Reading about ocean life: guessing words, idioms and figures of speech
To guess a new word, ask four questions: what kind of word is it, what is around it, does a word like it appear in the same sentence, and does my guess fit the whole sentence? Literal meaning is the real meaning: The pool is a hollow in the rock. Figurative meaning uses a picture: The pool is the townâs mirror. A synonym has a similar meaning (tiny, very small); an antonym has the opposite meaning (low, high). A collocation is a pair of words that sound right together: heavy rain, make a discovery, take notes. Two idioms in this unit: âin deep waterâ means in trouble or difficulty, and âturn a blind eyeâ means to pretend not to see something wrong. The bookâs five-paragraph text on pages 63 and 64 is named by page only; after this lesson, find in it two idioms, two compound adjectives and two collocations. The bookâs dictionary task is skipped.
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| literal | the real meaning | The pool is a hollow in the rock. |
| figurative | a picture in words | The pool is the townâs mirror. |
| idiom: in deep water | in trouble | We were in deep water without a plan. |
| idiom: turn a blind eye | pretend not to see | The teacher did not turn a blind eye to the mess. |
| collocation | words that go together | take notes, heavy rain |
Our schoolâs rock-pool project began as a small idea, but it became an awe-inspiring year. Once a month ten students visit the same pool with Ms Heba and take careful notes. They may not touch anything, so they use a magnifying glass to detect tiny changes, such as a new snail or a different colour. In March the pool was very low after a hot week, and the group felt they were in deep water, because nobody could explain it. Then Karim pointed out that the tide had not reached the pool for two days. He added that the pool is the townâs mirror: it shows what the sea and the weather are doing. One boy said, âLet us turn a blind eye and wait,â but Ms Heba answered that a good scientist never ignores a result. After the next high tide the water came back, and the snails moved again. The students found it mind-blowing that such small animals can wait through a dry spell. The project ends in June, and the notes make a thin but proud book.
Choose five phrases from the text or from your own day and sort them into a table with two columns: literal and figurative. Then write one sentence of your own with a collocation (for example make a plan).