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 present study aimed to identify the learning gap between classroom-based education and artificial intelligence (AI)-based education among students of Colleges of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. It also sought to determine the effectiveness of classroom education and AI-based education in reducing the learning gap among these students. The research problem addressed the following questions: Are there statistically significant differences in the learning gap between students who learn through traditional classroom education and those who learn through AI-based education in Colleges of Physical Education and Sports Sciences? What is the nature of the learning gap between classroom education and AI-based educati
... Show MoreAt a time when the general rules in the different legal systems require the presence of two parties to the contract, one of which is issued the first expression of the will and is called the offer, and the other is issued from the other and is called the acceptance. A special type of contracts emerged in the beginning of the last century called the “unilateral contracts”. The side sparked a major jurisprudential dispute, as well as the issuance of several contradictory judicial rulings on it. Hence, this research came to highlight this special type of contract. Key words: the definition of a unilateral contract, its distinction from other legal situations, and its effects.
The Love Creek Nature Center, one of the three nature centers located within the boundaries of Berrien County, is owned and operated by the county for public enjoyment and instruction of nature. The 44.5 ha study area, located seven km east of Berrien Springs, and two km southwest of Berrien Center, on Huckleberry Road, in T6S, R17W, sections 16, 17 (Lat. 41° 56' N; Long. 86° 18' W) is made up of deciduous woods and abandoned fields at various stages of succession. It is bounded on the east by the Berrien County Dog Pound and Huckleberry Road, to the north by cultivated Berrien County land and the Berrien General Hospital, to the west by the recently closed Berrien - Oronoko Township Landfill Dump; and to the south b
... Show MoreThis study is pointed out to estimate the effectiveness of two solvents in the extraction and evaluating the active ingredients and their antioxidant activity as well as anti-cancer efficiency. Therefore, residues from four different Brassica vegetables viz. broccoli, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, and red cherry radish were extracted using two procedures methods: methanolic and water crude extracts. Methanol extracts showed the highest content of total phenolic (TP), total flavonoids (TF), and total tannins (TT) for broccoli and Brussels sprouts residues. Methanolic extract of broccoli and Brussels sprouts residues showed the highest DPPH· scavenging activity (IC50 = 15.39 and 18.64 µg/ml). The methanol and water ex
... Show MoreThe research included studying the effect of different plowing depths (10,20and30) cm and three angles of the disc harrows (18,20and25) when they were combined in one compound machine consisting of a triple plow and disc harrows tied within one structure. Draft force, fuel consumption, practical productivity, and resistance to soil penetration. The results indicated that the plowing depth and disc angle had a significant effect on all studied parameters. The results showed that when the plowing depth increased and the disc angle increased, leads to increased pull force ratio, fuel consumption, resistance to soil penetration, and reduce the machine practical productivity.
The present study aims to identify the most and the least common teaching practices among faculty members in Northern Border University according to brain-based learning theory, as well as to identify the effect of sex, qualifications, faculty type, and years of experiences in teaching practices. The study sample consisted of (199) participants divided into 100 males and 99 females. The study results revealed that the most teaching practice among the study sample was ‘I am trying to create an Environment of encouragement and support within the classroom which found to be (4.4623). As for the least teaching practice was ‘I use a natural musical sounds to create student's mood to learn’ found to be (2.2965). The study results also in
... Show MoreReliable estimation of critical parameters such as hydrocarbon pore volume, water saturation, and recovery factor are essential for accurate reserve assessment. The inherent uncertainties associated with these parameters encompass a reasonable range of estimated recoverable volumes for single accumulations or projects. Incorporating this uncertainty range allows for a comprehensive understanding of potential outcomes and associated risks. In this study, we focus on the oil field located in the northern part of Iraq and employ a Monte Carlo based petrophysical uncertainty modeling approach. This method systematically considers various sources of error and utilizes effective interpretation techniques. Leveraging the current state of a
... Show More