英语词汇学_Unit_12_English_Idioms教学内容.pptVIP

英语词汇学_Unit_12_English_Idioms;;What is an idiom?;In a broad sense, idioms may include colloquialisms, catchphrases, slang expressions, proverbs, etc. They form an important part of the English vocabulary. This chapter will deal with idioms in terms of their characteristics, classification and uses. ;Overview;Origin of English Idioms;Idioms from literary works;Idioms from the Bible;Idioms from Mythology;Idioms from fables;Idioms from historical events;Idioms from animal metaphor;Idioms from daily life (navigation, agriculture, etc.);Characteristics of idiomsSemantic unity;The semantic unity of idioms is also reflected in the illogical relationship between the literal meaning of each word and the meaning of the idiom. Many idioms are semantically inexplicable. For example, How do you do. Literally it means ‘ In what way do you do things’, which is far from its idiomatic usage. Similarly, rain cats and dogs which is used in the sense of ‘rain heavily’ literally makes nonsense. ;Structural stability;First, the constituents of idioms cannot be replaced. Take in a brown study for example. Used as a free phrase, we can say in a brown (red, green, white, etc.) study or in a brown study (room, den, hall, studio, cell, etc.). However, as an idiom to mean ‘deep in thought’, the structure is fixed. Secondly, the word order cannot be inverted or changed. For example, by twos and threes and tit for tat are not to be turned into by threes and twos and tat for tit. Similarly, the lion’s share is not to be replaced by the share of the lion though it is a common practice in free phrases. ;Thirdly, the constituents of an idiom cannot be deleted or added to, not even an article. For instance, out of the question means ‘impossible’. If the article the is deleted, the idiomaticity will be lost and it will signify ‘no question’ instead. In question (being considered) on the other hand does not allow the addition of the as *in the question, because the latter is no longer an idiom. ;Fin