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.
(25)
(20)
This study aims at shedding light on the linguistic significance of collocation networks in the academic writing context. Following Firth’s principle “You shall know a word by the company it keeps.” The study intends to examine three selected nodes (i.e. research, study, and paper) shared collocations in an academic context. This is achieved by using the corpus linguistic tool; GraphColl in #LancsBox software version 5 which was announced in June 2020 in analyzing selected nodes. The study focuses on academic writing of two corpora which were designed and collected especially to serve the purpose of the study. The corpora consist of a collection of abstracts extracted from two different academic journals that publish for writ
... Show More
(4)
(2)
Inflammatory response had a role in cancer progression, presence of noticeable inflammation within the tumor and its margin may play an important prognostic role in colorectal carcinoma.
Background: Errors of horizontal condylar inclinations and Bennett angles had largely affected the articulation of teeth and the pathways of cusps. The aim of this study was to estimate and compare between the horizontal condylar (protrusive) angles and Bennett angles of full mouth rehabilitation patients using two different articulator systems. Materials and Methods: Protrusive angles and Bennett angles of 50 adult males and females Iraqi TMD-free full mouth rehabilitation patients were estimated by using two different articulator systems. Arbitrary hinge axis location followed by protrusive angles and Bennett angles, estimation was done by a semiadjustable articulator system. A fully adjustable articulator system was utilized to locate th
... Show More
(1)
This study attempts to test the interactive role played by organizational agility in enhancing the effect of organizational anomie on the behavior of planned human resources. The study of organizational anomie has increased because of the moral and legal pressures facing the organization by the external environment within its framework. To adapt to all external developments faced by these organizations, the behavior of human resources planned reflects the ability of individuals to control their behavior in different situations and situations that face them in the work.
The problem of the research indicates that there is a clear lack of understanding of what is meant by the variables studied in the sample
... Show More
(1)
Maxillofacial trauma in females is not widely reported. This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and the patterns of maxillofacial injuries in females and to determine the differences in these patterns among different causes. This retrospective study analyzed several variables, including demographic, social, injury-related, and treatment-related variables, and compared these variables in relation to the main etiologies of maxillofacial trauma. The main etiologies of maxillofacial injuries involving females were assault, followed by road traffic accidents, and falls. There were significant differences in relation to the 3 etiologies in age groups (
(1)
(1)
The current research aims to answer the following questions: what is the substance of democracy? What is the content of a democratic society? What is the role of university professor in the democratic development of the student university in light of the new Iraqi society? In order to achieve the goals of the research, the researcher developed an a questionnaire based on literature, Iraq's draft constitution in 2005, and his experience of the field of teaching human rights and public freedoms and the teaching of democracy. It was applied to a sample of faculty members in Department of Education and Psychology / College of Education / University Baghdad for the year 20014 were obtained their answers were then processed statistically. Henc
... Show MoreScientists are investigating the efficacy of different biosorbents for promoting economic and environmental viability in purifying contaminants. Among the primary by-products of biodiesel production is waste microalgae biomass, which has the potential to be used as a cheap biosorbent for the treatment of pollution. In the present study, the biomass left over after extracting the chlorella vulgaris was used to test the potential biosorption of CIP from simulated aqueous solutions. Bisorbent's ability was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Analysis with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer revealed that C
... Show More
(2)
When searching for an answer to the following question: What are the reasons for the reluctance of female physical education teachers in secondary schools to referee sports competitions according to the variable of years of service? It was found that the research aimed to reveal the differences between the opinions of the research sample of physical education teachers in secondary schools (girls) about refereeing sports competitions according to the variable of years of service. To achieve the research goal, it is assumed that there are significant differences between the average opinions of the research sample of female teachers and their reluctance and the reasons for the differences in the practice of refereeing sports competitions accor
... Show More