The footballers moved with their tails between their legs?

Analyze the question: The sentence uses the idiom "with their tails between their legs." You are asked to pick the option that best explains what it means.

Explain the concept: The idiom comes from a dog that is scared or beaten and tucks its tail between its back legs. In English, a person who leaves "with their tail between their legs" feels ashamed, humiliated, or defeated, usually after a failure, a loss, or a scolding.

Solution, option by option:

• A. They moved happily because they won the match. Wrong. The idiom shows shame, not joy, and winners do not walk away like this.
• B. They were unhappy because they had been despised by their opponents. Wrong. Being unhappy is part of it, but the idiom is about defeat and humiliation, not about being despised.
• C. They were ashamed because they had been defeated. Correct. It captures both the feeling (shame) and the cause (defeat).
• D. They moved with their tails between their legs. Wrong. This just repeats the sentence and explains nothing.

Answer: The footballers walked away humiliated because they lost the match.

Exam tip: For idiom questions, don't read the words literally. Ask yourself what feeling or situation the image suggests. A dog with its tail tucked is scared and beaten, so the people in the sentence are ashamed and defeated. Also be wary of any option that just repeats the sentence, like D. It is almost never the answer.