Story 1: The Annoying Colleague Emma works with a colleague named Jack. Jack is always late for meetings, but yesterday he complained that Emma was never on time. Emma was really annoyed. She wanted to say: “You’re always late! You have no right to criticize me!” But she looked at Jack and thought, “If I say that, we’ll probably have an argument.” So she bit her tongue and said nothing. Later, she told her friend: “I was really angry, but I bit my tongue because I didn't want to start an argument.” Story 2: The Terrible Gift David's girlfriend gave him a sweater for his birthday. David opened the box and saw a bright pink sweater with a huge yellow duck on it. 🦆 He hated it! His girlfriend smiled and asked: “Do you like it?” David wanted to say: “Absolutely not! This is the ugliest sweater I've ever seen!” But he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He bit his tongue and said: “Wow! Thank you. That's very sweet of you.” Later, he told his brother: “I really hated that sweater, but I bit my tongue because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.” Bite your tongue = to stop yourself from saying something, especially because you know it would be better or more polite to stay quiet. It often means “I wanted to say something, but I decided not to.” Imagine: You have something to say, but instead of saying it, you “bite” your tongue to stop yourself. 😄 🔹 Structure bite + my/your/his/her/our/their + tongue I bit my tongue. She bit her tongue. You should bite your tongue. I wanted to complain, but I bit my tongue. ⚠️ Notice the past tense: bite → bit 💡 Useful Examples Present / advice You should bite your tongue sometimes. I need to bite my tongue and stay calm. If I were you, I'd bite my tongue. Past I bit my tongue because I didn't want to offend him. She bit her tongue during the meeting. I wanted to complain, but I bit my tongue. I couldn't bite my tongue, so I told him exactly what I thought.