The General Notion of a Word

In general, much of the vocabulary in speech may already be known to the listener but this does not mean that he is familiar with some combinations as multi-word verbs or the idiomatic use of that vocabulary.

To summarise, idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs of English are encountered by every listener who should decode their meanings hence they are crucial in any listening activity.

 Speaking

Concerning the place of idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs of English in speaking skill, we shall quote the following:

`…research into idioms shows that they have important roles in spoken language and in writing, in particular in conveying evaluations and in developing or maintaining interactions'.

(Sinclair et al 1998:iv)

  The lines below can be taken from Collins COBUILD dictionary of Phrasal Verbs to bear out the same status indicated above:

`Phrasal Verbs are an essential part of everyday communication and the mastery of them promote effective language use.'

Also let's quote Swan 1997:244

`Idioms are common in all kinds of English, formal and informal, spoken and written. However, informal spoken language is often very idiomatic'.

The same status is showed in McCarthy et al 1998, page vi:

`Idioms are a colourful and fascinating aspect of English. They are commonly used in all types of language, informal and formal, spoken and written'.

 Reading

When anyone reads a passage, one will be faced with many idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs. Knowledge of the meaning of these IEX and MWV will facilitate one's general comprehension of these texts. However, if one failed to grasp the meaning in these extended contexts, this will make the reading ineffective and sloword So IEX and MWV are very important in mastering reading skills.

Examples of reading materials which contain IEX and MWV are found in everyday language use. For instance, let us take up the announcement I came across at a University in which a Professor conveyed that he couldn't attend a lecture scheduled in a particular week and that he deferred it for 15 days. Some of his wordings were as follows: We will meet Tuesday Week i.e. 27-03-2001. Here, the IEX `Tuesday week' (meaning not the next Tuesday but the one after) is illustrative of an idiomatic expression in a reading material, among uncountable numbers of examples.

 Writing

It is often said that multi-word verbs tend to be rather `colloquial' or `informal' and more appropriate to `spoken' English than `written' and that it is even better to avoid them and choose single word equivalents or synonyms instead. Yet, the practice showed the converse - they are frequently used I formal registers: (governmental writings, etc). The following quotation from Goodale (1993) bears out the above view i.e. shows that they are used in writing:

  `…It is a common misconception that phrasal verbs are mostly used in spoken Language. They can be found in many styles of writing, including highly formal government reports'. (Goodale, 1993:iv)

  By the same token, idiomatic expressions are not confined only to spoken language but are pervasive in writing.

 Comprehension (understanding)

  Though comprehension is often associated with listening and reading (receptive skills), it could also be extended to combine with speaking and writing (productive skills) since one should understand what he is saying and/or writing.

  One of the most familiar difficulties, when encountering idiomatic expressions, is that of `meaning': to the learner, idioms such as fill the bill or spill the beans do not mean what they appear to mean. The sense of the whole cannot be arrived at from a prior understanding of the parts. In those examples, a special meaning is attached to the whole expression. In other others, one word may have a common, literal meaning, while the other has specialized sense which may be difficult to grasp e.g. foot the bill.

  The question of meaning is treated in different references. To begin with `Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs' one reads:

  `All teachers and students of English recognize the problems of `understanding' phrasal verbs and using them appropriately'.

 Also, one can quote the following general statement regarding meaning:

  `Verbal idioms are very useful commonly used in English, because various verbs can join with different particles and/or prepositions to form unique combination of meaning'.

(Feare 1980:39)

  In `the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms', the importance of idiomatic expressions in mastering comprehension skills is stated in the following lines:

  `Your language skills will increase rapidly if you can understand idioms and use them confidently and correctly. One of the main problems students have with idioms is that it is often impossible to guess the meaning of an idiom from the words it contains. In addition, idioms often have a stronger meaning than non-idiomatic phrases. For example, look daggers at some one has more emphasis than look angrily at someone, but they mean the same thing.'

  To conclude this section, one can state that idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs of English are not a separate part of the language, which one can choose either to use or to omit, but they form an essential part of the vocabulary of English. This fact is, however, supported the responses give by the lecturers of English in Sudan when filling up the questionnaire distributed to them: The questions in this respect are the following.

  Could I have your comments on the following statements:

  (Respondents have to express their views by choosing from the following scale (strongly disagree, disagree, …. Strongly agree)). The given statements are:

 a. The possibility of using the same word / language item with different particles or/and prepositions or words that have already established meaning to form/express new meaning make the processes of information retrieval, recalling the lexical items at will, etc., much easier (i.e. language economy and psycholinguistic processing).

 b. There is a frequent demand from those possessing the knowledge of EFL that they must have a command of idiomatic expressions inn real life situations.

  After attempting to get the teachers' opinions on the importance of IEX and MVW across language skills, statements regarding the importance of IEX & MWV and their status in language are shown to students through a questionnaire to which they are required to choose from a 5-points options scale (strongly disagree, disagree, not sure/don't know, agree, strongly agree). (for details regarding the students' questionnaire see chapter five). These statements are:

 a. Idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs are common in every language.

 b. Without command of IEX & MWV students cannot truly feel comfortable and confident in their efforts to master English thoroughly.

 c. Idiomatic expressions and multi-word verbs are not something special or substandard they are a vital part of the standard language and as such they can hardly be avoided.

  However, the answers of the teachers and the students confirmed the importance of these two vocabulary components in English language.

Conclusion

Word - the basic unit of language, directly corresponds to the object of thought (referent) - which is a generalized reverberation of a certain 'slice', 'piece' of objective reality - and by immediately referring to it names the thing meant. Every word has two aspects: the outer aspect (its sound form) and the inner aspect (its meaning)

The lexical meaning of the word groups is the combined lexical meaning of the component words. The meaning of the word groups is motivated by the meanings of the component members and is supported by the structural pattern. Word groups possess not only the lexical meaning, but also the meaning conveyed mainly by the pattern of arrangement of their constituents

There are three main types of motivation in word-groups:

1) phonetical

2) morphological

3) semantic

Phraseological units are habitually defined as non-motivated word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made units; the other essential feature of phraseological units is stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure.Grammatical structure of phraseological units is to a certain degree also stable

Taking into consideration mainly the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units may be classified into three big groups. According to V. V. Vinogradov's classification these groups are:

phraseological fusions (сращения), - completely non-motivated word-groups

phraseological unities (единства),- partially non-motivated word-groups

phraseological collocations (словосочетания), or habitual collocations - partially motivated but they are made up of words having special lexical valency which is marked by a certain degree of stability in such word-groups

So, phraseological units are included into the system of parts of speech.

We distinguish set-expressions that are nominal phrases, functioning like nouns, verbal phrases, functioning like verbs, adjectival phrases, functioning like adjectives, adverbial phrases, functioning like adverbs, prepositional and conjunctional phrases, interjectional phrases.

Besides phraseological units - word-equivalents, the language has set-phrases which are equivalents of sentences. They are proverbs, sayings, aphorisms,

e.g.:custom is the second nature - привычка вторая натура

Proverbs are reffered to phraseological units as they are usually metaphors and are coloured stylistically. Proverbs are set-phrases because they also are not created in the process of speech; they are part of the vocabulary which is created by folk

If you look up the word idiom in Webster, you will be given the following definition: Idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent element as kick the bucket, hang one's head etc., or from the general grammatical rules of language, as the table round for the round table, and which is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics. This definition seems a bit dry and doesn't really tell anything about the function of idioms in English language.

English is a language particularly rich in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. Without idioms English would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech an writing.

Sources of idioms:

1. from our everyday life

2. from the Bible

3. World literature

4. different languages

5. from history

Some idioms of the "worldwide English" have first been seen in the works of writers like Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll or even in the paperbacks of contemporary novelists. Sports terms, technical terms, legal terms, military slang and even nautical expressions have found their way to the everyday use of English language.

Bibliography

1. Bolinger, Dwight. The Phrasal Verb in English. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971.

2. Courtney, Rosemary. Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. New York: Longman, 1983.

3. Cowie, A.P., and R. Mackin. Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

4. Crystal, David. Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

5. Dee, James H. "Latin Prefixal Derivatives and English Phrasal Verbs: an Important Parallelism for Etymology Courses." The Classical Journal 86 (1991), 353-

6. Fowler, H. WORD The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. 3^rd ed. edited by R. WORD Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

7. Joos, Martin. The English Verb: Form and Meanings. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.

8. Kolln, Martha and Robert Funk. Understanding English Grammar. 5^th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.

9. McArthur, Tom, ed. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

10. Palmer, Frank Robert. The English Verb. London, New York: Longman, 1988.

11. The American Heritage Dictionary. 2nd college ed. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1985.

Jack-of-all-trades - мастер на все руки,

ways and means - способы, средства,

Baker's dosen - чертова дюжина,

a thorn in the flesh - бельмо на глазу,

skeleton in the cupboard - семейная тайна; \

verbal phrases, functioning like verbs:

to take the bull by the horn - действовать решительно,

to know the ropes - знать все ходы и выходы,

to flog a dead horse - попусту тратить время,

to put a finger into every pie - соваться во все дела,

to talk through one's hat - пороть чепуху;

adjectival phrases, functioning like adjectives:

spick and span - как с иголочки,

(as)cool as a cucumber - хладнокровный,

(as)poor as a church mouse - очень бедный,

(as) good as gold - золотой (о ребенке);

adverbial phrases, functioning like adverbs;

in a trice -- в мгновение ока,

at sixes and sevens -- в беспорядке,

before you can say «Jack Robinson» - мгновенно,

by hook or by crook - не мытьем, так катаньем; любыми средствами;

prepositional and conjunctional phrases:

as long as;

as well as;

in spite of;

as soon as;

interj ectional phrases:

well, I never! - кто бы мог подумать (ну и ну!),

by George! - (удивление, сожаление),

like hell! - черта с два,

my foot - держи карман шире,

my aunt! - боже мой! Здравствуйте, я ваша тетя!

my eye and Betty Martin! - вот так так!

tell that to the marines -- вздор! ври больше!

in deep waters - в беде,

in low waters (сесть на мель) - быть без денег,

to be at sea - быть в недоумении,

to see land (видеть сушу) - быть близко к цели,

to run into difficult waters - попасть в затруднительное положение;

fish and fishing:

to fish in troubled water - ловить рыбу в мутной воде,

to drink like a fish - пить запоем,

to feed the fishes -- утонуть; страдать морской болезнью;

sport:

to have the ball at one's feet - быть хозяином положения, иметь все преимущества в каком-либо деле,

to hit below the belt - применить запрещенный прием, не стесняться в выборе средств,

to back the wrong horse - поставить не на ту лошадь, сделать неправильный выбор,

the ball is with you! - слово за вами!

army:

to stick to one's guns - не сдавать позиций; твердо проводить свою линию,

to mask one's batteries - скрывать, маскировать свое враждебное настроение,

to mark time (маршировать на месте - воен.) - топтаться на месте, бездействовать;

hunting:

to turn tail - обратиться в бегство, пуститься наутек, дать стрекача;

(as) hungry as a wolf;

zoosemv (animal life):

crocodile tears; lion's share; white elephant;

it rains cats and dogs;

theatre:

to play to the gallery - искать дешевой популярности, разводить демагогию;

to pull the ropes - управлять;

medicine:

to sweeten the draught - подсластить лекарство;

technic:

to get up steam - развести пары, дать волю чувствам;

with full steam on - на всех парах, поспешно;

to grease the wheels - смазать колеса, дать взятку;

agriculture:

to sow one's wild oats - отдаваться увлечениям юности;

to put the plough before the oxen - начинать не с того конца;

to get somebody's goat - разозлить кого-либо;

historical events, customs:

by hook or by crook - у трактирщиков старой Англии было в обычае тащить к себе клиентов, хватая их крюками. Женщин - за платье острыми крючками, мужчин - за ногу большими крюками;

to win one's spurs - быть посвященным в рыцари; продвинуться (средневековый обычай - награждать шпорами при посвящении в рыцари); trade:

to talk shop - говорить по делу, to make the best of the bargain - получить доход, into the bargain - впридачу, best seller - ходкий товар; автор такой книги.

Proverbs

custom is the second nature - привычка вторая натура;

every man has a fool in his sleeve - на всякого мудреца довольно простоты;

too many cooks spoil the broth - у семи нянек дитя без глазу.

there is no smoke without fire - нет дыма без огня;

as the call, so the echo - как аукнется, так и откликнется;

strike iron while it is hot - куй железо, пока горячо;

don't look a gift horse into the mouth - дареному коню в зубы не смотрят.

Rome was not built in a day. - Москва не сразу строилась.

Life is not a bed of roses. - Жизнь прожить - не поле перейти.

Do in Rome as the Romans do. - С волками жить, по-волчьи выть.

В чужой монастырь со своим уставом не суйся.

As you make your bed so you must lie on it. - Сам заварил кашу, сам и расхлебывай.

As they sow, so let them reap. - Что посеешь, то и пожнешь

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