New Handbook of Common English Idioms

Author: Dixon
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book does not discuss the origins of idioms to reduce the burden on students. The editors believe that an idiom is a phrase whose meaning differs from the meanings of each individual word in the phrase, and there is no need to define its exact nature. For this reason, idioms are often difficult to translate from one language to another without changing certain meanings and usages. According to the principles of this book, verb phrases consisting of two words are classified as idioms. They refer to verbs that change meaning when a particle (such as a preposition added to a verb to form an idiom) is added. For example, "to look" can become "to look up" or "to look over," with different meanings. If a noun or pronoun can be inserted into an idiom, the symbol (S) is used in the definition to indicate "separable" (separable), and both separable and inseparable forms of examples are provided in the text. Experienced ESL and EFL teachers will agree with the idioms selected in this book. However, we must also recognize that due to the wide range of choices, any selection will have a certain degree of arbitrariness. Some teachers may prefer to omit certain idioms from this book and include others not listed, but everyone will appreciate the effort made to make the New Handbook of Common English Idioms as representative as possible. The fourth revised edition of this New Handbook of Common English Idioms has several important changes. The arrangement of the text has been restored to the original three parts: Beginner (Lessons 1-13), Intermediate (Lessons 14-27), and Advanced (Lessons 28-39). Of course, new idioms have been added, and outdated ones have been removed. Each part of the text reviews previously introduced idioms. In some cases, annotations are provided after the definitions to explain special usages or list related idiom forms. The exercises are varied, and each part has different types. The back of the book provides answers to all multiple-choice, matching, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions.