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.
China is the first Asian country in the Far East that has been invaded by a foreign power, after following a policy of isolation against the outside world. Although Britain was the first foreign power that penetrated China and had many concessions within its lands, it was not the only one that directed its interests toward china. Russia was one of the powers which were interested in China, considering the special relationships that related together the neighboring countries, like the problematic boundaries. However, after World War II, the Soviet Union tries to extend its influence and power over Asia, and China was the first country that fell under the campaign on the Soviet Union. In spite of the fact that the political role of the Uni
... Show Moreإن تجسيد الشعراء للجمال واقامته تمثالا مصورا مرئيا ، كان الهدف منه اولا اشاعة جو نفسي مريح في مقدمات قصائد المديح ، فهو الجزء البصري الممتع لمدركات حسية اخرى ترافقه، وأما المرامي الاخرى
ﻓﮭﻲ إﻣﺘﺎع اﻟﻨﻔﺲ إﻣﺎ ﺑﺎﺳﺘﺮﺟﺎع أﺟﻤﻞ ﺻﻮرة أو أﻧﻤﻮذج ﻗﺎﺋﻢ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺬاﻛﺮة، وﺟﻌﻠﮫ ﯾﺤﯿﺎ ﻣﻦ ﺟﺪﯾﺪ ﻟﺪواﻋﻲ اﻟﺤﻨﯿﻦ للاماكن والازمنة الاثيرة . أو الميل للتعبير عن الوعي الجمالي الذي يتصل بموضوع الج
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For over a decade, educational technology has been used sparingly in our schools and universities. Online training courses have been used since 2003 to fill the gaps in our learning system and to add extra program besides classroom learning. This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi EFL instructors’ participating in online training courses and its influence on the process of teaching and learning.
The sample of present study consists of 30 instructors from University of Baghdad. The questionnaire of sixteen items was constructed. After ensuring validity and reliability of questionnaire, it was applied on March 2013 and the result shows that most of instructors improve their teaching methods b
... Show MoreVolleyball is one of the sports that require physical and skill abilities thus many teaching models appeared to teach these abilities like group investigation model. The research aimed at identifying the effect of group investigation model on learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researchers hypothesized statistical differences between pre and posttests in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball as well as differences in posttests of controlling and experimental groups in learning underarm and overhead passing in volleyball. The researcher used the experimental method on (30) second year female students of physical education and sport sciences college/ university of Baghdad. Group investigation model was app
... Show Moreimportumt educational institution as (kindergartens) need teachers which qualified ownes modalities in their education for children , as Marzanu method in a way of learning and own methods of crisis management, because the teachers that own those styles of learning ginekindergarten children knowledge and the childrenIeaving based on theMeaing and knowledge and integration of their information, And teachers that earn methods of crisis management provide for the children of the kindergarten security within the educational institution which in turn affect the growth and development of the Child and then abilities, health physical, mental, psychological …etc.., The aims of the current research have identified to recognize: 1- the dimension
... Show MoreThis study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a
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This study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a
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Cassava, a significant crop in Africa, Asia, and South America, is a staple food for millions. However, classifying cassava species using conventional color, texture, and shape features is inefficient, as cassava leaves exhibit similarities across different types, including toxic and non-toxic varieties. This research aims to overcome the limitations of traditional classification methods by employing deep learning techniques with pre-trained AlexNet as the feature extractor to accurately classify four types of cassava: Gajah, Manggu, Kapok, and Beracun. The dataset was collected from local farms in Lamongan Indonesia. To collect images with agricultural research experts, the dataset consists of 1,400 images, and each type of cassava has
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