Extra Activity: TV SERIES

MODERN FAMILY
Season 2 Episode 8
“Manny, Get Your Gun”

In the episode, everyone gathers at a restaurant for

Manny's birthday when Manny has a mini-life crisis of
getting older, Phil and Claire have a race to see who can
get there faster, and Mitchell and Cam get stuck at the
mall looking for a gift.

Phrasal Verbs/Idioms/Expressions/Slang
Watch the video. Listen for the following target phrasal
verbs, idioms, expressions and slang from each story
line.

1. to slip away 6. to work something out

2. to split up 7. to be sick of something
3. to look for 8. a prank call
4. to be at stake 9. in a jiffy
5. to kick someone’s butt 10. to outgrow

Choose the correct option.

What is at stake for Luke?

a. His parents’ marriage b. Gloria’s car keys c. The race to the restaurant

What doesn’t Manny do to prove his childhood didn’t slip away?

a. He makes a prank call b. He mixes sodas c. He watches a cartoon

What are Alex and Haley sick of?

a. Phil’s T-shirt b. Manny’s birthdays c. The Family Camp

Who does Cam say he will help in a jiffy?

a. His boyfriend Mitchell b. Donald and Ellen c. Alex and Haley

Now match.

1. Gloria 2. Manny 3. Phil 4. Claire 5. Cam 6. Luke

( ) wants to kick her husband’s butt by winning the race to the restaurant.
( ) is looking for her car keys.
( ) helps an old man who wants to work things out with his mistress Ellen.
( ) is getting older and afraid he was never a child.
( ) believes his parents are splitting up.
( ) gets sad when he realizes his daughters outgrew him.
Match the expressions from the box below to their meaning. Get
some help from the dialogues of the episode (they’re on the next
page).

to slip away to work something out

to split up to be sick of something
to look for a prank call
to be at stake in a jiffy
to kick someone’s butt to outgrow

1. A kind of joke, over the telephone, that is intended to make someone look
silly.
____________________________

2. To beat someone easily in a fight, game or sport.

____________________________

3. Very soon.
____________________________

4. To deal with a problem in a satisfactory way.

____________________________

5. To be at risk, to have a chance of not being successful.

____________________________

6. To not do something or enjoy something anymore, because you have grown

older and changed.
____________________________

7. To gradually disappear / to die peacefully.

____________________________

8. To separate or divide something into different parts. When a couple does this,
it means they end their marriage or relationship.
____________________________

9. To be angry and bored with something that has been happening for a long
time.
____________________________

10. To try to find someone or something by looking in several places or asking

several people.
____________________________
Quotes and Dialogues
Manny: I was almost too depressed to come today. I realized I let my childhood slip away.

Phil: Yeah, it’s on. I’ll take the girls.

Claire: Luke, your dad and I are splitting up.

Phil: I don’t think you two appreciate what’s at stake here.

Alex: Our lives?!

Claire: We are so kicking your dad’s butt! We are the best ones!
Luke: How come you and dad are breaking up?
Claire: What?
Luke: If it’s just a little disagreement, can’t you just work it out?

Many: I’d never made a prank call. Never mixed different sodas together to see what they’d
taste like.

Cam: Hang on! Hang on, Ellen! I’ll have you down in a jiffy.

Haley: Dad, are you upset?

Phil: Nope.
Haley: Then what was that sniff?
Phil: Sniff? What sniff? I’m actually relieved. The day that I’ve been dreading, the day when you
two finally outgrow me, has finally arrived and I’m handling it very well.

Gloria: I am so sick of stubborn men! You act like a little boy that doesn’t want to accept that
he’s wrong. And you like a sad old man that doesn’t want to be happy!

Fill in the blank with the best possible idiomatic expression. Pay
special attention to how the expressions are used grammatically.
You may need to consider verb-tenses, plural, subject-verb
agreement, pronouns etc.

1. Their children are terrible! They scream, break things and love making
_________________ to strangers. If I were their parents, I would
________________________.

2. My parents got divorced when I was 7 years old. It was very hard for me when
they decided to ____________________, but they had some problems that
they just couldn’t ____________________.

3. Our team lost the game. I can’t believe that our victory
_______________________.

4. This apartment is so small! I’m so _________________ living here!

5. Most children, when they are getting older, _________________ the need
for an afternoon nap.

6. Kate, you’re the person I’m __________________! Please, come help me!

7. With this rainy weather, it’s very dangerous to live near the hill. Many lives
___________________ and the government should do something
___________________.
Work in pairs!

Manny is sad because he believes he let his childhood slip away. So

he starts doing things that children do, such as mixing sodas and
making prank calls. With your partner, come up with a list of things
children do. You can also add things YOU used to do when you were
little.

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Phil’s T-shirt: If you ain’t white, you ain’t right.

“Ain't is a colloquialism and contraction for ‘am not’, ‘is not’, ‘are not’, ‘has not’,
and ‘have not’. In some dialects ain't is also used as a contraction of ‘do not’,
‘does not’, and ‘did not’. The usage of ain't is widely used by many people, and
found in most dictionaries, its use is often considered to be informal,
nonstandard, or improper.”
(adapted from en.wikipedia.org)

Written exercise
Choose one of the situations below and create a dialogue using FIVE
expressions from the Modern Family episode and the form AIN’T.

to slip away to work something out

to split up to be sick of something
to look for a prank call
to be at stake in a jiffy
to kick someone’s butt to outgrow

1. Your friend is getting married and you heard a lot of bad things about his/her
fiancé(e). Tell your friend what you heard and give him some advice.

2.You bought a gold chain from a very expensive shop. After wearing it for a
week, it turns green and stains your neck. Bring it back to the shop.

3. Your friend is overweight, does not exercise and smokes cigarettes. He/she is
always catching colds and flues. Tell your friend that you are worried and will
volunteer your time to help him/her.

4. You’re going out with a girl/boy for a while and you two have a great time
together. But your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend keeps calling you and leaving love
messages on facebook. Tell him/her to stop.