ADJ.

funny, good | old

That's an old joke?I've heard it lots of times.

| cruel, sick | huge | dirty

VERB + JOKE

crack, make, tell

He's marvellous at telling jokes.

| play

He's always playing jokes on people.

| have, share

She likes to have a joke with her employees.

| hear | get, laugh at

We all fell about laughing, but he didn't get the joke.

| take

The trouble is she can't take a joke.

| treat sth as

He treated his exams as a huge joke.

JOKE + VERB

fall flat

The audience weren't very responsive and the jokes fell a bit flat.

| be on sb

I thought I'd play a trick on them, but in the end the joke was on me.

PREP.

as a ~

It was only said as a joke.

| ~ about

Have you heard the joke about the elephant and the mouse?

PHRASES

make a joke of sth

We tried to make a joke of our situation, but it wasn't really funny.

ADV.

half

She was only half joking about being prime minister one day.

PREP.

about

We joked about the amount of luggage we had to carry.

| with

joking with her friends

PHRASES

be only joking

Don't worry, I'm only joking!

| joking apart/aside

(= used to show you are now being serious after you have said sth funny),

laugh and joke

They laughed and joked as they walked along.

| you must be joking

No way am I doing that. You must be joking!