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 & objective: Difficult intubation remains a risk for patients undergoing general anesthesia (GA) or mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU). Macroglossia is a known factor for difficult intubation. But it is not routine to assess the tongue size to predict difficult intubation. Studies are found deficient in comparing usefulness of measuring thyromental distance and the tongue thickness (TT) measured by ultrasonography to estimate difficult intubation. We compared tongue thickness measured by ultrasonography and thyromental distance as a means to anticipate difficult intubation. Methodology: A convenient sample of 60 patients; 32 males and 28 females, who were undergoing elective surgery with GA were i
... Show MoreThere is a scarcity of data regarding algal flora of Tigris River in the territory of Baghdad. The present study deals with Tigris River in Al-Dora site in Baghdad province from November 2014 to June 2015 in order to shed light on its epiphytic Algae on (Phragmites australis) and epipelic algae. An amount of 183 and 154 species of epiphytic and epipelic algae are identified respectfully. The Bacillariophyceae (diatoms) are the dominant algal group followed by Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae. Moreover, 90 species are shared between two groups of algae (epiphytic and epipelic) and identified at the study site. Additionally, the seasonal variations and diversity of algal species are noticed. The highest number of epiphytic algae is 772.05 x 104
... Show MoreMany studies of the relationship between COVID-19 and different factors have been conducted since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The relationship between COVID-19 and different biomarkers including ABO blood groups, D-dimer, Ferritin and CRP, was examined. Six hundred (600) patients, were included in this trial among them, 324 (56%) females and the rest 276 (46%) were males. The frequencies of blood types A, B, AB, and O were 25.33, 38.00, 31.33, and 5.33%, respectively, in the case group. Association analysis between the ABO blood group and D-dimer, Ferritin and CRP of COVID-19 patients indicated that there was a statistically significant difference for Ferritin (P≤0.01), but no-significant differences for both D-dimer and CRP.
... Show MorePhase change material (PCM) is considered as one of the most effective thermal energy storage (TES) systems to balance energy supply and demand. A key challenge in designing efficient PCM-based TES systems lies in the enhancement of heat transmission during phase transition. This study numerically examines the privilege of employing twisted-fin arrays inside a shell-and-tube latent heat storage unit to improve the solidification performance. The presence of twisted fins contributes to the dominating role of heat conduction by their curved shapes, which restricts the role of natural convection but largely aids the overall heat-transfer process during solidification. The heat-discharge
Background: Lymphomas are a group of diseases caused by malignant lymphocytes that accumulate in lymph nodes and cause the characteristic clinical features of lymphadenopathy. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (CD54) is a transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily of adhesion molecules. Cortactin was first identified as one of the major substrates for src kinase. because it localized to Cortical actin structures, The aims of this study was to evaluate and compare the immunohistochemical of ICAM-1 expression as cell adhesion molecule marker and Cortactin expression as invasive marker. Material and Methods: This study was performed on (68) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks, histopathologically diagn
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to provide an analytical study to promote financial inclusion in Iraq by clarifying the opportunities and challenges of the economic and demographic situation in Iraq, studying the structure of the financial system and introducing non-bank financial institutions operating in Iraq, and using the descriptive approach. Analytical in the study of the phenomenon of research, the research reached a number of conclusions, the most prominent of which were:
- Iraqi society is a young society.
- The majority of the population is 70 percent. They live almost in urban areas.
- The coverage of bank branch networks is concentrated in only four provinces, leaving other provinces outside financial
The species Vitex agnus-castus is an important medicinal plants and it is one of the cultivated and dicotyledon plants in Iraq. The anatomical of stem, petiole, midrib area, epidermis, veins, type of leaf stomata and seeds were studied by light microscope. In this research, shows the knowledge of anatomical characteristics of the studied plant, showing its importance as taxonomic characteristics through the sections of the stem, petiole, the midrib and the petals.
This study involves the synthesis of a new class of silicon polymers, designated as P1-P7, derived from dichlorodimethylsilane (DCDMS) in combination with various organic compounds (Schiff bases prepared from different amines and appropriate aldehydes or ketones) [I-V] through condensation polymerization. The structures of all monomers and polymers were characterization by FTIR and 1HNMR spectroscopy (for some polymers). The results of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry DSC test show stable thermal behaviour. Polymers with a higher concentration of aromatic rings in their repeating structural units exhibited a higher temperature for weight loss, indicating increased thermal stability. Thermal meas
... Show MoreThis study involves the synthesis of a new class of silicon polymers, designated as P1-P7, derived from dichlorodimethylsilane (DCDMS) in combination with various organic compounds (Schiff bases prepared from different amines and appropriate aldehydes or ketones) [I-V] through condensation polymerization. The structures of all monomers and polymers were characterization by FTIR and 1HNMR spectroscopy (for some polymers). The results of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry DSC test show stable thermal behaviour. Polymers with a higher concentration of aromatic rings in their repeating structural units exhibited a higher temperature for weight loss, indicating increased thermal stability. Thermal meas
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