A quick exercise on using idioms with "CUT"

English has several idioms with the word "cut." The list below are some of the more common ones. Are you familiar with these idioms? Can you use them in conversation? Fill in the blanks below and see how well you know them.

If you need a quick refresher (review), head over to our NYLC English blog for a quick lesson.

CUT IT CLOSE; CUT CORNERS; CUT OUT FOR; CUT OUT TO; 
MAKE THE CUT; CUT SOMEONE SOME SLACK; CUT IT OUT; 
CUT THE CRAP; NOT CUT IT  

1. He did his best. Everyone makes mistakes. ________, will you?
2. He finished quickly, but the work is so sloppy. He ________ again.
3. You should be at the airport already. If you're just leaving now, you're ________.
4. He decided to quit. He realized he's not ________ be a salesperson.
5. ________! Mom, Billy's kicking me!
6. ________. I want you to stop lying and start telling me the truth.
7. A lot of people said she wasn't ________ the position, but five years later, she's still the president. 
8. The professor said his project ________ and he had to do more research.
9. Ted tried out for his school's basketball team, but a lot of excellent players were there, and Ted didn't ________.
10. Sarah almost got fired, but his manager decided to ________ and give her another chance.
11. Bill had always thought he wasn't ________ work with kids, but he realized that he was really good at it.
12. He kept goofing off (acting silly) at the library until the librarian told him to ________.

You can check your answers below. How did you do? Was it easy? If it was too challenging, you can head over to our NYLC English blog and check out our quick lesson on the meaning of these idioms and how they are used.

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ANSWERS:
1. CUT HIM SOME SLACK  2. CUT CORNERS  3. CUTTING IT CLOSE  4. CUT OUT TO  5. CUT IT OUT  
6. CUT THE CRAP  7. CUT OUR FOR  8. DIDN'T CUT IT 9. MAKE THE CUT  10. CUT HER SOME SLACK  
11. CUT OUT TO  12. CUT IT OUT

-- Joe Yu, ESL instructor