English Idioms

Drive Someone Crazy

Meaning:

• Annoy or irritate

Frequency of Use: High

1. James drives everyone crazy with his constant bad jokes.
2. How long is that dog going to bark? It is driving us all crazy.
3. It sometimes drives me crazy when the teacher gives us homework, but he doesn’t explain how to do it.
4. The upstairs neighbors always have wild parties on the weekends with loud music, and the sounds drive me crazy.
5. My roommate kept me up late last night with his snoring, and that drove me crazy.

1. What is something a member of your family does that drives you crazy (even a little)? Have you discussed this with the person? What was the reaction?
2. If a teacher drove you crazy with their attitude toward students (for example, they criticized you in front of other students), would you say anything?

You live in an apartment building on the fourth floor, and your neighbors next door argue constantly and bang on the walls. There are even days when they very loud music in the middle of the night. Of course, all of this activity is driving your crazy. Yesterday, you knocked on their door, and your neighbor (a giant and angry-looking football player) told you to mind your own business, he will break your arm. You call the police, but they say they can’t do anything. In this case, what are you going to do next? 

Possible Answer: 

“I think I’m going to invite him over to my apartment to watch a football game. This way, I can get to know him better. Maybe, he has been having a rough time in his life. I won’t know until we know each other more.”

Sometimes, learners know the meaning of an idiom, but they don’t know how to use it correctly in conversation or writing. Thus, this activity checks your grammatical accuracy with the idiom so you become more confident in using it.