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Proverbs and idioms

Proverbs and idioms

Course modified date: 16 Jun 2022

Learn about proverbs and idioms, what they are, how they work in English and the main differences between proverb and idioms. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.

Introduction 

In this session we are going to look at proverbs and idioms; we will consider what their main differences are and look at how they are used in English.

Proverbs and idioms are two language tools that come under the umbrella of figurative language – this is language that is not to be taken literally, or rather, it should not be taken at face value.
 
Instead figurative language – like metaphors, for another example – works through imagery and association, and we often understand figurative phrases based on their symbolic meanings, so we have to look at what a figurative phrase stands for rather than what the words actually say.
 

Let’s look at “It’s raining cats and dogs” as an example. It is not actually raining cats and dogs when people say this, but instead this phrase is heard and understood with a different meaning to the words that are actually in the sentence, and that is how figurative language works.

You will learn 

  1. Know what an idiom is
  2. Know what a proverb is
  3. Understand how proverbs and idioms work in English
  4. Know the main differences between proverb and idioms

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