And here is part two - The server accepts only 2000 characters 10 Did you hear about Jill? She was dismissed from her job yesterday. -> The verb "dismiss" usually comes in the combination "dissmiss someone from something" (You can learn this by heart - if you have once been dismissed from a job, you will learn it by heart, as this tends to be an unpleasant experience.) 11 Lisa has been stuck in traffic for over an hour. -> "be stuck in traffic" / "be stuck in a traffic jam" - an idiomatic expression which is actually quite picturesque - You're stuck in traffic like a spoon in honey or jam. 12 I can't come with you. I haven't finished my homework yet. -> "have done" / "have finished" - Present perfect means that something is over - or - with negation - that it is not over yet. 13 You can rely on Jim. He's a very reliable person. -> reliable (adjective) - to rely on someone (verb) - the verb "to rely" needs the preposition "on" and so there is no other word that fits in here quite as good. 14 I don't go skiing very often. I go once in a blue moon. -> "once in a blue moon" means "very rarely" 15 We had been looking for a flat for ages when we finally found one. -> "we found" (past tense) is in the distant past and it is over. To express that something was even earlier you need past perfect, but to express that it was a process you need a continuous form (...ing). If you put this together, you get past perfect progressive: "had been looking". 16 Cindy is my niece. She's my brother's daughter. -> Your brother's daughter is your niece. 17 Roy hasn't recovered from his illness yet. "To recover from an illness", "to suffer from an illness" both these words need the preposition "from" in English. 18 Cory had never been to China before. -> "had been" (present perfect) is the time of things that are (or are not yet with negation) over; with before at the end of sentence the most plausible combination here is the negation "never ... before". 19 Even though they are sisters, they different as chalk and cheese -> This is an idiomatic expression - I didn't know about it - but it turned up with a well-known search engine. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/different_as_chalk_and_cheese The surface of some cheeses looks similar to chalk – white, crumbling – but in substance cheese is soft, while chalk is hard. 20 Have you ever been to Paris? -> "Have you ... been" (present perfect) means that something is over and the aspect of being over is stressed. In a question this means most probably that someone wants to ask if it has happened already - if it has ever happened.

Tried myself at it - I'm not an English native speaker - So would someone _please_ look over this? 1 Sandy is in her early teens. She just turned fourteen today. -> (thirteen, fourteen, ... nineteen) 2a Jim woke up early in the morning. 2b Jim got up early in the morning. -> both are possible - which one you take depends on what you want to say 3 My uncle's son is my cousin. -> Your cousin is the sun of your aunt or uncle. 4 Jason never pays attention in class. He always has his head in the clouds. -> Having your head in the clouds is an idiomatic expression. If you have your head in the clouds you're busy with something which is not all to real - maybe just thoughts. There is also a film with this name - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_in_the_Clouds 5 He stopped eating sweets for the sake of his health. -> "for the sake of" means "because of" here. Is there someone out there who can tell me if there is an ethymological connection between "sacred" and "sake"? 6 Bob was taking a shower when the doorbell rang. -> "was taking" (present progressive ) ... when ... "rang" (past tense) This is the classical pattern for someone being interrupted. 7 Our teacher made us learn the speech by heart. -> "learn by heart" again is an idiomatic expression which means that you do not have to read the speech - it is in your head - or more romantic - in your heart. 8 She has been living in that flat for five years. -> "has been living" (present perfect progressive) - this grammatical tense means something began at some point in time in the past and is still going on. You can use "for" to express a time range. 9 Donna used to play volleyball when she was young. -> when she was young - "was" (past tense) says that this was at some time in the past, but not now any more. So you can be pretty sure that Donna is not young any more. "used to play volleyball" means that she played regularly at this time long ago.

Best of luck to you.