Business English Idioms Handbook

Author: (American) Goddard (Goddard, C.) wrote, Chen Xiangyang, Chen Pin compiled
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2000-08-01
Features: The intention of this book is to provide English learners with useful, international, and unambiguous idioms, reducing their learning burden. The writing and selection of idioms in this book have the following features: 1. The language of each English-speaking country has different usages in different situations and for different purposes, such as spoken language, written language, slang, informal, neutral, and formal language, as well as professional and technical language. One of the problems faced by learners of English as a second language or a foreign language is how to avoid inappropriate language use, such as describing scientific processes in poetic language or using slang at important meetings. The main feature of this book is also: the idioms it provides can be used in any situation, with a few exceptions marked as "informal usage." 2. The second feature of this book is that all the idioms included can be used anywhere English is spoken, whether as a mother tongue, second language, or foreign language. For this reason, they are not limited to any specific area of life in English-speaking countries (although a few sports idioms are included because sports are international). In other words, these idioms are not British English, American English, or the English of any other English-speaking country. Despite their specific origins, these idioms are widely used around the world. 3. The purpose of language is to communicate information and ideas clearly. This book mainly selects idioms that do not cause confusion or misunderstanding (some verb phrases often cause confusion due to their multiple usages). Therefore, some very familiar idioms are not included. In particular, the verb phrase idioms in this book are limited to single meanings or common meanings (in the latter case, any second usage is clearly marked). 4. For native English speakers, using idioms is natural and fluent, but for those whose native language is not English, quickly finding the appropriate words can be a problem. Therefore, the idioms included in this book are arranged in units with functional titles. These functional titles are given in the form of content, with a list of idioms below each title. These titles can help you find the desired idiomatic meaning area. When you want to look up an idiom in the main text or listening materials, you can refer to the index at the back of the book. This book is mainly intended for people whose native language is not English but who use English as an international language and have at least reached an intermediate level, especially business professionals.