Common Idioms for Safety and Risk IELTS Reading

Candidates need to learn different types of idioms to properly answer IELTS writing and reading sections. There is a wide range of idioms found under the term ‘Safety and Risk’. This idiom is focused on IELTS Reading section. Candidates will find different types of questions as they do in the IELTS reading section.

Topic - Safety and Risk

Exercise 1

Match idioms A – F with situations 1 – 3

1. taking a risk
2. only just avoiding danger or disappointment
3. being sure to avoid danger or disappointment

1. It’s best to be on the safe side and take more money than you think you’ll really need.
2. The vehicles just touched as they passed each other so it was a close shave.
3. You take your life in your hands when you accept a lift from Jo!
4. We’ve decided to play it safe and book a coach for 40 even though we’re really only expecting 30 students.
5. You are playing with fire if you deal with these so-called ‘protection agents’.
6. The train was just about to leave so I ran like mad and caught it by the skin of my teeth.

Question 1:

Answer: C and E

Explanation: Both options C and E are correct answers. Option C has the idiom ‘take your life into your hands’ which means the activity or task the person is doing is very risky. And option E has the idiom ‘playing with fire’ means indulging in a risky activity. In this question, taking a ride from Jo means a risky activity as he may be a rash driver, and dealing with the protection agents also means dealing with a risky job.

Question 2:

Answer: B and F

Explanation: Option B has the idiom ‘close shave’ which means nearly being saved from danger. And option F has the idiom ‘skin of my teeth’ also means manage to do something right before failing. Therefore, option B means to say the vehicles just saved themselves from having an accident with a ‘close shave’. And option F means to say, the person managed to get on the train just before failing to catch it.

Question 3:

Answer: A and D

Explanation: Option A has the idiom ‘be on the safe side’ and option D has the idiom ‘play it safe’. Both the idioms mean not taking any risks or avoiding any danger. Therefore, the sentence in option A means it is better to carry more money than needed to avoid risk in case of an emergency. And option F means the coach was intentionally booked for 40 students when the count was around 30 just to avoid the risk of filled seats.

Exercise 2

Match sentence halves 1-6 with A-F to make complete sentences.

1. You’re playing with fire if you do that.
2. You can come out of your hiding place.
3. I’d go to the doctor about that rash,
4. She’s a very experienced babysitter –
5. You passed by the skin of your teeth-
6. I’m not going to stick my neck out

1. your children will be in safe hands, don’t worry.
2. just to be on the safe side.
3. The coast is clear.
4. Why do you want to take such a risk?
5. for someone who never takes a risk for me.
6. you might not be so lucky next time.

Question 1:

Answer: D

Explanation: The question includes the idiom ‘playing with fire’ which means dealing with a very risky thing. The continuation of the question ‘Why do you want to take such a risk?’ is correct because it supports the meaning of the idiom, and the sentence is therefore meaningful.

Question 2:

Answer: C

Explanation: The idiom in option C contains ‘coast is clear’ which means there is nobody watching you, and you can do the activity you were planning to do. The sentence in the question is therefore connected with the answer choice ‘C’ which means - the person can come out of their hiding place as no one is watching.

Question 3:

Answer: B

Explanation: The answer choice ‘B’ contains the idiom ‘be on the safe side’ which means to do some activity in order to protect yourself from a possibility of harm or trouble. The sentence in the question can be connected to the answer choice and can be explained in the following way - the person is planning to get the rashes checked just to avoid any kind of trouble in the future.

Question 4:

Answer: A

Explanation: The answer choice ‘A’ contains the idiom ‘be in safe hands’, this means being taken care of by someone who is safe, and also attends the person with care. The sentence in the question talks about an experienced babysitter, and the idiom talks about a safe and careful person. Therefore, the sentence is meaningful.

Question 5:

Answer: F

Explanation: The idiom in the answer choice is ‘by the skin of your teeth’ means managing to do something before almost failing. Here, the sentence in the questions talks about not being so lucky the next time as the person almost failed while doing the activity. Therefore, the sentence is correctly connected with the idiom.

Question 6:

Answer: E

Explanation: The answer choice contains the idiom ‘stick my neck out’ which means saying something risky which others are scared to say, and may cause trouble to the person. The sentence in the question talks about not sticking their neck out for someone who never takes a risk for them.

Exercise 3

Choose the best answer to complete the sentences.

1. I know I’m ____________ but I have to say that I don’t agree with any of you about this.

1. sticking my neck out
2. sticking my life into my hands
3. sticking all my eggs in one basket

Answer: A

Explanation: The correct answer to fill the blank is by using the idiom ‘stick your neck out’. The sentence talks about how the person is disagreeing with the fact that they are sticking their neck out. The sentence makes meaning when this idiom is used.

2. They had left their child with their close friends so they knew she was ____________

1. on the safe side
2. a safe bet
3. in safe hands

Answer: C

Explanation: The sentence talks about how the couple left their child with their close friends, and therefore, they are not worried. The correct idiom to fill the blank is ‘in safe hands’ which means they have kept their child with someone who is safe and caring.

3. The management is under a lot of financial pressure so you will be ____________ if you ask for a pay rise now.

1. playing it safe
2. putting all your eggs in one basket
3. skating on thin ice

Answer: C

Explanation: The accurate idiom for the blank is ‘skating on thin ice’ which means doing an activity or saying something that might have troublesome consequences. Here, the question talks about how the management is going undergoing financial crisis and if the employee asks for a pay rise then they might have unfavorable consequences.

4. They expect to sell all this stock by the end of the year, which is ____________ as business has been very good so far.

1. a close shave
2. a safe bet
3. by the skin of their teeth

Answer: B

Explanation: The idiom ‘a safe bet’ is the correct answer to fill the blank as it means to do something useful or sensible. The question talks about how the people are expecting to sell the stock by the end of that year which will be a safe bet or a sensible thing to do as the business had been good so far.

5. When she was sure ____________ , she opened the letter.

1. the coast was clear
2. it was a close shave
3. she was skating on thin ice

Answer: A

Explanation: The idiom used to describe the sentence is ‘the coast was clear’. This means, the woman only opened the letter when there was nobody watching her or when the coast was clear.

6. That road is so dangerous that every time you cross it, you____________

1. are skating on thin ice
2. take your life in your hands
3. put all your eggs in one basket

Answer: B

Explanation: The idiom used in the blank is ‘take your life in your hands’ which means, doing something with a lot of risk. The question talks about how dangerous the road was, and that every time they crossed it they felt they were dealing with something very risky.

Exercise 4

Match situations 1-6 with sentences A-F with the same meaning.

Question 1:

Answer: D

Explanation: The idiom used here is ‘by the skin of your teeth’ which means get something by nearly failing. The question also talks about how the person got into the bus when they were just about to miss it, making the chosen answer correct.

Question 2:

Answer: F

Explanation: The idiom used here is ‘put all your eggs in one basket’ which means dealing with only one thing at a time, and not being able to proceed with anything else if this fails. The question talks about deciding not specializing in one subject ye, making the sentence meaningful.

Question 3:

Answer: E

Explanation: The idiom used ‘play is safe’ means not dealing with something risky. Carrying an umbrella in all the seasons, even in summers means, the person is avoiding any kind of risk.

Question 4:

Answer: C

Explanation: The idiom used here is ‘coast is clear’. The sentence talks about how the student is wanting to avoid his classmate and then he went to get the coffee once the ‘coast is clear’ which means there were nobody watching him.

Question 5:

Answer: A

Explanation: ‘Stick your neck out’ means saying something risky that may cause trouble afterwards. The sentence talks about how the studnet doesn’t wants to say something risky as it may cause trouble afterwards.

Question 6:

Answer: B

Explanation: ‘thin ice’ means something very risky that may have unfaviurable consequences for them. Arriving late to the class of a strict teacher means the student may suffer from trouble.

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences with idioms from this unit.

1. The export business is risky; if you try it you’ll be playing with ______________.

Answer: fire

Explanation: The sentence means the export business is risky and playing with fire means the person is dealing with something very risky.

2. I know you are an expert and I’m in safe ______________.

Answer: hands

Explanation: The sentence means since the person is an expert, they are in safe hands or safe.

3. The horse riders will be out in the park soon but for now the coast is __________.

Answer: clear

Explanation: Coast is clear means nobody is watching them but after sometime the horse riders will be out in the park means people will be watching.

4. She was there when the fighting started and escaped by the skin of her __________.

Answer: teeth

Explanation: Escaped by the skin of her teeth means managed to get saved just before failing.

5. I managed to avoid that awful Mrs. Lee in the supermarket but it was a close __________.

Answer: shave

Explanation: the sentence says that the person managed to save herself from Mrs. Lee before almost failing.

6. Let’s allow ourselves a bit more time than we’ll probably need, to be on the safe __________.

Answer: side

Explanation: The sentence says allowing more time just to avoid risk or being on the safe side.

7. They bought their tickets online in advance because they thought that was the safest __________.

Answer: bet

Explanation: The sentence talks about how the people got themselves tickets online just for the safest bet or to avoid any last minute risk.

8. Study hard at school and always keep an alternative job in mind – to avoid putting your eggs in one __________.

Answer: basket

Explanation: The sentence talks about how to study and work on an alternative job simultaneously to not get into a risky situation.

Exercise 6

Correct the idioms in these sentences.

1. It’s not a good idea to put all your life in one basket.
2. She never sticks her hands out, even when she feels strongly that she should say something about a bad situation.
3. Be careful. You’re standing on thin ice by being so direct with your boss.
4. Phew! Coming face to face with that terrifying dog was a clean shave!
5. The shed is quite hazardous, full of sharp tools and dangerous objects. You take your head in your hands when you go in there.
6. You can get to the resort by coach, train or car, but if you want a quick journey, the plane is probably the best coast.
7. He was playing with life by driving the car after it had been in the crash.
8. It seemed like a good shave that the traffic warden wouldn’t come soon.

Question: 1

Answer: put all your eggs in one basket

Explanation: The actual idiom should include ‘eggs’ and it means dealing with only one thing at a time and not being able to do something else if this fails.

Question 2.

Answer: sticks her neck out

Explanation: ‘Sticks her neck out’ is the correct answer and it means saying something very risky for which the person may get into trouble.

Question 3.

Answer: skating on thin ice

Explanation: ‘Skating on thin ice’ is the right answer and this means the person is doing something that may have unfavourable consequences.

Question 4.

Answer: a close shave

Explanation: ‘a close shave’means the person almost had a defeat or an accident.

Question 5.

Answer: take your life in your hands

Explanation: This idiom means dealing with something very risky and dangerous.

Question 6.

Answer: the best bet

Explanation: This idiom means that is the perfect thing to do at that point of time as it is sensible.

Question 7.

Answer: playing with fire

Explanation: Playing with fire means dealing with something very dangerous that may lead the person into big trouble.

Question 8.

Answer:a good bet

Explanation: This means that the work is sensible and correct to do at the time.