a short story with idioms, by Elisabeth
written after reading Cathy's text
It’s midday and Paul aged seventeen, is still asleep because he went to a record-breaking party last night. It was his best friend’s eighteenth birthday. So he got back home by six o’clock in the morning. He was tired out as he had a sleepless night while he was dancing, drinking and smoking tobacco and hashish. When he awakes, he will be all at the sea during a day or two. It will take him a few days until he feels as fit as a fiddle.
Paul has not always burnt the candle at both ends. He has been a nice boy for long time as he has been well educated. But his parents have been working very hard to get good jobs. Thus they used to come back home late in the evening. Then they let Paul have his own way. So Paul used to go out twice or three times a week to meet his friends. As soon as Paul got bad marks at school, his parents prevented him from going out so often. Now he may only go to special parties such as birthdays, marriages and so on.
However Paul hasn't got out of all his bad habits. For example, he enjoys listening to hard rock music with singers singing at the top of their voices. His parents are afraid he might become deaf one day.
Concerning Paul’s grandparents, they were horrified by their grandson’s behaviour. His grandfather, a farmer, used to work hard. He never had a lie-in and his favourite motto is “the early bird catches the worm”. Even if he hasn't had a wink of sleep all night, he gets up at cockcrow as usual.
Now that Paul has improved his way of life, everybody feels better.
Can you spot the idioms in the above text? How many can you find?
And now your turn! Can you take up the challlenge and write a short story using some idioms that you know? Send your text to playandlearn@free.fr (click) and discuss it with your class and your teacher before publishing it here.
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