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 study discussed here deals with the isolation of Aspergillus niger from palm dates, the formal and the most famous fruit in Iraq, to test and qualify this fungus isolate for its ability to produce citric acid. Submerged fermentation technique was used in the fermentation process. A.niger isolated from “Zahdi” Palme dates was used in the study of the fermentation kinetics to get the production efficiency of citric acid. Kinetics of CA production via fermentation by A. niger S11 was evaluated within 432 h fermentation time and under submerged conditions of 11% (w/v) sucrose, 5% (v/v) inoculum size, pH 4, 30 °C and 150 rpm. The maximum citric acid produced was (37.116 g/l). Kine
Background: Many materials were proposed as root canal obturating materials but the biocompatibility issue remains to be a critical one. Propolis has been used as a therapeutic agent since the time of Hippocrates. It is known that propolis exhibits some pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti inflammatory activity. Materials and methods: Eighteen albino rats were used in the study and divided randomly into three groups of 6 animals for each group. Each group was scheduled to be sacrificed at different time periods, which were three days, one week and three weeks. Propolis and ZOE sealer implants of 4mm in diameter and 0.5 gm in weight were implanted in the dorsal side of the rats. At the end of the
... Show MoreA collection of 118 specimens of Iraqi phasianid birds belong to four species was examined
for haematozoa. Results show that 21.2% of them were infected with one or more of four
species of blood parasites; Haemoproteus danilewskyi, H. santosdiasi, Plasmodium sp. and
microfilaria. Haemoproteus danilewskyi is reported here for the first time in Iraq.
One of the artificial lightweight aggregates with a wide range of applications is Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate. Clay is utilized in the production of light aggregates. Using leftover clay from significant infrastructure development projects to manufacture lightweight aggregates has a favorable environmental impact. This research examines the expanded clay aggregate production process and the impact of processing parameters on its physical and mechanical qualities. It also looks at secondary components that can be used to improve the qualities of concrete with expanded clay aggregates. The effect of the quantity of expanded clay aggregate on the fresh, hardened, and durability qualities of concrete is also studied.
... Show MoreThe electric submersible pump, also known as ESP, is a highly effective artificial lift method widely used in the oil industry due to its ability to deliver higher production rates compared to other artificial lift methods. In principle, ESP is a multistage centrifugal pump that converts kinetic energy into dynamic hydraulic pressure necessary to lift fluids at a higher rate with lower bottomhole pressure, especially in oil wells under certain bottomhole condition fluid, and reservoir characteristics. However, several factors and challenges can complicate the completion and optimum development of ESP deployed wells, which need to be addressed to optimize its performance by maximizing efficiency and minimizing costs and uncertainties. To
... Show MoreThis study aims to expand the traditional model in calculating the break-even point to include the cost of capital invested and the funds employed in industrial companies through a change in the traditional model and the effect of adopting the advanced model of the break point on the operational leverage in planning profits in industrial companies. Where, the analysis of the break-even point and the operational leverage of the tools important by the management, which is used in the field of planning profits. A parity analysis in its sophisticated model will help in planning profits and determine the optimal size of production that maximizes profits. For its part, the operational leverage helps to make decisions regarding the expansion of
... Show MoreIn this paper, series of new complexes of Manganese(II), Cobalt(II), Nickel (II) Cupper(II) Zinc(II), Cadmium(II) and Mercury (II) are prepared from the new ligand [2-(3-benzoylthioureido)-3-(-4- hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid (BHP) derived from tyrosine and benzoylisothiocyanate .Chemical structures are obtained from their 1 H, 13CNMR spectra (for BHP), elemental microanalyses, molar conductance, FTIR, UV–Vis, magnetic susceptibility in addition to TGA/DTG and DSC analysis, the suggested geometry for all complexes was tetrahedral. The biological activity of BHP and its complexes has been extensively studied against two bacterial species Staphylococcus aurous (G+) and Escherichia coli (G-) by agar-well diffusion technique, where Mn(II), Co
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