we'd say, we're paying good money for this.
▪
Consumer information is an asset which marketers are prepared to pay good money for.
▪
I paid good money for that, I said, can't I just have a last go on it?
▪
I paid good money for this vehicle and I won't have the likes of you doing what you're doing!
▪
It hardly surprised him that people were not too keen on paying good money for that.
▪
Why pay good money for the same effect?
▪
Women would pay good money for a glimpse of his guardsman's helmet.
personal best
▪
But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.
▪
Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.
▪
Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.
▪
His personal best before this season was 10. 08.
▪
I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.
▪
Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.
▪
Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.
▪
That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.
put in a (good) word for sb
▪
I'll put in a good word for you with the management.
▪
He put in a good word for him at meetings of the Jockey Club.
▪
Only those who keep a dialogue going will be able to put in a word for persons in need of intercession.
put sth to (good) use
▪
I'd like a job where I could put my degree in languages to good use .
▪
But I am putting it to use .
▪
How do you put it to use in daily practice?
▪
It does not seem regressive to put it to use in the service of gay survival as well.
▪
Many large and medium size companies, government departments and Local authorities are putting Dataease to use somewhere within their organisations.
▪
Much of ecology is about this process: finding energy; putting it to use .
▪
The time has come to put your skills to use by developing a more useful and complex object orientated program.
▪
The trouble is we never stop long enough to put them to good use .
▪
Throughout the 1980s, researchers and company executives struggled with how to put Al to use .
put up a good fight
put up a good/poor etc show
▪
He might have put up a good show the other day, but that was because he was frightened.
▪
She put up a better show in the 1980s.
put/turn sth to good account
▪
The extra time was turned to good account .
quite a few/a good few/not a few
sb had better/best do sth
sb is (great/good) fun
▪
But it is fun for me to look up from my Sunday paper and watch them try to cope.
▪
Chasing and racing is fun for a time but you end up yearning for something different.
▪
In beautifully landscaped settings, this unique zoo is great fun for all the family.
▪
It is fun to have competitions to see who can sleep their yo-yo longer.
▪
Much of the film is fun , but a lot is confusing.
▪
Some of this is great fun , but it pulls the production two ways, blunting its focus.
▪
This is fun , unfussy, honest fare that calls for a glass of cold beer.
▪
This is just a whim but it is great fun .
sb is a (good) laugh
▪
Across the room, a table of young men in fitted shirts is laughing heartily and splashing out wine.
▪
Dennis is laughing , head held back.
▪
Her head is thrown back, and she is laughing .
▪
I can't understand what is said, but one of the technicians is laughing .
▪
I notice Harding is collapsed beside McMurphy and is laughs ing too.
▪
The banter between us is a laugh .
▪
What you want to do is laugh , but everyone is afraid to laugh.
sb knows best
sb's good offices/the good offices of sb
send your love/regards/best wishes etc
▪
He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.
▪
Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.
show sb in a good/bad etc light
show sth to (good/great) advantage
▪
He has joined to a fine genius all that can set him off and show him to advantage .
▪
It may be that the product would be shown off to best advantage in use.
so far so good
▪
"How's your new job?" "So far so good."
so much the better
▪
If it makes illegal drug use even more difficult, so much the better .
▪
You can use dried parsley, but if you have fresh, so much the better .
▪
And if I am Peter, so much the better .
▪
And if that can change things, so much the better Female speaker He's the little man having a kick.
▪
But if I can manage with fewer trips to the store, so much the better .
▪
If love eventually grows, so much the better .
▪
If they are alive so much the better , but they can be persuaded to take dead ones.
▪
If they can fit in with the room's general style, so much the better .
▪
If we can improve the team another way, so much the better .
▪
So a single fluorescent tube will be adequate, and if you have used floating plants, so much the better .
stand/serve/hold sb in good stead
▪
As a small boy, I devised my own set of cartoon animals, and they now stood me in good stead .
▪
But her beloved circus may have served her in better stead than regular outings to, say, the ballet.
▪
Despite his lack of political experience, Clouthier's 20-year leadership of business organisations stood him in good stead .
▪
Insomnia would stand him in good stead in this expanse of knee-high cover.
▪
Now we had moved on to bigger and better things, this predictability still stood us in good stead .
▪
These shoes had stood him in good stead .
▪
This habit of work, which is by now natural to me, has stood me in good stead .
▪
Those contacts, he says, still serve him in good stead today.
take sth in good part
that's a good girl/that's a clever dog etc
that's better
▪
Come on, give me a hug. There, that's better , isn't it?
▪
Try keeping your arm straight when you hit the ball. That's better !
▪
But that's better than none.
▪
She had half drained her mug when she said, ` Ah, that's better !
▪
So let's try: That's better . the pages now contain both words.
▪
Surely that's better than fading away in a hospital bed somewhere?
▪
That's better , the waist is accentuated now.
▪
Well, that's better than finding half a worm!
that's/it's all well and good
▪
If that helps the government keep up with their debt repayments, that's all well and good.
the (good ol') U.S. of A.
the Good Book
the best
▪
I chose a Japanese camera because I wanted to have the best .
▪
She's the best of the new young writers.
▪
She was the best in her class at college.
▪
When it comes to cancer research, Professor Williams is probably the best in her field.
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best of a bad lot/bunch
the best of both worlds
▪
Job-sharing gives me the best of both worlds - I can be with my children and keep my professional status.
▪
All in all, a great place to enjoy the best of both worlds.
▪
An arrangement like this can often be the best of both worlds.
▪
And taking into account the prices of both the ME-6 and ME-10 they really are the best of both worlds.
▪
But if the eye can remain open without being seen, then the prey has the best of both worlds.
▪
Supporters say this type of extended day is the best of both worlds.
▪
This is the best of both worlds.
▪
Used in conjunction with a moisturising conditioner, it will give your lank locks the best of both worlds.
▪
You get the best of both worlds in a job like this: use your strong back and your agile mind.
the best of sth
▪
At the best of times, the industry is very competitive, but this is not the best of times.
▪
But Black Mountain was often not the best of all possible worlds.
▪
But they clearly were not the best of their time, and that should be the No. 1 voting criterion.
▪
He is the first to admit that he was not the best of patients.
▪
Obviously, not the best of plans.
▪
Seb was not the best of patients.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
▪
Converse drank the better part of the rum.
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
▪
It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
▪
This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪
And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
▪
Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪
That's the biggest understatement of all time !
▪
You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/biggest/fastest etc possible
▪
Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.
▪
But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.
▪
For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.
▪
Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.
▪
That way it will have the best possible start in life.
▪
The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.
▪
The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.
▪
This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
▪
Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
▪
But me third was the best of the bunch .
▪
Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
▪
Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
▪
He may be the best of the bunch .
▪
It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
▪
Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
▪
Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the better
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
▪
A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
▪
Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
▪
But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
▪
Its got to be the best ticket office going .
▪
Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
▪
There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
▪
This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
▪
What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
the common good
▪
Drunk-driving laws were made for the common good.
▪
The government creates laws for the common good.
the forces of good/evil etc
▪
At the core of Hampden Babylon is a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It could fight the forces of evil.
▪
It is an age-old heresy to see the world as a battleground between the forces of good and evil.
▪
It will be a struggle between your hero and whatever associates he may have and the forces of evil opposed to him.
▪
Now he's restating his submission to the Bara Bhai and the forces of good.
▪
Television is therefore seen to be taking the moral high ground, the side of the punter against the forces of evil.
the good old days/the bad old days
the great and the good
the greater good
▪
For the greater good of the parish or because he knew something?
▪
This, I learned, was standard practice when a customer was about to be sacrificed for the greater good of Salomon.
the next best thing
▪
If I can't be home for Christmas, this is the next best thing.
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
the next best thing
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
the powers of good/evil/darkness
▪
May we seek to develop the powers of good that lie within us.
▪
So close to the powers of evil she must have lived that she still breathed more freely in their air.
the sooner ( ... ) the better
▪
The sooner we get these bills paid off, the better.
▪
They knew they had to leave town, and the sooner the better.
the sooner the better/the bigger the better etc
there's a good boy/clever dog etc
think better of it
▪
She felt like slapping him in the face, but thought better of it.
▪
But he thought better of it and slowly breathed out the air through his nose.
▪
But then she thought better of it.
▪
Cowher said later he momentarily contemplated tackling Hudson, but thought better of it.
▪
He thought better of it, and despite a case of galloping homesickness, decided not to go home at all.
▪
He could have forced the window in time, anyone could, but he seemed suddenly to think better of it.
▪
He passed Miguel the joint but Miguel thought better of it.
▪
Then he thought better of it.
think the best/worst of sb
▪
Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.
▪
He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.
▪
I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.
▪
My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.
▪
The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.
▪
Why should you think the worst of me?
▪
You always think the worst of me.
to good/great/no etc effect
▪
And the book eschews alphabetical order in favour of thematic logic - to good effect .
▪
Any ball direct to deane was usually flicked on to no effect .
▪
But nobody demonized the opposition to greater effect than did Clinton strategist James Carville during the 1992 presidential campaign.
▪
Jones has turned the Trust's restrictions on the use of agrochemicals to good effect .
▪
The bi-colour l.e.d. can utilise a transparent lens-clip to good effect .
▪
The task of management is to use these to greatest effect .
▪
The threefold model of church growth of cell, congregation and celebration works at Ichthus to great effect .
▪
Video is a relatively new medium for in-house communications and is used by some companies to great effect .
to the best of your ability
▪
All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
▪
I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
to the best of your knowledge/belief/ability etc
too clever/rich/good etc by half
▪
The arithmetic can not be faulted - and may well be judged too clever by half .
too nice/clever etc for your own good
▪
According to her, he was too clever for his own good.
▪
That Tom was too nice for his own good.
▪
They were both too nice for their own good.
▪
You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
trump/best/strongest card
▪
And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
▪
In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
▪
Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
▪
That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
▪
That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
▪
The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
▪
This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
▪
We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
two heads are better than one
use/turn sth to your/good advantage
▪
First and foremost, Borland have taken the Windows interface and used it to good advantage .
▪
Homeloans are one of the cheapest ways of borrowing money - find out how to use them to your advantage .
▪
If you would like to reassess your life and learn how to use stress to your advantage , come along.
▪
Parents may feel suspicious of these, or resentful, and will need help in using them to best advantage .
▪
Professionals need to be aware of such things and use them to good advantage .
vote sth a success/the best etc
▪
But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.
▪
They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.
while the going's good
▪
Let's get out while the going's good.
wish sb (the best of) luck
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
▪
I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
▪
James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
▪
Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
▪
She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
▪
Well, I wish you luck .
▪
Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with (a) good/bad grace
▪
Admit temporary defeat with good grace , retreat, reconsider and wait.
▪
But he tucked his manuscript away with a good grace .
▪
He threw himself with good grace into everything, even this.
▪
Life is very crude, and bonnie Princes Street a dream, but we soldier on with a good grace .
▪
Mr Macmillan was, according to colleagues, prepared to give way with good grace when he could not carry the Cabinet.
▪
Sport only thrives if both parties play by the rules, and accept the results with good grace .
▪
They accept his habitual interruptions with good grace .
▪
This must have been irksome for them, but Mrs Webster accepted it as her war work with good grace .
with the best of intentions/for the best of reasons
with the best will in the world
▪
And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
▪
Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
withdraw/retreat in good order
worldly goods/possessions
▪
A great number of emigres arrived daily from the mainland, left homeless and often destitute of all worldly possessions.
▪
But he bought no worldly goods.
▪
He loses all his worldly goods because a law suit is not decided in his favor.
▪
My worldly goods, my total possessions.
▪
Returned that same evening to Brigade Headquarters to collect my rucksack containing all my worldly possessions and, of course, the bagpipes.
▪
They tear our houses down, burn up our worldly possessions, and sometimes even kill us.
▪
We generally promise each other all our worldly goods.
▪
Why, of course you must leave all your worldly goods to him.
would you be good/kind enough to do sth?
you'd better believe it!
▪
"Do they make money on them?" "You'd better believe it!"
your Sunday best
your Sunday best
your best bet
▪
For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
▪
We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
▪
Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your better half/other half
your good deed for the day
your guess is as good as mine
▪
"When's the next bus coming?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
▪
"Who do you think will win the World Cup?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
your/her/my etc Sunday best