Photo is copyright Liz Bedore, featured on her Tumblr portfolio. (Image used with permission from the artist.) |
I am starting something new. I will try to post a new idiom every day. In the Idiom of the Day post, I will try to include:
- a definition
- images and context to explain the meaning better
- example sentences
- links to fun and useful websites related to the topic
What is an idiom?
An idiom is a phrase (more than one word together) with a figurative meaning. I usually explain to my students that if you translate each word in an idiom to another language, it won't make sense.
Most students know silly idioms like: It's raining cats and dogs! (This means: the weather is bad, and the rain is heavy.)
From Bingmanson's photostream on Flickr.com. |
If you translate each word from this idiom into another language, it won't make sense to a native speaker.
- In Spanish: Está lloviendo los gatos y perros!
- In French: Il pleut les chats et chiens!
There is probably an expression (or idiom) for "heavy rain" in your native language. If you translate each word into English, it probably won't make sense to an English speaker.
Why should I study idioms?
Idioms are frequently used, and difficult for students to learn on their own. Idioms are difficult to study, because most dictionaries don't have idioms. You can research each word, but the phrase together has one meaning.
How do teachers decide which idioms to teach?
This Idiom of the Day project is inspired by the research and articles of Liu Dilin and Lynn E. Grant. (See the bottom of this page for article citations and links to the articles online.)
I will be using the idioms in the list below. These idioms are the most frequently used idioms in
- Spoken American Academic (college and university) English
- Spoken American Professional English
- Spoken American Media (the news) English.
I want this to be useful for non-American students as well. We will begin with Grant's list. Grant compared the results of Dilin's study, with British usage. The first 66 words in the list represent idioms frequently used in American and British English.
These idioms are useful for students in academic (university) and professional settings.
Where are idioms used most?
You will most often hear idioms in conversation, or on the news. You will most often read idioms in literature.
Be an Idiom Scientist!
Scientists observe the world to understand it better.
A scientist researching fuels for NASA, from Great Images In NASA (public doman). |
The Idiom List
I will be adding more to this list. This first list includes idioms commonly used by both American and British speakers. This list was compiled by Lynn E. Grant (more info at the bottom). I will not be going in order. I will add links to the posts as I go.
- make sure
- come to mind
- in other words
- in the eyes of / in somebody’s eyes
- make sense
- have / keep in mind
- keep, bear in mind
- ballpark (figure, estimate, etc)
- on the other hand
- keep an/one’s eye on
- back and forth
- draw the line
- make a difference
- be over one’s head
- have / play a part / role in
- get / have a handle
- all of a sudden
- in good / bad shape
- be open to ideas
- make fun of
- take steps
- in line with
- more or less
- (a) level playing field
- be / keep in touch with
- call something into question
- bottom line
- come out of the closet
- the big picture
- full-fledged / fully fledged
- come into play
- get a handle on
- down the line
- goes to show
- flip a coin, flip side of a/the same coin / toss a coin
- on the same page
- on (the right) track
- ring a bell
- knee-jerk
- split hairs
- hand in hand
- take (make/have) a stab at it
- right (straight) off the bat
- take my/someone’s word for it
- chicken-and-egg (question)
- draw a/the line between
- get a grasp of
- on target
- get to the bottom of things
- thumbs up
- go off on a tangent
- fall in love
- hand-waving
- out the door
- in a nutshell
- rule(s) of thumb
- ivory tower
- take (something) at face value
- litmus test
- beat to death
- play devil’s advocate
- put the heat on
- shift gears
- a ballpark (idea / guess)
- thinking on my feet
Research Sources
1) The Most Frequently Used Spoken American English Idioms: A Corpus Analysis and Its Implications, by DILIN LIU; Oklahoma City University; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Published in TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 671-700
2) In a Manner of Speaking: Assessing Frequent Spoken Figurative Idioms to Assist ESL/EFL Teachers, by Lynn E. Grant; published in System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, v35 n2 p169-181 Jun 2007, a peer reviewed publication.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading. Tell us what you think! Please write your name after your comment, so the author of the post knows who to reply to. You don't need to use your full name: first name only is fine.
-Eric, NYC