MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

IDIOMS RELATING TO “LOVE” IN ENGLISH
AND VIETNAMESE
(Thành ngữ về tình yêu trong tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt)

BUI THI LE LAN

Field: English Language
Code: 8.22.02.01

Hanoi 2020


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled “IDIOMS RELATING TO “LOVE” IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other
person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2020

Bui Thi Le Lan

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Dr. Le Thi Minh Thao

Date: 20/11/2020

I


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This document contains our master thesis in English language at Hanoi Open
University. It describes the results of my research on the potential of crowd sourcing
applications in organizational the content. The last few months have proven to be
challenging months, both personally and organizationally. It is meaningful for me to
finishing this research project. This thesis could not been completed without the
help of many people.
I would like to express by thanking to my supervisors from Hanoi Open
University, Dr. Le Thi Minh Thao. Thank for her whole-hearted guidance and
precious instruction for this graduation paper from the beginning to the completion.
Without her assistance, encouragement and valuable adjustment, this study could
not be fulfilled.
Secondly, my heartfelt acknowledgement also belongs to all of my lecturers
and teachers at Faculty of English of Hanoi Open University for helping, assisting
and advising during my research. Assoc. Prof. Hoang Tuyet Minh, Dr. Le Van
Thanh, Dr. Dang Ngoc Huong, their feedbacks for my master thesis proposal outline
were always valuable. They build the initial foundation of my knowledge and offer
me the opportunity to complete my graduation thesis.
Of course, this acknowledgement would not be complete without sending my
thanks my parents and family, who supported me throughout my entire study and
encouraged my activities. Thanks to be loved, support and faith of my parents, I was
able to finish my study and make it a great time to look back on.
Last but not least, I am proud of expressing thanks to friends and acquaintances
who have supported and given a hand during the completion of my study.
BUI THI LE LAN

Hanoi, 2020

II


TABLE CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................
1.1. Rationale for the study......................................................................................1
1. 2. Aims and objectives of the study.....................................................................1
1.3. Research questions ...........................................................................................2
1.4. Research methods .............................................................................................2
1. 5. Scope of the study ...........................................................................................2
1.6. Significance of the study ..................................................................................2
1.7. Structure of the study........................................................................................3
CHAPTER
2: LITERATURE
REVIEW AND THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................3
2.1. Review of the previous studies .........................................................................4
2.2. Review of the theoretical background ..............................................................6
2.2.1. Theory of syntax ........................................................................................6
2.2.2. Theories of semantics .................................................................................9
2.2.3. Definition of semantics ............................................................................10
2.3. An overview of idioms ..................................................................................12
2.3.1. Definitions of idioms ..............................................................................12
2.3.2. Some features of idioms ...........................................................................14
2.3.3. Classification of idioms............................................................................17
2.4. Definition of Love ..........................................................................................26
2.5. Summary.........................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

IDIOMS RELATING TO ‘LOVE’ IN TERMS OF SYNTACTIC FEATURES
AND SEMANTICS FEATURES...........................................................................29
3.1. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms relating
to ‘love’ in terms of syntactic features ..................................................................29
3.1.1. Phrase Structures ......................................................................................29
3.1.2. Clause Structures ......................................................................................34
3.1.3. Parallel Structures ....................................................................................35
3.1.4. Comparative structures ............................................................................35
3.1.5. Similarities ...............................................................................................36
3.1.6. Differences ...............................................................................................37
3.2. Similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms
denoting ‘love’ in terms of semantic features .......................................................38
3.2.1. Similarities ...............................................................................................41
3.2.2. Differences ...............................................................................................42
3.3 Summary ..........................................................................................................42
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................44
4.1. Recapitulation .................................................................................................44
4.2. Implications ....................................................................................................44
4.3. Limitations and suggestions for further study ................................................47
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................48

III


ABSTRACT

To become proficient at English, one of the important and essential steps for
learners is clearly to know how to use fluently English idioms as well as understand
it in native language. In a simple term, it is useful and favorable for learners to
make use of succinct style of language to express meaningful thinking such as

human feelings, traditional quotes and sayings, specific contexts and so on. In both
of Western and Eastern literature, “love” is probably the most ideal emotion for
using idioms to define. The purposes of this thesis are to examine in which
methods and conditions are used to express the feeling “love” as well as to make
some evaluations and comparisons between Vietnamese and English idioms. The
descriptions and concepts of idioms in terms of syntactic and semantic features are
thoroughly described and made clear by mostly basing on the descriptive method,
including careful and selective sources from dictionaries, documents, studies and
essays to papers, magazines and other usable sources. At the same time, the
contrastive method and analytical method are precisely operated to drag out both of
similarities and dissimilarities of English idioms and Vietnamese ones relating to
"love" in terms of syntactic and semantic features. From that, the study will show
difficulties and suggest some solutions for teaching and learning English idioms,
helping teachers and learners of English have a better overview and thus improving
language acquisition.
Theoretically, the study mentions about some definitions of semantic and
syntactic features of idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese. As a
result, the learners and teachers can point out the similarities and differences of
idioms relating to “love” between English and Vietnamese
Practically, this study will provide information that can help teachers and
learners of idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese, which contributes
to the teaching and learning English.

IV


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Adj: Adjective
Adv: Adverb
Adj.P: Adjective phrase

Art: Article
Ex: Example
IRL: Idioms relating to love
N: Noun
Num: Numeral
NP: Noun phrase
O: Object
PP: Preposition phrase
P: Preposition
S: Subject
V: Verb

V


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study
With the tendency of globalization nowadays, English by far has become as
one of the most popular and useful language in all over the worlds. In Vietnam,
English has long been regarded as a tool of international communication, and
together with its rising importance, the need of learning English is becoming more
and more urgent. It can’t be denied that all foreign learners in general and
Vietnamese learners in particular desire to master English as the native speakers.
However, they usually face up with a lot of difficulties that prevent them from
gaining successful conversations. One of the reasons for these problems lies in the
way people perceive and use idioms.
Idiom is a special phrasing or a peculiar expression which performs metaphor
or sometimes, literal meanings. Every nation in the world has its idioms. Some of
them are particular and represent for the culture to which they belong. On the
contrary, a lot of idioms share the same meaning with others in many languages,

denoting the needs of interfering different cultures and traditional customs in all
over the world. Having the ability to use idioms could help leaners to adapt the
antiquities and customary habits of certain culture or country, while mastering
idioms will provide learners the self confident and encouragement to well
communicate with both nonnative and native speakers. Idioms appear everywhere,
from daily communication likes newspapers, magazines, television advertisements
to more formal contexts such as books, novels, literature and studies.
Theoretically, the study mentions about some definitions of semantic and
syntactic features of idioms relating to love in English and Vietnamese. As a result,
the readers and users can point out the similarities and differences of idioms relating
to “love” between English and Vietnamese
Practically, this study will provide information that helps teachers and learners
of idioms relating to” love” in English and Vietnamese, which contributes to the
teaching and learning English.
There have been many studies about idioms in varied aspects, with different
opinions and arguments. The writer is pleased and honored to perform a study about
the topic “IDIOMS RELATING TO “LOVE” IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE” with the hope that the research has attamed to give some
suggestions for the Vietnamese teachers as well as learners in teaching and learning
English and Vietnamese idioms in general and idioms relating to “love” in
particular with the hope that they can master their meanings and use them better and
more effectively in teaching and in learning language.
1. 2. Aims and objectives of the study

The study is executed with the aim points out the differences and similarities
between English and Vietnamese idioms relating to “love” in syntactic and
semantic features. As a result, the study could be used for learning, teaching and
translating English as well in other to motivate, encourage and submit certain
solutions which could assist English learners to apply and use both English and
Vietnamese idioms correctly.


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The objectives of the study are:
• To explore and identify the syntactic, semantic features of English idioms
relating to “love” and Vietnamese ones
• To comprehend and make critical comparisons to find out the similarities
and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms relating to ‘love’ in terms
of syntactic and semantic features
• To motivate, encourage and submit certain solutions which could assist
English learners to apply and use both English and Vietnamese idioms correctly.
1.3. Research questions
(i) What are syntactic, semantic features of English and Vietnamese idioms
relating to “love”?
(ii) What are the similarities and the differences between English and
Vietnamese idioms relating to “love” in terms of syntax and semantics?
(iii) What are the possible implications for the learning process of learners and
teachers to use English idioms relating to love effectively?
1.4. Research methods
The descriptions and concepts of idioms in terms of syntactic and semantic
features are thoroughly described and made clear by mostly basing on the
descriptive method, including a careful and selective source from dictionaries,
documents, studies and essays to papers, magazines and other usable sources. At
the same time, the contrastive method and analytical method are precisely operated
to drag out both of similarities and dissimilarities of English idioms and
Vietnamese ones relating to “love” in terms of syntactic and semantic features.
The combination of these data collection methods will help the author
achieve the aims of the study. Last but not least, for better result, statistical method
is generally applied to carry out valuable judgments.

1. 5. Scope of the study
This study is limited of English and Vietnamese idioms relating to “love” in
term of syntactic and semantics aspects. In syntactic features, the study will
perform the key characteristics such as phrase structure. In the same way, an
examination into “love” in English and Vietnamese idioms will be performed to
analyze the semantic aspect.
Thus, the study will concentrate on English and Vietnamese idioms relating to
“love” to analyze these idioms in both languages in terms of syntactic, semantics
features.
Following the rules above, the English idioms and Vietnamese ones are
carefully selected from a range of dictionaries, studies, books and the internet. With
mostly based on a reliable and valuable sources of academic researches, a sum of
178 idioms consisting of 102 in English and 76 in Vietnamese is evaluated and
used for covering this paper.
1.6. Significance of the study
It cannot be denied that idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese
are an important part in our daily communication as well as in the process of
teaching and learning a foreign language.

2


Following the aims, objectives and the scope of performing a study of English
idioms relating to “love” with Vietnamese ones in terms of syntantic and semantic
features above, the study will support English users in Vietnam with the knowledge
and suggest ideas to correctly and flexibly apply this sort of idioms effectively.
Theoretically:
The study mentions about some definitions of semantic and syntactic features
of idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese. As a result, the learners and
teachers can point out the similarities and differences of idioms relating to “love”

between English and Vietnamese
Practically:
This study will provide information that can help teachers and learners of
idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese, which contributes to the
teaching and learning English. The results of the study will be of great benefit to the
following:
Teachers of English: The given data will provide the teachers with
information on how to teach and use idioms especially idioms relating to “love” in
English and Vietnamese more effectively.
Students: This study will bring for students the background and useful
knowledge about idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese.The content
of the thesis will some how be useful material for those who study English as
second language and have certain interest in the idioms and its deep meaning,
especially helps them overcome the difficulties they encounter in using idioms
relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese in particular. Therefore, they can
speak English more naturally and be successful in communication.
1.7. Structure of the study
The research consists of four chapters:
Chapter I: Introduction, this chapter presents the rationale, aim, objective,
scope, significance and structural organization of the thesis.
Chapter II: Literature Review and Theoretical Background, this chapter
generally analyzes the theoretical background of the study as well as the definition
of the concept of idiom and love.
Chapter III: Findings and discussion for the study with presenting the syntax
and semantics of idioms relating to “love” in English and Vietnamese.
Chapter IV: Conclusion, which provides the recapitulation, concluding
remarks, limitation of the study, as well as some suggestions for implications
achieved from the discussion in the thesis and for further research.
Finally, the study ends with the References and Appendix.


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CHAPTER 2:
BACKGROUND

LITERATURE

REVIEW

AND

THEORETICAL

2.1. Review of the previous studies
There are a great number of studies and researches about all kinds of idiom
and related matters such and linguistic, syntax and translation in both of English and
Vietnamese. The knowledge support of these researches have contributed to my
paper and should be appreciated before going into the main part of the study.
*The approaches of linguists to idioms could be parted into five moments
which expose the different trends of consideration of idioms: (Curry, 1994)
*The structure of an idiom phrase and its distinction from 1960s to early 1970s
*The developing of idioms from late 1970 to 1980s
*The metaphor of idioms from 1980s to 1985s
*The activities of teaching, adapting and ackknowledging idioms from 1985 to
1990
*The expansion of view and jugdement as well as its effection in 1990s.
Idioms are available phrases, sentences, relatively fixed, sustainable, not
intending to express an idea. Idioms are used to emphasize meaning with lively
expression, contributing to the color of art so that idioms are not only a treasure in

daily communication language but also a valuable source of material for literary
creation. Many researchers have manipulated idioms, both native – like discourse
by English as well as a foreign language speaker. In English, there are some
important books such as “Cambridge Idioms Dictionary” by Cambridge university
press “The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms” by Ammer, “Idioms and
Idiomaticity” by Fernando, or “ Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms” by Ayto and
so on.[1], [3],[9],[19]
Dr. Montgomery Howwar (2013) of Aligarh Muslim University wrote an
article about “Seeking the Nature of Idioms: A Socio-Cultural Study in Idiomatic
English and Arabic meanings” on International Journal of Scientific and Research
Publications, he analyzed some Arabic and English idioms taking into consideration
their bound culture, equivalence and context in order to explore the types of idioms,
and to focus on using one of the techniques of dealing with idioms that is
equivalence [26].
Furthermore, some other articles also took English idioms into consideration.
Dr. Richard Xiao (2010) from Edge Hill University paid more attention to “Can
‘translation universals’ survive in Mandarin? Idioms, word clusters, and
reformulation markers in translational Chinese.” In which three linguistic features
investigated in translation studies – namely idioms, word clusters and reformulation
markers, in translational Chinese as represented in a one-million-word balanced
corpus of translated Chinese texts in comparison with native Mandarin represented
in a comparable corpus of non-translated Chinese texts [39].
In Vietnam, idioms are quietly interested by many linguists. There are some
valuable works which are famous and familiar with Vietnamese reader such as “Từ
vựng - Ngữ nghĩa tiếng Việt” (1981) of Professor Do Huu Chau who critically

4


explained Vietnamese idioms and analyzed them into syntactic and semantic

features. In 2005, the linguist Nguyen Lan (2005) has summarized most of
Vietnamese idioms in the book Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam. Last but not
least, Professor Hoang Van Hanh is also a well known linguistic specialist in
Vietnam with great contributions to the linguistic field. Mai Chau (2006) being
aware of the importance of idioms in daily speech as well as in learning language,
many researchers have given out efforts in studying issues and aspects of this field .
Some researchers have concentrated on analyzing in syntactic and semantic features
in English and Vietnamese idioms denoting human body parts, animals, etc such as
“A contrastive analysis of the grammatical and semantic features of words and
idioms denoting intelligence and wisdom in English and Vietnamese”, written by
Phan Thị Minh Chau, (2005) or “A study of some characteristics of structures,
meaning and culture of English idioms about animals” by Pham Thi To Nhu,
Danang University. “A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese idioms using
the terms of body parts” by Nguyen Thi Hiep carried out in 2001. The thesis
“Semantic structures of words denoting human body organs in English -Eye-EarNose-Mouth - (versus Vietnamese)” was written by Nguyen Duong Nguyen Hao in
2001. In “An investigation into idioms and proverbs relating to women in English
and Vietnamese”, Ho Thi Hoang Ngan (2012) painted clearly the syntactic and
semantic features of the image of the women in English and Vietnamese idioms and
proverbs (2012). However, the cultural factors in English and Vietnamese idioms
relating to women have not been dealt with so far. [3] [2] [27][28][41]
In another linguistic thesis named “Đặc trưng ngơn ngữ - văn hóa của các từ
chỉ bộ phận con người trong thành ngữ tiếng Việt (so sánh với tiếng Anh)” of
Nguyen Thi Phuong (2009) described and analyzed words denoting human-body
parts in English and Vietnamese idioms to find out similarities and differences.
About 1100 English idioms and 867 Vietnamese ones were collected and she found
that the appearance of words denoting human-body parts in these two languages
was quite different. [39][38]
In Nguyen Huong Giang’s study (2015) “The image of mouse, horse, cat,
chicken in English idioms and proverbs with reference to Vietnamese equivalents”,
the image of these animals in English and Vietnamese are resorted as a way of

explaining human behavior, human feelings and even human relations. Although,
cultures of both countries are different, there are similarity meanings in English as
well as Vietnamese idioms. [12]
Idioms are part and parcel of mastering any language. They are a prominent
natural part of our everyday discourse since they reflect cultural and linguistic
boundaries enabling communication between different cultures. This thesis,
therefore, attempts to explore the different types of idiom, shed lights on some
English and Vietnamese idioms and focus on the difficulties faced by learners and
translators. Bearing in mind these aims, some English and Vietnamese idioms were
selected and then explained. The overall results showed that idioms can never be
translated literally; context, equivalence and semantic relativism should be
considered when dealing with idioms. To be communicatively and linguistically

5


competent, translators as well as learners should find the equivalence in the same
language first and then in the target language. As a result, it is strongly
recommended that translators as well as learners should be fully aware of some
translation techniques and the context of the discourse s/he is dealing with.
2.2. Review of the theoretical background
2.2.1. Theory of syntax
The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek word: σύνταξις "coordination",
which consists of σύν syn, "together," and τάξις táxis, "an ordering". In linguistic,
syntax is a collection of rules, standards as well as methods which regulate the
structure of sentences in a certain language, specifically order of words in Oxford
University Press, (2016) [4].
The works on syntax had been written long before modern grammar official
fixed and appeared. In old times, syntax concept was ruled by a structure named by
Grammaire Générale which was discovered by Antoine Arnauld in “Grammaire

Générale” in 1660. This framework states that human brain thinking processes will
reflect straightly into language. As a result “there is a single, most natural way to
express a thought” [5].
The framework lasts until the 19th century which been replaced by the
development of linguistics and by the argument of progressive linguists.
Bickerton (1990) recognized that it is not true about the state “there is a
single, most natural way to express a thought” because of the impact of internal and
external environment on human thinking. And so the logic base for studying
language’s structure had been denied. [6]
It only became clear when linguists discovered and adapted modern theories
of syntax in the late 20th century. The famous work “generative grammar” of
professor Noam Chomsky, (2002) is considered as the most popular framework to
study and analyze about syntax with the main hypothesis that “language is a
configuration of the human mind” and “syntax is based upon the component
structure of sentences”, following the concept that syntax features certainly focus
on the arrangement of a sentence more than its communication purpose. [7]
 Syntax
Syntax is the proper order of words in a phrase or sentence. Syntax is a tool
used in writing proper grammatical sentences. Native speakers of a language learn
correct syntax without realizing it. The complexity of a writer’s sentences creates a
formal or informal level of diction that is presented to its audience.
 Hearing and Speaking Syntax
Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. It's the concept that
enables people to know how to start a question with a question word ("What is
that?"), or that adjectives generally come before the nouns they describe ("green
chair"), subjects often come before verbs in non-question sentences ("She jogged"),
prepositional phrases start with prepositions ("to the store"), helping verbs come
before main verbs ("can go" or "will do"), and so on.
For native speakers, using correct syntax is something that comes naturally, as
wordorder is learned as soon as an infant start absorbing the language.


6


Nativespeakers can tell something isn't said quite right because it "sounds weird",
even if they can't detail the exact grammar rule that makes something sound "off"
to the ear. "It is syntax that gives the words the power to relate to each other in a
sequence”.to carry meaning—of whatever kind—as well as glow individually in
just the right place"(Burgess 1968).
 Syntactic Rules
English parts of speech often follow ordering patterns in sentences and
clauses, such as compound sentences are joined by conjunctions (and, but, or) or
that multiple adjectives modifying the same noun follow a particular order
according to their class (such as number-size-color, as in "six small green chairs").
The rules of how to order words help the language parts make sense.
Sentences often start with a subject, followed by a predicate (or just a verb in
the simplest sentences) and contain an object or a complement (or both), which
shows, for example, what's being acted upon. Take the sentence "Beth slowly ran
the race in wild, multicolored flip-flops". The sentence follows a subject-verbobject pattern ("Beth ran the race"). Adverbs and adjectives take their places in
front of what they're modifying ("slowly ran"; "wild, multicolored flip-flops"). The
object ("the race") follows the verb "ran", and the prepositional phrase ("in wild,
multicolored flip-flops") starts with the preposition "in".
 Syntax vs. Diction and Formal vs. Informal
Diction refers to the style of writing or speaking that someone uses, brought
about by their choice of words, whereas syntax is the order in which they're
arranged in the spoken or written sentence. Something written using a very high
level of diction, like a paper published in an academic journal or a lecture given in
a college classroom, is written very formally. Speaking to friends or texting are
informal, meaning they have a low level of diction. "It is essential to understand
that the differences exist not because spoken language is a degradation of written

language but because any writtenlanguage, whether English orChinese, results
from centuries of development and elaboration by a small number of users , Jim
Miller(Miller, 2008).
Formal written works or presentations would likely also have more complex
sentences or industry-specific jargon. They are directed to a narrower audience than
something meant to be read or heard by the general public, where the audience
members' backgrounds will be more diverse.
Precision in word choice is less exacting in informal contexts
than formal ones, and grammar rules are more flexible in spoken language than in
formal written language. Understandable English syntax is more flexible than
most. "...the odd thing about English is that no matter how much you screw
sequences word up, you understood, still, like Yoda, will be. Other languages don't
work that way. French? Dieu! Misplace a single le or la and an idea vaporizes into
a sonic puff. English is flexible: you can jam it into a Cuisinart for an hour, remove
it, and meaning will still emerge.”(Copeland, 2009).
What is the study of syntax about? It is about the property of human language
known as syntax. ‘Syntax’ means ‘sentence construction’: how words group

7


together to make phrases and sentences. Some people also use the term grammar to
mean the same as syntax, although most linguists follow the more recent practice
whereby the grammar of a language includes all of its organizing principles:
information about the sound system, about the form of words, how we adjust
language according to context, and so on; syntax is only one part of this grammar.
The term ‘syntax’ is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of
languages. In this sense it’s used in the same way as we use ‘stylistics’ to mean the
study of literary style. We’re going to be studying how languages organize their
syntax, so the scope of our study includes the classification of words, the order of

words in phrases and sentences, the structure of phrases and sentences, and the
different sentence constructions that languages use. We’ll be looking at examples
of sentence structure from many different languages, some related to English and
others not. All languages have syntax, though that syntax may look radically
different from that of English.
To understand the way syntax works in languages, and to introduce the most
important syntactic concepts and technical terms which you’ll need in order to see
how syntax works in the world’s languages. We’ll encounter many grammatical
terms, including ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘preposition’, ‘relative clause’,‘subject’,
‘nominative’, ‘agreement’ and ‘passive’. Often, terms are not formally defined
when they are used for the first time, but they are illustrated so you can understand
the concept, in preparation for a fuller discussion later on. More complex terms and
concepts (such as ‘case’ and ‘agreement’) are discussed more than once, and a
picture of their meaning is built up over several chapters.
Syntax, was the study of free forms that were composed entirely of free forms.
Central to his theory of syntax were the notions of form classes
and constituent structure (Bloomfield).He defined form classes, rather imprecisely,
in terms of some common “recognizable phonetic or grammatical feature” shared
by all the members. What Bloomfield had in mind as the criterion for form class
membership (and therefore of syntactic equivalence) may best be expressed in
terms of substitutability. Form classes are sets of forms (whether simple or
complex, free or bound), any one of which may be substituted for any other in a
given construction or set of constructions throughout the sentences of the language.
The smaller forms into which a larger form may be analyzed are
its constituents, and the larger form is a construction. For example, the phrase
“poor John” is a construction analyzable into, or composed of, the constituents
“poor” and “John.” Because there is no intermediate unit of which “poor” and
“John” are constituents that is itself a constituent of the construction “poor John,”
the forms “poor” and “John” may be described not only as constituents but also
as immediate constituents of “poor John.” Similarly, the phrase “lost his watch” is

composedof three word forms-“lost,” “his,” and “watch”-all of which may be
described as constituents of the construction. Not all of them, however, are its
immediate constituents. The forms “his” and “watch” combine to make the
intermediate construction “his watch”; it is this intermediate unit that combines
with “lost” to form the larger phrase “lost his watch.” The immediate constituents

8


of “lost his watch” are “lost” and “his watch”; the immediate constituents of “his
watch” are the forms “his” and “watch.” By the constituent structure of a phrase or
sentence is meant the hierarchical organization of the smallest forms of which it is
composed (its ultimate constituents) into layers of successively
more inclusive units. Viewed in this way, the sentence “Poor John lost his watch” is
more than simply a sequence of five word forms associated with a particular
intonation pattern. It is analyzable into the immediate constituents “poor John” and
“lost his watch,” and each of these phrases is analyzable into its own immediate
constituents and so on, until, at the last stage of the analysis, the ultimate
constituents of the sentence are reached
2.2.2. Theories of semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It primarily focuses on the
correlation between the symbolic constituent of a sentence such as words and
phrases and what they demonstrate for, their references. First discovered by French
linguist Michel Breal (1890), the word semantics relates series of awareness from
normal using to higher application. In simple meaning, it describes a range of
understanding which could carry out the world choice. The difference between
semantics and syntax is syntax is just a formal arrangement of constituents of a
language without their own meanings, while semantics requires the critical
meaning for every use of words. [8]
There are many theories of semantics which has been studied and analyzed for

centuries and they could generally classified into three basic concepts:
• Model theoretic semantics: Discovered by Richard Montague (1960) in the
late 1960s, this formal theory of ordinary language semantics is about how
and in which expressions reflect theirs relational meaning among
themselves. And more amazingly, the truth values of a sentence and its
reasonable denotations to other sentence are analyzed to a model. [9]
• Truth conditional semantics: First mentioned by the linguist Donald
Davidson, (1973) the theory tries to find the language connection with the
reality which differentiates it from model theoretic semantics. Its result
shows that every components of a sentence must rely and reflect the truth
conditions of themselves in order to carry out the true meaning of the
combination. There is a simple example for this theory: “Winter is cold” is
true only when winter is cold, if two conditions of the meaning “winter” and
“cold” are not logical with each other then the semantics could not be
performed [10]
• Beth Levin, (1991) Lexical semantics: is the theory of context. It states that
the meaning of a word is totally revealed by its situation. Each component of
the sentence must collaborate with others in term of meanings which could
depend on their own level and form in order to carry out the meaning of the
sentence. As a result, it would be easier for the speakers to conveniently
deliver their thoughts depending the current context.[11]

9


Whereas syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a
language statement, semantics is the meaning of these elements. Semantics has a
thousand-of-year history but the word “semantics” made it earliest entry into the
Old English Dictionary only in 1890s. Cliff Goddard (1998) remarks that semantics,
the study of meaning, is at the center of linguistic quest to understand the nature of

language and human language abilities for two reasons. First, expressing meanings
is what language is all about- everything from words to grammatical constructions
and structures. Second, semantics can shed the light on the relationship between
language and culture. The term “linguistic semantics” to state that linguistic
semantics is the study of meaning in so far so as it is systematically encoded in the
vocabulary and grammar of natural languages. On the other hand, Frawley (1992)
defines in obvious terms linguistic semantics as the study of literal, contextualized,
grammatical meaning. The most commonly agreed-upon definition of semantics
remains the one given by Bre’al as “the science of the meanings of words and of the
changes in their meaning”. With this definition, semantics is included under
lexicology, the more general science of words, being its most important
branch.[34][25][33]
Semantics (as the study of meaning) is central to the study of communication
and as communication becomes more and more a crucial factor in social
organization, the need to understand it becomes more and more pressing. Semantics
is also at the centre of the study of the human mind- thought processes, cognition,
conceptualization- all these are intricately bound up with the way in which we
classify and convey our experience of the world through language.
2.2.3. Definition of semantics
In languages, idioms are the type of unit in which one can find a great deal of
information in terms of language, culture, national identity and even human
philosophy.
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. It
focuses on the conventional meaning conveyed by the use of words and sentences
in language.
According to Nguyen Hoa (2004) semantics as a discipline will not limited to
meaning of word, but semantics has to expand into such a fuzzy or more gray area:
the meaning of, and the distinction between the meaning of the sentence and the
utterance. And meaning reflects human conceptualization of our possible words or
reality. [13]

Furthermore, semantics focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as
words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.
Semantics tries to understand what meaning is as an element of language and how it
is constructed by language as well as interpreted, obscured and negotiated by
speakers and listeners of language.
The study of semantics looks at how meaning works in language, and because
of this it often uses native speaker intuitions about the meaning of words and
phrases to base research on.

10


Semantics also looks at the ways in which the meanings of words can be
related to each other. Here are a few of the ways in which words can be
semantically related.
Semantics looks at these relationships in language and looks at how these
meanings are created, which is an important part of understanding how language
works as a whole. Understanding how meaning occurs in language can inform other
sub-disciplines, such as Language Acquisition, to help us to understand how
speakers acquire a sense of meaning, and Sociolinguistics, as the achievement of
meaning in language is important in a social situation.
Semantics is also informed by other sub-disciplines of linguistics, such as
morphology, as understanding the words themselves is integral to the study of their
meaning, and syntax, in which researchers in semantics use extensively to reveal
how meaning is created in language, as how language is structured is central to
meaning.
Semantics of idioms
The internal organisation of English idioms indicates that idioms are a very
complex and distinctive entity peculiar only to the English language. That is,
English idioms have their own fixed constraints in terms of semantic and structural

characteristics. One cannot split a certain idiom into individual parts and try to
derive the conceptual meaning from each part. Moreover, one cannot use the
normal rules of English grammar to explain what is conveyed in the idiom.
Vinogradow (1977) once cleverly likened the meaning of an idiom to “the
special chemical mixture” of the meaning of all the components, which is,
notably and completely new in quality. This means that the meaning of an
idiom
can
rarely
be
drawn
from
its
components
[35].
However, some idioms whose literal meaning and figurative one is almost
identical so that readers can guess the meaning. Another feature related to
semantics is that idioms can convey positive, neutral or negative meaningsliteral
meaning, but also the figurative meaning. These meanings of the word do not exist
separately but together as a perfect whole. In this whole, the literal meaning is the
center and the figurative meaning is the extension, which shows the cultural
distinction of using the word between this commodity and others. However, we
focus much on idiomatic expressions containing the word ‘cat’, therefore, besides
the literal meanings of the word ‘cat’, we mainly study the figurative meanings of
these idioms which are, in the study, called the idiomatic meanings.
Literal meaning
The literal meaning of a word is the strict dictionary meaning of a word, the
‘dictionary definition’. For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary,
you will discover that one of its literal meanings is ‘any of numerous scaly, legless,
sometimes venous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in

most tropical and temperate regions.’ Obviously, idiom has its idiomatic meaning.
Many idioms, however, can also have both the literal and idiomatic meanings. In
the study, we do not focus on the literal meanings of all the relating to “love” in
English and Vietnamese

11


Idiomatic meaning
Specific characteristics of idiomatic meanings as we mentioned above, an
idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the
meanings of the individual words themselves. It can have a literal meaning in one
situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It is a phrase which
does not always follow the normal rules of meaning and grammar. “To sit on the
fence” can literally mean that one is sitting on a fence. I sat on the fence and
watched the game. However, the idiomatic meaning of “ to sit on the fence” is that
one is not making a clear choice regarding some issue, for example: The politician
sat on the fence and would not give his opinion about the tax issue. Therefore, we
can see that the idiom not only gives or transfers the information but also implies
the nuance, attitude and feelings of the speaker. The literal meaning of the idiom is
the meaning that we can see basing on the each unit’s meaning and the idiomatic
meaning, is the extension which shows the cultural distinction of using the word
between this commodity and others. The idiomatic meaning of the idioms is the
meaning beyond or other than the sum of the meaning of the individual words.
2.3. An overview of idioms
2.3.1. Definitions of idioms
English is very rich in idiomatic expressions. It is difficult to speak or write
English without using idioms. An important fact must be stressed is that idioms are
not only colloquial expressions, as many people believe. They can appear in formal
style and in slang. They can appear in poetry or in the language of the journalist, the

writer and the Bible. What, then, is an idiom? The question may have many
answers.
In English
The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
stated that an idiom is “an expression which function as a single unit and whose
meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts” (Longman Dictionary, 1992)
[21]
David Crystal announced that “idiom is a term in grammar and lexicography
to refer to a sequence of words which is semantically and often syntactically
restricted, so that they function as a single unit” (D. Crystal, 1995)
According to Hornby (1995), idioms are “a phrase or sentence whose meaning
is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be leant as a
whole unit”. (Hornby, 1995)
In Cambridge International Dictionary of idioms (1998) idiom is defined as a
colorful and interesting aspect of English. They are used generally in all types of
language, informal and formal, spoken and written.
Idiom regularly has a stronger meaning than non-idiomatic phrases. For
instance, “look daggers at someone” has more highlighting meaning than look
angrily at someone, although they signify the similar thing.
Idioms may also imply a particular attitude of the person using them, for
example, disapproval, humor, irritation or admiration [14].

12


Words do not just come individually; they also come in expressions – ingroup. According to Wright (2002) idiom is an expression with following features.
Firstly, idiom is fixed and is recognized by native speakers. We cannot make up our
own idioms. The second feature is that idiom uses language in a non-literalmetaphor-way. As mentioned in Oxford Dictionary idiom is defined as “a group of
words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the
meanings of each word understood by its own”. [15]

Idioms itself have grammar. Some idiomatic expressions are fixed and cannot
be changed such as:
Two head are better than one.
(Ba anh thợ gia bằng Gia Cát Lượng)
However, in most cases, we can change the tense and the pronoun such as I
am/she is/we are all at sixes and sevens.
According to Wright, idiom is an expression with following features. Firstly,
idiom is fixed and is recognized by native speakers. We cannot make up our own
idioms. The second feature is that idiom uses language in a non-literal-metaphorway. Take these idioms as examples.
John is up to his eyes in work now
At the meeting, I felt a bit out of my depth.
I was over the moon when I heard she’d had twins.
It broke my mother’s heart to see her home burnt to the ground.
If you are up to your eyes, you are very busy. When a person is out of her or
his depth, he/she might be in the sea but he/she is more likely to be in a
circumstance that he/she cannot comprehend for some reasons. If you are over the
moon, you are extremely joyful about something. If something breaks your heart,
you are very gloomy about it.
In these examples, it is clear that the idiom is a whole expression. This is the
traditional view of idioms.
We are familiar with the idea of heavy rain causing a stream to overflow and
flood the surrounding area; crowds are often described as water and the same verb
flood is used. The literal meaning of a hot potato, it is not for eating; it means a
controversial issue. Idioms are very important because they are commonly used in
daily life. It is nearly impossible to speak, read or listen to English without meeting
idioms. The next reason is the metaphorical use of a word is more common today
than its literal meaning. However, it is important to know its literal meaning
because it creates a picture in our mind and this picture enables us to understand
other meanings more easily. The last reason why idioms are so important is that
they are fun to learn and to use. If the language you want to learn is more colorful

and interesting, there is more chance that we will remember it clearly. Our English
will sound more natural.
In Vietnamese
According to Nguyen Luc, Luong Van Dang in Vietnamese, idioms frequently
use fixed expressions; grammatically, they are not complete sentences, which mean
they are only words or phrases. Idioms do not show any comments, experiences,

13


ethnical lesson or critics, so they often have figurative function, not educational
function. For example, in Vietnamese we say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
hay "vẻ đẹp nằm trong đơi mắt của kẻ si tình" is the famous idiom. This sentence is
used when a person can’t find out the reason why to love another. In this case
“beauty” can be the beauty, wisdom, personality of the person being loved. [41]
Most of idioms are formed from incomplete meaning words; they cannot stand
alone but in a sentence. Vietnamese idioms are often used in proverbs, folk songs,
or literature works. That makes idioms meaningful only when they are in sentences.
Take this as an example, “công dã tràng”, at least, it has to be in sentence: “đúng là
công dã tràng” or “chuyện anh làm chỉ là công dã tràng”. Instead of expressing an
idea literally, people tend to use idiom to make their speech more beautifully or
funnier. For example, to express the idea of a person who sometimes works,
sometime does not, we use this idiom “hắn ta đi làm bữa đực bữa cái”.
Idioms use brief expressions based on stories, folk tales, or classic references,
which happened a long time ago. Now we encounter similar situation, thus by
hearing those idioms, the listener knows exactly what the speaker means.
2.3.2. Some features of idioms
It is undeniable to say that meaning is probably the most important element
when discussing about semantic feature of an idiom. The key for linguists to
separate a fixed impression from an idiom is its figurative meaning. To illustrate,

there is an idiom “a hot potato”, which means speak of a problem (generally at the
moment) that most of everyone is talking about and it is often uncertain. It is easy
to recognize that the meaning of the idiom’s components are quite far from the
meaning of the whole idiom, which means it is kind of impossible to understand an
idiom if we separate each words causing it. For this reason, it is significant that we
had better understand an idiom in a figurative way than in a literal way.
On the contrary, the meaning of an idiom can be understood either relatively
or totally apart from the meaning of its whole constituents. If the meaning of an
idiom is not completely different from the meaning of its all components, it could
be understood both of its figurative meaning and its literal one.
There are many example like: easy come easy go, you get what you give,
speak your mind and so on which the meaning of these idioms could be easily
predicted by understanding the meaning of their constituents
In addition, there is another important semantic feature of an idiom is that it
could have an active, unbiased or negative meanings. For instance, idioms which
come with an active meaning are give it a shot (encourage someone to try to do
something), cross your fingers (wish to have a good luck), see eye to eye (agree
with someone about an issue. On the other hand, idioms state for a negative
meaning are give someone the cold shoulder (paying no attention to someone), wolf
in sheep’s clothing (speaking about a person who makes up to be a good one but is
not) and devil to pay (warning someone when their action could cause trouble or
casualty). Last but not least is idioms with a neutral meaning. For example : be in
the same boat (to be in someone’s situation), a grey area (speaking about something
that is unclear or uncertain), have mixed feeling (when someone is unsure or

14


confused about something), etc. Because of its characteristic, idioms coming with
positive meanings seem to be at the most.

On the whole, the principal semantic features of idioms are their meanings
could either reflect the meaning of their components or are totally different.
Besides, idioms can express active, unbiased or negative meanings depending on
the user.
It is asserted that language follows rules. If it did not, its users would not be
able to make sense of the random utterances they read or heard and they would not
be able to communicate meaningfully themselves. Idiom, however, breaks the
normal rules. The word “idiom‘’ comes from the Greek “idiot”, “one’s own,
peculiar, strange”. Hence, idiom is considered anomalies of language, mavericks of
the linguistic world; and most of the linguists when studying features of idiom have
focused on these animalities of idiom. Idiom may be characterized by several
features; but they may be summarized under two main headings: semantic and
syntactic peculiarities.
In terms of semantic peculiarities, Jackson and Amvela (2000) indicate that
idiom has “ambiguity”, it means that idiom may have either a literal or an idiomatic
meaning. For example,
If someone “beats a dead horse”, they may in fact be in the process of striking
the carcass of an animal (literal meaning); or they may be wasting time discussing a
matter that has already been closed (idiomatic meaning). Similarly, “To sit on the
fence” can literally mean that one is sitting on a fence “I sat on the fence and
watched the game”; whereas its idiomatic meaning that one is not making clear
choice regarding some issue “The politician sat on the fence and would not give his
opinion about the tax issue”. However, once a reader or hearer realizes that a given
expression is idiom, even if they are not sure of its exact meaning, they will
automatically discard the literal meaning of the expression, and seek an idiomatic
meaning. Furthermore, the context in which the idiom occurs also plays an
important role in the reduction of this potential ambiguity.
Another noticeable semantic feature of idiom is affirmed by Cruse although
idiom consists of more than one word, it displays to some extent the sort of internal
cohesion that we expect of single words”. In order words, idiom may be

characterized as “a lexical complex, which is semantically simplex”. And this
semantic integrity of idiom leads to its lexical integrity. It means that idiom has a
number of syntactic grammatical (1986) constraints:
The first constraints are on replacements or substitutions. Fernando (1996)
shows that an idiom may be varied in terms of number and tense (inflectional
changes) or the replacement of one structure word like an article by another or by
zero. He gives some examples:
+ “He smelt a rat and he kept mum” (past tense, past time)
(The Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English 1983
“Everybody smells a rat in a doctored obituary, even the window”
(Present tense indicating a timeless truth)
(The Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English 1983)[32]

15


However, these replacements can be only applied to a small number of idioms.
In general, most idioms are indivisible units whose components can’t be varied.
Some do not permit pluralization like in “kick the buckets”(kick the bucket) or
“smell the rats” (smell a rat); some do not permit singularization such as “twiddle
one’s thumb” (twiddle one’s thumbs) or “raining a cat and a dog” (raining cats
and dogs).In addition, replacement of characteristic lexis in idiom isn’t possible
even synonymous words. For example, in “we look forward to meeting you”,
“look” can not be replaced by “see” or “watch”. Hence, “we see/watch forward to
meeting you” is not idiomatic. Similarly, in “wash one’s dirty linen in public”,
“linen” can not be replaced by “socks”, neither can “thought‟ be replaced by
“idea” in “have second thoughts”.
• Idiom also resists re-ordering of its parts. We consider “John kicked
the bucket”. In the literal sense, this expression has a passive variant, “The
bucket was kicked by John”. But in its idiomatic use, i.e. when “kicked the

bucket” means “died”, the expression does not allow the use of the
corresponding passive alternative. Other changes of the order of the words
like in “The short and the long of it” (The long and the short) or in “What
Peter pulled was his sister’s leg” (What Peter did was pull his sister’s
leg)are impossible.
• Additions and deletions are also not normally permitted within idiom. Thus,
we can’t say “To pull someone’s left leg” and “To kick the large bucket”,
they have no normal idiomatic interpretation because of the addition of
“left‟ and “large‟, whereas “straight from horse’s mouth‟ and “turn a new
leaf‟ are both unacceptable because “the‟ and “over‟ have been omitted.
Such (1986) constraints make idiom fixed or invariant and separate them from
non-idiom. Cruse recognizes another feature of idiom which shows its status as
phrases in a way that “if idiom may be inflected, the inflectional affixes are carried
by the grammatically appropriate elements within the idiom, whether or not they are
semantic constituents; that is to say, the elements of idiom retain at least some of
their grammatical identity [38]:
“John has a bee in his bonnet about many things” (John luôn bận tâm về mọi
thứ) (*John has bees-in-his bonnets about many things); this expression is
wrong because the grammatical appropriate elements “have a bee in one’s about
something” is invariant, it does not permit pluralization.
Learning idioms plays an important part in advancing language skill. Many
students have much difficulty in describing their own ideas and feel that they
can’t speak fluently or write a complete essay. This happens because they all rely
on using separate words leading to make such “fragment” or “run-on” sentences.
Therefore, in order to be confident in using foreign language, to understand and
use idioms in right way would be good choice for those who have strong desire to
advance their level of English. However, learning idioms could cause a lot of
obstacles because of culture differences and other facts.

16



2.3.3. Classification of idioms
2.3.3.1. An overview of the classification of idioms
The idioms in English are so numerous and so full of variety that the first
problem that a teacher is going to encounter is not merely how to do justice to them,
but where to begin. There are innumerable expressions like, at hand, catch up with,
do away with, stand for, fall for, to come to in English, which we come across in
conversation, in newspapers, on the radio and television, and there are longer
expressions like, to let the cat out of the bag, take the bull by the horns, turn over a
new leaf, play second fiddle to and so on. In terms of our definition of an idiom, the
meaning of these expressions cannot be understood even if the learner knows the
meaning of individual words like horns, fiddle, catch etc. It is also clear that there is
a difference between expressions such as catch up with or stand for and turn over a
new leaf. Therefore, it is evident that these expressions have to be grouped or
organized to make the learning and teaching of idioms meaningful. If the learning
of idioms has to yield results, the teaching of them will involve the choice of idioms
and organization of idioms into categories that will meet the requirements of
different levels of students. This naturally leads us to a discussion on the
importance of classifying idioms.
We have mentioned above some examples of expressions like to catch up
with, at hand and longer expressions like “let the cat out of the bag”, “play second
fiddle”, etc. Though linguists have termed these expressions broadly as idioms, they
have made a distinction by further classifying them into two large groups. They call
the shorter expressions like take in, put on, etc… phrasal verbs and the longer one’s
common idioms which we propose to label as Regular idioms. By Regular idioms
we mean those long expressions which are generally recognized as idioms by the
average educated people. These people are most likely to know what turn over a
new leaf or take the bull by the horns means.
English idioms include two popular dictionaries which give a deep care about

them: Oxford dictionary of Current Idiomatic and English Longman dictionary of
English idioms. The discussion about these two dictionaries will be performed by
examples and analysis for deeper understanding about the classification of idioms
in worldwide.
It is important, especially for second language learners, to be able to identify
and deeply understand idioms of the native speakers. As a result, leaners tend to
seek out for reliable supports when they encounter such hard and strange idioms.
Besides teachers and textbooks which can only provide finite knowledge, one of
the most dependable sources that leaners can take advantages of is dictionaries.
There are two popular dictionaries which give a deep care about English idioms:
Longman dictionary of English idioms and Oxford dictionary of Current Idiomatic
English. The discussion about these two dictionaries will be performed by
examples and analysis for deeper understanding about the classification of idioms
in worldwide
Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English also agrees the same
definition and features of an idiom. It defines that an idiom is a group of more than

17


two words which works together to perform a figurative meaning. Besides, it also
makes clear that with the semantic accord, an idiom could become a single syntactic
component. Furthermore, the dictionary also accesses that with their principle
features as well as their unique types of structures, idioms have made themselves as
the most typically English component in terms of vocabulary. In addition, with a
variety of idiomatic expressions collaborating with the capability to be used in
many concepts of communication or daily conversation, idioms are considered as
one of the most interesting and most useful grammatical elements in English. The
needs of idiom dictionaries are also concerned with due to their figurative meaning
features as well as extraordinarily grammatical structures, especially for those who

are not non native speakers and unfamiliar with the related language. However, the
concepts of idioms are only merely explained without proper evaluations and
discussions. Besides, Oxford Dictionary aims to cover a wide range of idiomatic
expressions, which is extremely numerous, instead of focusing on idioms only.
Generally speaking, Oxford Dictionary delivers a deeper and more concrete
concept of idioms than Longman Dictionary. It provides a neat definition, both
figurative and literal meaning of idioms as well as attached examples [19].
The following categories are classified into five types:
• Clear idioms like “nerves of steel” and “take cover “
• Figurative idioms like “food for thought” or “take with a grain of salt “
• Controlled connections, also named as semi idioms, are idioms which one
part expresses a literal or familiar meaning while other parts reveal
figurative meanings in certain concepts. For example: “an apple of one’s
eyes “and “darken someone’s door “
• Free connections are a group of words or phrases which combine together
with their literal meanings and are free to connect like “Actions speak louder
than words and “keep one's feet on the ground”. The idioms in this type are
mostly parted out of the dictionary because its authors and editors recognize
that this type of idioms is usually not able to define as the exact
characteristics of an idiom.
• Unclear type: It is the facts that there are many cases which are impossible
to make clear whether they are idioms or just an idiomatic expression.
Oxford Dictionary of Current idiomatic English is the first dictionary which
accepts that it is sometimes difficult and mistaken to define whether a fixed
expression is an idiom or just an idiomatic expression, due to its conventional
definition and accustomed meaning from the old days. Oxford really tries to define
and classify idioms mostly basing on the syntactic features of idioms, which
contain a variety and confusions both in grammatical structures and methods as
well. [29]Therefore, a number of idiomatic expressions appearing in the dictionary
is still classified as an idiom like “I can tell you “and “God bless you “. Of course,

there are also mistaken like this in general dictionaries and even in major
dictionaries and Oxford Dictionary of Current idiomatic English is still one of the
most reliable dictionaries for studying and learning about idioms at the moment.

18


Longman Dictionary of English idioms gives a state of idiom: “An idiom is a
fixed expression with a figurative meaning which separates itself from the meaning
of its constituents”. Idiom’s features are also noted along: idioms mostly have
figurative meaning than literal one. Besides, some idioms are more related to the
definition of an idiom than others which are probably more related to their literal
meaning. In addition, Longman Dictionary also states that an idiom must contain
more than, or at least, two words. It could be used in spoken language as well as
written one. However, the informal using is considered more popular than the
formal using.
According to Longman Dictionary, (1992).there are some types of idioms
which are listed below [21]
• Traditional idioms: The idioms in this type are mostly full and complete
sentences. The way to use this idiom is just to add a subject to identify the
purpose of the sentence. They are usually considered working as specific
parts of sentences. For example, the verb phrase can work like a
complement, subject or object of the given sentence. “Keep an eye on
somebody” and “cut to the chase” are typical examples for this type of
idioms.
• Idioms of actions which express feelings or emotions like “hold one’s
horses” and “found one’s feet” are usually difficult and make trouble for
users, especially non native speakers, to apply it. The problem here is, the
meaning of the related idiom is often figurative and not really literal while
the action in the idiom means quite different from which it does in other

languages. As a result, the confusion between meaning and action makes it
unpopular comparing to another idiom.
• Sets of words such as “days and nights”. A number idioms of this type
belongs to the first group, work as specific types of sentence which the order
is often fixed
• Idioms which contain “it” like “Coining it” and “Dog it”. “It” in this type of
idioms does not relate to the constituents standing before it like it often does.
• Insinuation like “brewski”. This type of idioms is familiar and quite special
in English society, which could be trouble with non native speaker since
they do not perform a clear meaning.
• Sayings: they could be proverbs such as “A broken friendship may be
soldered but will never be sound “or just informal sayings such as “You can
lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink “.
• Common phrases in communication or conversation such as “How come”
and “How do you do”. They often fail to express literal meanings.
• Similes such as “About as useful as a chocolate teapot” “Come down on
somebody like a ton of bricks”
And so, there are expressions in this dictionary which are not considered as
idioms. For example, most of insinuations do not have figurative meanings and,
however, being treated as metonymy. In the same way, sayings and common
phrases do not have figurative meanings, despite the fact that they usually appear in

19