Search results for 'tag:Images tag:Idioms' matching tags 'Images' and 'Idioms'

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:54 GMT

They won't smoke ever since they saw a film on lung cancer.

What does "won't" mean here?

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:49 GMT

http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?t=22113&highlight=

Re: Heath Robinson

Clive — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:57:51 GMT

Hi Khoff,

As an idiom, I think this is not in use any more. It sounds very old-fashioned.

Check this link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/robinson_william_heath.shtml

Here's a brief extract from it.

Best wishes, Clive.

William Heath Robinson (1872 - 1944)

28th December 1929: Artist and cartoonist William Heath Robinson Â©

Robinson was an English cartoonist and illustrator, best-known for the complicated and outlandish inventions he portrayed.

be it

Teleostomi — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:32:14 GMT

You do as you like! But on your own head be it if we have trouble from this scorpion, Wolff! I disclaim all responsibility!

This quotation is from Tintin.

What on earth does "be it" here mean? Is it an idiom or a present subjunctive?

Self-Evaluation Essay

Super Sonic — Sat, 19 May 2007 22:54:48 GMT

Hi,

I had my final exam from the writing course as a home take-in, but the type of the essay sounded a little bit weird to me. Here is what my lecturer gave as information:

Writing FINAL

Write an evaluation essay on the following topic

The Self-Evaluation essay is a reflective essay assessing and describing your learning experiences. Write a self evaluation essay considering the guidelines below.
The following are guidelines for your Self-Evaluation Essay:

Include each of your learning objectives,
Describe how the learning objectives were accomplished and the steps used to complete objectives,
For objectives you did not meet, state why not. What did you learn from the failure to meet objectives? (Is this even proper English? )
What else did you learn that was not in your initial objective? Specific examples should be cited. The student should review the learning objectives set at the beginning of the term and assess what growth he or she has achieved during the term."

And here is what I have written (Could you please proofread it considering the notes above?):

This Is Only the Beginning

This is my first year in the Linguistics department of Hacettepe University. I can easily say that this university is not quite what I expected it to be. I was hoping to improve myself in many fields, but this did not happen in the first year, since I had to deal with my courses more than anything else. However, my English dramatically improved thanks to the courses. I would like to evaluate this year in terms of how I improved my English skills (speaking, writing, reading and listening), while doing nothing about the other fields I was interested in (arts and sports).

First of all, I have been able to improve my expressive English skills thanks to a native speakerâs being our lecturer, and having courses on how to express ourselves better in English. Margaret was the lecturer of our writing course. I learned many new words, idioms, grammar structures and expressions in her classes, which would have me state my thoughts in a more comprehensible way in written language. Also, both in our writing and reading classes we had discussions about various controversial subjects that helped me improve my speaking skills. We were having phonetics at the same time, and as a student trying to attend all the classes, I improved my pronunciation. So, I can say that I am grateful for my department to help me meet my objectives in expressing myself both in spoken and written language.

Secondly, my receptive skills have also improved with the help of the courses like reading, literature, and listening comprehension. Even though I did not have much difficulty in reading and understanding course books, articles, reading passages and the like, I was rather poor at literal texts, or in other words, the figurative use of English language. By the help of our literature classes, I got over this problem, and now I can mostly understand what Shakespeare or Hemingway says. My listening skills, likewise, improved remarkably after having taken the listening comprehension courses. I was unable to differentiate between the words that resemble each other like âmateâ and âmadeâ before I took those courses. I can say that listening to someone speaking English has become one of the easiest tasks ever with the help of my lecturers.

Thirdly, even though there has been a big improvement in my English skills, I have not been able to deal with arts or sports, both of which are my main interests. I was hoping to have art lessons such as painting and music. However, all the courses are academic ones. Another deficit of my department âor of the university in general- is that there are not many sports activities going on. Because of these reasons, I felt rather âantisocialâ in my first year in the university. As a result, not having done anything in these two areas is the only objective that I missed this year, but I am thinking of taking piano and karate courses next year from another university. If only my university gave more importance to these two areas!

Consequently, although I was not very content with the overall situation of the university this year, I must admit that my English skills have improved drastically within this year. I, however, still feel sad about not being able to take any courses from my areas of interest. Who knows, maybe this was only the beginning. Maybe, I am going to like this university better. Only time will show!

Thanks in advance

Re: Is/Will

Ouc — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:02:07 GMT

One answer from: http://www.answers.com/topic/as-long-as

Dictionary Directory > Words > Dictionary

as long as
conj.

During the time that: I'll stay as long as you need me.
Since: As long as you've offered, I accept.
On the condition that: I will cooperate as long as I am notified on time.

if (document.getElementById('nistar'))document.getElementById('nistar').disabled=true;

Idioms

Directory > Words > Idioms

as long as

1. For the period of time that, as in You may keep the book as long as you want, that is, keep it for whatever time you wish to. [Early 1400s]
2. Also, so long as. Since, because, as in Please pick up some milk as long as you are going to the store, or So long as you're here, you might as well stay for dinner.
3. Also, so long as; just so. Provided that, as in As long as you don't expect it by tomorrow, I'll make the drawing, or So long as sales are greater than returns, the company will make a profit, or You may have another cookie, just so you don't take the last one. [Early 1800s]

Another explanation from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv294.shtml

as long as: expressing time

The as ... as construction is used when we are making comparisons and comparing ideas of similar magnitude or duration

There was extra time, so the football match lasted as long as the concert.
He worked for as long as he wanted to on the project.
"Take as long as you like," they said. "There's no hurry!"
As long as I live, I shall smoke no more cigarettes.

as long as: expressing condition

Note that as long as is also used in conditional sentences as an alternative to provided, meaning if and only if. So long as is also possible in this context:

I don't mind. You can leave early, as long as you finish the work.
I don't mind. You can go home early, so long as you finish the work.
I don't mind. You can leave after lunch, provided you finish all the work.

Re: trouble with prasal verbs

Lamxung — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:22:38 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
hi, i'm from vietnam

there are lots of prasal verbs , and each phrasal verb has lots of meaning

i don't know how to remember all of them

can you please give me some tips?

thanks a lot

Ah, in my opinion, when u record phrasal verbs, you should place them in certain context, such as:
It suddenly dawned on me that i was late.
Another way is organizing Phrasal verbs (by particle, meaning group, opposites, different meaning and patterns for the same verbs, or three-word verbs, etc.)
Ex:
organizing by meaning groups:
Feelings: to get carried away, to open up, to fall out, to fall for,etc.
Travel: to take off, to set off, to check in, to touch down, to stop over, to pull up, to draw up, etc.
Crime: to get away with, to break into, to take into, to track down, etc.
And u must:
+ do exercises on phrasal verbs regularly.
+ Try to learn all the verbs, then in your head or in writing, make up a story using as many of the verbs as possible. These stories will help u to remember the context for the verbs. Try this with a friend. Tell each other stories and correct each other if necessary

BTW, u can refer to some materials on phrasal verbs given below:

==============================
Tips on learning phrasal verbs:
http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/teachersclub/learning_phrasalverbs.pdf?cc=vn
===========================

Timesaver Phrasal Verbs and Idoms

Timesaver Phrasal Verbs and Idoms (Timesaver)
Author: Peter Dainty
Publisher: Mary Glasgow Magazines
Publication Date: 2002-11
Number Of Pages: 80
Download:

Code:

http://rapidshare.de/files/22947601/EnglishTimesaver.rar.html

==============
A Good Turn of Phrase (Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Phrases)

A Good Turn of Phrase (Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Phrases)

Product Details
Paperback: 98 pages
Publisher: Hueber (1 Jan 2005)
Language: English
ISBN: 3198229022

Reviews
A Good Turn of Phrase is a 2-part series of full-color books that offer comprehensive presentation and extensive practice of commonly used idioms, phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases at an advanced level. The books are suitable for use in the classroom or for self-study. Book 2 ( Advanced Practice in Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Phrases) contains 16 units each presenting and practising English phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases in current use. These are presented in context through dialogues, articles, letters, cartoon strips and extracts, and are then tested in such activities as "key-word" transformation, multiple choice, gap filling and word matching. Unit 16 contains supplementary exercises for further practice. A glossary listing all the key expressions featured is included at the back of the book.

Download

Code:

http://d.turboupload.com/d/712884/Good.Turn.of.Phrase.rar.html

Re: " You don't say."???

Mister Micawber — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:49:34 GMT

I don't know the story behind the idiom. Dictionary.com says it's from the late 19th century and a shortening of you don't say so:

You don't say: How surprising, is that true? Also, I find that hard to believe. For example, I've been working on this project for two years.You don't say, or The man who runs this soup kitchen is a real saint.You don't say! This expression, a shortening of you don't say so, may be used straightforwardly or ironically. [Late 1800s]

Re: Elephant in the room

Mister Micawber — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:48:45 GMT

One possibility (from a crisis intervention resource manual:

The Elephant in the Room
by Terry Kettering

There's an elephant in the room.

It is large and squatting, so it is hard to get around it.

Yet we squeeze by with, "How are you?" and "I'm fine," and a thousand other

forms of trivial chatter. We talk about the weather. We talk about work.

We talk about everything else, except the elephant in the room.

= A commanding presence which is either ignored or unnoticed.

And here is Wikipedia's explanation:

The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, 'elephant on the dinner table' etc) is an English idiom for a question that very obviously stands, but for the convenience of one or other party is ignored. It derives its symbolic meaning from the fact that an elephant would indeed be conspicuous and remarkable in a small room; thus the idiom also implies a value judgment that the issue should be discussed openly. The idiom is commonly used in addiction recovery terminology to describe the reluctance of friends and family of an addicted person to discuss the person's problem, thus aiding the person in their denial.

The idiom is also occasionally invoked as "pink elephant in the corner," possibly in reference to alcohol abuse, or for no other reason than a pink elephant is more visible than a normal elephant.

Alan Clarke's 1989 short television film 'Elephant' was a reference to this phrase; the elephant in this case was the troubles in Northern Ireland. In an attempt to illustrate the core of the problem, Clarke's film stripped away all dialogue and plot, and was essentially a series of unrelated, motiveless shootings.[1]

Gus Van Sant's 2003 film Elephant, which is named after the Clarke film, places the idiom in the context of a Columbine-style high school shooting - although this was apparently inadvertent, as Van Sant apparently believed Clarke was referring to the story of three blind men investigating an elephant, each perceiving a different object. [2]

Re: Under A Cloud

Dj Bueno — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 14:18:33 GMT

under a cloud

- depressed, sad

She has been under a cloud of depression since her cat died.

under a cloud (of suspicion)

- not trusted, suspected of doing something wrong

The politician has been under a cloud of suspicion over the possibility of taking bribes.

MEANING:

If someone is suspected of having done something wrong, they are under a cloud.

ORIGIN:

International English

After he caused the accident, Peter was under a cloud for several weeks.

With the help of your explanations and Mr. Google's helpful results I think I've learnt the usage clearly By the way as I was searching,sth came back to me; Generally cloud is regarded as the symbol of "sorrow,dolefulness",it reminds people of gloom, am I right? That's why people use it when they wanna express that they're feelin miserable,unhappy.And at times cloud can be considered as the symbol of "mystery" due to it's color maybe (at times black,isn't it?) So that's why poeple use it to express that they're suspicious about sth..So there are 2 usages of that idiom.I think I've really got it now! Thanks Mr.Mic.,Gratzie and TeÅekkÃ¼rler ( in turkish it means "thanks")

Take care..

Bueno