(1) Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.
(2) Many of Britain's beaches fail to meet minimum standards of cleanliness.
(3) ...the importance of personal cleanliness.

(1) the increasing popularity of cycling
(2) to win/lose popularity with the students
(3) Her novels have gained in popularity over recent years.

(1) I worked with him over a span of six years.
(2) The project must be completed within a specific time span .
(3) Small children have a short attention span .

(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) You can preset the radiators to come on when you need them to.
(2) to preset TV channels/radio stations (= to set the controls so that particular channels are selected when you press particular buttons)
(3) They kept to the preset route.

(1) The bride belongs to the bridegroom.
(2) To the bridegroom: Are you willing to be this woman's husband , for better or worse?
(3) The bridegroom and the best man wore white carnations in their buttonholes.

(1) Her estate was left to her daughter.
(2) She lives in a tower block on an estate in London.
(3) His estate was valued at $150,000.

(1) I was stung on the arm by a wasp.
(2) Be careful of the nettles─they sting!
(3) I put some antiseptic on the cut and it stung for a moment.

(1) An old Arab proverb says, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'.
(2) As a proverb says, books and friends should be few but good.
(3) There is another English proverb, that is: " Where there is a will , there is a way . "

(1) a flannel shirt
(2) a grey flannel suit
(3) a face flannel

(1) a superficial analysis
(2) The book shows only a superficial understanding of the historical context.
(3) superficial differences/similarities

(1) optical effects
(2) optical aids
(3) optical instruments such as microscopes and telescopes

(1) a tubercular infection
(2) This campaign began with the observance of World tuberculosis Day on March 24 th.
(3) Objective To draw a training plan of prevent and cure tuberculosis adapt to village doctors.

(1) ceramic floor tiles
(2) carpet tiles
(3) a tiled bathroom

(1) a wide selection of merchandise
(2) official Olympic merchandise
(3) merchandise automatic production management.

(1) His wife has a strong personality.
(2) The children all have very different personalities.
(3) He maintained order by sheer force of personality.

(1) Colours like red convey a sense of energy and strength.
(2) (formal)Please convey my apologies to your wife.
(3) He tried desperately to convey how urgent the situation was.

(1) the Biology mistress
(2) the mistress of the house
(3) She wants to be mistress of her own affairs (= to organize her own life) .

(1) My father was a historian and his specially was the history of Germany.
(2) Allan Lichtman is the a presidential historian at American University in Washington.
(3) A good historian must have an academic mind.

(1) burglars broke into their home.
(2) The burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase.
(3) The burglar shone his torch into the dark room.

(1) We rented a holiday villa in Spain.
(2) a Victorian villa in North London
(3) He lives in a secluded five-bedroom luxury villa.

(1) a bowl of cereal
(2) cereal crops
(3) breakfast cereals

(1) The third gorilla was taller by a head.
(2) I was awed by the huge gorilla.
(3) It is this " humanness " of the gorilla which is so beguiling.

(1) They were heading towards the German border.
(2) She had her back towards me.
(3) This is a first step towards political union.

(1) a pork/lamb chop
(2) a karate chop
(3) The dog sat licking its chops.

(1) a decomposing corpse
(2) As the waste materials decompose, they produce methane gas.
(3) a decomposed body

(1) the angle of inclination
(2) My natural inclination is to find a compromise.
(3) an inclination of 45˚

(1) The maple sap was boiled down to a thick syrup.
(2) The house stood amid maple trees.
(3) A maple leaf obtains the colour of the sun when dedicating its youth to it.

(1) fossils over two million years old
(2) This dependency between fossil and living types is well illustrated when we deal with extinct groups.
(3) At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.

(1) There's still plenty of scope for improvement.
(2) The extra money will give us the scope to improve our facilities.
(3) Her job offers very little scope for promotion.

(1) fresh pineapple
(2) a tin of pineapple chunks
(3) pineapple juice

(1) wind/steam/jet propulsion
(2) Interest in jet propulsion was now growing at the Air Ministry.
(3) ...the submarine's propulsion system.

(1) According to the theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than light.
(2) the theory and practice of language teaching
(3) I have this theory that most people prefer being at work to being at home.

(1) "I just added a little soy sauce," he informs us.
(2) Put a bit more soy sauce in the food [ dish ].
(3) What do you know about sesame oil added to soy sauce!

(1) The information was only discovered incidentally.
(2) incidentally, have you heard the news about Sue?
(3) The letter mentioned my great-aunt and uncle only incidentally.

(1) a portable TV
(2) (figurative)a portable loan/pension (= that can be moved if you change banks, jobs, etc.)
(3) portable software

(1) It is impossible to foresee how life will work out.
(2) No one could have foreseen (that) things would turn out this way.
(3) The extent of the damage could not have been foreseen.

(1) a massive rock
(2) the massive walls of the castle
(3) The explosion made a massive hole in the ground.

(1) Do you want your baby to have blue eyes or brown, blond hair or dark?
(2) blond hair is unique in that it changes dramatically with age.
(3) Forget that Culkin is blond and blue eyed, and that Blanket is dark and possibly Latino.

(1) the siege of Troy
(2) The siege was finally lifted (= ended) after six months.
(3) The police placed the city centre under a virtual state of siege (= it was hard to get in or out) .