What is a proverb?

A proverb is a short saying or sentence that is generally known by many people. The saying usually contains words of wisdom, truth or morals that are based on common sense or practical experience. It is often a description of a basic rule of conduct that all people generally follow or should follow. Proverbs can be found in all languages.

money doesn't grow on trees - money is not easy to get and you must work hard for it
The girl's father often says that money doesn't grow on trees when she asks him for money.

the early bird catches the worm - arriving early gives one an advantage
My boss always comes to work early because he believes that the early bird catches the worm.

the pen is mightier than the sword - writing and ideas are more powerful than the use of force
The pen is mightier than the sword and a good idea or strong beliefs will defeat the strongest army.

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FCE Use of English is the 3rd paper in the exam. Some people call it the grammar paper, but this is only partly true because it is equally a vocabulary paper - not just testing your knowledge of individual words, but also of collocations (word partnerships), idioms and phrases. In fact your knowledge of collocations is really quite important in this paper - especially parts 1 and 2 where you have to fill in the gaps. Part 1 is called Multiple Choice Cloze - here you have a short text with 12 gaps. Below the text you get a choice of 4 options to choose from to fill in each gap. Here they are testing your knowledge of phrasal verbs, collocations (e.g.

A Nice SENTENCE

T. B. Irving

Ahmed Ali

Ahmed Ali (1910 in New Delhi – 14 January 1994 in Karachi) was a Pakistani novelist, diplomat and scholar, who was responsible for writing arguably the greatest novel ever written about Delhi. Born in Delhi, India, he was involved in progressive literary movements as a young man. Professor Ahmed Ali was born in Delhi in 1910, and educated at Aligarh and Lucknow universities, standing first-class and first in the order of merit in both B.A. (Honours), 1930 and M.A. English, 1931. He taught at leading Indian universities including Lucknow and Allahabad from 1932–46 and joined the Bengal Senior Educational Service as Professor and Head of the English Department at Presidency College, Calcutta (1944–47). Professor Ahmed Ali was also BBC's Representative and Director in India during 1942–44. from China to Karachi in 1948; becoming Director of Foreign Publicity, Government of Pakistan.