On Chesil Beach

The set text for the 2013 English selectivity exam is 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan.

• summary
• discussion questions

Phrasal verb: mess about / around

FCE / CAE

If you're messing around (or messing about), you're wasting time or behaving in a silly way.

Example:
Stop messing about on the internet and do your homework!

Idiom: A flash in the pan

You can say something or someone is a flash in the pan if they're popular or effective for a short time only.

Their first album was a great success, but when their second wasn´t as popular people started calling them a flash in the pan.

At first, some of the major record labels thought rock ’n’ roll was just a flash in the pan.

Phrasal verb: move up

Move up 

To move up means to make space for someone else to sit down or stand next to you.

example: I moved up on the bench so my sister could sit down.

Word of the day: hand-me-up

Hand-me-up
(adjective)
definition: something that a younger person gives to an older person because they no longer use it or they have something better to replace it.
example:  'And more and more older users are joining the throng as PC prices fall and adult children give “hand-me-up” computers to mom and dad.'

Similiar to hand-me-down which is something someone gives to a person younger than them for the same reasons, for example clothes. 

The 2013 English selectivity exam

If you´re taking the English selectivity exam next June, it´s not too soon to start practising.  Click here for more information and practice tests.

Idiom: Cat´s got your tongue

 If someone asks you if the cat´s got your tongue (cat has got your tongue), they´re wondering why you´re being so quiet and not saying anything.