Instruction: Answer questions 29 to 36 based on the following text. The highlights throughout the text are cited in the questions.

Watch your back! Idioms with the word ‘back’

01 There are __ extraordinary number of phrases containing the word ‘back’, and some use

02 ‘back’ in the sense of __ part of __ body. Several phrases make use of the idea that if someone

03 is behind you, you can’t see them so you don’t know what they are doing. For example, if you do

04 something behind someone’s back, you do it without them knowing about it. Similarly, if you do

05 something while someone’s back is turned, you do it when they are not able to see or notice you:

06 His staff started whispering about him behind his back. / As soon as her back was turned, we

07 crept out of the room.

08 The idea of not being able to see what is behind you also features in some phrases to do

09 with possible danger or harm. For instance, if someone tells you to watch your back, they mean

10 that you should be careful because people around you may harm you, either physically or in

11 other ways. If you cover your back, you make sure you can’t be blamed or criticized for something

12 at a later time and if someone you trusted stabs you in the back, they harm you when you do not

13 deserve it: You need to watch your back because you’ve upset lots of people around here. / I sent

14 the documents to my boss, just to cover my back. / When my friend told my parents my secret,

15 I felt she’d stabbed me in the back.

16 Informally, if someone is on your back, they are constantly criticizing you or forcing you to

17 do things, but if you get someone off your back, you manage to stop them from behaving this

18 way. If you have your back to the wall, you have some very serious problems and you don’t have

19 many options about what you can do: My parents are always on my back about getting a job. / I

20 gave him the money just to get him off my back. / She didn’t want to fire her employees but she

21 had her back to the wall.

22 To finish this list, here are two nice phrases. First, if you say that you could do something

23 with one arm/hand tied behind your back, you mean that it is very easy. And second, you scratch

24 my back and I’ll scratch yours means that you will help someone if they help you: My mum could

25 make a cake like that with one arm tied behind her back. / There are plenty of ways we can help

26 each other. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

(Available at: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2023/03/01/watch-your-back-idioms-with-the-word-back/ – text especially adapted for this test).