Учебный материал по английскому языку
презентация к уроку по английскому языку (9 класс) на тему

“IDIOMATIC ENGLISH:

ANIMAL AND COLOUR IDIOMS”

CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Main part

1.

“Animal” idioms.

2.

“Colour” idioms.

III. Conclusion.

IV. Bibliography.

3

An idiom by definition is a sequence of words which

has a different meaning

as a group from the meaning it would have if you un

derstood each word separately.

Idioms add colour to the language, helping us to em

phasise meaning and to make

our observations, judgements, and explanations live

ly and interesting. They are

also very useful tools for communicating a great de

al of meaning in just a few

words.

In the English language idioms are used in a wide v

ariety of contexts and

situations. They are often used in spoken language,

in situations that range from

friendly conversations to business meetings.

Idioms are used in written English as well, especia

lly in journalism where

writers frequently use them to bring their stories

to life.

Our aim in writing this very work was not, of cours

e, to reflect the wide

range of idioms that are being used in British and

American English today as it is

impossible within the format. This work is just foc

used on some kinds of idioms,

namely “animal” and “colour” idioms. They are deeme

d to be essential for the

students to learn and use at school. Some idioms wi

th metaphorical meanings are

fairly easy to understand, some are less obvious. A

ll of them, including similes,

were selected on the basis that they are phrases wi

th pragmatic uses.

Students at the secondary school should be taught h

ow to understand idioms

and make their speech contain expressions that are

natural to a native speaker of a

language.

Apparently, the students’ ability to speak and writ

e fluent and idiomatic

English should be the teacher’s first concern.

4

“ANIMAL” IDIOMS

There are plenty of idioms in English that are draw

n from animal life. For

example, when the English do two things at one and

the same time they “kill two

birds with one stone”, or, if they are greedy and f

oolish, they “kill the goose that

lays the golden eggs”.

A bad-tempered person is “like a bear with a sore h

ead”, an awkward,

heavy-footed person is “like a bull in a china shop

”.

But let us leave the foolish person, or the bad per

son, “the black sheep”, the man

who has “gone to the dogs”.

Anyway, let’s consider the wise man.

He never “counts his chicken before they are hatche

d” or “buys a pig in a poke”

(poke =bag) – he always examines carefully what he

is buying before he pays his

money. He will always, of course, do things in the

right order and not try to “put

the cart before the horse”. He will leave alone thi

ngs that might cause trouble; as

he would say, “let sleeping dogs lie”; nor will he

waste good things on people who

can’t appreciate them; he doesn’t believe in “casti

ng pearls before swine (cast =

throw; swine is an old word for pigs).

There are some people who always take safety measur

es when it is too late

and “lock the stable door after the horse is stolen

”. That, he considers, is as foolish

as putting the cart before the horse. When bold dec

isive measures are necessary he

takes them and “takes the bull by the horns”, and w

hen an ill-tempered, sharp-

tongued friend says something unpleasant, he doesn’

t worry too much, he knows

“his bark is worse than his bite”. If he knows a se

cret, he keeps it; he is not one to

“Let the cat out of the bag”.

He is full of sound common sense, “horse sense” he

calls it, and he doesn’t

believe in making changes while a job is in progres

s; that would be “changing

horses in midstream” – a risky business.

He knows, too, that there are some things you can f

orce people to do. As he

would say, “you can lead a horse to the water, but

you can’t make it drink”

And he would, of course, be too generous-hea

rted to “look a gift horse in the

mouse”. He is a cheerful, hard-working fellow, “wor

ks like a horse” (if others call

him an “eager beaver”, he is too enthusiastic, too

keen and works harder than he

should).

He hopes that he will always be like that and “die

in harness.” He isn’t proud,

“riding the high horse”, and he is always willing t

o help others in difficulty,

“putting his shoulder to the wheel” or “helping lam

e dogs over stiles”.

He pities the poor fellow who has “never had a

dog’s chance” and “leads a

dog’s life”, perhaps because misfortune has always

“dogged his footsteps”.

Our hero and his wife get on very well togethe

r; they don’t lead a “cat and dog

life”. She, of course, never makes “catty” remarks,

nor will she fuss “like a cat on

hot bricks” if he goes out when it is “raining cats

and dogs”. She doesn’t worry too

much; she knows that “care killed a cat”. She has h

er independence of mind, too,

5

and knows that the humblest have their rights even

in the presence of the greatest.

As she says, “a cat may look at a king”.

Our wise man isn’t easily deceived, for when y

ou try to trick him with a cock-

and-bull story he, like his dog, “smells a rat”.

He is careful what company he keeps. “Birds of

a feather flock together’, he

says, and he mixes with people of his own kind, not

with “queer fish”. With them

he would feel “like a fish out of water”.

He is making a success in life, too. If you gi

ve him a difficult job to do, you will

find you’ve “backed a winner” (to back = to put a b

et on. The idiom is, of course,

taken from horse-racing).

Three or four other men tried for a job he is doing

but he “left them at the post”.

You know that for a fact, you got it “straight from

the horse’s mouth”; from a man

who had entrusted him with a big job.

We’d better stop or you’ll think we are “ridin

g our horse to death”.

It is extremely important to encourage the students

to give the corresponding

Russian expressions to some similes, for instance:

ENGLISH IDIOM(SIMILE) RUSSIAN EQUIVALENT

as strong as an ox

as hungry as a horse (a hunter)

as slow as a snail

as quiet as a mouse

as wise as an awl

as gentle as a lamb

as stubborn as a mule

as proud as a peacock

as sick as a dog

as brave as a lion

as busy as a bee

as blind as a bat

as cunning as a fox

Such kind of assignment can inspire the understandi

ng and appreciation of proper

translation from Russian into English and vice vers

a.

ENGLISH IDIOM(SIMILE) RUSSIAN EQUIVALENT

as strong as an ox

пашет

(=

работает

),

как

лошадь

as hungry as a horse (a hunter)

голоден

,

как

волк

as quiet as a mouse

тише

мыши

at a snail’s pace

тащится

,

как

черепаха

6

“COLOUR” IDIOMS

There are numerous “colour’ idioms in the English l

anguage.

Here are some grouped under the various colours.

RED

When I hear of cruelty to animals it makes me

see red

(=become violently angry).

He

saw red

. He was absolutely furious!

I caught the thief

red-handed

(=in the very act).

You are not answering my question. You are trying t

o

draw a red herring across

the track

(

=

lead the attention away from the real point).

As soon as he led the conversation round to borrowi

ng money I

saw the red light

(= was aware of approaching danger).

On boat - race night the College students

paint the town red

(=have a gay, high-spirited, noisy time).

We decided to celebrate by going out and

painting the town red

.

“I come from a modern country, where we have everyt

hing that money can buy;

and with all our spry young fellows

painting the Old World red

...” (Mr. Hiram

B.Otis, Oscar Wilde, “The Canterville Ghost”).

The mention of that man’s name to him is like

a red rag

to a bull (= something that

causes violent anger).

Florence Nightingale was only one who cared nothing

for regulations and

red-tape

.

(

red-tape

: Papers in Government offices, lawyers’ offices, e

tc., are often tied with

pink or red tape (i.e., thin band of cotton cloth).

So the phrase is used to mean rules

and regulations in Government affairs that make it

difficult to get business done

quickly).

I wanted to apply for a visa but a friend told me t

here is so much

red tape

, I’ve

decided to forget about it.

Red-faced

officials ordered an investigation into the accide

nt.

7

When the visitors from Japan arrived, the company g

ave them

the red carpet

treatment

.

collocations

definitions

red eye

take the red eye means to take a journey

in a plane that continues all night

red - faced

embarrassed or ashamed

red flag

something that shows or warns you that

something might be wrong

red -handed

catch sb. red-handed means to catch

someone at the moment when they are

doing something wrong.

redhead

someone who has red hair

red herring

a fact or idea that is not important but is

introduced to take your attention away

from the points that are important

8

YELLOW

collocations

definitions

Yellow

Pages

a book with yellow pages that gives a list of

companies and organizations and their

telephone numbers, arranged according to the

type of services they offer

the

yellow press

journalism that treats news in an

unprofessional or unethical fashion

yellow fever

an infectious tropical disease that makes the

skin turn yellow and often causes death

yellow-bellied

cowardly

yellow

cowardly

yellow

an offensive word used to describe the light

brown skin of people from Eastern Asian

countries

yellow card

(in football) a card shown by a referee to a

player as warning about bad behaviour

he reds and

yellows

of the trees

view of leaves on the trees in autumn

yellow hammer

a small bird, the mail of which has a yellow

head, neck and breast (

овсянка

)

yellow line

a yellow line painted at the side of a road to

show that you can only park your car there at

particular times or for a short time

double yellow lines

two lines that mean you cannot park there at

all

Are you afraid to fight? You’re not

yellow

, are you? Come on, don’t be a coward

9

BLUE

He was

blue

in the face with cold.

I’m feeling rather

blue

(

in the blues

) today (=rather miserable, “down in the

mouth”).

He got his

blue

for football

. (At Oxford or Cambridge a man who has been chosen

to represent his University at football, rowing, cr

icket, etc., is given his “coloures”,

light blue for Cambridge, dark blue for Oxford).

He spends all his time reading

blue books

(=Government publications).

A thing like that only happens once

in a blue moon

(=very rarely).

You can talk till

all is blue

. (= as long as you like) but I shan’t believe you.

The news was a great shock to me; it came absolutel

y

out of the blue

(= was quite unexpected).

You can argue with me until you’re

blue in the face

.

The news of their marriage came as

a bolt from the blue

.

She had only recently had lunch with her cousin, so

the news of his death came as

a bolt from the blue

.

collocations

definitions

blue baby the baby whose skin is slightly blue whe

n it is born

because it has a heart problem

blue - blooded a blue – blooded person belongs to a

royal or noble

family

blue book a book with a list of prices that you can

expect to pay

for any used car

blue - bottle

a large blue fly

blue -chip blue –chip companies/shares etc. compani

es or

shares that make a profit and are considered safe

blue - collar blue – collar workers do physical wor

k, rather than

working in office (white-collar, pink-collar)

blue-eyed boy the man or boy in a group who is most

liked and

approved of by someone in authority

10

bluegrass a type of music from the southern and wes

tern US,

played on instruments such as the guitar and violin

bluejacking

(to bluejack

a bluejacker)

the practice of using a mobile phone with Bluetooth

technology to send a text message to another person

near you, without letting them know who has sent th

e

message. This is usually done as a joke to surprise

the person who receives the message

blue law a law used in the past in the US to contro

l activities

that were considered immoral, such as drinking

alcohol and working on Sundays

blueprint

a plan for achieving something

blue ribbon the first prize in a competition, somet

imes consisting

of a small piece of blue material

blue sky concerned with thinking of new and interes

ting ideas,

without worrying about whether they are practical o

r

not

blue stocking a woman who is more interested in ide

as and

studying than in parties, men, etc.

Bluetooth trademark; a system that allows you to co

nnect

computer equipment, such as a keyboard or printer,

to a computer that is near it by using radio waves

instead of wires. You can also use the system to

connect a mobile phone to a computer without using

wires.

PINK

His behaviour was

the pink of perfection

(= perfect).

“How are you?” “Oh, I’m

in the pink

” (=very well)(Slang).

He looks at life through

rose-coloured spectacles

(= optimistically, seeing

everything in a pleasant light).

Pink-collar jobs

/ workers/ industries, etc. are low-paid jobs done

mainly by

women, for example in offices and restaurants, or t

he women who do these jobs.

.

11

GREY

There is a common prejudice that girls who are very

beautiful must automatically

be lacking in

grey matter

– so-called “dumb blondes”.

(

grey matter –

a person’s intelligence).

GREEN

I hope you live to

a green old age

(= age full of youthful strength.

He is very

green

(= easily deceived) (Slang).

She was

green with jealousy

(= very jealous).

I was

green with envy

when my neighbour drove up in a brand new

Jaguar.

She was absolutely

green with envy

when I won a trip to Los Angeles.

After several weeks of discussions, the group was g

iven

the green light

,

and could finally go ahead with the new project.

If the city authorities give

the green light

to the new conservation

project, it will begin next year.

My mother has got

green fingers

. Everything she plants in the garden

grows well.

Tony can’t be trusted with too much responsibility

yet, he is still

green

.

I am interested in the environment and in

green issues

generally.

12

collocations

definitions

green audit an examination of the activities of an

organization in order to see how much it

harms the environment and how much energy

it uses

green belt an area of land around a city where buil

ding is

not allowed, in order to protect fields and

woods.

green card 1)a document that a foreigner must have

in

order to work legally in the US

2) a British motor insurance document that

you need when you drive abroad

greenfield site

a piece of land that has never been built on

before

greenhorn

someone who lacks experience of something

greenhouse effect the gradual warming of the air su

rrounding the

Earth as a result of heat being trapped by

pollution

green light

to give sb/sth the green light means to allow a

project, plan, etc. to begin

green paper

a document produced by the British

government containing proposals to be

discussed

green room

the room in a theatre, television studio, etc. in

which performers wait when they are not on

stage performing

13

BLACK

I won’t believe it useless unless I see it in black

and white.

I’m sorry, James. I refuse to believe it useless yo

u can show it to me

in black and

white!

Once it’s down

in black and white

, you can’t forget it!

After the fight one of the boxes had

a black eye

.

You can never believe what he says; he will swear

black is white

if it suits his

purpose.

If Hob doesn’t work harder he will get in Mr. Pries

tley’s

black books

(=out of favour).

(“Black book” = “Blacklist” ;during the reign of Ki

ng Charles II, however, it

involved black books where he kept the names of tho

se involved in his father’s

murder).

Many people in the industry

were blacklisted

for their communist sympathies.

Friends of the Earth have produced

a blacklist

of environmentally damaging

products.

Arbroath is now the unemployment

blackspot

of northeast Scotland

England’s wealth was built up on diamonds –

black diamonds

(=coal).

He got many

black looks

(=looks of displeasure) for his speech criticising

the

Government.

The man tried to persuade

the blacklegs

not to work while they were on strike (=

men who are not in a trade union and who work while

their fellows are on strike).

They tried to force the men to give money by

blackmail

(= threats, often a threat to

reveal some guilty secret).

They are rather ashamed of George; he is

the black sheep

of the family (=person

with a bad character).

If I don’t finish my report in time, that’ll be ano

ther

black mark

against

my name.

In most countries, goods that are scarce are usuall

y freely available on

the black

market

– provided you have the money to pay for them.

14

Breaking the window was

a black mark against you

. Be careful next time.

Driving conditions are dangerous, with

black ice

in many areas.

collocations

definitions

black and blue

skin that is black and blue has bruises

on it as a result of being hit

black and white

in written form and therefore definite

black ball

to vote against someone, especially so

that they cannot join a club or a social

group

black belt

a high rank in sports such as judo and

karate

black comedy

a play, story, etc. that is funny, but also

shows the unpleasant side of human life

black economy

business activity that takes place

secretly, especially in order to avoid tax

black eye

if you have a black eye, you have a dark

area around your eye because you have

been hit

black humour

jokes or funny stories that deal with the

unpleasant parts of human life

black sheep

someone who is regarded by other

members of their family or group as a

failure or embarrassment

15

WHITE

Jan’s factory is an absolute

white elephant

(=something valuable but useless, of

which the owner would be glad to be free).(It is sa

id that the King of Siam used to

give

a white elephant

to countries that he wanted to ruin.).

When the theatre was first opened it was widely reg

arded as

a white elephant.

Though I believe in telling the truth I think

a white lie

(=a lie told for a good

purpose) is sometimes justified.

He boasted a lot about his courage but when the dan

ger came he

showed the white

feather

(= was a coward).

Many attempts have been made to

whitewash

the man’s reputation (=to make it

appear good and honourable) but the fact remains th

at he is a rogue.

You’re

as white as a sheet

. Have you seen a ghost or something?

She

went white as a sheet

when she heard about the accident.

I won’t believe it useless unless I see it

in black and white

.

I’m sorry, James. I refuse to believe it useless yo

u can show it to me

in black and

white!

Sometimes it is better to tell

a white lie

than to hurt someone’s feelings.

collocations

definitions

a white Christmas

a Christmas when there is snow

white coffee

white coffee has milk or cream in it

white bread

relating to white people who are considered

traditional and boring in their opinions and way of

life

16

white collar

white collar workers have jobs in offices, banks,

etc. rather than jobs working in factories, buildin

g

thing, etc.

white elephant

something that is completely useless, although it

may have cost a lot of money

white flag

a sign that you accept that you have failed or been

defeated

white goods equipment used in the home, for example

washing

machines and refrigerators

white horses waves in the sea or on a lake that are

white at the

top

white knight a person or company that puts money in

to a

business in order to save it from being controlled

by another country

white - knuckled

if you have white – knuckled hands, your hands are

held tightly in a fist because you are anxious or

afraid

white lie

a lie that you tell someone in order to protect the

m

or avoid hurting their feelings

white supremacist someone who believes that white p

eople are better

than people of other races

whitewash

report or examination of events that hides the true

facts about something so that the person who is

responsible will not be punished

white water

a part of a river that looks white because the wate

r

is running very quickly over rocks: whitewater

canoeing

white wedding

a traditional wedding at which the bride wears a

long white dress

Anyway, idiomatic expression can be defined as one

that is natural for a

normal Englishman to say or to write.

There is no way to increase your vocabulary and spe

ak more natural English

but studying the idioms and expressions.

Idiomatic expressions of every kind in English are

rapidly changing. Several

forces are at work to change English idioms.

In many ways a language shapes the thoughts of the

people who speak it, but

the speakers also shape the language.

If enough people start saying or writing a certain

expression, it will become

idiomatic.

It is not necessary to understand idiom. It is only

necessary to accept it.