Complete the proverbs

By OH TEIK THEAM

FILL in the blanks to complete the proverbs below:

1. Look before you _____. (a) leap (b) ogle (c) judge

2. Every Jack has his _____. (a) Jill (b) Jane (c) beanstalk

3. Every cloud has a silver _____.

(a) colour (b) pocket (c) lining

4. Brevity is the soul of _____. (a) humour (b) wit (c) repartee

5. After a storm comes a _____. (a) rainbow (b) flood (c) calm

6. A bully is always _____. (a) playing truant (b) physically strong (c) a coward

7. A rolling stone gathers _____. (a) speed (b) no moss (c) momentum

8. A worry shared is a worry _____. (a) halved (b) no more (c) forgotten

9. Call a spade a _____. (a) shovel (b) spud (c) spade

10. Fine feathers make fine _____. (a) birds (b) feather beds (c) quill pens

11. People who live in glass houses should not throw _____. (a) parties (b) tantrums (c) stones

12. One man’s meat is another man’s _____. (a) poison (b) bones (c) bete noire

13. There’s no fool like an old _____. (a) pessimist (b) fool (c) procrastinator

14. There is no garden without its _____. (a) flowers (b) gardener (c) weeds

15. The proof of the pudding is in the _____. (a) recipe (b) chef’s reputation (c) eating

Answers

1. (a) leap. Think carefully before you act.

2. (a) Jill. Everyone gets a mate eventually.

3. (c) lining. Every misfortune has its positive side.

4. (b) wit. Intelligent speech and writing should use few words.

5. (c) calm. Something better inevitably follows an unpleasant event.

6. (c) a coward. A bully only picks on people who are weaker and smaller than him.

7. (b) no moss. A person who does not settle in one place, or is constantly changing his job, will never be successful.

8. (a) halved. Talking about your worry to someone helps to relieve your anxiety.

9. (c) spade. Speak plainly and bluntly.

10. (a) birds. Smart clothing can make a person look impressive (although he may have a poor character!).

11. (c) stones. People with faults of their own should not attack the faults of others.

12. (a) poison. What one person likes, another may not.

13. (b) fool. The foolish behaviour of an old person, whose age should have made him wise, seems more foolish than that of a young person.

14. (c) weeds. Nothing is perfect, and everyone has shortcomings.

15. (c) eating. The worth of something (such as an idea or an invention) is only known when it is practised or used.

After retiring from handling numbers at the bank, the writer now moves to new writing ‘destinations’ using GPS (grammar, punctuation, style).