英语词汇学考查试卷上课讲义

英语词汇学考查试卷

河北工程大学2014-2015学年第一学期期末英语词汇学考查试卷

I. Research project:

Choose one the following topics as your research task, or someone else if you prefer, and present your research process and result here. The volume of your paper should be in about 1,500 Chinese characters or 1,000 English words. Please print on both sides when needed.

1. Comparison of inflection and derivation.

2. Commonization of proper names.

3. Summary of sense relations.

4. Research on functions of context.

5. Metaphor in cognition.

The difference between idioms and phrases

Introduction: Each language has its own idioms and proverbs in the world. Idiom and proverb is a form of language to express emotions and feelings in their daily lives. As a short exact sentence or phrase from creating of social practice, they are gradually the most concise and vivid part of language.

An idiom is either a style of speaking and writing (and it can be applied to the arts, as well) that is particular, distinctive, or notable, or it is a phrase (often called an idiomatic phrase, too) that cannot be understood from its individual words. These phrases only make sense when the words are put together a certain way, or they are used in certain situations. Examples: "kick the bucket" means to die; "raining cats and dogs"means raining heavily

A proverb is usually a statement that conveys some piece of wisdom or widely accepted truth. It is a memorable or famous sentence that people use to remember the piece of information. It is defined as a short pithy saying in common use and recognized; a concise sentence, often metaphorical or alliterative in form, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar to all. Example: Never too old to learn, never too late to turn.

Different features:

(1)Proverbs are mainly oral, while idioms are mainly written.

(2) The structure of proverbs are harder to become set than those of idioms.

(3) The majority of proverbs is independent sentences or become independent of sentences,

while idioms are used as words in practical speech. A proverb is a saying (a sentence or small number of sentences) which express some common truth. They often employ some sort of image to make the point. "Don't cry over spilled milk", it means that it is no use complaining or feeling bad about something that has already happened and that we can't do anything about. An idiom is a phrase (not necessarily a sentence) whose meaning cannot be determined from the individual words. It does not necessarily express some truth