Idioms

Idioms
An idiom is a group of words which usually has a different meaning from the individual words which it consists of.
This means that the meaning of an idiom may not babe deduced from the words in the idiom. Proverbs, sayings are also considered as idioms.
TYPES OF IDIOMS
The following are the types of idioms we have:

1. Verb and object
   This type of idiom combines a verb with an object. Recall that the object is the receiver of the action.
   Examples:
   Have second thoughts
   This means to change your opinion or begin to have doubts about something.
   Make headway
   Meaning: make progress; forward movement or progress, especially when this is slow or difficult.
   Draw the line
   Meaning: to put a limit on what you will do or allow to happen, especially because you feel something is wrong.
2. Prepositional phrases
   In cold blood
   Done without compassion, deliberately cruel
   At a loss
   Meaning: unsure of what to do or say; speechless
   Behind the scenes
   Meaning: influencing events secretly; unseen
   Beside the point
   Meaning: irrelevant
3. Compounds
   This type of idiom is made up of compound words.
   Examples:State-of-the-art
   Meaning: most modern, most advanced
   Blaze of glory
   Meaning: something very dramatic at the end of your career or your life which makes you famous.
4. Simile
   Simile is comparison, using as or like.
   As blind as a bat
   Meaning: can hardly see
   to have a memory like a sieve
   Meaning: to be forgetful
   to sleep like a log
   Meaning: to sleep very deeply and for a long time
   Have eyes like a hawk
   Meaning: someone who sees every small detail
   To work like a dream
   Meaning: when something works perfectly, e.g. a plan, a machine
   Proverbs
   Examples:
   Don’t count your chicks before they are hatched.
   Meaning: Don’t count on something before it happens.
   A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
   Meaning: having something, even if it is a lesser quantity, is better than taking the chance of losing it in order to attain something else that seems more desirable.
5. Binomial (word plus word)
   Example: high and dry
   Meaning: abandoned, helpless
   high and mighty
   Meaning: Conceited, haughty,
   Sayings or maxims
   Every little helps
   Meaning: even a small amount us helpful
   opposites attract
   Meaning: people who are very different from each other are often attracted to each other.
   EXERCISE
   Write out the meaning of the following idioms:
6. Fish in troubled waters
7. Man proposes, God disposes
8. High and mighty
9. As crazy as a fox
10. A kick in the teeth
11. Draw a line in the sand
12. Let sleeping dogs lie
13. Make a long story short
14. A fool and his money are soon parted
15. Fish in troubled waters
    HOMEWORK
    Make a sentence with any five of the idioms in the exercises above.