Question

literal and figurative meanings
identifying idioms
do the italicized words in the following examples have literal meanings? or are they idioms, common figures of speech whose meanings differ from the literal meaning of their words?
drag into the box any examples that contain idioms.
idioms
i bent over backwards, tutoring her every day, but she still failed the test.
its a toss - up whether i will play baseball or soccer this year.
since the candy only cost a dime a dozen, i bought a dollars worth.
she didnt mean you were off the team. she was just pulling your leg.

Explanation:

• "bent over backwards" doesn't mean physically bending backward; it means making a great effort.
• "a toss - up" doesn't refer to an actual toss; it means a situation where either outcome is equally likely.
• "a dime a dozen" doesn't mean the literal price - quantity relation; it means something is very common or abundant.
• "pulling your leg" doesn't mean physically pulling a leg; it means teasing or joking with someone. So all these sentences contain idioms.

Answer:

• I bent over backwards, tutoring her every day, but she still failed the test.
• It's a toss - up whether I will play baseball or soccer this year.
• Since the candy only cost a dime a dozen, I bought a dollar's worth.
• She didn't mean you were off the team. She was just pulling your leg.