Chapter 10 English Idioms 習慣用語

An English idiom is a group of words with a special meaning different from the meanings 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.

1.          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, myths, legends etc.

2.          Classification of idioms

A.         Phrase idioms 慣用短語

All phrase idioms have a noun,verb,adjective,preposition or an adverb as the central word;they correspond to the familiar parts of speech, and capable of a given syntactic function in sentences.

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 synoynmous with loan words of Roman origin,e.g. work out（the salaries）can be respectively replaced by a single synoymous Roman loan word -- caculate. 2）Can form noun compounds. 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 my little sister.（more lively than exploded）

Noun phrase idiom：

Adjective phrase idiom：

Prepositional phrase idiom：

Adverial phrase idiom：

 

B.         Clause idioms 成語性從句

Verb+complement pattern：

 Verb+direct object pattern：

 Verb+direct object +complement pattern：

Verb+indirect object +direct object pattern：

 

3.          Syntactic ,structural and stylistic analysis of idiom

A.         Syntactic function（句法功能）：The syntactic function of a phrase idiom usually corresponds with its central word/or components,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 complement.

 

B.         Transformational restrictions: （成语在转换上的限制性）

Transformation is a matter of structual change,and the change may be of various kinds.Transformatiom my change word order in a setence, but only little idioms do so. e.g.  The electricity went off.  -- Off went the electricity.

 

C.         Collocative restrictions（搭配上的限制）：Words which combine 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

Structural variability：Idioms are structurally fixed,an as a rule one is not supposed to change any element in an idiomatic expression.But sometimes make slight changes for rhetorical effect.  e.g.   A horse of the same colour -- Shakespeare （from '' a horse of another colour''

Stylistic features

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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 must pay attention to in order to use idiomatic expressions appropriately?

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