(1) Sorry to interrupt, but there's someone to see you.
(2) Would you mind not interrupting all the time?
(3) I hope I'm not interrupting you.

(1) When I say I mean to do it, I mean it.
(2) Breaking the dish was accidental; he didn't mean to do it.
(3) What do you mean to do?

(1) a vacuum pump (= one that creates a vacuum )
(2) vacuum-packed foods (= in a package from which most of the air has been removed)
(3) His resignation has created a vacuum which cannot easily be filled.

(1) He likes to cook in the open air.
(2) He is now taking a walk in the open air.
(3) The film will be shown in the open air tonight.

(1) Can you explain how the email system works?
(2) She explained to them what to do in an emergency.
(3) ‘It works like this, ’ she explained.

(1) Never take it for granted that one will be popular with anybody anywhere anything.
(2) Most people would like to be popular with others, but not everyone can achieve this goal.

(1) He hasn't been selected for the team.
(2) All our hotels have been carefully selected for the excellent value they provide.
(3) She was selected as the parliamentary candidate for Bath.

(1) He has decided to grow a beard and a moustache.
(2) a week's growth of beard
(3) a goat's beard

(1) I'll drive you back to your hotel later. It's no bother.
(2) Drop the word . There is no bother about dropping the word.
(3) There is no bother about dropping the word.

(1) Any faults in the original cider stood out sharply after distillation.
(2) The club specialises in videoing its student golfers to correct their faults.
(3) For all its faults, the film instantly became a classic.

(1) There's no need to wait in all day.
(2) "no need to hurry," Ben said casually.
(3) There's no need to be so goddam rude!

(1) Our dog has a bald patch on its leg.
(2) a bald tyre (= a tyre whose surface has become smooth)
(3) The bald fact is that we don't need you any longer.

(1) Every time she consulted her watch, she wondered if the batteries were wearing out...
(2) Horses used for long-distance riding tend to wear their shoes out more quickly...
(3) The past few days had really worn him out...

(1) a fitted wardrobe
(2) everything you need for your summer wardrobe
(3) Her wardrobe consists primarily of huge cashmere sweaters and tiny Italian sandals.

(1) a coat with a fur collar
(2) I turned up my collar against the wind (= to keep warm) .
(3) He always wears a collar and tie for work.

(1) He was short and bald and had a moustache.
(2) ...a heavy man with drooping moustaches.
(3) No , no. He did have a moustache, just a short little moustache.

(1) I can see I will have to revise my opinions of his abilities now.
(2) The government may need to revise its policy in the light of this report.
(3) a revised edition of a textbook

(1) Troops have been sent to protect aid workers against attack.
(2) They huddled together to protect themselves from the wind.
(3) Each company is fighting to protect its own commercial interests.

(1) She brought up four children...
(2) His grandmother and his father brought him up...
(3) The regimental headquarters ordered the second company to take the lead and the fourth company to bring up the rear.

(1) He described the sequence of events leading up to the robbery.
(2) The tasks had to be performed in a particular sequence.
(3) Number the pages in sequence .

(1) The pullover stretched after I had worn it a few times.
(2) Your pullover is on back to front.
(3) Then inspiration struck and she marked the check stub, " One pullover, $ 25. "

(1) junior employees
(2) She is junior to me.
(3) the world junior tennis championships

(1) to spread a cloth on a table
(2) Sue spread the map out on the floor.
(3) The bird spread its wings.

(1) He was sent to prison for five years.
(2) She is in prison , awaiting trial.
(3) to be released from prison

(1) to waste time/food/energy
(2) Why waste money on clothes you don't need?
(3) She wasted no time in rejecting the offer (= she rejected it immediately) .

(1) the tips of your fingers
(2) the tip of your nose
(3) the northern tip of the island

(1) ...his niece from America, the daughter of his eldest sister.
(2) The President and Mrs. Bush are the adoptive uncle and aunt of a niece and nephew.
(3) She will tend after her niece and nephew for the weekend.

(1) She spent a year in jail.
(2) He has been released from jail.
(3) a ten-year jail sentence

(1) I am planning a 25th birthday party for my nephew.
(2) My nephew, George, has a box but it is always empty.
(3) He was my wife's nephew.

(1) a senior officer/manager/lecturer, etc.
(2) a senior partner in a law firm
(3) a senior post/position

(1) confidential information/documents
(2) Your medical records are strictly confidential (= completely secret) .
(3) He spoke in a confidential tone, his voice low.

(1) His sisters are grown up and his parents are middle-aged.
(2) ...middleaged, married businessmen.
(3) Her novels are middle-aged and boring.

(1) Denmark recycles nearly 85% of its paper.
(2) recycled paper
(3) He recycled all his old jokes.

(1) Does it bother you that she earns more than you?
(2) It bothers me to think of her alone in that big house.
(3) Stop bothering me when I'm working.

(1) She felt fenced in by domestic routine.
(2) His property is fenced with barbed wire.
(3) He put his hand on the post behind her so that he had her fenced in and could look down on her.

(1) He threw the paper onto the fire and it flew up the chimney.
(2) the factory chimneys of an industrial landscape
(3) This gas fire doesn't need a chimney.

(1) changing patterns of behaviour
(2) an irregular sleeping pattern
(3) The murders all seem to follow a (similar) pattern (= happen in the same way) .

(1) to travel on/by public transport
(2) Most of us use public transport to get to work.
(3) Local public transport services are gradually resuming.

(1) The hip-hugging black and white polka-dot dress was the height of fashion.
(2) Don't wear polka - dot underwear under white shorts.