Auctions: Madoff's bounty

Hello again!

This is a video that most of you already know. I'm posting it here for you to check your answers or, if you're new to it, to practise, practise, practise!

This is not the first video about auctions, that we have had around here, but it is one in which I have learnt a new word: gavel. It's the news story of the auction where Madoff's personal belongings are put up for auction to compensate victims of his pyramid scheme.

Vocabulary to learn before you watch:

proceeds (or sales proceeds): the money obtained from the sale.

seized: in this context, taken by the police (or other law enforcement agents, like the FBI or others), as evidence or for other purposes, as here.

to go under the hammer: to be sold at auction (from the action of bringing a hammer down to close the bidding). This hammer is called "gavel" (the word you hear in the video)

The activity involves completing a couple of sentences that start with "it". Two typical structures: 1. a cleft sentence, and 2. an impersonal passive.

1. And it was not just his footwear...

2. It's expected that ...

Pay attention to prepositions at the end of a clause!

Key available here. Thanks!