IDIOM QUIZ: THE WITCHES OF SALEM

The following dialogue is a spin-off from Stories from American History by Myrtis Mixon.

As the story goes...A witch hunt started in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, a community of Puritans--a very conservative religious group. Some young girls amused themselves by listening to stories about witches and black magic told to them by a servant-woman, Tituba, from the Caribbean Islands. Tituba told their fortunes and brought them some fun. But when the adults found out about some of the things the girls did, the girls were afraid of getting in trouble. In order to save themselves, the girls started pointing at other women and calling them witches. It was believed that one of the girls, Abigail, could recognize witches. Abigail was the leader and the other girls did what she told them to do. The girls - Abigail, Ann, and Mercy - testified against others in court. They made up stories about the other people, saying that they were witches. Some men were also accused of being witches, and even some dogs were accused. Before it was over, 200 people had been accused of whtchcraft--141 were put in jail, and 19 people and 2 dogs were executed.

This is a conversation between Abigail and Mercy. The woman Mercy works for, Goodwife Kary, has been accused of witchcraft by Ann Putnam and her mother. Abigail wants Mercy to say that Goody Kary is a witch.


CHOOSE THE BEST IDIOM TO PUT IN EACH BLANK:

MERCY: Abigail, Goody Kary won't ________ if Ann Putnam and her mother accuse her of being a witch.
 
come clean    stand a chance    go to pieces

ABIGAIL: Don't worry about it, Mercy.  You can ________Goody Kary.
 
hit it off with    do without    rub elbows with

MERCY:Goody Kary says that the Putnams are ________  this stuff about witches so that they can get more land.
 
aboveboard about    giving up     dreaming up

ABIGAIL: That's ________.   We have to take care of ourselves.
 
over my head    out of the question    beside the point

MERCY: What do you mean, Abigail?   Please ________.
 
hang around    fill me in    dig in

ABIGAIL:Mercy, what I mean is that, if you ________ Goody Kary, you will be accused of being a witch yourself.
 
stand up for    come across    touch base with

MERCY:Do you really think that everyone would ________ and think that I'm a witch?
 
baby me    get cracking    jump to conclusions

ABIGAIL: Keep in mind that the grown-ups are still ________ because they found out that we were dancing naked in the woods at night.
   
raising their eyebrows    chewing the fat    going to the dogs

MERCY:Do you really think that they would________?  We work hard all the time.  We were just having a little fun.
 
be on top of the world     hold that against us    beat it

ABIGAIL: Mercy, sometimes you really ________!  How can you be so stupid?
 
have itchy feet    get on my nerves    come on strong

MERCY: What do you mean?  How can we ________ accusing Goody Kary of being a witch?  Goody Kary is a gentle and kind woman.
 
get away with    do without    get used to

ABIGAIL:You're right about Goody Kary, but Reverend Hathorn has ________.  He needs to find witches.  If it isn't Goody Kary, then it will be you or me.
 
a one-track mind    cold feet    crow's feet

MERCY:You mean, you think we should just lie about Goody Kary ________?
 
to come clean    on purpose    to stand up for her

ABIGAIL: Why not?  It ________ for making you work so hard all the time.
 
gives her a break    serves her right    will do her good


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