← Back to C1 General contentsWorkbook · 3A. A love-hate relationship
Home practice · uses of get & idiomatic phrases · answer key included
1 · The many uses of get — choose the best option
I finally ______ him ______ his old records — he had refused for years.
It's ______ dark — we should head back.
She ______ last month after eight years in the same role.
I really must ______ my hair ______.
I've ______ a headache, do you mind if we stop?
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2 · Complete with a phrase from the box
- The neighbour's dog barked all night — it really drop .
- We drop walking back — the rain was biblical.
- After twenty years in the same job, she simply drop and left.
- I've been trying all week — I finally drop her this morning.
- He was about to sign the offer, then drop at the last minute.
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3 · Rewrite using the structure in brackets
Someone stole her wallet on the tube. (passive with get)
A mechanic repaired the car for me. (get something done)
I persuaded my brother to help. (get someone to do)
It is becoming cold. (get + adjective)
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4 · More phrases with get
- get away with (something)drop or tap here…
- get over (something)drop or tap here…
- get through to (someone)drop or tap here…
- get round to (doing)drop or tap here…
- get on (well) with (someone)drop or tap here…
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5 · Podcast · Do I actually like London?
Listen to a British man in his forties on a podcast, reflecting on his love-hate relationship with London.
📄 Show transcript
Speaker: Right, so, London. What a city, eh? I often wonder if I actually like it, or if I’m just Stockholm syndrome-ing myself into believing I do. Because, honestly, at least once a week, it makes me absolutely furious. I’m talking about being charged a fiver for a frankly mediocre coffee, or having some lycra-clad menace on a bike nearly push me into the road on the pavement, or, you know, just another 20-minute delay on the Northern Line. It’s enough to make you want to pack it all in and move to, I don’t know, Cumbria.
And then, just when you’re utterly fed up, it pulls you back in. Like, I’ll be crossing London Bridge at night, the river all lit up and twinkling, and I just think, “Wow.” Or that amazing birthday dinner at that little Turkish place in Green Lanes, full of laughter and good food. Or even just a chatty black-cab driver, taking me home, full of stories. Those moments… they get to me. So, yeah, it’s not exactly love, definitely not hate. It’s more of a grown-up working relationship, I guess. You know, you tolerate the bad because the good is just… *so* good.
- How often does he say London makes him furious?
- Name three specific things that annoy him on any given week.
- What kind of moments 'get to him' in the good way?
- How does he now describe his relationship with the city?
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6 · A short review (150–180 words)
Write a short review of your own city for a travel magazine — but write it as honestly ambivalent, not glossy. Use at least four different meanings of get and two idiomatic get-phrases.
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