Common Idioms for IELTS Topic Cat Got Your Tongue

Candidates must learn to master idiomatic vocabulary as it will considerably improve your academic written English and hence it will increase your IELTS band score. The IELTS Speaking section can be well prepared with the help of different kinds of idioms. This particular IELTS speaking idiom ‘Cat Got Your Tongue’ consists of exercises that will help the candidates to understand the correct usage of this idiom in a conversation.

Topic: Common Idioms for IELTS Topic Cat Got Your Tongue

Origin: The beginnings of this expression are very dubious. The first-ever utilization of the expression cat got your tongue? is found in an American magazine in 1881, where it is depicted as an insult utilized by kids. There is one story for this idiom is that in the English Navy they used to lash the sailors who committed a mistake. This action was by and large executed with a whip known as Cat-o'- nine-tails. The explanation for this name was nine endings that the whip had. The aggravation brought about by this whip was entirely serious, to the point that it constrained the casualty to hush up for a more drawn-out timeframe. While the sailor sat in a corner, moping on the beating, others used to prod him by utilizing the phrase, “Did the cat get your tongue?”

Meaning: question addressed to someone who is inexplicably silent, to ask someone why he or she is not saying anything

Synonyms: are you at a loss for words, are you speechless, are you tongue-tied

Examples:

1. “Where is the money? What the matter? Cat got your tongue.”
2. I caught Mike red-handed and when I asked him questions he was just standing there speechless as if the cat got his tongue.
3. I felt like Cat got my tongue when he told me that he is breaking up with me.

Exercise:

Go through the examples to understand the usage of the idiom:

1. Did the cat get your tongue? Why aren’t you speaking up?

Explanation: In the above sentence the idiom is used to address someone who is not speaking and is silent for a long period of time.

Also, check:

2. I asked Amanda whether the cat got her tongue as she grew quieter during an argument.

Explanation: This sentence used the idiom to mention that Amanda was speaking very little during the argument.

3. The way you’re silent, I assumed the cat got your tongue.

Explanation: In the above sentence the idiom is used to address someone’s silence or why they are silent.

4. Being an introvert, his silence compelled others to ask whether the cat got his tongue.

Explanation: In the above sentence the idiom is used to address someone who is not speaking and is silent for a long period of time.

5. At the party, don’t behave like the cat got your tongue. Just give yourself a break and start interacting with others.

Explanation: In the above sentence, the idiom is used to give the advice to speak and not be silent at the party.

6. When I met him for the first time, he was silent like a cat got his tongue. Now, look at him, not even shutting up for a minute.

Explanation: The idiom used here describes the behavior of a person who was silent before and now he does not shut up even for a minute.