Phrases and Word Combinations

to be in disgrace	to change the subject
to describe with much detail (in great detail)	(for) the greater part of the day (the time; the year; of one's time) (more literary)
as a matter of fact	(to look, to come, etc.) in one's direction/in the direction of
to picture to oneself (literary)	to come up to one's expectation (BE), to meet one's expectations (AE)
in the first (second, last) place	to be inclined to do smth
to claim one's attention	to be in a tight corner (spot)
to open on to (smth) (of a window, door)	in comparison with
to be one pace (mile) away from smb or smth	to be in search of smb or smth
	in one's haste of (doing) smth

¹ The pattern is mostly used in interrogative and negative sentences.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

1. shiftvt/i to change the place, position or direction of, e. g. The boy shifted from one foot to the other. He kept on shifting his plate on the table until his mother looked at him. The wind has shifted to the west.

to shift the blame on to smb elseto make another person bear the blame, e. g. Don't try to shift the blame onto me. It's not my fault.

to shift one's groundto change one's point of view, espe­cially during an argument, e. g. He shifted his ground whenev­er it seemed to his advantage to do so.

shiftn 1) a change in the position or direction, as a shift in the wind, in political opinion. 2) a group of workers which takes turns with one or more other groups, e. g. I work on the day/ night shift at the factory.

shiftya showing a tricky and deceitful nature, e. g. He had a shifty look in his eye that made me wary of him.

2. elatevt (usu. pass.) to fill (smb) with pride and joy, e. g. He was elated by his son's success.

elateda filled with elation, e. g. The people were elated by the victory.

elationn (U) the state or quality of being filled with pride and joy, as the people's elation at the good news, e. g. The parents were filled with great elation on hearing their child's results.

3. concentratevt 1) to keep or direct (all one's thoughts, efforts, attention) (on, upon), e. g. If you don't concentrate more on your work you'll make no progress. 2) to (cause to) come to­gether in or around one place, e. g. The large buildings were concentrated in the centre of the town near the monument. Population tends to concentrate in cities.

concentrationn 1) close or complete attention, e. g. The book will need all your concentration. 2) (C) a close gathering, e. g. There is a concentration of industry in the East of the coun­try.

4. evadevt 1) to get out of the way of or escape from, as evade an enemy, e. g. The lion evaded the hunters. 2) (derog.) to avoid or avoid doing (smth one should do), as to evade one's duty, paying one's taxes, debts, military service, police, rules, e. g. Criminals try to evade the law. 3) (derog.) to avoid answering (a question) properly, e. g. The clever politician easily evaded the awkward question.

evasionn 1) (U) the act of evading, as the fox's clever eva­sion of the dogs. 2) (C/U) (derog.) an action or lack of action which evades, e. g. George is in prison for tax evasion. 3) (C) (derog.) a statement which evades, e. g. The minister's speech was full of evasions.

evasivea (derog.) which evades or tries to evade, as evasive answer, e. g. They had all been evasive about their involvement in the firm.

to fake evasive action(formal) (of a ship, aircraft, etc. in war) to get out of the way or try to escape, e. g. During the Second World War many planes had to take evasive action while cross­ing the channel.

5. confirmvt 1) to support, make certain; give proof (of), e. g. Please confirm your telephone message in writing. The delegate confirmed that the election would be on June 20th. 2) to give approval to (a person, agreement, position, etc.), to agree to, e. g. When do you think the President will confirm you in office?

confirmationn 1) the act of confirming, e. g. The confirmation of the agreement was received with satisfaction by the public. 2) proof, smth that confirms, e. g. Your news was really confir­mation for my beliefs.

confirmeda firmly settled in a particular way of life, as con­firmed drunkard, bachelor, opponent of (reforms), e. g. He will never get married: he is a confirmed bachelor.

6. storevt 1) to make up and keep a supply of, as to store food in the cupboard. 2) to keep in a special place (warehouse), as to store one's furniture. 3) to fill with supplies, as to store one's cupboard with food. 4) to put away for future use, as to store one's winter clothes, e. g. Where do you store your fur coat for the summer?

storen I) a supply for future use, e. g. This animal makes a store of nuts for the winter. 2) a place for keeping things, e. g. My food store is in the kitchen.

in store1) kept ready (for future use), as to keep a few pounds in store for a rainy day. 2) about to happen, e. g. Who knows what is in store for us?

set much (great, small, little) store by smth, smbto feel to be of (the) stated amount of importance, e. g. He sets great store by his sister' s ability.

storehousen (used lit. and fig.), e. g. The storehouse was a large grey building stuffed with any kind of furniture. He is a storehouse of information.

7. overlookvt 1) to have or give a view of (smth or smb) from above, e. g. Our room overlooked the sea. 2) to look at but not see; not notice, e. g.. Every time the question of promotion came up, Smythe was always overlooked. 3) to pretend not to see; forgive, e. g. I overlooked that breech of discipline as you were concentrating on a very important job.

Syn. open on, give on, face, miss

8. absorbvt 1) to take or suck in (liquids), e. g. A sponge ab­sorbs water. Some materials absorb sound. 2) to take in (privilege, ideas, etc.), as to absorb smth from smth, e. g. He absorbed all the information on the text and was easily able to repeat it. 3) to take up all the attention, interest, time, etc. (in, by), e. g. I was totally absorbed in a book and didn't hear her call. His film ab­sorbed all his attention.

absorbinga 1) that absorbs, as a sound-absorbing surface. 2) taking all one's attention; very interesting, as absorbing tale of adventure, e. g. It was such an absorbing mystery that I could not put it down.

absorptionn 1) the act or action of absorbing or being ab­sorbed, e. g. The absorption of different materials varies great­ly. 2) the taking up of all one's attention, interest, time, etc., e. g. Their total absorption in the project lasted for three months. 3) the taking over of little countries, businesses, etc., by big ones, e. g. It took very little time for the absorption of the town's small enterprises into one big business.

9. way n 1) a road or track (used lit. and fig.), e. g. Are you going my way?

to block the wayto make movement difficult or impossible, e. g. Will you step aside, you're blocking the way.

to clear the way(for smth or smb), e. g. Clear the way for the car.

to make way(for smth or smb) to allow freedom to pass, e. g. All traffic must make way for a fire-engine.

to feel (grope) one's wayto feel about with the hands; to search for in a hesitating way, e. g. We groped our way through the dark streets. "Have you come to any definite conclusion yet?" "No, I'm still feeling my way."

to give way(1) to break; to fail to hold up, e. g. The branch gave way and I fell into the stream. His legs gave way and he fell on his side, e. g. The army gave way (= retired) before the advance of the enemy. (2) to surrender oneself to smth, e. g. Don't give way to despair. (3) to be replaced by smth, e. g. His anger gave way to curiosity.

to go out of one's wayto do smth, to make a special effort to do smth, e. g. He went out of his way to do me a kindness (a favour, an injury).

out-of-the-wayremote, e. g. Students come to Moscow from the most out-of-the-way parts of the county.

2) direction (used lit. and fig.), e. g. I was so ashamed, I didn't know which way to look.

to know (see, find out) which way the wind blowsto knowwhat the state of affairs is, e. g. He always seems to know which way the wind blows (is blowing).

3) progress; advance, as to make (push, fight, feel, force, elbow, shoulder, pick, etc.) one's way (along, forward, to, to­wards, back, home, etc.), e. g. He pushed (elbowed, forced, etc.) his way through the crowd.

4) a method or plan; a course of action, e. g. Don't change anything, I like it that way.

to know one's way aboutto know one's course of action_f e. g. You needn't worry about her, she knows her way about and can take care of herself.

all (quite, just) the other way about(AE around)quite the opposite, e. g. "As far as I know he denied what he had said be­fore." "Quite the other way about. He confirmed everything."

(in) one way or another (other, the other),e. g. You'll have to do it one way or another, there's no getting away from it.

5) a characteristic method or manner of behaving, e. g. I don't like his ways at all.

to have a way with smbto be able to win the confidence and affection of people, e. g. She'll make a good teacher, she has a way with children.

it (this) is always the way with smb, it is always the case with smb,e. g. Tom failed me again, this is always the way with him.

1446) respect, degree, e. g. In one way that explanation is satis­factory, but in another way it is not.

in no way, e. g. The photos are in no way similar.

by way of: 1) as a substitute for, e. g. He said something by way of apology. 2) via, e. g. He went to town by way of the old road.

underway, as restructure underway, e. g. With the election campaign underway the candidates began giving a great deal of speeches.