From shoulder to fingertips

Game

Cover the right-hand column. Which parts of the picture above - or things associated with a particular part of the picture - would these people be most concerned with?

Practice

1 Many parts of the body are verbs as well as nouns. Demonstrate or write a description ofthese actions.

1 thumb through a book

2thumb a lift

3hand someone a pen

4palm someone off with something second-rate

5elbow your way through the crowd

6shoulder responsibility

7finger a document

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From shoulder to fingertips

Act or write an interview in the doctor's surgery. The patient describes the pains he or she keeps getting in his/her arm. The doctor does some tests, tries to decide what's wrong and suggests what should be done.

Add any other expressions about these parts ofthe body as you meet them.

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From the bottom down

Reading

Read the excerpts from little Johnny's composition below. Make sure you know which sections of the diagram he is referring to.

As a special treat, my Mummy and Daddy took me on a winter sports holiday this year. We all went to the Swiss Alps for a fortnight. I enjoyed the first few days, but skiing was more difficult than I thought. On the third day, I twisted my knee, bruised my shin, sprained my ankle, damaged a tendon in the back of my foot - my Achilles tendon, I think it's called - got cramp in my calf, squashed my big toe, got corns on my heels and hard patches of skin on the soles of my feet, pulled a muscle in my thigh, and rubbed all the skin off my instep. On the fourth day, I was unfortunate ... as we were getting on the bus to the airport, I tore a hamstring. (My broken leg and fractured pelvis happened after I got home.)

Practice

Make sure you understand the idiom in each of these questions, then think of a possible answer. Write it down or compare your ideas with a partner.

1Why was the teacher rocked back on his heels?

2How did you put your foot in it with your neighbour?

3Why was the teacher on her knees after the lesson?

4In what ways do students have to toe the line?

5Why haven't you got a leg to stand on concerning your homework?

6Why have you got to be on your toes in that teacher's lesson?

7How did your parents cramp your style at the disco?

8When should parents make children stand on their own two feet?

Discuss or write the answers to these two questions.

1What exercises do you know of that are designed to keep the different parts ofthe leg in good shape? Explain how to do them.

2What problems do people have with the different parts of their legs, through accidents, age or lifestyle? What can they do about them?

Add any other expressions about these parts of the body as you meet them.

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Inside and outside the torso

Reading

Look carefully at the two pictures below and the list ofwords under each ofthem. Then test yourself on the names of things by covering the lists of words and trying to identify each number and letter in the pictures.

Note the following.

1 Her bust is 38", his chest is 40".

2She's got a 24" waist. His waist is 32".

3She measures 40" round the hips. His inside leg measurement is 32".

4I've got a stomach-ache,

5a bad back,

6and a pain in my abdomen.

7Hasn't he got a fat belly?*

8Were you breast-fed as a baby?

9Let the baby sit on my lap.

10My bottom aches from sitting down all day.

11The belly-dancer had a bare stomach except for the pearl in her navel (tummy button).

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Inside and outside the toiso

Practice

[Ij What's where inside us? Study the words below, then test yourself with the help of

Now describe where each organ or bone in Exercise 1 is found in the body.

Write a simple description of the function of each of the items in Exercise 1.

Add any other words or phrases about these parts of the body you meet here. (If you are still curious, you can consult a bi-lingual dictionary for further organs.)

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Compound adjectives

Study and practice

There a lot of compound adjectives in English. Here are some common ones which are formed from parts of the body. For example, heart gives us warm-hearted, kind-hearted, hard-hearted etc.

Look at the list of similar compound adjectives below and guess what they mean. Then read sentences 1 - 10. Complete each sentence with the appropriate adjective(s).

1 My boss is terribly ... , walking around as if he were holding his salary cheque between his knees. His wife's quite the opposite: ... , as if she had just got off a horse.

2I used to wear ... suits until I decided that one button was far more suitable for ...

people such as myself.

8My boss is so ..., always looking as if he knew tomorrow was going to be the end of the world. And his wife is so ... ; I have to keep a careful eye on my things when they come round to the house, or they just disappear.

9Most... tennis players seem to win more easily against right-handers. Talking of tennis players, aren't those professionals a ... bunch, shouting all the time about how great they are?

10A lot of liberal,... people find it difficult to accept that there is such a thing as ...

murder.

Practice

1 Complete each sentence with the appropriate word from the list below. Note that they are all adjectives made from parts of the body, and that bloody is a frequently used and not very rude swear word.

1 ... congratulations on your success!

2I could watch those ... women high jumpers for hours.

3That sounds like a rather ... cough you've got.

4The shops are quite ... — only two minutes' walk.

5No, you can't borrow my girlfriend for the evening! Don't be so ...!

6It's nothing to do with you what we're doing tonight! Don't be so ...!

7She's so ... that when she turns sideways, she's almost invisible!

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Compound adjectives

8Did you know he's got a ... chest? Like a doormat, it is!

9I reckon you'd have to be a ... fool to want to learn this ... stupid language! 10 I feel quite ... after getting all those right. Or perhaps it's the champagne.

Discuss or write the answers to these questions.

1 Which elements of your body - from split ends to toenails - do you wish were different in some way?

2What are the necessary physical attributes of the following types of athlete? Use the phrases: You have to be I have ...; You need ...; You can't... without ... .

1 a swimmer

2 a skier

3 a tennis player

4 a footballer

5 a sprinter

3How important do you think physical appearance is for a happy or successful life?

Write a paragraph on one of the following topics.

1A description in your diary of how your body felt when you suffered from and slowly recovered from frost-bite or bad sunburn.

2Continue this paragraph: 'Suddenly the door opened and the strangest-looking man I have ever seen seen came into the room. ...'

3A description from your short story of the people in the waiting room of a marriage guidance bureau.

Add any other adjectival expressions about the body as you meet them.

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