Wordspot
Idioms with laugh, cry and tears

1) In pairs, complete the gaps with laugh, cry or tears. Which phrases you do already know? Which can you guess?

1. a shoulder to _______ on
2. to be in floods of _____
3. to have the last _____
4. to _____ your eyes out
5. to be bored to ______
6. it's no ______ing matter
7. to burst out ______ing
8. to _____ your head off
9. to be close to ______

2) Replace the phrase in bold with one of the idioms with laugh, cry and tears. (There may be more than one possibility.)

1. I'm not sure you realise just how serious the parking situation here. It's a very serious problem.
2. I don't know what the matter was, but when I went past the room, she was crying a lot. poor Linda!
3. Despite the bad reviews from the critics, the show was a great success, so Pinter was proved right in the end.
4. When I asked Bill where Tara was, he began crying suddenly.
5. Jenny was very upset when her father died, and Tom was very sympathetic. I think he gave her support when she was depressed.
6. I really enjoyed taking my nephew to the cinema. He laughed and laughed and laughed at all the jokes.
7. We tried to stay serious, but when we saw Ella wearing that ridiculous hat, we couldn't help it: We looked at each other and suddenly started laughing.
8. The way John read the elegy was very moving - many people listening were nearly crying.
9. It's such a sad story - I cried and cried at the end.
10. I wish our teachers had made more effort at school to make maths lessons more interesting. I was always completely bored.