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 work in this paper involves the planning, design and implementation of a mobile learning system called Nahrain Mobile Learning System (NMLS). This system provides complete teaching resources, which can be accessed by the students, instructors and administrators through the mobile phones. It presents a viable alternative to Electronic learning. It focuses on the mobility and flexibility of the learning practice, and emphasizes the interaction between the learner and learning content. System users are categorized into three categories: administrators, instructors and students. Different learning activities can be carried out throughout the system, offering necessary communication tools to allow the users to communicate with each other
... Show MoreIn this work, varying compositions of SiO2 micro filler were added
with the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and samples have been prepared
using film casting technique. The results have been analyzed and
compared for PVC samples with (1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt%)
SiO2 micro filler. Mechanical characteristics such as tensile strength,
elongation at break and Young`s modulus were measured for all the
samples, where the tensile strength was increased from 8.39 Mpa for
purified PVC to 16 Mpa for 3% SiO2/PVC composite. Also, thermal
conductivity measurement values illustrated that composite materials
have a good thermal insulation at 10 wt. %, thermal conductivity was
decreased from 0.1684 W/m.
In a world of limited space, the owners are always surrounded by others next to them, and, consequently, there is hardly any activity which the owner may exercise on his land which would not affect the other owners. If he builds a building, that building may block the sun's rays or the air from the buildings next to it and owned by other people. And if he runs a business, the lands adjacent to that business may be overburdened with the accompanying noise or traffic. If oil is prospected in a land, the neighboring lands may be deprived of oil or their owners may be exposed to toxic fumes. Hence the importance of researching the intention of harming others, as it is one of the most important forms of abuse in the use of the right (especially
... Show Morethin films of se:2.5% as were deposited on a glass substates by thermal coevaporation techniqi=ue under high vacuum at different thikness
The current research aims to prepare a proposed Programmebased sensory integration theory for remediating some developmental learning disabilities among children, researchers prepared a Programme based on sensory integration through reviewing studies related to the research topic that can be practicedby some active teaching strategies (cooperative learning, peer learning, Role-playing, and educational stories). The Finalformat consists of(39) training sessions.
The study aimed to clarify the meanings learned and inferred from reading books، letters and messages in Surat Al-Qur’an. The inductive method، the analytical method، and the deductive method، One of the most prominent results of the research: that the multiplicity of Qur’anic readings produces a variety and expansion in the meaning that has a clear impact on the interpretation by clarifying the meaning of the verse.
This study aimed at identity baying the difficulties which face public basic school
principals in jar ash governorate in editing formal letters and correspondence and means of
debating with these problems to collect data the researchers developed a question air were
established the population of the study which represents its sample consisted of 129 principals
65 males and 64 females
The results of the study revealed that the principals face difficulties in office and file
management in preparing plans and reports and writing formal letters and answering them
saved recommendations were presented among which were organizing training sessions and
workshops to train the principals on how to dead with there problems.<
Practical application is an effective tool for preparing qualified scientific and technical cadres if applied correctly and efficiently. In addition to being the complementary part of everything that has been studied in the years of study, it is a scientific linking tool between theory and application. Here lies the importance of this research in clarifying the central and important role that practical application plays in general in raising the scientific level of the student, and the extent of the suitability of the curriculum and means of practical application and the extent and needs of the students applying at the Institute of Administration - Rusafa - Department of Information Technology and Libraries. This research attempted to answe
... Show MoreThe present study aims to evaluate the effects of methotrexate (MTX) with and without vitamin A (Vit. A) on some biochemical parameters and histological structure in male rabbits liver. Twenty male rabbits weighing 1250-1480 gm were divided into four equal number groups. The first group was given 2 ml distilled water as control group. The second group was given MTX (20 mg/kg), the third group was given Vit. A (5000 IU), while the fourth group was given MTX (20 mg/kg) +Vit. A (5000 IU) in alternative days. Following four weeks of treatment, lipid profile total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), [low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)]; in addition to thyroid hormones tr
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the extent the academics in colleges of applied sciences are familiar with the themes of the national strategy of education 2040 in the Sultanate of Oman. The researchers used the descriptive approach, as well as they adopted a questionnaire with five dimensions as a tool for data collection, which was applied to (120) academics. The results showed that the academics of the applied colleges' familiarity with the National Strategy for Education 2040 in the Sultanate of Oman is average. The study also found that there were no statistically significant differences in the academics estimates of the extent of the Colleges of Applied Sciences academics’ familiarity with the themes of the National Education 2040 Str
... Show More