Pen and Pencil

Expressions with pen

  • write with a black pen

  • mark with a red pen

  • pick up / put down your pen

  • hold your pen

  • borrow / lend a pen

  • your pen doesn't work / write

  • fill out / in a form in pen

  • ballpoint pen

  • fountain pen

Expressions with pencil

  • use a pencil

  • sharpen your pencil

  • break your pencil

  • write in pencil

  • draw in pencil

  • a sharp / blunt pencil

  • colored pencils

  • a pencil sharpener

Exercise

Expressions with pen

  1. Please fill out the application form in pen, not pencil. - f

  2. My pen has stopped working. Have you got a spare one I could borrow? - d

  3. The teacher had marked all my mistakes with a red pen. - g

  4. I was so nervous I could hardly hold my pen. - b

  5. Can you lend me a pen please? I've forgotten to bring one today. - a

  6. Ballpoint pens are cheap and aren't as messy as fountain pens. - c

  7. Please stop writing and put down your pens. - e

Expressions with pencil

  1. I pressed too hard on the paper, and broke my pencil.

  2. My brother uses his penknife to sharpen his pencil. I use a pencil sharpener.

  3. When I was at school, we always wrote in pencil. When we had finished something, we then wrote it out in ink.

  4. I can't write with this pencil - it’s blunt! Have you got a sharp one!

  5. Children don't use pencils and rubbers any more. They all have pens.

  6. It's best to draw in pencil first. That way it's easy to make changes to your drawing.

Notes

  1. We say my pen isn't working, but not my pencil isn't working.

  2. If we write in pencil, we can rub out what we write:

    I made notes in pencil at the side of the page, but rubbed them out before I took the book back to the library.

  3. Note this expression:

    I think it's about time I put pen to paper and replied to that letter from my brother in Canada!

  4. Another way of saying 'use a pen' is write in ink.

  5. A pen friend or pen pal is someone you write to, but may never have met.

    When I was at school, I had a pen pal in France.

  6. A pen name is a name used by a writer instead of his her real name.

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