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.
The Mesopotamian marshlands faced a massive destruction from many years and this lead to effect to ecosystem. In this study a survey was made on the physical chemical and heavy metals characteristics and microbiological analysis of AL Chibaish marsh during the two months. Water analyses revealed unacceptable values for almost all physiochemical and biological properties, according to WHO standard limits for drinking water. Almost all major ions and heavy metal concentrations in water showed a distinct decreasing trend at the marsh outlet station compared to other stations. In general, major and minor ions, as well as heavy metals exhibit higher concentrations in location 1 than in location 3. The concentrations of heavy metals in water show
... Show MoreThe makers of strife exist in every era and time. They differ in how these temptations are created and the methods used in doing so. In our modern era, they are more; This is due to the presence of information technology and its easy availability at their fingertips, as well as the spread of social networking sites, which are rapidly spreading among ignorant groups and groups that are deficient in their use. Which led the makers of sedition to exploit these matters and create various temptations and spread them among peoples and societies. Today, we cannot predict the future of humanity in light of this huge amount of temptation. What the Holy Qur’an mentioned about the types of temptations in its noble verses and their embodiment in seve
... Show MoreThis study presents a histological comparison of the esophagus between squirrels and mongooses, illustrating herbivorous and carnivorous dietary adaptations, respectively. Histological sections were examined from both species to compare the tunica mucosa, submucosa, muscularis, and adventitia. Esophageal samples were collected from adult specimens that were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichrome, then examined microscopically. Results revealed that squirrels exhibited a thick wall with non-keratinized epithelium and fully striated muscularis, reflecting a plant-based diet. In contrast, mongooses displayed regional variation in wall thickness and thinner mucosa in the upper third and a transition from s
... Show MoreTo approach the problem of individual oppression with an international perspective drawing on Foucauldian concepts, this paper compares George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) and the Iraqi Sinan Antoon’s I’jaam (2004), which was translated into English in 2007. Even though Orwell and Antoon come from dissimilar cultural backgrounds, religions and epochs, they have tackled the issue of individuals’ oppression through their oppressed characters in a strikingly similar way. Hence, by applying the theories of both the American School of Comparative Literature and Foucauldian concepts, the current study attempts to establish a relationship between the Western and Eastern ways of dealing with the issue of oppression as an international problem in au
... Show MoreObjectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the effect of adding a poloxamer surfactant to the irrigant solutions on its cleaning efficiency. Design: In this study the roots of extracted permanent premolar teeth were used and evaluated by using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). Materials and Method: 72 human single tooth of permanent premolar (8 for each group) were used in this in vitro study. Roots after sectioning at cervical area to get 15 mm were embedded in a plastic container filled with impression silicon, then instrumented with ProTaper rotary instruments till size F4. Each group (8 root) were irrigated with one of the nine solutions used in study: three concentrations of NaOH [5% (A1), 2.5%(A2), 0.5%(A3)], th
... Show MorePraise be to God alone, and after:
This is a research entitled: “A fundamental study of judicial jurisprudence rules and their applications in the Hanbali school of thought,” in which the researcher studied eight legal jurisprudential rules considered by the Hanbalis and others.
At the conclusion of his research, the researcher reached a number of results, including: the importance of taking care of judicial rules, and the need for judges and their assistants to them, including: the need for students of science in Hanbali jurisprudence to study these rules according to the doctrine, and to highlight their applications to them, including: the importance of the rules under study, and their impact on rulings Jurisprudenc
... Show MoreIn the present research, the electrical properties which included the ac-conductivity (σac), loss tangent of dielectric (tan δ) and real dielectric constant (ε’) are studied for nano polycarbonate in different pressures and frequencies as a function of temperature these properties were studied at selective temperature gradients which are (RT-50-100-150-250)°C. The results of the study showed that the values of dielectric constant and dissipation factor increase with increasing pressure and temperature and decreases by increasing frequency. And the results of electrical conductivity showed that it increases with increasing temperature, pressure and frequency.
Centric study on the interest of the Directorate General of Training and Development / Ministry of Electricity to consolidate the concept of process and enhancement of knowledge in the areas of organizational change، it reached a sample of the study (44) people who are highly heads of departments، technicians and administrators in different sections of the Directorate and by using the correlation coefficient (Spearman) & coefficient of simple regression been tested correlations between variables and the impact of the study، as has been reached to integrate the role of cognitive processes with the areas of organizational change and relationships that were significant at the level of overall dimensions and subsidiary organs.
... Show MoreBN RASHİD, 2023