Idioms are a very important part of the English language: you are told that if you want to go far (succeed) you should pull your socks up (make a serious effort to improve your behaviour, the quality of your work, etc.) and use your grey matter (brain).1 Learning and translating idioms have always been very difficult for foreign language learners. The present paper explores some of the reasons why English idiomatic expressions are difficult to learn and translate. It is not the aim of this paper to attempt a comprehensive survey of the vast amount of material that has appeared on idioms in Adams and Kuder (1984), Alexander (1984), Dixon (1983), Kirkpatrick (2001), Langlotz (2006), McCarthy and O'Dell (2002), and Wray (2002), among others. The paper concentrates on idioms as a learning-translation problem; it makes no claim to be comprehensive or academically rigorous. Leech (1989) defines an idiom as follows: “An idiom is a group of two or more words which we have to treat as a unit in learning a language. We cannot arrive at the meaning of the idiom just by adding together the meanings of the words inside it. E.g.John and Mary usedto be hardup (='They had very little money'.)”(P.186) To be more exact, an idiom is a sequence of words which is semantically and syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit. From a semantic point of view, the meanings of the individual words cannot be summed to produce the meanings of the idiomatic expression as a whole. Thus, fly off the handle, which means lose one's temper, cannot be understood in terms of the meanings of fly, off, or handle. The idiom phrase hot air, which means empty or boastful talk, is neither hot nor air; with hot air we are dealing with a set phrase where the meaning cannot be suggested on the basis of the two constituent words. The idiomatic meaning of spill the beans in So who spilt the beans (=told the secret) about her affair with David? has nothing to do with beans or with spilling in its literal sense. The foreign-language learner is left trying to figure out where and how the beans were spilt. From a syntactic viewpoint, the constituent parts of an idiom often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts. The point to be emphasized here is this: most idioms do not lend themselves easily to manipulation by speakers and writers; they are invariable and must be learned as wholes, but concord ofnumber, person and gender in the idiom phrase is still necessary, i.e. the verbs must be put into the correct form, and pronouns must agree with their antecedents: I don't give a hoot for her opinion! 2 • She doesn't give a hoot for my opinion! etc.)║He won, but only by the skin of his teeth2• She won, but only by the skin of her teeth• Iwon, but only by the skin ofmy teeth,I had to run for the train, and caught it by the skin of myteeth, etc.║He kept pullingmy arm, throwing me off my balance 2 • She kept pulling his arm, throwing him off his balance • We kept pullingher arm, throwingher offher balance, etc.2 The present paper is divided into five parts, as follows: Part I: An Overview; PART II: Learner’s Difficulties with Idioms; PART III: Some Pedagogical recommendations and Suggestions about Idioms; Part IV: Activities to Practice Idiomatic Expressions; Part V: Summary and Conclusion.
Background: Generally, genetic disorders are a leading cause of spontaneous abortion, neonatal death, increased morbidity and mortality in children and adults as well. They a significant health care and psychosocial burden for the patient, the family, the healthcare system and the community as a whole. Chromosomal abnormalities occur much more frequently than is generally appreciated. It is estimated that approximately 1 of 200 newborn infants had some form of chromosomal abnormality. The figure is much higher in fetuses that do not survive to term. It is estimated that in 50% of first trimester abortions, the fetus has a chromosomal abnormality. Aim of the study: This study aims to shed some light on the results of chromosomal studies per
... Show MoreThe Banking Supervision of the most important functions of the Central Bank of Iraq, which he intended to have a strong banking system and a sound and competitive, and exercised control over the banks by inspection bodies to ensure their compliance with the laws, regulations and orders and instructions and the safety of their financial positions.
The research was aimed to release the concept of banking inspection, compliance and problems and obstacles faced by the inspectors, and monitors compliance and down to make recommendations.
Has been reached on a set of theoretical and practical conclusions, including: -
1-confirmed the statistical analysis of the answers to the research sample the importance of the role o
... Show MoreThe research study of the possibility of the application of the quality management system under the international standard ISO ISO9001: 2008 in the station project Rustumiya wastewater treatment of the Department of SEWER BAGHDAD - Baghdad MOREALITY as the first step in the right direction towards the implementation of total quality management (TQM), and the research Find the gap between the international standard and the quality system used in the organization surveyed through the use of checklists to analyze the gap, the checklist have included (191) items distributed on five basic requirements, according to the appearance in the international standard, namely, (quality management system, management responsibility, resource man
... Show MoreThis study addressed the work stress sources and level of the communicator in public relations in governmental institutions in the United Arab Emirates. The importance of this study is the lack of studies on work stress of the communicator in public relations. The study aimed to investigate the work stress source Physical, individual, groups, organizational and Professional source which effect on the performance of communicator in public relations. The researcher used the descriptive approach and questionnaire as an essential tool for collecting information. Some of the important results of the study are The communicator in public relations facing stress in work by 42% which affect on his performance by average level. The organizational
... Show MoreAbstract- Asymptomatic or clinically silent kidney stones are possibly serious because, in their expected passage, they may cause infection, obstruction and renal impairment. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of silent kidney stones in a sample of Baghdad population and consider how this value could affect the justification for a screening system. To our best knowledge, this is the first study of its kind conducted in Iraq. We investigated 714 consecutive patients who sustained an abdominal ultrasound at our hospital with further kidney screening. All these patients did not have clinical signs and symptoms of nephrolithiasis. Age, sex, the indication for ultrasound, the size, side, and the number of the disco
... Show MoreThe subject of this research involves studying adsorption to removal herbicide Atlantis WG from aqueous solutions by bentonite clay. The equilibrium concentration have been determined spectra photometry by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The experimental equilibrium sorption data were analyzed by two widely, Langmuir and Freundlish isotherm models. The Langmuir model gave a better fit than Freundlich model The adsorption amount of (Atlantis WG) increased when the temperature and pH decreased. The thermodynamic parameters like ?G, ?H, and ?S have been calculated from the effect of temperature on adsorption process, is exothermic. The kinetic of adsorption process was studied depending on Lagergren ,Morris ? Weber and Rauschenberg equati
... Show MoreThe present work deals with an experimental investigation of charging and discharging processes in thermal storage system using a phase change material PCM. Paraffin wax was used as the PCM which is formed in spherical capsules and packed in a cylindrical packed column which acted as an energy storage system. Air was used as the heat transfer fluid HTF in thermal storage unit. The effect of flow rate and inlet temperature of HTF on the time of charging and discharging process were studied. The results showed that the faster storage of thermal energy can be made by high flow rate of heat transfer fluid HTF and high inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid. It was found that at 65°C HTF inlet temperature, the melting and solidification pr
... Show MoreIntroduction: Surgical removal of impacted lower wisdom teeth is one of the most commonly performed proce- dures in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the operative and post-operative outcomes of 2 flap designs (limited vs. extended 2-sided flap) in surgical extractions of lower third molars (M3) regarding fully impacted teeth. Material and methods: A prospective, randomized, controlled split-mouth trial was designed, and included 27 patients with bilateral (symmetrically positioned) impacted M3. Limited 2-sided flap was performed on one side (group 1) and extended 2-sided flap on the other side (group 2). The effect of flap design on intra-operative (visibility, accessibility, and duration of surgery) a
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