Chapter10EnglishIdioms
Chapter 10 English Idioms 习惯用语
1. Introductory remarks
An English idiom is a group of words with a special m eaning different from the m eanings of its constituent words. Strictly speaking,idioms are expressions that are not readily
understandable from their literal meaning of individual elements. In a broad sense, idiom may include colloquialisms, Catchphrases,slang expressions,proverbs,etc.They form an important part of the English vocabulay.
2.Sources of english idioms
Sources of English idioms@: everyday life of English people,agricultural life,nautical and military life, business life, student life, food and cooking, sports and card-playing, the Bible, Shakespeare's plays, fables, m yths, legends etc.
3.Classification of idioms
a. Phrase idioms惯用短语
All phrase idioms have a noun,verb,adjective,preposition or an adverb as the central
word;they correspond to the fam iliar parts of speech, and capable of a given syntactic function in sentences.
1)Verb phrase idiom：Verb phrase idioms are combinations of a verb and an adverb -- look
up, or a verb and a preposition -- make for, or a verb with both adverb and preposition -- come round to. The features：1）Often nearly synonymous with loan words of Rom an work out（the salaries）can be respectively replaced by a single synonymous Roman loan word -- cal culate. 2）Can form noun com pounds. e.g. A gang of thieves di a break-in last night. 3）Usually more lively and expressive than single verbs. e.g. The
firecracker went off and scared m y little sister.（more lively than exploded）
Noun phrase idiom：
Adjective phrase idiom：
Prepositional phrase idiom：
Adverial phrase idiom：
b. Clause idioms(or subject-less clause patterns) 成语性从句
Verb+complement pattern：
Verb+direct object pattern：
Verb+direct object +com plement pattern：
Verb+indirect object +direct object pattern：
c.sentence idiom s
1)proverbs谚语
2)Typical conversational expressions
4.Syntactic ,structural and stylistic analysis of idiom
a)Syntactic function（句法功能）：The syntacti c function of a phrase idiom usually
corresponds with its central word/or com ponents,for example,a verb phrase idiom
always functions as a predicate in a sentence,an adjective phrase idiom usually
operates as a complement. e.g. the last straw, the salt of the earth usually appear as com plement.
b)Transformational restrictions: （成语在转换上的限制性）
Transformation is a m atter of structual change, and the change m ay be of various kinds.Transformation may involve simply a change word order in a setence, but only little idioms do so. e.g. The electricity went off. -- Off went the electricity.
understandable
c)Collocative restrictions（搭配上的限制）：Words which com bine with other words,or with
idioms,in particular grammatical constructions,are said to collocate with those words or idioms. e.g. phrase idiom all set are limited to be,feel,get,look,seem, as in ''She was all set to buy a new house.''
d)Structural variability可变性
Structural variability：Idioms are structurally fixed, an as a rule one is not supposed to change any element in an idiomatic expression. But som etimes make slight changes for rhetorical effect. e.g. A horse of the sam e colour -- Shakespeare （from '' a horse of another colour''
Stylistic features
课后练习，回家再做
1.What are the characteristics of English Idioms?
2.What is the source of English idiom?
3.What are verb phrase idioms? What are their peculiar feature?
4.What are the points that we m ust pay attention to in order to use idiomatic
expressions appropriately?

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