Idioms and Expressions

✍ Scribed by Holmes D.

• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 524
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Ebook, 524 pages.

A method for learning and remembering idioms and expressions.

David Holmes wrote this model as a teaching device during the time I was working in Bangkok, Thailand, as a legal editor and language consultant, with one of the Big Four Legal and Tax companies, KPMG (during my afternoon job) after teaching at the university.

When I had no legal documents to edit and no individual advising to do (which was quite frequently) I would sit at my desk, (like some old character out of a Charles Dickens' novel) and prepare language materials to be used for helping professionals who had learned English as a second language — for even up to fifteen years in school—but who were still unable to follow a movie in English, understand the World News on TV, or converse in a colloquial style, because they'd never had a chance to hear and learn common, everyday expressions such as, It's a done deal! or Drop whatever you're doing.

Because misunderstandings of such idioms and expressions frequently caused miscommunication between our management teams and foreign clients, I was asked to try to assist. I am happy to be able to share the materials that follow, such as they are, in the hope that they may be of some use and benefit to others.

The simple teaching device I used was three-fold:
1. Make a note of an idiom/expression
2. Define and explain it in understandable words (including synonyms.)
3. Give at least three sample sentences to illustrate how the expression is used in context.

For instance,
Idiom: It's a done deal.
Definition: We agree. Everything has been decided. We're ready to sign the contract.

Examples:
1. The bank has confirmed the loan agreement, so It's a done deal.
2. The court has approved the restructuring plan, so it's a done deal.
3. The Senior Partner has signed my promotion papers, so it's a done deal.

If a student came to me with an idiom he wanted explained, like a rotten egg or a little stinker, we would follow the above formula, and we would work it through together, discussing and explaining the words and situations as we went along, to the point where we could finally get the student using the expression in sample sentences referring to life situations of his own.

✦ Subjects

Языки и языкознание;Английский язык;Лексикология и стилистика / Lexicology and Stylistics;Фразеология английского языка / English Phraseology