Sunday, November 25, 2007

What is an Idiom?

Maybe you often come across idioms when you are speaking English or when you are reading articles and stories. There are a large number of idioms in English. Actually, what is an idiom?
  • According to Wikipedia, an idiom is an expression (i.e., term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.
  • According to Kang Guru Radio English, an idiom can be defined as a number of words which, when taken together, have a different meaning from the individual meanings of each word.
  • According to Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, an idiom is a fixed expression with nonliteral meaning: a fixed distinctive expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the combined meanings of its actual words.
Learning idioms will help you much in learning English. If you want to know more about English idioms, don't miss the next posts!

No comments: