Reading a busy-day report: idioms, main idea and details
A report tells what happened in the order that it happened, so look for time words such as by eleven o’clock, within a minute and by noon. First find the main idea: what is the whole report about? Then find the supporting details: who did what, where and when. A good comprehension answer names the detail from the text and does not copy a whole sentence. Idioms make a report lively. It rained cats and dogs means that it rained very heavily. Soaked to the skin means completely wet. Jump into action means to start working at once, and it is close to spring into action. Pale as a ghost means with a face that has lost its colour because of fear or shock, for example: When Karim saw that he had left his speech at home, he went pale as a ghost. Guess an idiom by testing a plain meaning in the sentence. Your book has a night report on pages 20 and 21; use these steps with it.
| Idiom | Meaning | Our example |
|---|---|---|
| rained cats and dogs | rained very heavily | It rained cats and dogs during break. |
| soaked to the skin | completely wet | We were soaked to the skin. |
| jump into action | start at once | The team jumped into action. |
| pale as a ghost | very white in the face | He went as pale as a ghost. |
Report by the school magazine team. Saturday’s autumn fair began with blue skies and a long queue at the cake stall. By eleven o’clock, however, the sky turned dark, and it rained cats and dogs. Within a minute the visitors were soaked to the skin, and the paper signs fell off the stalls. Mr Amr, the head of the fair committee, did not wait. He blew his whistle, and everybody jumped into action. Pupils carried tables into the gym, parents held umbrellas over the plants, and the music club moved its speakers to the corridor. In the middle of the noise, Salma looked as pale as a ghost when she saw that the cashbox was missing, but a Grade 10 pupil found it under a coat five minutes later. By noon the fair was open again indoors. The cake stall sold out, and the club raised enough money for twenty new library books. Exhausted but proud, the team agreed that quick teamwork had saved the day.
Idiom pictures. Choose two idioms from the table. For each, write one sentence of your own about a school day and draw a small funny picture of the idiom. Show your sentences to a grown-up.