(1) There's been talk of a retaliatory blockade to prevent supplies getting through.
(2) They talk of the coming battle.
(3) There's talk of a new peace initiative.

(1) Severe shock can bring on an attack of acne.
(2) The evils we bring on ourselves are the hardest to bear.
(3) This warm weather should bring on the crops.

(1) After the accident they tried to find out who the people were, but the bodies were too badly mangled to be recognized.
(2) What measures shall we take to find out the thief?
(3) The editor at once sent the journalist a telegram instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.

(1) Are you sure it's all right for me to leave early?
(2) ‘Are you sure it's her? ’ ‘Oh, it's her all right. ’
(3) We've got to get up early, all right?

(1) Oppose extravagant eating and drinking and pay attention to thrift and economy.
(2) pay attention to the following and your candles will bring you hours of serenity and pleasure.
(3) In order to avoid subsequent amendment, please pay attention to the following.

(1) By decision or by accident, by care or the simple rigour 6 of economy, somebody designed it.
(2) She knocked the vase off by accident.
(3) He had a slip of tongue by accident.

(1) She shook her head and started to walk on. He kept up with her.
(2) ...wage increases which keep up with inflation...
(3) Things are changing so fast, it's hard to keep up.

(1) How very thoughtless. I'll give him a piece of my mind.
(2) Mr. Long was now cutting himself a piece of the pink cake.
(3) Strain the juice through a piece of gauze or a sieve.

(1) I know my life has been cut short by this terrible virus but Daniel will live on after me.
(2) The people find it hard to live on.
(3) If you live on a mountain , you live off the mountain ; if you live by the water , you live off the water.

(1) I have tried to pack a good deal into a few words.
(2) He sweeps up and does a few odds and ends.
(3) In a few words she had put him in his place.

(1) By-laws are to make it illegal to smoke in public.
(2) Prostitutes were forbidden to solicit on public roads and in public places.
(3) He seemed to be preparing to sanction an increase in public borrowing.

(1) What do you like to do in your spare time?
(2) Instances such as these are extremely common.
(3) Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare.

(1) go over to your PC and boot it up.
(2) Let's go over and help them pull the cart.
(3) This matter will go over until the next session.

(1) Never put anything down on paper which might be used in evidence against you at a later date...
(2) We've put down on our staff development plan for this year that we would like some technology courses...
(3) He bought an investment property for $100,000 and put down $20,000...

(1) Physical and ideological barriers had come down in Eastern Europe.
(2) Interest rates would come down as the recovery gathered pace.
(3) German interest rates will come down before long.

(1) All things invariably divide into two.
(2) Three will not divide into seven.
(3) On greenery, M & S reckons that British consumers divide into four broad groups.

(1) The sketch should be a kind of rehearsal for the eventual painting.
(2) Many girls have a kind of mechanical attitude towards sex.
(3) She maintained a kind of meek-ness.

(1) All right. I give in. What did you do with the ship?
(2) I pressed my parents until they finally gave in and registered me for skating classes...
(3) Officials say they won't give in to the workers' demands.

(1) For a hit show, profits can add up to millions of dollars.
(2) Many small victories add up to a big one.
(3) The three accounts add up to 65,000 yuan.

(1) The European Commission ruled that British Aerospace should pay back tens of millions of pounds.
(2) I'll work my fingers to the bone till I pay back all my debts.
(3) I am sure that he will pay back every cent he owes you.

(1) Do you have to hum so loudly? (= it is annoying)
(2) Of course, it had to start raining as soon as we got to the beach.
(3) This war has got to end soon.

(1) I think you can get through the first two chapters.
(2) It is hard to see how people will get through the winter...
(3) We couldn't get through a day without arguing.

(1) Richard had turned up on Christmas Eve with Tony...
(2) This is similar to waiting for a bus that never turns up.
(3) Investigations have never turned up any evidence.

(1) Opportunism consists of sacrificing fundamental interests in order to gain temporary, partial benefits.
(2) She would pinch on food in order to spend on clothing.
(3) The price must be right in order to compete internationally.

(1) The book comes out this week...
(2) Christian Slater has a new movie coming out next month in which he plays a vigilante.
(3) The truth is beginning to come out about what happened...

(1) He picked his cap up from the floor and stuck it back on his head...
(2) Ridley picked up a pencil and fiddled with it.
(3) Anthony picked himself up and set off along the track.

(1) I got quite a lot of ribbing from my team-mates.
(2) I get very nervous because I'm using a lot of expensive equipment.
(3) The victim suffered a dreadful injury and lost a lot of blood.

(1) She never gets anywhere on time. She's hopelessly disorganized.
(2) The deputation to see the Prime Minister arrived dead on time and was received at once.
(3) We can certainly have the job finished on time.

(1) On the mantelpiece are a pair of bronze Ming vases.
(2) Eventually they reached a pair of ornately carved doors.
(3) His surgical instruments were a knife and a pair of pincers.

(1) It's a long way to go for two people in their seventies.
(2) They go for decorous walks every day in parks with their nanny.
(3) Some old machines go for as much as 35,000 pounds.

(1) We decided, more or less on a whim, to sail to Morocco.
(2) Opposition more or less crumbled away.
(3) He more or less started the firm.

(1) ...a town where half the men are usually out of work.
(2) ...an out of work actor.
(3) Whenever my boss sees me out of work, he finds something for me to do.

(1) The reality of mothering is frequently very different from the romantic ideal.
(2) The new media are unlikely to prove qualitatively different from the old.
(3) Young people want something totally different from the old ways.

(1) knock at my window at eight o'clock and I'll be ready.
(2) There was a light knock at the door.
(3) They heard a knock at the front door.

(1) She put on her coat and went out...
(2) Maximo put on a pair of glasses...
(3) The band are hoping to put on a UK show before the end of the year...