On the Characteristics of English Idioms (英语论文).doc

On the Characteristics of English Idioms Abstract English idioms is the essence of English and is the crystallization of the language, English idioms are generally consists of several words which component fixed phrase or a sentence, so understand and master the characteristics of English idioms for people who learning English are particularly important. Idiom is the language users who have long used word combination and phrase which concise form and meaning of penetrating and which contain the most abundant of culture, including saying, idioms, motto, proverbs, and slang, two-part allegorical sayings, and so on. English idioms features include the nationality of idioms, figurative, integrity, concordance, and so on. Key Words: English idioms; history; characteristic I. The Definition of English idioms Language is the carrier of culture, idioms is essence of language. The word idiom has a lot of meanings, in generation situation refer to which commonly used together and has a specific form of the phrase. The meanings which those idioms contain that human could not guess what do they mean, if human want to surmise their meanings through the single word. The English idioms include very rich culture implication which has distinct national characteristics. Idioms contain many sections, such as proverbs, slangs, sayings, phrases, finalizes, statements and so on. English idioms is a special language phenomenon, it is English language of national essence. British linguists Jennifer Seidl said: “idioms are not separate part of the language which one can choose to either to use or to omit, but they form an essential part of the general vocabulary of English.” “English is very rich in idiomatic expressions. In fact it is difficult to speak or to write English without using idioms.”(Jennifer Seidl, p.14) II. The History of English idioms From sailing: Britain is an island country, the British people living in coastal from generation to generation, they long engaged in act