collocations with lie

Who would’ve thought American political pundit Rachel Maddow would ever end up throwing a video with 10 collocations with lie on my lap?

Last week, as I was enjoying my daily dose of the Rachel Maddow show video podcast, half asleep, I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the language Rachel was using to talk about a certain politician. She included as many as 10 – no, I’m not kidding, ten – phrases and collocations with lie in her story (click on the link if you don’t know what a collocation is). This is input flooding taken to a whole new level.

So, before we go any further, here’s a quick test for you:

1. Don’t you think you’re [expanding / stretching] the truth here?

2. Politicians are good at [spinning / falsifying] facts. 

3. She had no reason not to tell the truth – she was just lying for the [sake / reason] of lying.

4. Whenever I get [caught / taken] lying, I blush and start to stammer. Maybe I shouldn’t lie anymore.

5. The manager was fired because he [said / told] a big lie during a board meeting.

Now, think of the missing words to complete the collocations with lie:

The politician told an ab _ _ _ _ _ _, black and white, no qu _ _ _ _ _ _, f _ _ _ -on,

bla _ _ _ _ lie.

Click on play to check your answers.

Disclaimer: I did NOT choose this video because it talks about Mitt Romney. I chose this video to expose teachers to different collocations with lie. That’s all. I am a staunch democrat at heart, but I try to keep this blog as apolitical as humanly possible.

By the way, here’s the no-subtitles version:

Thanks for reading and I hope we can aspire to use these collocations with lie less and less.