Creatures from Hell
Two new Idioms are “Creepy-crawly” and “Put a hex on you.” The Grammar focus is on the Copula “To Be.”
Galina: “I saw wildlife in my living room this morning.”
Olya: “What are you talking about? Lions and tigers and bears?”
Galina: “No, silly, smaller than that. Try creepy-crawly things.”
Olya: “No, you don’t mean the unspeakable . . . a cockroach?”
Galina: “Yes, right there on the wall, next to my favorite painting.”
Olya: “That’s blasphemy. You mean the Van Gogh painting?”
Galina: “Yes, exactly. But my place is very clean. Where did it come from?”
Olya: “That’s horrifying. What did you do?”
Galina: “I grabbed the bug spray and killed it in a cloud of poison gas.”
VOCABULARY WITH IDIOMS
Creepy-crawly means a repugnant, small, crawling creature, often a spider or insect.
See online Idioms Dictionary.
Try here means guess, or test the guess. See online Idioms Dictionary.
Unspeakable means inexpressibly bad or objectionable. See online Idioms Dictionary.
Blasphemy means irreverent or impious action in regard to something sacrosanct.
See online Idioms Dictionary.
Sacrosanct means very sacred or holy. See online Idioms Dictionary.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Suggested Topic for Comments: The Copula “To Be.”
“Cockroaches are spiritually evil creatures.” Or, “My place is very clean.” These statements are vintage Subject-Copula (linking verb)-Noun (or Adjective) Phrase, with the Subject being Cockroaches (or My place), the verb being the Copula “to be,” and the predicate either “evil creatures” (Noun Phrase) or “very clean” (Adjective Phrase).
INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED DIALOGUE
Two new Idioms are “Burn in effigy” and “Put a hex on you.” The Grammar focus is on the Copula “To Be.”
Alice: “Wildlife.”
Bonnie: “What about wildlife? Are you going hunting? Are we talking lions and tigers or squirrels and rabbits?”
Alice: “Neither, my friend. We’re talking hideous things crawling on my living room wall.”
Bonnie: “You aren’t talking about the unspeakable? Cockroaches?”
Alice: “Yes, I saw one this morning sitting dreadfully quiet across from me on the wall next to my Van Gogh Sunflowers.”
Bonnie: “That’s an abomination. That’s blasphemy.”
Alice: “Of course it is. But I never leave trash lying around. I’m pathologically clean.”
Bonnie: “I know you are. You leave your shoes at the door, you vacuum twice a week, and I am sure at least once a month you hold a seance to rid your house of all demons of dirt.”
Alice: “Twice a month.”
Bonnie: “Is it possible someone put a hex on you?”
Alice: “After broadcasting news for so long on the radio week after week, of course they have. Especially after arguing topics like abortion and immigration. Major political parties have probably burnt me in effigy. Who knows?”
Bonnie: “Cockroaches are spiritually evil creatures.“
Alice: “I agree. Nothing that nasty could be of divine origin. So the devil is involved, is that what you’re saying? And is not Van Gogh from God?”
Bonnie: “He wanted to be a preacher-evangelist.”
Alice: “There was an invisible barrier around my Van Gogh on the wall, a barrier that cockroach could not pass!”
Bonnie: “There’s no doubt this situation is spiritual.”
Alice: “I’m not taking this lying down.”
Bonnie: “The trumpets are sounding from on high.”
VOCABULARY WITH IDIOMS
Put a hex on (someone) means to put a curse on someone or something. See online Idioms Dictionary.
Burn (someone) in effigy means to set on fire something that symbolizes a person who opposes. See online Idioms Dictionary.
Take lying down means to capitulate or submit to harsh treatment with no resistance. See online Idioms Dictionary.
On high is an idiom which here means in heaven. See online Idioms’ Dictionary.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Suggested Topic for Comments: The Copula “To Be.”
““Cockroaches are spiritually evil creatures.” Or, “My place is very clean.” These statements are vintage Subject-Copula (linking verb)-Noun (or Adjective) Phrase, with the Subject being Cockroaches (or My place), the verb being the Copula “to be,” and the predicate either “evil creatures” (Noun Phrase) or “very clean (Adjective Phrase).”
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