privacy, so doesn’t hand out his phone number to every Tom, Dick, and Harry . every now and then • now and then every now and then —fairly often; habitually: Every now and then a motion picture comes along so permeated with suspense as to make the spectator sit tense in his seat. now and then—occasionally; at times: After he retired, he enjoyed spending a lot of time reading at the public library. Now and then he would take a trip. every one • everyone every one—(of two or more people or things) each one taken separately: She took his bottles of whisky and emptied every one down the sink. everyone —(of people) everybody; all people: Almost everyone came to the school party wearing a crazy hat! everybody and their uncle • Uncle Tom Cobley and all everybody and their uncle —(also: every man and his dog ) lots of people; everyone of importance: Everybody and their uncle will be heading to the beach today. So, I’m staying right here. Uncle Tom Cobley and all—(used at the end of a list of names) a whole lot of other people: When he had a dream, neither God, the parish priest, the neighbors, nor Uncle Tom Cobley and all could distract him from the dream. evidence for something • evidence of something evidence for something—anything that gives reason to believe smth.: Is there any evidence for the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction? evidence of something—indication or signs of smth.: When the ship reached port, it bore abundant evidence of the severity of the storm. except for something • except something except for something—1. apart from smth.; not considering smth.: The streets were eerily empty, except for a few cars rushing here or there. 2. if it were not for smth.: It seems that work is ready to proceed there, except for lack of funding. except something—with the exclusion of smth.: It seemed that every house except ours had a Christmas tree. Note: Neither expression fully correlates in meaning with the phrase with the exception of something—1. = except for some- thing 1: The streets were empty, with the exception of a few vendors who wanted an early days’ start. 2. = except something: Due to the fog all the flights (with the exception of ours) were cancelled. exchange a few words with someone • exchange words with someone exchange a few words with someone—have a short conversa- tion with smb.: The man turned and exchanged a few words with his neighbor. exchange words with someone—quarrel with a person: Have you been exchanging words with our neighbor again? exclusive to someone • to the exclusion of someone exclusive to someone—said of smth. applying only to the people stated: This is a special offer at reduced rates, exclusive to members of the club. to the exclusion of someone—so as to keep some people out: The rules of the club worked to the exclusion of anyone who was not of professional status. excuse oneself • make an excuse excuse oneself—1. apologize for something: A lady speaker was talking, so I excused myself for being late and introduced myself to everyone there. 2. make an apology declining or re- fusing smth.: Schwarz was for taking everyone out for a drink, but the rabbi excused himself . 3. politely ask to be allowed to leave a room: During coffee, he excused himself and went to his upstairs study to telephone Teresa. make an excuse —1. provide reasons or justifications for one’s actions: They could not make any excuse for shortening their stay at the castle. 2. = excuse oneself 1: Never be in a position where you have to make an excuse for being casually dressed. excuse someone for something • excuse someone from something excuse someone for something—forgive a person for doing smth. wrong: She begged me to excuse her for being so rude and interrupting our walk. excuse someone from something—set a person free from a duty or obligation: My teacher, to my amazement, excused me from freshman English when I turned in my first piece. expand into something • expand upon something expand into something—enlarge into smth. bigger: In no time at all, the vegetable garden had expanded into a small farm. expand upon something—add detail to smth.; explain what is implied in a statement, etc.: Would you please expand upon that last remark. expectation of life • life expectancy expectation of life—the average number of years of life re- maining for a person of a given age based on statistical prob- ability: His expectation of life was substantially less than it would have been if he had not contracted cancer. life expectancy —the number of years an average person can be expected to live based on statistical probability: Life ex - pectancy in the U.S. continues a long-term upward trend. experience in something • experience of something experience in something —knowledge of a particular activity as a result of having done it in the past: The president has had no experience in traveling abroad, and should send a qualified representative to handle the delicate cultural issues. experience of something—knowledge of smth. a person was involved in, especially smth. important that affects him: Even though I’ve been back for months, my experience of traveling in India is still very much with me. experiment on something • experiment with something experiment on something—use smth. in an experiment or test: Many people disapprove of scientists who experiment on animals. experiment with something—use smth. to test the effective- ness of new methods or ideas: Many composers are now ex - perimenting with new forms of music. expert at something • expert in something expert at something—a person who is very skilled at doing smth.: Dave knows how to communicate with sales profes- sionals. He is an expert at complex selling and knows exactly how to get his messages across. expert in something —a person who knows a lot about a par- ticular subject: If he is an expert in the problems of bringing the space station and the module together, he will be invalu- able. exposed to the elements • out of one’s element exposed to the elements—unsheltered from bad weather: Often a huge wave crashed over the launch and half the sea washed over us as we were exposed to the elements . every now and then – 114 –