Idiom: 'let your hair down'

[.haihao]

English Idioms and Expressions, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Splitting Hairs", question 3

Now that he's passed his exams and got his qualifications he's decided to let his hair down.

(a) behave informally
(b) behave noisily
(c) behave easily
(d) behave fully

English Idioms and Expressions, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Splitting Hairs", answer 3

Now that he's passed his exams and got his qualifications he's decided to behave informally.

Correct answer: (a) behave informally

Your answer was: incorrect
Now that he's passed his exams and got his qualifications he's decided to behave easily.
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Hi Alan,

Could you explain the reason why behave easily was not possible in this sentence for a certain situation?

Thank you.
haihao

[Haihao]

I am terribly sorry again that I forgot to log in first. haihao

[Alan]

Hi,

'Behave easily' doesn't really make sense. Easily as an adverb conveys the sense of doing something without any difficulty as in: She easily completed the race in five miutes. Here 'let your hair down' describes what you do when you are not worrying about what people think and in a sense you relax.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a policeman