Language Activator – Ignore

Ignore/pay no attention/take no notice/not listen to/fall on deaf ears/tune out

ignore

(transitive verb)

to deliberately pay no attention to what someone does or says, and pretend it is not important or does not affect you

.My father’s always telling me what to do, but I usually just ignore him

ignore somebody’s advice/warning

.Ignoring my warnings, he dived straight into the shallow water

pay no attention/not pay any attention

(verb phrase)

to ignore someone or something, especially by not watching or listening to them

People living near the crash scene paid no attention when they heard the aircraft’s engine cut out in mid-air

pay no attention/not pay any attention to

More than half the people questioned said they did not pay any attention to political broadcasts

take no notice/not take any notice

(verb phrase)

not to let someone affect what you do or the way you feel

.Stan has fired me before. I usually take no notice and turn up for work again the next day

take no notice/not take any notice of

.He never took any notice of the baby, even when it screamed

not listen to

(verb phrase)

to ignore someone’s advice when they talk to you

.It’s because you didn’t listen to Roger that you are in this trouble now

not listen to reason not listen to sensible advice

We all warned Susan not to marry that man, but she wouldn’t listen to reason

fall on deaf ears

(verb phrase)

if your request or suggestion falls on deaf ears, it is ignored by the people who have the power to deal with it

.The workers’ demand for a wage increase has fallen on deaf ears

not want to know

(verb phrase not in progressive)

informal to not be willing to listen to people’s problems, complaints, bad news etc because you do not want to be worried by them

You’d think the government would be concerned about people sleeping rough, but they just don’t want to know

not want to know about

.If you’re going to start an argument with Alex, I don’t want to know about it

tune out

(transitive phrasal verb)

especially American to deliberately not listen to what someone is saying, especially because it is unpleasant or you have heard it before

tune out something

.He had learned to tune out the kids’ constant questions

tune something out

.There was a warning voice in the back of her mind, but she tuned it out

:Practice

:Fill in the blanks with appropriate words

.N1. Take no ————- of him. He’s just being silly

N2. As rioting continued, Mayor Warren appealed for calm, but his words fell on ———– ears

.N3. It’s because you didn’t ————- to Roger that you are in this trouble now

.N4. She ————- my question and continued her story

 ————- N5. Someone made a rude noise, which the teacher decided to

.N6. You never ————- to me. You just do whatever you want

N7. What’s this injection for? he asked the nurse. She paid no ————-, rolling up his sleeve in silence

.N8. It was very stupid of you to ————- your mother’s advice

:Answers

Notice/ deaf/ listen/ ignored/ ignore/ listen/ attention/ ignore