Proverbs unlimited
Brinder Aulakh

WHETHER they contain general truths or observations with limited reference, proverbs continually clamour for attention. New discoveries, new inventions, changing perceptions and lifestyles create need-based proverbs. Some of these expressions of figurative speech slip into disuse, while others merrily jig-jog along. Whatever their lifespan may be, they are woven into the vary fabric of the English language and languages in general.

Before we bid farewell to proverbs let’s have one last tete-a-tete with them.

I. Fill in the correct word(s) in the following proverbs.

1. ————— and —————- wait for no man

2. While there’s life there’s ————

3. Old ————- cast long shadows

4. He who has good —————— is young, and he is —————— who owes nothing.

5. Feed a ————— and ————- a fever

6. If you can’t ride two ————- at once, you shouldn’t be in the ————- .

7. The best doctors are Dr —————, Dr ————— and Dr ————— .

8. Burn not your ————— to fright the mouse away.

9. ————— are thick where ————- is thin

10. Waste not, —————- not.

II. Five key words are given below. Write three proverbs for each of them. Make sure to include the given word.

I. 1. Time, tide

2. Hope

3. Sins

4. Health, rich

5. Cold, starve

6. Horses, circus

7. Diet, Quiet, Merryman

8. House, mouse

9. Faults, love

10. Want

II. 1 a. The child is the father of man

b. Children should be seen and not heard.

C. Children are certain cares and uncertain comforts

2. a. Love me little, love me long

b. Love makes the world go round

c. Love and a cough cannot be hid

3. a. A fool and his money are soon parted

b. Fools build houses and wise men live in them

c. A fool may give a wise man counsel

4. a. It is easy to be wise after the event

b. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

c. It is a wise father that knows his own child.

5. a. It’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive.

b. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.

c. Better a good cow than a cow of a good kind.