Family vocabulary

 Here are some useful collocations, phrases and proverbs you can use to describe your family and your relationship with them.

Family + adjectives 

     nuclear

 immediate                    extended 

                 Royal                 family           close-knit 

single-parent                     foster

       (one-parent)                   (adoptive)

Family + verbs

                                                 have

                            start                              bring up / raise                                   

        miss              family           care for

 

                                support                provide with

                                        

Idioms and phrases

 

to take after someone 

to follow in someone’s footsteps

to run in the family

in one’s blood

the apple of one’s eye

get along with (or get on with)

black sheep

born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

PRACTISE!

1 Heart disease________________. I try to have a healthy diet.

2 Our grandson is ________________. We absolutely adore him.”

3 I feel fortunate that I _____________with my family so well.

4 Music is _____________. Almost everyone in my family can sing.

5 I wasn’t born ___________________. I had to work two jobs to put myself through college.

6 I decided to go into law instead of medicine. I thought about _______my father’s _________ and becoming a surgeon, but I don’t like it.

7 Kevin is the ______________ of the family. He’s been in college for seven years and still hasn’t graduated.

8 I _________ my father. We’re both doctors, and we both love soccer.

Match proverbs  

The apple doesn`t fall                   stays together

Home is where.                             woman the neck that turns the head.
Blood is thicker                             the heart is

The family that prays together      than water.
Man is the head of the family,      far from the tree.

Keys:

Idioms and phrases

1 Heart disease runs in my family. I try to have a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise.

2 Our grandson is the apple of our eye. We absolutely adore him.”

3 I feel fortunate that I get along with my family so well.

4 Music is in my blood. Almost everyone in my family can sing.

5 I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to work two jobs to put myself through college.

6 I decided to go into law instead of medicine. I thought about following in my father’s footsteps and becoming a surgeon, but I don’t like it.

7 Kevin is the black sheep of the family. He’s been in college for seven years and still hasn’t graduated.

8 I take after my father. We’re both doctors, and we both love soccer.”

Proverbs  

The apple doesn`t fall far from the tree.                   

Home is where the heart is.

Blood is thicker than water.                     

The family that prays together stays together.

Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head.