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Lesson planC260 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
A Spanner in the Works: Idioms for plans and problems
Students learn idioms and fixed expressions for plans and problems through a renovation story, then write a blog post about a project that went wrong.
Idioms · Fixed expressions · Home · Renovation
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Learn and use 13 words and phrases in 2 sets: Problems and setbacks, Challenges and success
- Read for detail: a year at Hallett Farm
- Writing task: a project that didn't go to plan
Stages · 60 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about fixed expressions and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 10 minControlled practice: Ex. 2–3
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4–5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 20 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 2 PDFs)Grammar notes
Fixed words, flexible verbs
- The nouns in an idiom don't change: a spanner in the works (not a hammer), the eleventh hour (not the twelfth), back to square one (not square zero).
- The verb changes for tense and person: The council threw a spanner in the works. We'll have our work cut out.
Possessives and articles
- have your work cut out: the possessive matches the subject. We had our work cut out. She'll have her work cut out.
- a tall order and the jury is still out keep their articles; the writing is on the wall is usually used in the past: The writing was on the wall.
Register
- These idioms are informal to neutral. They're natural in conversation, journalism and blogs, but avoid most of them in academic essays and formal reports.
Study tips
- Learn idioms in groups by situation (things going wrong, things going well, facing a challenge) rather than in alphabetical lists.
- Notice which word in an idiom is fixed. Most mistakes at this level are a single changed word: square zero, high order, twelfth hour.
Glossary
- Problems and setbacks6 items
- Challenges and success7 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Idioms and their meanings
Match each idiom with its meaning. There is one meaning you do not need.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Going well, going wrong, facing up to it
What does each idiom describe? Put each one in the right group.
- a
have your work cut out
- b
bite the bullet
- c
come up trumps
- d
the writing is on the wall
- e
go like clockwork
- f
fall into place
- g
grasp the nettle
- h
be back to square one
- i
throw a spanner in the works
3
Complete the idioms
Write ONE word in each gap to complete the idiom.
- a
The builders say they'll finish by Christmas, but that's a order for a house with no roof.
- b
Just when everything was ready, the council threw a in the works by refusing permission for the extension.
- c
The cheapest quote came from a firm with a reputation for cutting .
- d
The electrician came up : he found the fault in ten minutes and charged us almost nothing.
- e
When the survey found damp in every wall, we were back to square .
- f
The buyer pulled out at the eleventh , the day before we were due to sign.
- g
We didn't want to spend our savings on a new roof, but in the end we had to bite the .
- h
Nobody knows yet whether the open-plan kitchen was a good idea: the is still out.
- i
When the third plumber cancelled, we should have seen that the was on the wall.
4
Say it another way
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word given and between two and six words.
- a
Renovating the barn before winter will be extremely difficult for us.
CUT
We'll renovating the barn before winter.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- b
Nobody has decided yet whether the new heating system is worth the money.
STILL
The jury whether the new heating system is worth the money.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- c
The roof collapsed, so we had to start the whole project again.
SQUARE
When the roof collapsed, we were .
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- d
The funding was approved at the very last moment.
HOUR
The funding was approved .
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- e
We had no choice but to accept the higher price.
BULLET
We had to and pay the higher price.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
- f
It was obvious that the business was going to fail.
WRITING
The for the business.
Use 2–6 words, including the word given.
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one wrong word in an idiom. Write the correction: the correct word or the whole sentence.
- a
The plumber really came up aces when the pipe burst at midnight.
- b
Let's not throw a hammer in the works by changing the plans now.
- c
The council finally approved the plans at the twelfth hour.
- d
Finishing the kitchen by Friday is a high order.
- e
They cut edges on the wiring, and now the whole house needs rewiring.
- f
After the flood, we were back to square zero.
6
Read: a year at Hallett Farm
Read the text. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
When Priya and I bought Hallett Farm last spring, friends warned us that we had our work cut out. The farmhouse had been empty for eleven years, half the roof was missing and the garden had become a small forest. Getting the place habitable before our baby arrived in November was, to put it mildly, a tall order. The first builder we hired was cheap and quick, and it soon became clear why: he was cutting corners everywhere. When an inspector found that the new floor had been laid straight onto damp earth, it all had to come up again, and we were back to square one. We bit the bullet, paid him off and started again with a local firm, Brennan & Daughters, who cost almost twice as much. Then, in July, the planning office threw a spanner in the works by questioning whether our extension would block a neighbour's view. For six weeks nothing happened. Our savings were disappearing, and I began to think the writing was on the wall for the whole project. Priya, more optimistic, kept phoning the council every Monday morning. In the end, permission came through at the eleventh hour, the day before Brennan's team were due to leave for another job. And the Brennans came up trumps: they worked through September, sometimes until ten at night, and the roof was finished a week before the first storms. Is it finished? Not quite. The kitchen still has no doors, and the jury is still out on the bright green tiles Priya chose for the bathroom. But our daughter was born in a warm, dry house, and that, for us, was the whole point.
- a
The farmhouse had been empty for more than ten years when they bought it.
- b
The first builder charged more than Brennan & Daughters.
- c
An inspector discovered a problem with the new floor.
- d
The neighbour complained to a local newspaper about the extension.
- e
The writer always felt confident that the project would succeed.
- f
Priya contacted the council regularly while they waited for permission.
- g
The roof was finished before the first storms arrived.
- h
Everyone agrees that the bathroom tiles look good.
- i
The Brennans had renovated old farmhouses before.
7
Write: a project that didn't go to plan
Write a blog post.
Write a blog post (220–260 words) about a project that didn't go to plan: moving house, organising an event, starting a business or a course, or anything else. What went wrong, how did you deal with it, and how did it end? Use at least six idioms from the box. Word box: have your work cut out · throw a spanner in the works · cut corners · a tall order · the jury is still out · come up trumps · back to square one · at the eleventh hour · bite the bullet · the writing is on the wall Example: Finding a venue for two hundred guests in a week was a tall order, but my cousin came up trumps.
Suggested minimum: 220 words
0 words · aim for at least 220
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 13 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Problems and setbacks
- throw a spanner in the works
- to cause a problem that stops a plan from working
- back to square one
- at the beginning again after something has failed
- the writing is on the wall
- there are clear signs that something will fail
- cut corners
- to do something badly or cheaply to save time or money
- the jury is still out
- people have not yet decided whether something is good
- at the eleventh hour
- at the last possible moment
Challenges and success
- have your work cut out
- to face a difficult job that will take a lot of effort
- a tall order
- a request or target that is very hard to meet
- bite the bullet
- to accept something unpleasant because you have to
- grasp the nettle
- to deal with a difficult problem directly and firmly
- come up trumps
- to do much better than expected and give real help
- go like clockwork
- to happen exactly as planned, with no problems
- fall into place
- to start to work out well as the different parts come together
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