Page 203 - English Vocabualry In Use 3 (Upper Intermediate)

98 Proverbs

A Advice and warnings

proverb paraphrase

Don’tcountyourchickensbeforetheyhatch. Don’tdependonsomethinghappening,becauseit
maynot.
Don’tputallyoureggsinonebasket. Don’tinvestallyoureffortsorattentioninjustone
thing.

Neverjudgeabookbyitscover. Don’tjudgepeople/thingsbytheiroutward
appearance.
Neverlookagift-horseinthemouth. Neverrefusegoodfortunewhenitisthereinfront
ofyou.
Takecareofthepenniesandthepoundswilltake Takecareofsmallsumsofmoneyandtheywill
careofthemselves. becomelargesums.

We’llcrossthatbridgewhenwecometoit. We’lldealwiththatproblemwhenitactually
happens.

B Key elements

Proverbscanbegroupedbykeyelements,forexample,animalsandbirds.
Whenthecat’saway,themicewillplay.[peoplewilltakeadvantageofsomeoneelse’sabsencetobehave
morefreely]
Youcanleadahorsetowaterbutyoucan’tmakeitdrink.[youcantrytopersuade
someone,butyoucan’tforcethem]
Oneswallowdoesn’tmakeasummer.[onepositivesigndoesnotmeanthatallwill
bewell;aswallowisabirdthatreturnstoBritaininlatespring]

C Visualising

Aswithlearningallvocabulary,visualisinganelementofitoftenhelps.

There’snosmokewithoutfire./Where Peoplewholiveinglasshousesshouldn’t

there’ssmoke,there’sfire.[rumoursare throwstones.[don’tcriticiseothers’faultsif
usuallybasedonsomedegreeoftruth] yousufferfromthemyourself]

Toomanycooksspoilthebroth/brɒθ/.
[toomanypeopleinterferingisabadwayof Manyhandsmakelightwork.[alotof
doingthings;broth=akindofsoup] peoplehelpingmakesajobeasier]

Language help

Speakers tend to use proverbs to comment on a situation, often at the end of a true story someone
has told, or in response to some event.

202 English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate