(1) That may or may not be true.
(2) We may have some rain today...
(3) Rates may rise, but it won't be by much and it won't be for long...

(1) We have two sons and a daughter.
(2) They have three grown-up daughters.
(3) She's the daughter of an Oxford professor.

(1) Someone tapped at the door.
(2) He was busy tapping away at his computer.
(3) Ralph tapped me on the shoulder.

(1) She washed her face at the pump in front of the inn.
(2) (British English)a petrol pump
(3) (North Amercian English)a gas pump

(1) mountain streams
(2) A stream of blood flowed from the wound.
(3) I've had a steady stream of visitors.

(1) a region of gently rolling hills
(2) a hill farm/town/fort
(3) The house is built on the side of a hill overlooking the river.

(1) Just shut up, or else!
(2) He either forgot or else decided not to come.
(3) They can't be coming or else they'd have called.

(1) the ten of diamonds
(2) You must play a diamond if you have one.
(3) The lights shone like diamonds.

(1) to send a letter/package/cheque/fax/email
(2) She sent the letter by airmail.
(3) (British English)to send sth by post

(1) I wonder who she is.
(2) I was just beginning to wonder where you were.
(3) ‘Why do you want to know? ’ ‘No particular reason. I was just wondering. ’

(1) I feel pretty dead right now.
(2) I couldn't fly illegally into a country in the dead of night...
(3) We buried it in the garden at dead of night...

(1) Stars twinkled in the sky.
(2) twinkling lights in the distance
(3) twinkling blue eyes

(1) It's a beautiful part of the world...
(2) More than anything, I'd like to drive around the world...
(3) The world was, and remains, shocked...

(1) Good morning, sir. Can I help you?
(2) Are you ready to order, sir?
(3) ‘Report to me tomorrow, corporal! ’ ‘Yes, sir! ’

(1) ...Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.
(2) She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.
(3) Climbing such a small waterfall was a piece of cake.

(1) Cancer kills thousands of people every year.
(2) Three people were killed in the crash.
(3) He tried to kill himself with sleeping pills.

(1) ...the huge oil reservoir beneath the Kuwaiti desert.
(2) ...the body's short-term reservoir of energy.
(3) In the fourth section, it is calculatation volume of freight transportation in Three Gorges reservoir area.

(1) The pipes should be made of plastic .
(2) a sheet of clear plastic
(3) the plastic industry

(1) hot and cold water pipes
(2) lead/plastic pipes
(3) a leaking gas pipe

(1) Do you have a fax?
(2) Can you send it to me by fax ?
(3) What is your fax number?

(1) a wide river
(2) Sam has a wide mouth.
(3) a jacket with wide lapels

(1) She looks as if she got back to her childhood again.
(2) She behaves as if she has something on her conscience.
(3) The enemy were determined to wipe the town off the map as if it had never been.

(1) He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was.
(2) We could see the lights of the ship winking in the distance.
(3) He gave her a knowing wink.

(1) a forest of television aerials
(2) Thousands of hectares of forest are destroyed each year.
(3) a forest fire

(1) narrow streets
(2) a narrow bed/doorway/shelf
(3) narrow shoulders/hips

(1) Who do you think will get (the) most votes?
(2) She had the most money of all of them.
(3) I spent most time on the first question.

(1) Have you had an answer to your letter?
(2) As if in answer to our prayers, she offered to lend us £10 000.
(3) I rang the bell, but there was no answer.

(1) to have dark/fair/olive, etc. skin
(2) The snake sheds its skin once a year.
(3) cosmetics for sensitive skins

(1) wild animals/flowers
(2) a wild rabbit
(3) wild strawberries

(1) the exhaust fumes that are polluting our cities
(2) The river has been polluted with toxic waste from local factories.
(3) (figurative)a society polluted by racism

(1) I like that part of Cape Town...
(2) Respect is a very important part of any relationship.
(3) ...spare parts for military equipment...

(1) I sincerely believe that this is the right decision.
(2) ‘I won't let you down. ’ ‘I sincerely hope not. ’
(3) 'Congratulations,' he said sincerely...

(1) bright light/sunshine
(2) a bright room
(3) Her eyes were bright with tears.

(1) Sylvia shook hands. 'well, you go get yourselves some breakfast.'...
(2) well, I don't like the look of that.
(3) You can lose your perspective. You know, get paranoid? well, that's something I really try and avoid...

(1) ...seaweed washed up on a beach.
(2) Suddenly she was entangled in the seaweed.
(3) The frosting particle, the saccharomycetes butcher dissolves the product extraction, Austria seaweed extraction.

(1) The road hugs the coast for hundreds of miles, the south china Sea on one side, jungle on the other.
(2) What other nationality is chugging around in the south china Sea?
(3) Then I'll go down south to see the great changes in south china.

(1) a beautiful starry night
(2) starry flowers
(3) She stared up at the starry sky.

(1) This is Carla. Do you remember her?
(2) I don't remember my first day at school.
(3) He still remembered her as the lively teenager he'd known years before.

(1) You take care of your end, kid, I'll take care of mine...
(2) Let's go up to the office and settle the business end of things.
(3) The police force is being manipulated for political ends...

(1) a Spanish-English dictionary
(2) a dictionary of mathematics
(3) ...the dictionary of National Biography.