VII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2015

Introduction

Nowadays we live in a quickly developed world, the world of new technologies and global changing. English speaking countries are powers, which have strong economy and industry. It is one of the reasons English language is widely developed throughout the world. It means, in its turn, that English language is one of the most frequently used languages in global media too as well as in education. Today it is the foreign language, which is studied by majority of pupils and students in our country. To understand foreign language means not only know basic vocabulary but also the language in all its diversity (proverbs, dialects, idioms, phrasal verbs etc.).

Nowadays this theme is rather contemporary as every learner must be prepared to meet the challenge simply because phraseological units occur so frequently in the spoken and written English. So the urgency of the present research is that the studying of speech influence, particular through the press, is among important problems of modern linguistics. Importance of linguistic studying of newspaper texts is obvious, in spite of powerful development of such mass media as radio and television, the newspaper continues play an important role in a modern society.

Theactuality of the term paper is determined by the necessity of determination of different functions of phraseological units of particular thematic field – education – in modern English language. About phraseology written numerous articles, books, theses, and interest in this of language has not dried up neither researchers nor those who simply indifferent to the word.

The material of this term paper is 60 phraseological units from such newspapers as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Daily Express, The Telegraph, The Times.

The subject is phraseology of modern English.

The object is to study the role of phraseological units in the language.

The aim of the work is to determine the specifics of the use phraseologicalunits in English language.

The aimrequires solving the following tasks:

• to study semantic peculiarities of phraseological units.

• to investigate functional styles, in particularly features of newspaper style.

• to analyze peculiarities of phraseological units of the thematic field “education” and their function in language

Theoretical significance in the fact that the term paper is based on the works of scholars as Aznaurova E.S., Amosova N.N., Arnold I.V., Ashurova D.U., Galperin I.V., Zhukov V.P., Brande V.P., Kunin A. V., Vinigradov V. V., Collins V., Smith L.etc.

Practical significance of the term paper is that the results of the paper can be used in course of lexicology, phraseology and stylistics.

The methods of this work are method of random sampling, descriptive and comparative methods.

The sources of the term paper. While investigatingthe term paper we have widely used different works of well known scientists and lexicographers such as Aznaurova E.S., Amosova N.N., Arnold I.V., Ashurova D.U., Galperin I.V., Zhukov V.P., Brande V.P., Kunin A. V., Vinigradov V. V., Collins V., Smith L.etc.

The structure of term paper consists of introduction, 2 chapters, conclusion, reference and appendix.

1 Phraseology as a science

1.1 Phraseological units and its classifications

The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by phraseological units. Investigations of English phraseology began not long ago. English and American linguists as a rule are busy collecting different words, word-groups and sentences which are interesting from the point of view of their origin, style, usage or some other features. All these units are habitually described as «phraseological units» or «idioms», but no attempt has been made to describe these idioms as a separate class of linguistic units or a specific class of word-groups.

Phraseology as a branch of linguistic science appeared and developed in Russia. English and American linguists collect various words, word-groups, other units presenting some interest. These units are described as idioms. No attempt is made to investigate them as a separate class and lay down a reliable criterion to distinguish between word-groups and phraseological units. The first attempt to place the study of various word-groups on a scientific basis was made by the outstanding Russian linguist A.A. Schachmatov in his book “Syntax” [1]. Investigation of English vocabulary was initiated in our country by prof. A.V. Kunin whose dictionary of English idioms (1955) has valuable information in this branch of linguistics [2]. Phraseology as a branch of linguistic science is closely connected with Semantics, Grammar and Lexicology. It has its own methods of investigation and problems for analysis. The national peculiarity of phraseological units is revealed on all the linguistic levels: phonological, grammatical and lexical. On the phonological level, a phraseological unit is peculiar because the very combination of sounds, it consists of, is characteristic for the phonological system of this or that language. On the lexical level, the national peculiarity of a phraseological unit lies in the fact that it often consists of the words that denote specifically national notions that are determined by the extralinguistic reality: customs, traditions, legends and historic facts of the nation, e.g., the bard of Avon, Fleet Street. The translator should be aware of the cultural and social background of such phraseological units. One more peculiarity of phraseological units is due to the difference in thinking and cognition of human beings. Every nation has its own way of creating images. In most cases phraseological units in different languages, having the same meaning, are different in inner form and images. Compare, the phraseological units with the meaning “be subordinated to someone” in English – under smb’s thumb, in Russian – подкаблуком. Or, e.g., the “similarity” as a Russian see it, may be expressed as “двекапливоды”, a German and a Check – “as two eggs”, and an Englishman – “as two peas”. According to the degree of the national peculiarity of phraseological units, all phraseological units are divided into three groups: 1) International phraseological units, which are based on universal images, e.g., the alpha and omega of smth, to discover America, to cross the Rubicon, the heel of Achilles (Ахиллесова пята), the Trojan horse (троянский конь), the tree of knowledge (дерево/древо познания), thirty pieces of silver (тридцать серебряников), Pandora's box, Herculian pillars, Gordian knot, between Scylla and Charybdis; I came, I saw, I conquered; the Ten Commandments, wise Solomon, prodigal son/to be in (the) seventh heaven; 2) Locally unmarked phraseological units, which are based on neutral images, not nationally peculiar, e.g., to burn one’s fingers, to break one’s heart, to snake in the grass, a fly in the ointment (ложка дегтя в бочке меда), make haste slowly (тише едешь – дальше будешь); 3) Locally marked phraseological units with vividly expressed national and cultural component, e.g., to catch the Speaker’s eye, to set the Thames on fire, to carry coals to Newcastle, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, to dine with Duke Humphry, to cut off with a shillingetc. These and the like idiomatic expressions, including several proverbs and sayings, have usually absolute or near equivalents in languages of one culturally and geographically common area, e.g., to kiss thepost - поцеловатьзамок, as pale as paper – бледныйкакстена; grass widow – соломеннаявдова, measure twice, cut once – семьразотмерь, одинразотрежь; to know smth. as one knows his ten fingers – знатьчто-токаксвоипятьпальцев.

Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units. They are compiled in special dictionaries. The same as words phraseological units express a single notion and are used in a sentence as one part of it. American and British lexicographers call such units «idioms». We can mention such dictionaries as: L.Smith «Words and Idioms», V.Collins «A Book of English Idioms» etc. In these dictionaries we can find words, peculiar in their semantics (idiomatic), side by side with word-groups and sentences. In these dictionaries they are arranged, as a rule, into different semantic groups. Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are formed, according to the degree of the motivation of their meaning, according to their structure and according to their part-of-speech meaning.

Phraseological units are divided into several types. The most known and popular of the classification proposed by academician V.V. Vinogradov.

V.V. Vinogradov has identified three main types of phraseological units: 1.phraseological combinations

2.phraseological unities

3. phraseological fussions

1. phraseological combinations - are word - groups with a partially changed meaning. They may be said to be clearly motivated, that is the meaning of the units can be easily deduced from the meanings of its constituents.

Ex. to be good at smth., to have a bite….

2. unities - are word - groups with a completely changed meaning, that is, the meaning of the unit doesn’t correspond to the meanings of its constituent parts.

Ex. to loose one’s head (to be out of one’s mind), to loose one’s heart to smb.(to fall in love).

3. fussions - are word - groups with a completely changed meaning but, in contrast to the units, they are demotivated, that is, their meaning can’t be deduced from the meanings of its constituent parts [3].

Ex. To come a cropper (to come to disaster).

The Kunin’s classification is the latest outstanding achievement in the Russian theory of phraseology. The classification is based on the combined structural – semantic principle and it also considers the quotient of stability of phraseological units.

1. Nominative phraseological units – are represented by word – groups, including the ones with one meaningful word, and coordinative phrases of the type “wear and tear”, “ well and good”.

2. Nominative – communicative phraseological units – include word – groups, of the type “to break the ice” – “the ice is broken”, that is, verbal word – groups which are transformed into a sentence when the verb is used in the Passive voice.

3. Phraseological units – which are neither nominative nor communicative, include interjectional word- groups.

4. Communicative phraseological units – are represented by proverbs and sayings [4].

Phraseological units can be clasified as parts of speech. This classification was suggested by I.V. Arnold. Here we have the following groups: a) noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train, latchkey child, redbrick university, Green Berets, b) verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-jam, to get on somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out , to make headlines, c) adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead ,d) adverb phraseological units, such as : with a bump, in the soup, like a dream , like a dog with two tails,e) preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of ,f) interjection phraseological units, e.g. “Catch me!”, “Well, I never!” etc. In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quatations, e.g. “The sky is the limit”, “What makes him tick”, “I am easy”. Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. “Too many cooks spoil the broth”, while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g. “Where there is a will there is a way” [5].

Grammatical valency is the ability of a word to appear in various grammatical structures; it is determined by the part of speech the word belongs to. The grammatical valency distinguishes individual meanings of a polysemantic word.

V + N – to grow roses (wheat) = “to cultivate”

V + V – to grow to like = “to begin”

V + A – to grow old (tired, dark) = “to become”

V + D – to grow quickly (rapidly) = “to increase”

But grammatical valency of the words belonging to the same part of speech is not necessarily identical. E.g., to propose (suggest) a plan, but it is only “propose” that can be followed by the infinitive of a verb – to propose to do something.

Lexical valency is the ability of a word to be used in different lexical contexts.

V + N – to deliver letters = “to distribute letters”

To deliver a blow = “to strike a blow”

To deliver a lecture = “to give a lecture”

The range of grammatical valency is restricted by lexical valency:

A + N – blind people (+) – blind sugar (-)

A smiling girl (+) – a smilimg crocodile (-)

But phrases, literally absurd, may be used figuratively:

Look at him! A smiling crocodile!

Lexical valency may be different in different languages. In the following examples grammatical valency is the same in English and Russian but lexical valency is different:

Heavy sea; strong tea;

Heavy fog; strong sheese;

Heavy silence; strong flavour;

Heavy clouds; strong constitution

Heavy sleep.

All free word-groups are formed on definite lexico-grammatical patterns. The pattern is an arrangement of component elements of a collocation. The patters of free word-groups are generative, i.e. any word in a sentence may be replaced by its synonym or hyponym:

Brave (courageous, valiant, fearless, bold) man (woman, boy).

Ph.u. as distinguished from free word-groups have three main parameters (according to the theory of prof. A.V. Kunin):

1. Ph.u. are language units, their characteristic feature is semantic complexity, i.e. full and partial transference of meaning, e.g., to burn one’s fingers is used figuratively, it is a metaphor based on the similarity of action.

2. Structural separability and semantic cohesion, e.g., to kick the bucket – to die, Mrs. Grundy, Tom, Dick, and Harry.

3. A ph.u. is never formed on a generative pattern of a free word-combination, one cannot predict the formation of a ph.u. The patterns in phraseology are of some other character; they are patterns of description (unpredictable). There are some grammatical patterns (noun phrases, verbal phrases), some semantic patterns (metaphoric formation, metonymic formation).

Phraseological units are set-expressions with semantic complexity which are not formed on generative patterns of free word-combinations. The pattern of a ph.u. is that of description.

1.2 Expressive colouring of newspaper articles with the help of phrase units

Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly and frequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events. Organizations such as trade unions, religious groups, corporations or clubs may have their own newspapers, but the term is more commonly used to refer to daily or weekly publications that bring news of general interest to large portions of the public in a specific geographic area.

General circulations newspapers play a role in commerce through the advertisements they carry; they provide readers with information of practical value, such as television schedules weather maps and listings of stock prices; and these newspapers provide a coarse of entertainment through their stories and through such features as comic strips and crossword puzzles. However one of the most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a crucial function in a democracy) is to provide citizens with information on government and politics.

The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europe shortly after Johann Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable type in the 1450s. in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of printed news books short pamphlets reporting on a news event ballads accounts of news events written in verse and usually printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, circulated in Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news report printed in the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico in 1541.

The oldest surviving newspaper written in English appears to have been published in Amsterdam in 1620 by Pieter van de Keere, a Dutch and print engraver who had lived in London for a few year [6].

According to the historian Joseph Frank along with their political coverage newspapers in England in the 1640s, were among the first in the world to use headlines, to print advertisements, to illustrate stories with woodcuts, to employ a woman _ «a she –intelligencer»_ to collect news and to have newsboys, or more commonly newsgirls, sell papers in the streets. They are also among the first newspapers to complete with news books and news ballads in coverage of sensational events like bloody crimes.

Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper style dates from the 17th century. Newspaper writing is addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 20, 1622. The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success, struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown. With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before the public a paper of its own – the London Gazette, first published on February 5, 1666. The paper was a semi – weekly and carried official information, royal decrees, news from abroad, and advertisements.

The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the essay and the article.

The essay in English literature dates from the 16th century and its name is taken from the short « Essays» (= experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. According to Galperinan essay «is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished argument or a conclusive examination of any matter [7]. Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on a writer’s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose.

The most characteristic features of essays, however remain

1) Brevity of expression

2) The use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated:

3) A rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas;

4) The abundant use of emotive words

5) The use of idioms and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process [8].

Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on one particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism. To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyze the following basic newspaper features

• brief news items

• advertisements and announcements

• the headline

• the editorial

The headline is a dependent form of newspaper writing. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. In other words headlines are almost a summary of the information contained in the news item or article [7].

The function of editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Editorials make an extensive use of emotionally colored vocabulary.

The main function of advertisements and announcements is to give information about a product or service used to attract potential consumers; advertising takes place in newspapers and magazines, on hoardings, on radio and television and on the Internet [9].

The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. News items are essentially matter - of - fact and stereotyped forms of expression prevail.it goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary which is used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But newspaper style has also its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:

a) special political and economic terms like constitution president, etc.

b) non – term political vocabulary such as public people unity etc.

c) newspaper clichés which are commonplace phrases familiar to the reader. Clichés occur in newspaper headlines more often to give special coloring and emotiveness. e.g pressing problem, speaking realization etc.

d) abbreviations _ names of organizations, public and state body, political associations, industrial and other companies etc – known by their initials are very common in newspapers. E.g UNO( united Nation Organization), FO ( foreign Office), etc.

e) neologism_ a new word or sense of a word and the coining or use of new words and senses. Neologisms make their way into the langiage of newspaper easily. E. g coffee (the person upon whom one cough), abdicate (to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach) etc [10].

Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:

• Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23½ by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards «compact» newspapers is changing this.

• Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe.

• Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18½ by 12¼ inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom [10].

While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community.

A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Typically, the majority of these newspapers’ staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers [11].

Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States, such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.

Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few, if any, national newspapers, and in almost every market one newspaper has an effective monopoly. Certain newspapers, notably The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are available at limited locations throughout the country. Large metropolitan newspapers with also have expanded distribution networks and, with effort, can be found outwith their normal area [11].

There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterised as international newspapers. Some, such as Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or «international editions» of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.

But the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles) are characterized by the subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or articles and should rather be classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper [12]. However, newspaper publicistic writing bears a stamp of its own style. Though it seems natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate phenomenon characterized by a combination of styles – the newspaper style and the publicistic style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids.

English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means, which is perceived by the community as separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing, instructing the reader. In fact, all kinds of newspapers writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion or political and appraisal and other matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and the way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its one of the smartest ways to illustrate the topic and to direct it to the point is to use idioms in the article. Here are idioms found in popular newspapers.

General circulations newspapers play a role in commerce through the advertisements they carry; they provide readers with information of practical value, such as television schedules weather maps and listings of stock prices; and these newspapers provide a coarse of entertainment through their stories and through such features as comic strips and crossword puzzles [13]. However one of the most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a crucial function in a democracy) is to provide citizens with information on government and politics .

The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europe shortly after Johann Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable type in the 1450s. in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of printed news books short pamphlets reporting on a news event ballads accounts of news events written in verse and usually printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, circulated in Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news report printed in the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico in 1541 [14].

In newspaper article as in any other written genre, all changes occurring in language are instantly reflected. Syntactic phraseological units are actively realized in newspaper article. With their help the author can get a definite purpose or influence on the reader. Syntactic phraseological units are understood as the syntactic units possessing stability, reproducibility, integrity, idiomaticity by specific character of relations between components, and also communicative and esthetic functions in language.

Emotionally-estimated phraseological units are very expressive. They express feelings, emotions; in newspaper articles syntactic phraseological units with the neutral maintenance aren't presented. It occurs because the author of the article always wants to catch reader’s attention to a certain theme, to express the opinion, but, using phraseological units with neutral value, this effect can’t be achieved. The relation to the subject of speech is expressed through their situation assessment, whether it be negative or positive.

Phraseological units:

- evaluate events and people

- attract attention

- illustrate facts

- organize texts

Also they do the next:

- promote solidarity

- evoke humour [15].

2 Semanticstructureoftheconcept “education” in the English phraseology

2.1 Phraseological units of the thematic field “education” in modern English language and their function (on the material of media)

During the researching we have analysed about 30 articles of following newspapers: The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Daily Express, The Telegraph, The Times. It should be mentioned that phraseological units are widely used in the English newspapers.

In our term paper we distinguished all phraseological units according to classification of prof. Koonin. His classification is based on the function of the phraseological unit in communication. Phraseological units are classified into: nominative, nominative-communicative, interjectional, communicative.

Generally, to understand the function and peculiarities of phraseological units we can describe each of them.

“George Bush has never had a reputation as a bookworm, but for a man derided by his critics as an intellectual lightweight the president's holiday reading list packs a punch” (The Guardian, Wednesday 17 August 2005). A bookworm is someone who reads a lot. It is used sometimes in the negative sense. Here it describes George Bush as the man who usually doesn’t read a lot, however it turns out that he is. The phraseological unit a bookworm is substantive and its function is nominative.

“Customers who are duped by misleading copycat websites were offered some hope last week when the government pledged extra funding to tackle such rogue traders” (The Sunday Times, 9 March 2014). Copycat is someone who does or says exactly the same as someone else. Like the last phraseological unit this refers to substantive units and serves nominative function.

“Teenagers will learn by heart and recite classic poems in a new national competition to be overseen by Sir Andrew Motion” (The Times, 6 December 2012). Tolearn by heart means to learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory. According to classification of prof. Koonin, this phraseological unit serves the nominative-communicative function.

“All too often we learn important financial lessons the hard way, especially when we are young” (The Daily Express, Sunday, June 3, 2012). To learnthe hard way has the meaning to have a bad experience and also serves nominative-communicative function.

“For a young manager, there are few better places to learn the ropes” (The Telegraph, 3 December 2014). To learn the ropes means to learn how to do a job and serves the nominative-communicative function.

“But this is why our military leaders would do well to learn some valuable lessons from our allies across the pond in Canada – where separate sleeping quarters for different sexes on bases and missions were eventually axed – ironically because, you know, they needed to bond better” (The Telegraph, Saturday 6 December 2014). To learnlessons means to suffer a bad experience and know not to do it again. This phraseological unit serves the nominative-communicative function.

“Black eyes, bruised ribs, broken nose... being an epileptic means you have much learn at the school of hard knocks” (The Guardian, Sunday, 8 December 2002). This phraseological unit means hard life of somebody and its function is nominative.

“The trouble is that no-one wants to be the school swot, so we tend to complain about work and talk ourselves into a funk” (The Telegraph, Saturday 6 December 2014). Swot is a student who is ridiculed for studying excessively. It servers nominative function.

“It's often said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Actually this proverb is, for the most part, not true. For much of the history of modern neuroscience, the adult brain was believed to be a fixed structure that, once damaged, could not be repaired. But research published since the 1960s has challenged this assumption, showing that it is actually a highly dynamic structure, which changes itself in response to new experiences, and adapts to injuries – a phenomenon referred to as neuroplasticity” (The Guardian, Saturday, 13 September 2014). The meaning of this phraseological unit is the older you are the more set in your ways you become. Its function is communicative.

“Or perhaps if I called them teacher’s pets, you’d get a clearer idea of what I’m thinking about. Why are some artists admired beyond their worth by some galleries, while others are not?” (The Sunday Times, 17 March 2013). Teacher’s pets is the favourite pupil of the teacher. Its function is nominative.

“These testimonials teach us an essential lesson; the men and women who died were not soft civilians, and nor would they have wanted to be. They deserve not our pity, but our pride...” (The Telegraph, 3 December 2014). To teach someone a lesson means to do something to someone in order to punish them for their bad behaviour. The phraseological unit’s function is nominative-communicative.

“Asked if she thinks it was easier to make it to the top as a female chef in New York rather than London she shrugs. "I don't think about it. I just keep doing what I'm doing." Right now that includes promoting her new cookbook, A Girl and Her Pig, to be published here in the autumn, and musing on plans to open a restaurant in London. "It wouldn't be a gastro pub," she says. "That would be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs” (The Observer, Sunday, 19 August 2012). The meaning of this unit is to give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you. It’s function is communicative.

“Rising numbers of primary schools are set to be pulled out of local council control after slipping below tough new government targets in the three-Rs, official league tables will show next week” (The Telegraph, 5 December 2014). The phraseological unit the three-Rs used to refer to the basic areas of education: reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s function is nominative.

“Anthony Joshua passed his biggest test as a professional with flying colours as he battered Russia’s Denis Bakhtov to defeat in less than two rounds at London’s O2 Arena” (The Times, 11 October 2014). If you do something such as pass an exam with flying colours, you do it very successfully. Its function is nominative.

“In one respect at least, Nicky Morgan will find becoming Education Secretary as easy as ABC” (The Telegraph, 15 July 2014). As easy as ABC means something which is very easy, it’s function is also nominative.

“This back-to-basics approach is at the centre of the education secretary's philosophy, one heavily influenced by systems in places such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as the US state of Massachusetts, all mentioned in Gove's address to MPs” (The Guardian, 7 February 2013). This phraseological unit express the using of traditional methods in teaching. It serves the nominative function.

“Hard work = not relevant: We do care about accomplishing great work. Sustained B-level performance, despite “A for effort”, generates a generous severance package, with respect. Sustained A-level performance, despite minimal effort, is rewarded with more responsibility and great pay” (The Guardian, 19 March 2012). A for effort means the realizing that someone tries one’s best to do something even though they may not be successful. Its function is nominative.

“Research shows that homes near sporting venues can enjoy above-average growth in value as fans pay a premium to live near their favourite ground, or simply to take advantage of the extra facilities nearby” (The Times, 13 June 2014). This phraseological unit has positive meaning – better or higher than average and its function is also nominative-communicative.

“It is of course unsurprising that some children weren't average: some children will inevitably be below average, because an average is just a measure of the most typical outcome for children. It is statistically incoherent to condemn a system for some children failing to reach the national average. To repeat, some children will always fail to reach the average” (The Guardian, 15 March 2012). This unit has the opposite meaning – negative – worse or lower than average. Its function is nominative-communicative.

“With this in mind, here are five steps to developing a company-wide ruthless sales focus:

1. Map out your client journey, pre and post-sale. Understand what you do currently.

2. Brainstorm how that could be refined to reduce cost of sale and increase client satisfaction…” (The Guardian, 28 October 2014). Brainstorm means try to develop an idea or think of new ideas and its function is also nominative-communicative.

“It is part of the job of an endurance cyclist to cover a lot of ground, but few take in as much as Sarah Storey over the course of a career” (The Times, 21 February 2011). To cover a lot of ground meansto complete a lot of material in a class or course. This phraseological unit serves nominative-communicative function.

“Chinese students' culture is that they work to get credits and marks and because they don't get credit for going to English classes, their attendance can be poor," she says. "We have now asked for them to get a certificate of attendance at these classes” (The Guardian, 15 April 2014). Get credit for going to English classes means receive official recognition and credits after passing a course. Its function is nominative-communicative function.

“University scholars in Scotland are more likely to oppose independence, believing that separating from the United Kingdom would damage the country’s higher education sector, according to a poll” (The Times, 11 September 2014). Higher education is the education after graduating from high school - usually college or university. The function of this phraseological unit is nominative.

“Jonathan Flanagan, the transformation from promising youngster who didn’t quite make the grade to fully fledged Liverpool player was captured in a message he received in the away dressing room at White Hart Lane ten days ago” (The Times, 26 December 2013). Make the grade means to be satisfactory and of an expected level. Its function is nominative-communicative.

“HomeLet, a referencing firm, said the tenant “did not meet their salary requirements”. However, a closer look by Mrs Waterhouse found that the tenant was a higher-rate taxpayer who had a two-year track record of paying comparable rent on time” (The Telegraph, 6 December 2014). Meet the requirements (for something) means to fulfil the requirements (for something). Its function is also nominative-communicative.

“I had had a meeting with the same form three months earlier and had been told I passed with flying colours” (The Guardian, 20 August 2014). Pass with flying colours means to pass something easily and with a high score. The function of this phraseological unit is nominative-communicative.

“Philip Larkin was correct in believing that it is better to read a poem oneself rather than hearing it read, I suggest that when doing so one should read it out aloud” (The Times, 4 April 2013). The unit read to oneself means to read without saying anything so that other people cannot hear you. Its function is nominative-communicative.

“In America, it seems that everyone has a job somewhere, often so students can work their way through college” (The Guardian, 14 March 2013). The meaning of this phraseological unit is to work at a job to help pay for your college or university expenses and function – nominative-communicative.

“Britain’s motorists are facing a new enemy in the shape of a super-camera capable of catching up to 50 times more drivers than conventional traffic cameras” (The Sunday Times, 22 September 2013). The meaning of this phraseological unit is to move fast or work hard to reach someone or something that is ahead of you and function – nominative-communicative.

“There are ways to use technology to automate attendance-taking, but none of them are perfect. Counting noses is the only way that really works” (The Guardian, 10 May 2010). This phraseological unit has the semantic meaning to count the number of people. Its function is nominative-communicative.

“Britain’s cow colleges are in trouble” (The Times, 26 November 2014). The meaning of this phraseological unit is used mostly in the negative sense, in fact, it is the school where farming or agriculture is studied. Its function is nominative (subjective).

“Paper will “crank out editorial products in space of 10 weeks” (The Telegraph, Friday 1 August 2014). The meaning of this phraseological unit is to write a paper or essay in a mechanical way. Its function is nominative-communicative.

“Did Trials Day at Cheltenham on Saturday produce future champions or fakes? Coral offer 16-1 against the afternoon’s 84 runners drawing a blank in six weeks’ time” (The Times, 20 November 2014). Draw a blank means to get no response from someone when you ask him or her a question. The function of this phraseological unit is nominative-communicative.

“The school leaving age is about to be raised to 18. But does dropping out of school early lead to a life of manual work and penury?” (The Guardian, 1 December 2008). Phraseological unit drop out of school has the semantic meaning to stop attending school and the function is nominative-communicative.

“Its main character, CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon), is an eager-beaver number-cruncher toiling in a huge, impersonal 19th-floor office with long rows of identical desks occupied by hundreds of co-workers. He carries a torch for the lovely, ingenuous elevator girl Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine)” (The Telegraph, 15 Jun 2012). Phraseological unit eager beaver describes someone who works very hard and is very enthusiastic. The function is nominative-communicative.

“It is obviously time for Sebastian Vettel to fill in the blank on the Formula One career sheet with a victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix” (The Times, 26 July 2013). Phraseological unit to fill in the blank has the meaning to supply the missing words or information on a test or other exercise. The function is nominative-communicative.

“Find out if you’re leading the pack or flunking out on the fitness front by completing these three simple tests for your age group” (The Times, 16 February 2008). Phraseological unit to flunk out is used in the negative sense; its meaning is fail a course, to fail and then leave school, its function is nominative-communicative.

“First in early adolescence – when one lives with one's nose in a book” (The Guardian, 6 May 2014). Phraseological unit has the meaning to be reading a book, its function is nominative-communicative according prof. Koonin’s classification.

“The west coast actors who appropriated America's east coast Ivy League look, elevated the elite style to the height of cool and defined a ..” (The Guardian, 8 December 2011). Phraseological unit Ivy League describe small group of older and famous eastern United States colleges and universities such as Harvard and Yale and Princeton, its function is nominative according prof. Koonin’s classification.

“The editor in chief of Vogue Anna Wintour, it had been noticed, had been playing hooky from afternoon fashion shows and running in at the last 5 years” (The Guardian, 20 June 2008). Play hooky means to not go to school when you should. The function of this phraseological unit is nominative-communicative.

“In the present publish-or-perish culture, critical introductions offer attractive opportunities for academics to consolidate their profile by restating and to some extent...” (The Sunday Times 15 June 2007). Phraseological unit publish or perish describes university professors often have to publish books or articles in journals or they will not be successful in their jobs at the university, its function is nominative-communicative.

“With its satisfying onomatopoeia and scope for silly voices, it’s one of my favourite books ever to read out loud” (The Times 01 February 2014). This phraseological unit has the meaning to read something so that other people can hear you, its function is nominative-communicative.

So, we have come to the next results given in the diagram. As we can see from the diagram, phraseological units with the nominative function take 47 % of all of them, nominative-communicative – 45 %, communicative function – 8 %, and there are no interjectional phraseological units.

Diagram 1

We have also divided all phraseological units of this semantic field into 3 big groups:

1. phraseological units which characterise a person (12 %):

to be a bookworm, to be a copycat, to be a swot, to be teacher's pet;

1. phraseological units which determine some action (55%):

to learn something off by heart, to learn the hard way, to learn the ropes, to learn your lesson, to live and learn, to teach an old dog new tricks, to teach someone a lesson, to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, know one's ABCs, cover a lot of ground, crack a book, get credit for (a course), make the grade, meet the requirements (for something), pass with flying colors, read to oneself, work one's way through college;

1. phraseological units which express some objects (15 %):

the school of hard knocks, the university of life, A for effort, the three Rs, higher education;

4) phraseological units which describe some features (18%):

below average, above average, in black and white, back to basics, as easy as ABC, with flying colours.

According to grammatical meaning we can divide phraseological units into following groups:

1. Verb + Noun (67 %):

to learn the hard way, to learn the ropes,pass with flying colors, read to oneself, work one's way through college, play hooky, count noses, fill in the blanks, hit the books;

1. Noun + Noun (10 %):

the school of hard knocks, the university of life, A for effort, Ivy League

1. Adjective (Numeral) + Noun (12 %):

as easy as ABC, with flying colours, higher education, the three Rs;

1. Adjective + Adjective (3 %)

in black and white

1. Adverb + Adverb (8 %):

below average, above average, back to basics

According to the semantically meaning we have also distinguished 3 groups of them:

1) phraseological units with positive meaning (24 %):

with flying colours, as easy as ABC, in black and white, know one's ABCs, above average, make the grade, meet the requirements (for something), pass with flying colors;

2) phraseological units with negative meaning ( 36 %):

to be a copycat, to be a bookworm, to learn the hard way, to learn your lesson, the school of hard knocks, to be a swot, to teach an old dog new tricks, to be teacher's pet, to teach someone a lesson, to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, below average, crack a book;

1. phraseological units with neutral meaning (40 %):

to learn something off by heart, to learn the ropes, work one's way through college, read to oneself, higher education, A for effort, brainstorm something, cover a lot of ground, back to basics, the university of life, the three Rs, to live and learn, to learn something off by heart.

So, according to the content of all newspapers that we have observed it is clear that there are no articles without the use of expressive coloring. Practice shows us the presence of idioms, phraseological units in each of them. The variety of these units helps to create the image of some events in unusual, vivid and bright figure.

Most of the phraseological units that were used in the articles have the function of presenting someone’s actions in a bright way, using special language that is more interesting to read for nowadays readers.

It is very important to point out that the authors used most phrase units of action, state, feelings, quality in order to pay attention on the act of doer, because nowadays people who are interested in news all over the world chose information containing actions, but not description of some objects. Because reading of such kind materials make readers boring.

This position can be proved by the choice of newspaper articles in this research. The articles are political and the news of sport were chosen because it contains events in which the whole country is interested.

Phraseological units in these articles show that there are a lot of ways coloring and making expressive texts that may have not interesting information, but according richness of the language makes it interesting. And even such type of articles as political and sport can be very interesting.

2.2 Differences and usage idioms in American English and British English

There ate five main types of English which differ in pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary but the d`ifferences are not so crucial. There are: British English, American English, Australian English, Indian English and African English.

American English has been the language of American continent for more that three centuries. These two versions of English are the results of the different historical development of England and America.

There is number of similar differences in vocabulary, there are also differences in spelling, grammar, intonation and pronunciation.

1. Spelling: reading American books without having been told about peculiarities of American spelling, we might regard as a misprint what is in fact correct American spelling. E.g. the endings “–our”, “-re”, are written “–or”, “-er” (color, labor, center, theater). The “l” isn’t doubled in such word as traveller, travelling etc. The Americans have also adopted a simplified way of spelling certain words as program, catalog, check, thru, tho instead of programm, catalogue, cheque, through, though.

2. Grammar: the differences in grammar are also so few. E.g. most American say: „Do you have? I don’t have” where an Englishman would say:“ Have you got? I haven’t got”.

3. Vocabulary: there are the great differences in vocabulary. These differences are important, because our ignoring them may lead to unpleasant misunderstanding. There are many differences in the names of foodstuffs, shop and clothing.

In the USA and in Great Britain

a billion is called a thousand million

a trillion is called a billion

first floor is called ground floor

check is called bill

bill is called banknote

gasoline (or “gas”) is called petrol

pants is called trousers

store is called shop

general store is called department store

4. Pronunciation: the American pronunciation has preserved a feature of the language in its earlier stages of development while the British pronunciation of these days appears to be more developed in comparison with it. The American speak somewhat more slowly than the English.

A. The /-r/ sound is also pronounced when final (e.g. far, four, were) or when followed by a consonant (farm, force, work)

B. The /-o/ sound is so open that is sometimes seems to us as if the Americans pronounced /-a/ instead (e.g. on, not, dollar).

C. The /-a:/ sound in such words as class, past half, after, can’t dance, example is pronounced something like “a” is bad.

5. Intonation: intonation is “melody” of speech. In comparison with the lively British intonation, the American intonation seems to be somehow monotonous. The melody of the speech is simpler as there are not rises and falls of the speech and that is why American English is easier to understand than British English.

How then does American English differ from British English in the use of idioms? There are no radical differences in actual use. The main differences are in the situations where idiomatic expressions are used. There have been many studies recently on this subject. American English adopts and creates new idioms at a much faster rate compared to British English. Also the idioms of AmE origin tend to spread faster and further. After it has first been established in the U. S., an American idiom may soon be found in other "variants" and dialects of English. Nowadays new British idioms tend to stay on the British Isles and are rarely encountered in the U. S.

British idioms are actually more familiar to other Europeans or to the people of the British Commonwealth than to Americans, even though the language is same. The reason for all these facts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said that the U. S. has taken the role of the leading nation in the development of language, media and popular culture. Britain just doesn't have the magnitude of media influence that the United States controls.

The background and etymological origins of most idioms is at best obscure. This is the reason why a study of differences between the idioms of American and British English is somewhat difficult. But it also makes the cases, where background, etymology and history are known, even more interesting. Some idioms of the "worldwide English" have first been seen in the works of writers like Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll or even in the paperbacks of contemporary novelists. An example of Shakespearian quotation can be found in the following sentence: "As a social worker, you certainly see the seamy side of life." Biblical references are also the source of many idioms. Sports terms, technical terms, legal terms, military slang and even nautical expressions have found their way to the everyday use of English language. Following are some examples of these, some used in either American or British English and some used in both:

"Having won the first two Tests, Australia is now almost certain to retain the Ashes." (Ashes is a British English idiom that is nowadays a well-established cricket term.)

"In his case the exception proves the rule." (A legal maxim -- in full:"the exception proves the rule in cases not excepted". Widely used in both AmE and BrE.)

"To have the edge on/over someone." (This is originally American English idiom, now established in almost every other form of English, including BrE.)

"A happy hunting ground." (Place where one often goes to obtain something or to make money. Originally American English idiom from the Red Indians' Paradise.)

"To bark up the wrong tree." (Originally from raccoon-hunting in which dogs were used to locate raccoons up in trees.)

"Paddle one's own canoe." (This is an American English idiom of the late 18th Century and early 19th Century.)

Although American English and British English are similar, they do not always use the same idioms.

However, some idioms are found in both American English and British English.

These are a few well-known idioms that have the same meaning in both American English and British English:

a piece of cakegood grade

(If something is a piece of cake, it is very easy to do.)

That math test was a piece of cake.

just the ticket

(If something is just the ticket, it is the perfect thing.)

A day on the beach is just the ticket to help me relax.

doing time

(When someone is doing time, they are spending time in jail or prison.)

Sam is doing time for theft.

off your rocker

(If you are off your rocker, you are acting crazy or insane.)

Tom is acting weird today. He is off his rocker.

with child

(A woman who is with child is pregnant.)

Sally is eating healthy because she is with child.

lost your lunch

(If you vomit, you might say you lost your lunch.)

She had the flu and lost her lunch.

The idioms above are the same in both American English and British English.

Many times idioms in British English are different from idioms in American English.

For example, suppose someone is in jail or prison.

In American English you would say they are:

in the slammer or behind bars

In British English, you would say they are:

in the clink

All of these are ways of saying that someone is in prison.

Here is another example:

In American English, if you want someone to hurry up, you might say:

Shake a leg!

However, in British English, you would say:

Pull your finger out! or Get your finger out!

Here is one more example:

In American English, if something is very common and easy to get, you might say it is:

a dime a dozen

In British English, you might say it is:

ten a penny or two a penny

Here are some idioms that are unique to British English.

take the mickey/mike out

(If you take the mickey or take the mike, you are teasing or copying someone.)

The kids would take the mickey out of him because of the way he talked.

jobs for the boys

(This is a reference to people in power who use their power to give jobs to friends and family.)

The store owner only has jobs for the boys.

off your own bat

(You do something off your own bat when you do something without being told.)

He cleaned the kitchen off his own bat.

daft as a brush

(Someone who is daft as a brush is not very smart.)

Sometimes Bill acts daft as a brush, but he is actually very smart.

queer fish

(You might say that someone is a queer fish if you think they are strange.)

Bob is a queer fish because he likes to eat strawberry jam on his hamburger.

on the blower

(If someone is on the blower, they are talking on the phone.)

It is considered rude to be on the blower in public.

noddy work

(Noddy work is something that is very easy to do.)

Washing laundry is noddy work.

quart into a pint pot

(If you are putting a quart into a pint pot, you are putting too much into a small space. A quart is more than a pint.)

Trying to fit everything into my little closet is like trying to put a quart into a pint pot.

lose your bottle

(If you lose your bottle, you lose your courage to do something.)

Ask her on a date before you lose your bottle.

laugh to see a pudding crawl

(If someone would laugh to see a pudding crawl, that means it is easy to make them laugh.)

Sally thinks I'm funny, but Sally would laugh to see a pudding crawl.

banana skin

(A banana skin is something that causes embarrassment.)

No one liked the film. It is a banana skin for the movie industry.

bent as a nine bob note

(If someone is bent as a nine bob note, they are dishonest.)

Tim is a criminal, and he is bent as a nine bob note.

on the dole

(If someone does not have a job and is receiving financial assistance from the government, you say they are on the dole.)

After he lost his job, his family was on the dole for two years.

in a tick

(If someone says they will do something in a tick, that means they will complete it soon and quickly.)

Supper will be ready in a tick.

Here are some idioms that are unique to American English.

Shoot off one’s mouth (express one's opinions loudly), jump down my throat! (become angry with someone), pull someone’s leg (fool someone), play it by ear (improvise as one goes along), get off someone’s back (stop bothering someone), people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, (one should not criticize when one is equally at fault), go to the dogs (become run-down), not to have a leg to stand on (to have no good defence for one's opinions or actions).

How then does American English differ from British English in the use of idioms? There are no radical differences in actual use. The main differences are in the situations where idiomatic expressions are used. There have been many studies recently on this subject.

American English adopts and creates new idioms at a much faster rate compared to British English. Also the idioms of AmE origin tend to spread faster and further. After it has first been established in the U.S., an American idiom may soon be found in other "variants" and dialects of English. Nowadays new British idioms tend to stay on the British Isles and are rarely encountered in the U.S. British idioms are actually more familiar to other Europeans or to the people of the British Commonwealth than to Americans, even though the language is same. The reason for all these facts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said that the U.S. has taken the role of the leading nation in the development of language, media and popular culture. Britain just doesn't have the magnitude of media influence that the United States controls.

The future of idiomatic expressions in the English language seems certain. They are more and more based on American English. This development will continue through new mediums like the Internet and interactive mediums. It is hard to say what this will do to idioms and what kind of new idioms are created. This will be an interesting development to follow, and by no means does it lessen the humour, variety and colour of English language.

Conclusion

In every natural language phraseological units appear in the spoken and written speech, intertwined with many other lexical items. The phraseological units we have distinguished with the method of rapid sampling are distinguished into 3 groups. The most widely used group is phraseological units with the nominative function (47 %), then nominative-communicative (45 %), communicative function (8 %), and interjectional phraseological units are not used in the articles.

The learner of a foreign language is gradually exposed to samples of language which contain these lexical units, which the learner is expected to interpret and comprehend and lastly reproduce.

After analyzing phraseological units we have come to the next conclusions:

-Teaching phraseological units with specific strategies can help the learner to understand and produce idioms.

-Knowledge of phraseological units of English can promote language fluency.

-The best way to teach phraseological units is to treat them as new items and try to encourage the learners to guess their meaning from situation and context.

-Confuse phraseological units with proverbs and colloquial language in teaching.

-There certain problems and difficulties students encounter while learning idiomatic expressions.

-Learning phraseological units are important in everyday English use.

Phraseological unit’s usage of language has become very common in English that it can allow the learner to speak or write fluently with using idioms. Therefore, the learning of phraseological units can be considered as an integral part of vocabulary learning. Phraseological units can be added to the vocabulary being learned by including them in dialogues and stories which are created to supplement regular materials.

References

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2. Кунин, А.В. Англо-русский фразеологический словарь, 4-ое изд., переработанное и дополненное, Москва, 2007

3. Vinogradov, V.V. About the main types of phraseological units in the Russian language. Selected Works. Lexicology and lexicography. Moscow: 1999

4. Kunin, А.V., The course of Phraseology of the modern English language: Textbook, 3^rd ed. Dubna: Phoenix, 2005, pp: 488.

5. Арнольд И. В. Стилистика современного английского языка: Стилистика декодирования. М.: Просвещение, 1990.

6. Reah, D., The Language of Newspapers. London, New York, Routledge: International Ltd, 1998

7. Galperin, I.R., Essays on the stylistics of the English language. Moscow: Publishing House Lit. on foreign lang, 1998

8. Н. Robbins & R. Oliver. Developing ideas into Essays and speeches, Longmans Green and Co. N. Y., 2009

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10. Galperin I.R. Stylistic. – Moscow: Higher school, 2012

11. http://daggershop.com/Newspaper

12. T. Kuznets and Y. Screbnev "Stylistics of English language", Moscow 1990

13. Ulmann S. Language and style, N. Y., 1994.

14. Meggle G. To hell with Speech Act Theory // Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Approach.-Amsterdam, 1995

15. Close R.A. Reference Grammar for Students of English. М.: 1989

16. Кобзева Н. А. Education Idioms and Exercises at Foreign Language Classes [Текст] / Н. А. Кобзева // Молодой ученый. - 2011. - №5. Т.2. - c. 15-16

17. The Guardian

18. The Sunday Times

19. The Daily Express

20. The Telegraph

21. The Times

Lexicographical sources

1. Cambridge Idioms Dictionary. Cambridge University Press, 2006

2. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge University

3. Press, 2003

4. McGraw-Hill – McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003

5. Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases: Oxford University Press. - UK, 2000

Appendix

Phraseological units

Meaning

1. To be a bookworm.

Someone who reads a lot.

1. To be a copycat.

Someone who does or says exactly the same as someone else.

1. To learn something off by heart.

To learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory.

1. To learn the hard way.

To have a bad experience.

1. To learn the ropes.

To learn how to do a job.

1. To learn your lesson

To suffer a bad experience and know not to do it again

1. To live and learn

Said when you hear or discover something which is surprising:

1. The school of hard knocks.

Often said about people who haven't had an easy life.

1. To be a swot.

A student who is ridiculed for studying excessively.

1. To teach an old dog new tricks.

The older you are the more set in your ways you become.

1. To be teacher's pet.

To be the favourite pupil of the teacher.

1. To teach someone a lesson

To do something to someone in order to punish them for their bad behavior.

1. To teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

To give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you

1. The three Rs.

Used to refer to the basic areas of education: reading,writing and arithmetic.

1. The University of Life.

People who never went on to higher education often say this.

1. With flying colours.

If you do something such as pass an exam with flying colours, you do it very successfully.

1. As easy as ABC

About something which is very easy

1. Back to basics

Using of traditional methods in teaching

1. In black and white

Something which has been written very clearly

1. Know one's ABCs

To know something very well

1. A for effort

To realize that someone tries one’s best to do something even though they may not be successful

1. Above average

Better or higher than average

1. Below average

Worse or lower than average

1. Brainstorm something

Try to develop an idea or think of new ideas

1. Cover a lot of ground

Complete a lot of material in a class or course

1. Crack a book

Open a book to study usually used in the negative

1. Get credit for (a course)

Receive official recognition and credits after passing a course

1. Higher education

Education after graduating from high school - usually college or university

1. Make the grade

To be satisfactory and of an expected level

1. Meet the requirements (for something)

To fulfill the requirements [for something

1. Pass with flying colors

To pass something easily and with a high score

1. Read to oneself

To read without saying anything so that other people cannot hear you

1. Work one's way through college

To work at a job to help pay for your college or university expenses

1. Сall the roll

To call the names of students on a roll and expect them to answer if they are there

1. Cap and gown

The special cap called a mortarboard and the robe that is worn during academic ceremonies such as graduation

1. Catch up to (someone or something)

To move fast or work hard to reach someone or something that is ahead of you

1. Count noses

To count the number of people

1. Cow college

A school where farming or agriculture is studied

1. Crank out a paper

To write a paper or essay in a mechanical way

1. Cut class

To not go to class

1. Draw a blank

To get no response from someone when you ask him or her a question

1. Drop out of school

To stop attending school

1. Eager beaver

Someone who works very hard and is very enthusiastic

1. Fill in the blanks

To supply the missing words or information on a test or other exercise

1. Flunk out

To fail a course, to fail and then leave school

1. From the old school

Ideas that were popular in the past but which are no longer popular or common

1. Have one's nose in a book

To be reading a book

1. Hit the books

To begin to study hard

1. Honor roll

A list of people or students with exceptional achievements

1. In pen

Written or signed with a pen

1. In pencil

Written or signed with a pencil

1. Ivy League

A small group of older and famous eastern United States colleges and universities such as Harvard and Yale and Princeton

1. Old boy network

The situation where people (usually men) who went to the same school help each other get good jobs

1. Off campus

At a different location than the grounds of a college or university

1. On campus

Located on the grounds of a college or university

1. Play hooky

To not go to school when you should

1. Publish or perish

University professors often have to publish books or articles in journals or they will not be successful in their jobs at the university

1. Put one's thinking cap on

To start thinking in a serious manner

1. Read out loud

To read something so that other people can hear you

1. Read through something

To read all of something

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