(1) a sensitive and caring man
(2) She is very sensitive to other people's feelings.
(3) an actor's sensitive reading of the poem

(1) The roof was declared unsafe.
(2) It was considered unsafe to release the prisoners.
(3) unsafe sex (= for example, sex without a condom )

(1) the elder of their two sons
(2) the elder Pitt
(3) Pitt the elder

(1) a consultant in obstetrics
(2) a consultant surgeon
(3) a firm of management consultants

(1) a polling/voting booth
(2) a phone booth
(3) I called her from a public phone booth near the entrance to the bar...

(1) If I don't get more money I'll quit.
(2) He has decided to quit as manager of the team.
(3) He quit the show last year because of bad health.

(1) a period of consultation/mourning/uncertainty
(2) The factory will be closed down over a 2-year period/a period of two years.
(3) This compares with a 4% increase for the same period last year.

(1) the 20th century (= AD1901–2000 or 1900–1999)
(2) eighteenth-century writers
(3) ...a 17th-century merchant's house.

(1) middle age
(2) There's a big age gap between them (= a big difference in their ages).
(3) ways of calculating the age of the earth

(1) She was sitting importantly behind a big desk.
(2) More importantly, can he be trusted?
(3) He likes to feel important.

(1) a football/sports stadium
(2) an all-seater stadium
(3) ...a baseball stadium.

(1) ‘Was he very angry? ’ ‘indeed he was. ’
(2) ‘Do you agree? ’ ‘indeed I do/Yes, indeed. ’
(3) ‘You said you'd help? ’ ‘I did indeed─yes. ’

(1) to travel by sea
(2) a cottage by the sea
(3) The waste was dumped in the sea .

(1) natural disasters
(2) the natural world (= of trees, rivers, animals and birds)
(3) a country's natural resources (= its coal, oil, forests, etc.)

(1) This new zealand winery produces some of the best antipodean wines.
(2) Can the new zealand bowlers fight back after their thrashing at Christchurch?
(3) Information on travel in new zealand is available at the hotel.

(1) motivated by personal ambition
(2) She was intelligent but suffered from a lack of ambition.
(3) She never achieved her ambition of becoming a famous writer.

(1) The blame for the Charleston fiasco did not lie with him.
(2) I'll report back the moment I have located him.
(3) He claimed that the businessman had conned him of £10,000.

(1) He was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
(2) (figurative)Their ambitions were finally dead and buried .
(3) She's 85 and has buried three husbands.

(1) Boswell's biography of Johnson
(2) ...a volume of biography and criticism.
(3) I am hoping to write a short biography on them both.

(1) She leaned on the ship's rail and gazed out to sea.
(2) a picture/curtain/towel rail
(3) to travel by rail

(1) a rattling noise
(2) What's that noise?
(3) Don't make a noise .

(1) Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface.
(2) Lightly flour a rolling pin...
(3) Remove the dough from the bowl and put it on a floured surface.

(1) a charming country cottage with roses around the door
(2) (British English)a holiday cottage
(3) They used to have a cottage in N.W. Scotland...

(1) " Ho, ho , what was it the trolley - bus driver called me today?
(2) We got out of the trolley bus at Yan'an Road .
(3) The trolley bus connects here with a bus for the airfield.

(1) The city was liberated by the advancing army.
(2) Writing poetry liberated her from the routine of everyday life.
(3) [不可数名词, 单数]a war of liberation

(1) The concert is to be headlined by Elton John.
(2) The story was headlined ‘Back to the future ’.
(3) headline news

(1) a rose bush
(2) holly bushes
(3) Trees and bushes grew down to the water's edge.

(1) Five pounds doesn't buy much nowadays.
(2) He can't be bought (= he's too honest to accept money in this way) .
(3) Her fame was bought at the expense of her marriage.

(1) documented evidence
(2) legal documents
(3) travel documents

(1) the North/South divide
(2) the divide between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland
(3) The issue has divided the government.

(1) practical/medical/scientific knowledge
(2) He has a wide knowledge of painting and music.
(3) There is a lack of knowledge about the tax system.

(1) one of the great successes of British cinema
(2) the local cinema
(3) I used to go to the cinema every week.

(1) The swan flapped its wings noisily.
(2) wing feathers
(3) the east wing

(1) to have a wide/limited vocabulary
(2) your active vocabulary (= the words that you use)
(3) your passive vocabulary (= the words that you understand but don't use)

(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) Don't eat between meals.
(2) Children must attend school between the ages of 5 and 16.
(3) Many changes took place between the two world wars.

(1) a research institute
(2) the institute of Chartered Accountants
(3) institutes of higher education

(1) chinese waiters stood in a cluster, sharing a private joke.
(2) Her chinese friends referred to the Empress as their venerable ancestor.
(3) Cartons of chinese food were arrayed on a large oak table.