List:

as it were / brim over / catch one's breath / keep to oneself / not nearly enough / odds and ends / put sb. at ease / set off / warn against

1. as it were

可谓，好像

Examples:

● I'd understood the words, but I didn't, as it were, understand the question.

● He is, as it were, a walking dictionary.

● The English, the Scots and the Welsh are all, as it were, members of the same family.

as it is

Examples:

● I want to work at home on a Tuesday but as it is sometimes it's a Wednesday or a Thursday.

● I thought things would get better, but as it is they are getting worse.

2. brim over: to overflow

Examples:

● a glass brimming over with water

● brim over with excitement, happiness, joy, etc.

● I noticed Dorabella was brimming over with excitement.

3. catch one's breath

Examples:

● She caught her breath, instinctively touching her throat with her hand.

● John caught his breath as Nikko nearly dropped the bottle.

● He had stopped to catch his breath.

● at a breath

● be short of breath

● above one's breath

● draw a breath

● hold/keep one's breath

● in a breath

● out of breath

● take breath

4. keep to oneself

to avoid meeting people socially

Example:

● Nobody knows much about him; he keeps very much to himself.

5. not nearly enough

far from enough; not enough

Examples:

● It's not nearly enough.

● There weren't nearly enough people to settle all that land.

6. odds and ends

small articles of various kinds, without much value

Examples:

● The old round tin was filled up with countless other odds and ends.

● He only heard some odds and ends.

7. put/set sb. at ease

to make sb. feel relaxed

Examples:

● He had been dreading their meeting but her warm welcome soon put him at ease.

● I never feel at ease in his company.

● Finish the task at your ease.

● He felt ill at ease in the strange surroundings.

● He felt ill at ease in the strange surroundings.

● He passed the test with ease.

8. set off

to start a journey

Examples:

● We set off.

● He set off for his remote farmhouse in Texas.

● She set off, full of optimism.

● set about

● set in

● set off

● set to

● set back

● set up

● set down

● set out

9. warn against

to warn someone not to do something

Examples:

● I had been warned against going off with strangers.

● He warned me against going there at night.

● Word Building