Preferred Language
Articles
/
jcoeduw-918
A Study of the Problems of Learning and Translating Idioms
...Show More Authors

Idioms are a very important part of the English language: you are told that if you want to go far (succeed) you should pull your socks up (make a serious effort to improve your behaviour, the quality of your work, etc.) and use your grey matter (brain).1 Learning and translating idioms have always been very difficult for foreign language learners. The present paper explores some of the reasons why English idiomatic expressions are difficult to learn and translate. It is not the aim of this paper to attempt a comprehensive survey of the vast amount of material that has appeared on idioms in Adams and Kuder (1984), Alexander (1984), Dixon (1983), Kirkpatrick (2001), Langlotz (2006), McCarthy and O'Dell (2002), and Wray (2002), among others. The paper concentrates on idioms as a learning-translation problem; it makes no claim to be comprehensive or academically rigorous. Leech (1989) defines an idiom as follows: “An idiom is a group of two or more words which we have to treat as a unit in learning a language. We cannot arrive at the meaning of the idiom just by adding together the meanings of the words inside it. E.g.John and Mary usedto be hardup (='They had very little money'.)”(P.186) To be more exact, an idiom is a sequence of words which is semantically and syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit. From a semantic point of view, the meanings of the individual words cannot be summed to produce the meanings of the idiomatic expression as a whole. Thus, fly off the handle, which means lose one's temper, cannot be understood in terms of the meanings of fly, off, or handle. The idiom phrase hot air, which means empty or boastful talk, is neither hot nor air; with hot air we are dealing with a set phrase where the meaning cannot be suggested on the basis of the two constituent words. The idiomatic meaning of spill the beans in So who spilt the beans (=told the secret) about her affair with David? has nothing to do with beans or with spilling in its literal sense. The foreign-language learner is left trying to figure out where and how the beans were spilt. From a syntactic viewpoint, the constituent parts of an idiom often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts. The point to be emphasized here is this: most idioms do not lend themselves easily to manipulation by speakers and writers; they are invariable and must be learned as wholes, but concord ofnumber, person and gender in the idiom phrase is still necessary, i.e. the verbs must be put into the correct form, and pronouns must agree with their antecedents: I don't give a hoot for her opinion! 2 • She doesn't give a hoot for my opinion! etc.)║He won, but only by the skin of his teeth2• She won, but only by the skin of her teeth• Iwon, but only by the skin ofmy teeth,I had to run for the train, and caught it by the skin of myteeth, etc.║He kept pullingmy arm, throwing me off my balance 2 • She kept pulling his arm, throwing him off his balance • We kept pullingher arm, throwingher offher balance, etc.2 The present paper is divided into five parts, as follows: Part I: An Overview; PART II: Learner’s Difficulties with Idioms; PART III: Some Pedagogical recommendations and Suggestions about Idioms; Part IV: Activities to Practice Idiomatic Expressions; Part V: Summary and Conclusion.

View Publication Preview PDF
Quick Preview PDF
Publication Date
Sun Feb 22 2026
Journal Name
Clinical Drug Investigation
A Field-Based Cost-Effectiveness Study of Aflibercept and Bevacizumab in Treat-and-Extend Versus Pro Re Nata Protocols for Diabetic Macular Edema in Iraq
...Show More Authors

View Publication
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Thu Jul 24 2025
Journal Name
Desalination And Water Treatment
Removal of lead, cadmium, and copper from wastewater using Cinnamon bark waste to introduce it as a value-added product: Removal, kinetics and thermodynamics study
...Show More Authors

View Publication
Scopus (2)
Crossref (2)
Scopus Clarivate Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Jul 10 2020
Journal Name
Int. J. Agricult. Stat. Sci
STUDY EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE PROPERTIES OF SOME PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR AGRICULTURAL TRACTOR AND SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH YIELD
...Show More Authors

A field experiment was conducted in an agricultural field in Al-Hindia district, Karbala governorate in a silty clay soil during the year 2020. The research included a study of two factors, the first is the depth of plowing at two levels, namely 13 and 20 cm, which represented the main blocks. The second is the tire inflation pressure at two levels, namely (70 and 140 kPa), which represented the secondary blocks. Slippage percentage, field efficiency, leaf area, and 300 grain weight were studied. The experiment was carried out using a split-plot system under a Randomized complete block design, at three replications. The tillage depth of 13 cm exceeds/transcend by giving it the least slippage of (11.01%), the highest field efficiency of (50.

... Show More
Publication Date
Fri Jan 01 2021
Journal Name
University Of Southern Queensland
An Investigation of Leadership Style and the Strategic Planning Process of Public and Private Colleges in Iraq: An Empirical Study
...Show More Authors

Globalisation and rapid environmental change have created many challenges for public and private organisations across Iraq as a developing country, particularly in the higher education sector. This includes, for example, decreases in government funding; increased demand for higher education; a need for economic transformation, and related competitiveness of organizations. Such challenges require exceptional leaders and strategic planning in order to take action to improve. In Iraq, the higher education sector is still one of the main foundations in progressing the knowledge economy. Studies into leadership style, strategic planning processes, and the importance of leadership and organisational culture to an organisation’s success have bee

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Tue May 01 2018
Journal Name
Journal Of Physics: Conference Series
The study of Bacteriocin of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Citrus limon effects against Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis in acne patients
...Show More Authors

Research was carried out antibacterial of (Citrus limon) juice on Acnevulgaris. Samples were obtained from individuals having (Pimples) by swabbing their faces. Substances natural from plants are promising to treat disease cause Acnevulgaris, the study in vitro biological activity of the juice, as well as bacterocin cultivated and fruits was investigated on two strain bacteria (Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis). The new antimicrobial (bacteriocin and Citrus juice) is ongoing search. This study used s juice at different concentrations at (20%, 30%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%). The Bacteriocin produced from local P. fluorescens isolates from wound infection and majority of isolates were found to produce crude Bacteriocin were (

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (12)
Crossref (7)
Scopus Clarivate Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Dec 27 2024
Journal Name
Epitheorese Klinikes Farmakologias Kai Farmakokinetikes – Greek Edition
Response surface optimization and in vitro study of nasal solusomes nanovesicles for the bioavailability improvement and brain targetting of sumatriptan
...Show More Authors

Background: One effective second-generation triptan for migraine attacks is sumatriptan. Following oral use, it has a 40% restricted bioavailability because of the first-pass metabolism. Aim: To develop the best intranasal Solusomes formula as a substitute that delivers into the brain directly, improving its bioavailability, and removing the first-pass outcome was the aim of this effort. Methodology: We developed solute formulations based on the Box-Behnken design and subsequently produced them via thin-film hydration. The quality by design technique was used to establish a correlation between the formulation parameters (Soluplus® and phosphatidylcholine (PC) concentrations) and signif¬icant quality powers (entrapment efficiency (

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (2)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Mon Nov 05 2018
Journal Name
Iraqi National Journal Of Nursing Specialties
Bacteriological and Chemical Study on the Effect of Lead in Blood and Saliva of Workers at Batteries Industry in Baghdad
...Show More Authors

Objectives: The study aims at:
1- Measuring the level of lead in workers’ saliva and blood in the factory.
2- Studying the correlation between the saliva lead level and the infection that caused by microorganisms, isolation and
identification.
3-Studying the influence of high blood lead level on the total white blood cells.
Methodology: This study has been conducted for the period from March 15th, 2010 to May, 20th
, 2010. A total of (60)
saliva and blood samples were collected from workers in batteries industry factory in Baghdad and another (20) samples
were collected as a control group. Lead level had been measured in blood and saliva samples, then microorganisms were
isolated the from the saliva samples.

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Tue Nov 24 2015
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Market Research And Consumer Protection
The Impact of External Environment Factors on the Quality of Educational Services (An Empirical Study): The Impact of External Environment Factors on the Quality of Educational Services (An Empirical Study)
...Show More Authors

This research aims to identify the role of external environment factors on the quality of educational services, from the academic point of view, where the distribution of a questionnaire to a random sample of (100) university professors, and then analyzing a model, and test the validity of this model using structural modeling (SEM) (Structural Equation Modeling).
And then test the relationships between variables using the software of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V.18), the research found a number of conclusions, the most important conclusion is: the external environment factors has significant impact on the quality of educational services.

View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Fri Dec 31 2021
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Market Research And Consumer Protection
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF VORTEX GENERATOR ON THE FLAT-PLATE BOUNDARY LAYER: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF VORTEX GENERATOR ON THE FLAT-PLATE BOUNDARY LAYER
...Show More Authors

This paper is dealing with an experimental study to show the influence of the geometric characteristics of the vortex generators VG son the thickness of the boundary layer (∂) and drag coefficients (CD) of the flat plate. Vortex generators work effectively on medium and high angles of attack, since they are "hidden" under the boundary layer and practically ineffective at low angles.

            The height of VGs relative to the thickness of the boundary layer enables us to study the efficacy of VGs in delaying boundary layer separation. The distance between two VGs also has an effect on the boundary layer if we take into

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Fri Jun 07 2024
Journal Name
Medicine
Impact of TYMS gene polymorphism on the outcome of methotrexate treatment in a sample of Iraqi rheumatoid arthritis patients – identification of novel single nucleotide polymorphism: Cross-sectional study
...Show More Authors

The current work aims to evaluate the association between genetic mutations in thymidylate synthetase (TYMS gene in exon1 and partial regions of promotor and intron 1 [877 bp, 657,220–658,096 bp]) and the therapeutic outcomes for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) Iraqi patients. An observational cross-sectional study involving 95 RA patients with established RA patients based on their methotrexate treatment responsiveness. Genetic sequencing of the TYMS gene was performed for all patients according to the instruction manuals of the sequencing company (Macrogen Inc. Geumchen, South Korea). Four polymorphisms were identified by sequencing 95 randomly selected patients in the noncoding region of TYMS

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (1)
Scopus Clarivate Crossref