_cut and dried: predictable, known beforehand; boring

·   The results of the national election were rather cut and dried; the Republicans won easily.

·   A job on a factory assembly line is certainly cut and dried.

_to hear from: to receive news or information from

To hear from is used for receiving a letter, telephone call, etc., from aperson or organization.

·   I don’t hear from my brother very often since he moved to Chicago.

·   Have you heard from the company about that new job? 

_to hear of: to know about, to be familiar with; to consider (The second definition is always used in the

negative.) 

·   When I asked for directions to Mill Street, the police officer said that she had never heard of it.

·   Byron strongly disagreed with my request by saying, «I won’t hear of if!»

_to fill in: to write answers in (S); to inform, to tell (S)

For the second definition, the idiom can be followed by the preposition on and the information that someone is

told.

·   You should be careful to fill in the blanks on the registration form correctly.

·   Barry was absent from the meeting, so I’d better fill him in.

·   Has anyone filled the boss in on the latest public relations disaster?

_to fill out: to complete a form (S)

This idiom is very similar to the first definition above. To fill in refers to completing various parts of a form,

while to fill out refers to completing a form as one whole item.

·   Every prospective employee must fill out an application by giving name, address, previous jobs, etc.

·   The teenager had some trouble filling the forms out by himself, so his mother helped him.