DESCRIPTION

Introduction to the use of figurative language in English.

PURPOSE
To discuss different uses of figurative language in English and to identify the lexical and
syntactic aspects that govern this type of language use. By studying idioms and figurative
language, one will be more prepared to communicate in different linguistic environments.

PREPARATION
Before beginning this unit, just make sure you have a dictionary at hand so that you can easily
navigate through the different idioms that will be discussed.
GOALS

SECTION 1

To describe grammatical and lexical words

SECTION 2

To identify common idioms in English

SECTION 3

To recognize different figures of speech

WARM-UP
In this unit, we will learn how to identify common figurative language uses in English. We will
also study the differences between idiomatic uses of language and their literal counterparts, by
means of contrasting lexical and syntactic aspects that govern both.

By the end of this unit, you will be better equipped to access different levels of meaning, identify
fixed expressions, and use the language in more creative ways.

SECTION 1

 To describe grammatical and lexical words

LEXICAL WORDS AND GRAMMATICAL
WORDS

OPEN-CLASS WORDS AND CLOSED-CLASS

WORDS

Communication has changed a lot in the past couple of years. If nowadays people are virtually
connected and social networking sites have become the platform for all sorts of interaction,
before the advent of the Internet, fast communication relied on other means.

Reaching a family member who lived abroad or in another state was not easy, especially when
urgent matters were at hand.

People, back then, needed to resort to a different means of communication: the telegram, brief
messages sent by telegraphs.

 DID YOU KNOW?

Because telegrams were charged by number of words, people tended to be brief and use only
essential words to keep the cost down.

Words such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs were used, whereas articles, auxiliaries, and
demonstrative pronouns were usually left out. This telegram test shows something quite
interesting about the language.

IT SHOWS THAT SOME WORDS ARE ESSENTIAL TO

THE MEANING OF A SENTENCE, WHILE OTHERS MAY
BE GUESSED.
If I say the sentence:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

A GIRL IS PLAYING BY THE POOL.


It means that my interlocutor will recognize the sentence as not only grammatically correct but
also as semantically meaningful.


So, the objective of informing the girl’s action and her location is satisfactorily fulfilled.


However, if I decide to omit some terms, let’s say, the articles, the auxiliary verb, and the
preposition, the sentence will read as follows: girl playing pool.

The sentence may sound a bit too telegraphic, but even so, some missing words may be
guessed. Even though it reads as ungrammatical, the meaning is only partially compromised.

Essential information is there: the subject, the action.

The precise location of the girl, however, is missing.

My interlocutor may understand that the girl is by the pool, or even in the pool. The preposition
chosen then changes the meaning of the sentence.

Or is the girl just playing pool?

While it may be true that some words: girl, playing, and pool carry meaning, so their
denotative function overshadows their grammatical one, there are other words whose function is
mainly grammatical. Prepositions, as will be discussed later, occupy a unique position.

Simply put, words that carry meaning and have a denotation are called lexical or content words.
They may refer to:
Imagem: Shutterstock.com

PEOPLE

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PLACES

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THINGS
Imagem: Shutterstock.com

STATES

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ACTIONS

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PROPERTIES

 IMPORTANT

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are lexical words. These are the important words in the
telegram test (girl, playing, pool), and without them, meaning is seriously compromised.

Syntactically speaking, lexical words are the heads (Default tooltip) of phrases.

THE OTHER WORDS IN THE SENTENCE: THE

AUXILIARY IS AND THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE A
ARE WORDS THAT CARRY LITTLE MEANING,
THEY DO NOT REFER TO PLACES OR THINGS
OR ACTIONS; CARRYING MEANING,
THEREFORE, IS NOT THEIR MAIN FUNCTION.

These words, however, make sure a sentence is grammatically structured, they determine the
syntax of the sentence, and are called grammatical words or function words.


Articles (definite and indefinite), auxiliary verbs, demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these,
those) fall under this category.


Prepositions are usually classed as grammatical words. Nonetheless, as seen before they do
carry meaning.


Saying that the girl is playing by the pool or in the pool changes the sentence’s meaning. Also,
saying that a painting is on the table or above the table changes the meaning as well.

 COMMENTS

That’s why some authors prefer to think of prepositions as lexical items, even though they are
not as central as nouns.

Another way of referring to word classes is to talk about two categories: open-class words and
closed-class words.
BUT WHICH WORDS BELONG TO THE OPEN CLASS
CATEGORY AND WHICH ONES BELONG TO THE
CLOSED CLASS ONE?

Let’s start with a noun first! Some years ago, as mentioned before, telegrams were the fastest
way for long-distance communication. Quite recently, however, this has changed, and a new
word emerged in the communication landscape: WhatsApp.

I’ll text you or I'll send you a whatsapp, people say; whereas some years ago I'll text you would
have been preferred.

Foto: Unsplash
Foto: Unsplash

Quite recently as well, the word Uber has become quite ubiquitous and has come to refer to
both a noun and a verb. This goes to show that new words are being created all the time, that
changes in contemporary life are reflected in the language in use.

Now, let’s stop and think for a moment:

HOW MANY NEW PREPOSITIONS HAVE BEEN

CREATED IN THE PAST YEARS? AND HOW ABOUT
ARTICLES? CAN YOU THINK OF ANY NEW
CONJUNCTIONS?

Your answer was probably negative for all the questions. There is a reason for that:

Nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs belong to the open class category.


That means that new words can be added to their lists.

Conjunctions and prepositions, on the other hand, cannot be created; they do not take new
additions.

Conjunctions, prepositions, articles, determiners, and auxiliaries belong to the closed class
category since these word classes are limited.

There is only a limited number of prepositions, for instance.

LEXICAL WORDS: NOUNS, VERBS,

ADJECTIVES, AND ADVERBS.

NOUNS AND VERBS

A new addition to the English vocabulary – the word uber – can be both a verb and a noun, as
mentioned before. Pay attention to these two sentences below:
Foto: Unsplash

A) I’LL TAKE AN UBER.

B) I’LL UBER THERE.


In the example a, the word is preceded by an article, and it is also the complement of the verb
to take. It is, then, a noun.


If I change the sentence a little bit, retaining its original meaning, though, and say: I’ll uber there
(example b); the same word now belongs to a different word class: it is an action verb.

The word play is another example of the same phenomenon. It can be either a verb or a noun,
depending on its surroundings.

Nouns usually refer to people, places, or things. When I say:

Foto: Unsplash

THERE IS A BOOK ON THE TABLE.


Two objects are identified in the sentence: book and table. There are then two nouns.


However, just stating that nouns refer to things, whereas verbs refer to events or actions may
not be enough.

By following this train of thought, we may incorrectly infer that destruction and action are verbs.

DON’T THEY IMPLY ACTION?

THEY DO IMPLY ACTION BUT THERE ARE SYNTACTIC

REASONS FOR CALLING THEM NOUNS.


Firstly, the article the may precede them in a sentence, as may the demonstrative that as well.


If another noun follows them, a preposition may be needed, as in the following example: the
destruction of the plan.


A verb, however, may be followed by a noun and modified by an adverb. Also, in terms of
morphology, the differences between verbs and nouns are quite striking.

While verbs can express tense (the -ed ending for the past, the -s to express the simple present
and the third person singular)


Nouns have plural forms and have two cases: common case and genitive case.

Verbs and nouns differ, then, in morphology, syntax, and semantics. Morphology tells us about
the shape of a word, and syntax explains how it fits in a sentence.

Syntactically speaking, then, a noun is a word that can be preceded by:

AN

THE

THIS

THAT

THESE

THOSE
And that can also be modified by an adjective and be followed by a noun or a preposition. A
verb, on the other hand, may be preceded by an auxiliary; it may be modified by an adverb and
followed by a noun or a preposition and a noun.

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Semantically speaking, adjectives and adverbs are similar in that they both modify another
element.

The elements modified, however, differ.

Whereas an adjective modifies a noun...


An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.

An adjective describes qualities typical of nouns, that is, nationality, size, age, color, character
trait, material. In the sentence:

Foto: Shutterstock.com
THE AMERICAN GIRL IS SMILING AT THE CAMERA.

The word American is modifying the noun girl, American, then, is an adjective.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

THIS EXERCISE IS VERY HARD.


Very is not modifying a noun, it is, however, modifying the word hard, which is an adjective
(since it describes the quality of the noun exercise).


Since it modifies an adjective, it falls under the category of adverbs.

When adverbs modify adjectives or adverbs, as in the sentence:

Foto: Unsplash

SHE RUNS VERY SLOWLY.

They are called degree adverbs (very, really, quite, pretty, so, too), and with the exception of
some such as: exceedingly or amazingly, they carry little meaning.

What’s more, it is hard to find synonyms and antonyms for these degree adverbs. Therefore,
they are more akin to grammatical words.

 SUM UP

According to the syntactic criteria for word classes which establish what words a given word
occurs with and the types of phrases in which a given word occurs, we can say that adjectives
occur with nouns and modify them, whereas adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions, as mentioned before, are a different type of word class in that they exhibit lexical
and grammatical characteristics. Some prepositions, though, like the preposition of, have very
little meaning. Semantically, they may express place or time, direction, causation, and relation.
Morphologically, they are unchangeable in form and, syntactically, they have to occur before
nouns.

Let’s compare two different sentences:

A) WITH HER BOOKS, SHE WENT HOME.

B) HE WENT IN.

In the first sentence, with occurs before a noun phrase, it is, then, a preposition.


In the second sentence, the word in occurs after a verb, which makes it an adverb.

While prepositions occur before the nouns they refer to, adverbs are on their own.

GRAMMATICAL WORDS: DETERMINERS,

AUXILIARIES AND CONJUNCTIONS

DETERMINERS

Determiner is an umbrella term for articles, demonstratives, possessive pronouns, possessive

nouns, some interrogatives, quantifiers, and some numerals.

Let’s analyze the following sentence:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

THEIR DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK.


Two words precede the nouns, the words their and my.


Even though they precede nouns, they are not adjectives since they do not qualify the words
dog and homework.


They, on the other hand, specify these nouns. They point to which dog I am referring to (their
dog) and to which homework (my homework).

These tiny words – their and my – are called determiners.

 ATTENTION

The Determiner-Adjective Rule: A Determiner points to the noun it goes with and who it belongs
to; An Adjective gives background information about the noun (GELDEREN, 2010, p.21).

Let’s take a look at the list of determiners:

Quantifiers: some, many, all, no, every, Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our,
less, etc. their.

Article: a(n), the. Interrogative: what, which, whose, etc.

Demonstrative: that, this, those, these. Numeral: one, two, three…

 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal

AUXILIARIES

The verbs be, have and do may be lexical words or grammatical ones, depending on where
they occur in the sentence.

When we say:
Foto: Unsplash

I HAVE A BOOK.


The verb have precedes a noun phrase, which functions as its complement.


Semantically, it is also a synonym for possess or own.


Therefore, since it precedes a noun and it has a synonym, the verb, in this case, is a lexical
item.

When we analyze another sentence, let’s say:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK.

The verb here occurs in a very different context.


Firstly, it does not mean possess and it has no synonyms.


Secondly, the verb have does not refer to an action; it carries, on the other hand, the
grammatical meaning of the sentence, since it points to its tense.


Have is there to show that the action happened at some unspecified point in time.
 ATTENTION

Just remember: verbs contribute to the lexical meaning of the sentence and may be followed by
a noun phrase or a prepositional phrase; whereas auxiliary verbs do not have a meaning on
their own, their function is mainly grammatical. They cannot exist alone, then, and precede the
main verbs, the ones that carry meaning.

Therefore, when we say:

Foto: Unsplash

A) I DO YOGA EVERY DAY.

B) I DO NOT HAVE A PEN.


We realize that the verb do occurs in different contexts in the sentences.

In the first one, it precedes the noun and it occurs alone, having a meaning on its own. It is,
then, a lexical item.


In the second one, however, it precedes the verb have, which is the one that carries the
meaning of the sentence.


Since it precedes the main verb (have) and it does not have a meaning on its own, it only
carries grammatical meaning – the tense the sentence refers to – it is an auxiliary verb; it is,
then, a grammatical word.

CONJUNCTIONS

There are two types of conjunctions in English. When they link equal units, they are called
coordinators.

Coordinators link, then, words of the same kind, nouns or verbs, for instance. In the sentence:
Foto: Shutterstock.com

SHE BOUGHT BANANAS AND APPLES, BUT NO

MANGOES.

There are two words linking the nouns (bananas, apples and mangoes), the words and and but,
which are both coordinators.

Common coordinators in English are: and, but, or; and also correlative expressions:

BOTH [...] AND [...]

EITHER [...] OR [...]

NOT ONLY [...] BUT ALSO [...]

For example:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Both Ann and John came to the party.

Foto: Shutterstock.com
Not only did she buy apples but also bananas.

Subordinators introduce a subordinate clause, thus joining two clauses – a main clause and a
subordinate one.

In the sentence:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

I DIDN’T STAY BECAUSE I WASN’T FEELING WELL.

The second clause – I wasn’t feeling well – is subordinate to the first, since it shows the reason I
left.


A cause and effect relationship is what links both sentences, so the subordinate clause is
incomplete without the main one.

Common subordinators are:

AFTER

ALTHOUGH

AS

BECAUSE

BEFORE

IF

SINCE

THAT
TILL

UNLESS

UNTIL

WHEN

WHERE

WHILE

Like prepositions, coordinators and subordinators, that is, conjunctions are invariable in English.
Subordinators, differently from prepositions, though, introduce a clause; while prepositions are
linked to a noun. The same word may be a conjunction or a preposition, as is the case with the
word after. The difference lies in its syntactic function. Prepositions introduce phrases, whereas
subordinators (conjunctions) introduce finite clauses.

PREPOSITION
I called her after school.

(After is introducing a noun – school)

SUBORDINATOR
I called her after I got home.

(After is introducing a clause – I got home)

 SUM UP

Lexical items are open-class words that carry meaning. New additions to a language’s
vocabulary are lexical words. Words such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Uber, Google, Twitter and
many others that found their way into our daily use are lexical items and so are loanwords.
Verbs, adjectives, nouns, and adverbs fall under this category.

Grammatical words, on the other hand, owe their importance to their grammatical functions, and
usually do not have synonyms. Words such as conjunctions, determiners, and auxiliaries are
defined in terms of their grammatical function. Lexical words may also be defined by syntactic,
morphological, and semantic terms.

LEXICAL WORDS AND GRAMMATICAL

WORDS
Let’s review this topic for a better understanding of what we have studied.
LEARNING CHECK

1. WHILE SOME WORDS’ MAIN FUNCTION IS TO CARRY LEXICAL

MEANING, OTHERS CARRY GRAMMATICAL MEANING. BEARING THIS
DIFFERENCE IN MIND, CHOOSE THE ALTERNATIVE THAT CONTAINS A
TRUE STATEMENT ABOUT WORD CLASSES:

A) Lexical words are open-class words that are important for the meaning of a sentence.

B) Grammatical words are open-class words that contribute to the grammatical meaning of a
sentence.

C) Lexical words are closed-class words that contribute to the grammatical meaning of a
sentence.

D) Grammatical words are closed-class words that are important for the meaning of a sentence.

E) Grammatical words and lexical words are both open class categories.

2. THE SAME WORD, DEPENDING ON THE CONTEXT, CAN BE A LEXICAL

ITEM OR A GRAMMATICAL ONE. CHOOSE THE ALTERNATIVE IN WHICH
THE VERB HAVE IS A LEXICAL ITEM.

A) I have written a paper.

B) I have worked for 19 years as a teacher.

C) Have you been there?

D) I have a house on the beach.

E) I haven’t done it yet.

GABARITO

1. While some words’ main function is to carry lexical meaning, others carry grammatical
meaning. Bearing this difference in mind, choose the alternative that contains a true
statement about word classes:

Option "A " is correct.

Lexical words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, are open-class words since new
words can be added to their lists. And their main function, as the name shows, is to carry
meaning. Grammatical words, on the other hand, are grammatical categories and are closed-
class words.

2. The same word, depending on the context, can be a lexical item or a grammatical one.
Choose the alternative in which the verb have is a lexical item.

Option "D " is correct.

Whenever have is the main verb in a sentence and it is preceded by an auxiliary or followed by
a phrase, it is a lexical item, which is the case of the sentence in "d". The verb have is followed
by the noun phrase: a house. When the verb have, on the other hand, precedes the main verb
and adds little to the meaning of the sentence, carrying mainly grammatical meaning, it is, then,
a grammatical item, that is, an auxiliary.

SECTION 2

 To identify common idioms in English

LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC ASPECTS OF

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
Now and again while learning a language, students encounter certain expressions that defy
their understanding.
HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU?

Foto: JOCA_PH / Shutterstock.com

You are reading a text or watching a TV series and, then, all of a sudden, this expression pops
up. Somebody says: this new guy is an odd duck!

Imagem: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro

You realize that you know the meaning of all the words, but for some reason you cannot really
grasp the meaning of the sentence. Why is the guy being compared to a duck? And why is the
duck odd?

Imagem: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro

You feel puzzled and confused since the meaning is not too obvious. Eventually, you may come
to the right conclusion that the guy is just weird, that “odd duck” is a way of referring to someone
who exhibits uncommon behavior.

Other expressions may be a bit harder to understand, for instance, under the weather.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather, someone says.

The connection between the expression and its actual meaning is not obvious.

CLICK TO FIND OUT

It means the person is feeling ill.

Imagem: Shutterstock.com

In the following sections we will talk about these “odd ducks”, these unusual expressions that
defy our common sense and linguistic understanding.

IDIOMS
Usually, lexical items in a sentence or phrase can be replaced by synonyms. This is what
happens when a sentence like:

I don’t have a car.


is changed into

I don’t owe a car.

Notice that the second sentence was changed without any loss in meaning.

Another example of the same phenomenon is the following pair:

I don’t have a vehicle.


and

I don’t have a car.

All these three sentences have the same meaning, even though there was first a change in the
verb used and then a change in the noun chosen.

Verbs and nouns, as discussed before, are lexical items, which means that they have synonyms
and antonyms that can be used in the same position in a sentence.

Now, let’s consider the following sentence:

Imagem: Shutterstock.com

JOHN KICKED THE BUCKET LAST NIGHT.

The sentence is basically composed of lexical items:

NOUNS:
JOHN, BUCKET
VERB:
KICKED

AN ADVERB OF TIME:
LAST NIGHT

Let’s try the following experiment: let’s replace the noun bucket with a synonymous word. The
Webster dictionary provides the following description for the word pail:

Usually cylindrical container with a handle: BUCKET.

So, according to what was previously discussed, if I say the sentence:

John kicked the pail last night.


instead of

John kicked the bucket.

The meaning wouldn’t be lost.

And still following the same train of thought, the sentence:

John hit the pail with his foot last night would have the same meaning as John kicked the bucket
last night.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

 COMMENTS

Kick the bucket is one of those fixed expressions in English that exemplifies a very interesting
case in languages: their idiomatic use.
IDIOMS CAN BE DEFINED AS EXPRESSIONS “WHICH
HAVE AN IDIOSYNCRATIC MEANING WHICH IS NOT A
PURELY COMPOSITIONAL FUNCTION OF THE
MEANING OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL PARTS.”

(RADFORD, 2004, p.126)

That means that the meaning of idioms, because of their peculiar nature, cannot be purely
grasped by the combination of the literal meaning of its compositional parts. Nothing in the
expression kick the bucket points to its actual meaning: to die.

The sentence John kicked the bucket last night means that he died last night and by changing
the expression’s individual parts to synonymous words its idiomatic meaning is seriously
compromised. If to kick the bucket means to die, hitting the pail with the foot does not have the
same idiomatic meaning and means literally to hit the pail (object) by using your foot.

Foto: Unsplash

Another example of an idiom is the expression drive somebody round the bend. By looking at
the individual meaning of its compositional parts it is hard to come to its actual meaning, which
is to make somebody angry or frustrated. So if I say that Ann drives me round the bend, I mean
that she makes me angry, probably because she never listens to what I say or because she
keeps making terrible life choices. But either way, the meaning of the idiom is not too obvious,
and understanding the meaning of its lexical items does not help in the process of decoding it
either.

 TIP

The best way, then, to go about these odd expressions is to attend to the context in which they
appear.

LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC ASPECTS OF

IDIOMS
Although the syntactic and semantic analyses of the idiom kick the bucket would never result in
its meaning (to die), leading to the wrong impression that all we can do is to memorize these
fixed expressions, idioms are much more complex than just long words. And even though they
tend to be studied under the umbrella term “fixed expressions”, some of them allow for some
flexibility.

Idioms are composed of phrases and behave as such, despite some constraints. The term
“fixed expressions” should not lead to the wrong conclusion that they are frozen forms. There
are different types of idioms that behave differently; while some may be fixed, others allow for
some syntactic and even minor lexical changes.

Idioms may take different forms.

For example: kill two birds with the same stone.


It means to take care of two tasks at the same time.
Its form is:

VERB + OBJECT/COMPLEMENT

And this is also the case of kick the bucket (verb + object).

Some may take the form of a simile (as + adjective + as), as in the following idiom: as dry as a
bone (Default tooltip) or as stubborn as a mule (Default tooltip) , while others may take the
form of a prepositional phrase, like in the idiom in the blink of an eye (Default tooltip) or in the
end (Default tooltip) .

SOME MAY BE A COMBINATION OF WORDS.

Combination of two words, like in high and dry (Default tooltip) and rough and ready (Default
tooltip) or even three, as in cool, calm and collected (Default tooltip) .

SOME IDIOMS MAY ALSO TAKE THE FORM OF A

WHOLE CLAUSE OR A WHOLE SENTENCE.

Like in to make a long story short (Default tooltip) or to make matters worse (Default tooltip) .
Therefore, idioms come in many different shapes and forms.

Even though kick the bucket was used as an example for idioms whose meaning could not be
inferred by its compositional parts, the idiom itself is not completely fixed, and morphologically, it
exhibits the normal behavior of any other verb phrase.

The verb kick can take the past form kicked, or even the present perfect form has/have kicked.
The word bucket, however, as seen before cannot be replaced by a similar term. The idiom kick
the bucket, then, is syntactically frozen (the syntax cannot be changed), non-compositional
(since the meaning cannot be inferred from the individual parts), but morphologically alternating
(since kick can be changed into kicks/kicked/kicking). Kick the bucket is, then, a semi-fixed
expression.
Another example would be the expression it takes two to tango. Since it follows the normal
syntactic constraints, an adverb could modify the verb as in the variations: It
sure/certainly/surely takes two to tango. These expressions, then, obey syntactic constraints but
remain semantically non-compositional. They are still quite frozen.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO

Usually used to indicate the cooperation of two parts in some situation (a wrongdoing, for
example, or an argument)

They are not, however, as frozen as certain expressions that can be listed as single words in
the lexicon. Some of them are actually single words, like in lemon.

In the following sentence:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

THIS CAR I BOUGHT IS SUCH A LEMON!


The word lemon does not refer to a yellow, oval citrus fruit since the meaning here is idiomatic
and not literal.



It refers to the fact that the car is defective, that it breaks a lot.

Being a single word, this idiom cannot be changed. It is, then, a fixed expression. Other
examples are the expressions: by and large (Default tooltip) , all of a sudden (Default tooltip) ,
right away (Default tooltip) , which can be thought of as single words in the lexicon, despite
being multi-word constructions.

Some idioms are syntactically flexible, in that they exhibit modulations in syntax or morphology,
and their meaning cannot be inferred from literal meaning of their components, but some
special parts can be altered or quantified depending on the situation.

Foto: Unsplash

One example of this type of idiom is the expression

spill the beans (Default tooltip) . The verb phrase may be morphologically modified as in: He
spilled the beans about their affair, or it can take a slight modification as in: He didn’t spill a
single bean.

Another example of an almost fully flexible idiom is Don’t give up the ship (Default tooltip) . It
can take the following modifications:

Tense: I will give up the ship/ He Adverbial modification: He finally gave up the
didn’t give up the ship. ship.

Passive voice: The ship was Adverbial and adjectival modification: He

given up. reluctantly gave up the last ship.

Number: He gave up all the ships. Word substitution: He gave up the whole fleet.

 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal

Word substitutions may also be possible in some specific situations. The following idioms
accommodate interchangeable words: hit the sack/hay; pack a punch/wallop; get off one’s
butt/rear/etc.; stretch/strain a point; stop/turn on a dime; pick/punch/poke/shoot holes in an
argument; lay/throw/place/put one’s cards on the table. Interchangeability is, however, limited
and lexical variability, when possible, is limited to a handful of options.

WHAT ABOUT SEARCHING THE INTERNET FOR THE

EXPRESSIONS ABOVE?

 ATTENTION

As seen before, occasionally an idiom may be used in the passive voice. Minor lexical variations
are also possible, depending on the idiom. Some idioms may be fixed, while others may be a bit
more flexible.

Before moving on we should cover two concepts that are key to understand these minor
alterations: transparency and compositionality.

TRANSPARENCY AND COMPOSITIONALITY

TRANSPARENCY

The reasons why some idioms may have a passive version, while others seem to resist
passivization, may lie in issues of transparency. Idioms may be classed in terms of
transparency, meaning that some expressions may be more transparent than others.
Transparent idioms are those that resemble, syntactically speaking, their non-idiomatic
counterparts.
The idiom spill the beans is very similar (syntactically) to its non-idiomatic counterpart, that is,
reveal a secret. Both idiomatic and non-idiomatic phrases follow the same syntactic structure:

VERB + COMPLEMENT.

The expression spill the beans is, thus, transparent and can undergo passivization. The beans
were spilled is an acceptable variation of the idiom.

 ATTENTION

Notice that idiom’s ‘transparency’ refers to the degree to which the expression is considered
related to its figurative meaning (SKOUFAKI, 2009; KEYSAR and BLY, 1999).

Beans is a figurative way of saying secret, and spill figuratively refers to reveal or disclose. The
same can be said about the expression lay one’s cards on the table. Its non-idiomatic would be
make one’s feelings known, which has a similar syntactic structure. It can also undergo
passivization.

The idiom kick the bucket, though, contrasts with the previous two, in that its non-idiomatic
counterpart is die. The idiomatic version is composed of a verb and its complement, whereas
the non-idiomatic one consists of one intransitive verb only. The idiom is, therefore,
syntactically opaque, and cannot be used in the passive voice. In other words, syntactically
opaque idioms do not retain their idiomatic meaning in the passive voice.

If in the sentence John kicked the bucket, the meaning is that John died;


when we say The bucket was kicked by John the only possible meaning is its literal meaning:
that John hit the bucket with his foot.

Transparency also seems to regulate other types of modification within the idiom. Individual
portions of the idiom can be modified by adjectives as in the following case: John kicked that
filthy habit years ago. The original idiom is to kick a habit, which means to give up something
harmful; again, the idiomatic and non-idiomatic versions are syntactically equivalent, being both
formed by a verb and a complement. And due to its transparency, a part of it can be modified by
an adjective. The same does not hold true for the opaque idiom: kick the bucket, since saying
John kicked the big bucket, is not idiomatic as the original expression.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Transparent idioms, thus, may be slightly altered while still retaining their idiomatic meaning.


Syntactically opaque idioms, on the other hand, are those which resist modifications,
passivization being one of them.

COMPOSITIONALITY

Compositionality, since it refers to transparency too, may also play a role in the degree of
flexibility of the idioms. In non-compositional idioms, like kick the bucket, there is no discernible
correlation between the idiom’s constituents and its meaning. The idiom lemon is another clear
example of this phenomenon, since the relationship between the fruit and a defective object is,
by no means, clear.
Foto: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro.

But in partially compositional idioms some relationship between the components and their final
meaning is discerned and in fully compositional idioms “the constituents map directly onto their
idiomatic referents, as in the idiom pop the question. In this idiom, the verb pop and the noun
phrase the question map directly onto the idiomatic meanings of suddenly utter and marriage
proposal” (GLUCKSBERG, 2001, p.74).

Pop the question, this way, is at the same time compositional and transparent, meaning that it is
prone to variations. So its passive version retains its idiomatic meaning, and it can be modified
by an adjective and adverbs. Another example of a compositional transparent idiom is break the
ice, which can as well be modified without loss of its idiomatic meaning.

 ATTENTION

Just notice that all expressions can, in fact, be modified. What is in question here is whether
some idioms can be modified without losing their idiomatic aspects.

In general, thus, idioms that are compositional and transparent tend to permit sensible
variations. The more non-compositional and opaque an idiom is, like by and large, which means
in general, overall; the fewer variations it permits. In by and large no link is found between the
idiom’s form and its meaning.


To sum up, although, traditionally, idioms have been studied as “fixed expressions” or as “dead
metaphors” as if they were just long words and learning them meant memorizing chunks of
words; in reality, many idioms defy such assumption.

Since idioms come in all shapes and forms, they may be composed of different syntactic
structures; and some idioms were proven more flexible than others.

Syntactic and lexical rules regulate the internal structure of idioms, which means that they act,
to a certain degree, as ordinary phrases and sentences.

They can be modified by adjectives and adverbs and some even allow for lexical
interchangeability (though limited).

Passivization is possible for some idioms, usually those which are compositional and
transparent.

Transparency and compositionality are concepts that relate to how syntactic and lexical
analyses of idioms help us come to their actual meanings.


LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC ASPECTS OF

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
Let’s review the main points of this unit?

LEARNING CHECK

1. ACCORDING TO RADFORD (2004), IDIOMS ARE EXPRESSIONS WHOSE

IDIOSYNCRATIC MEANINGS ARE “NOT A PURELY COMPOSITIONAL
FUNCTION OF THE MEANING OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL PARTS”. CHOOSE
THE ALTERNATIVE THAT CONTAINS A TRUE STATEMENT ABOUT THE
BEHAVIOR OF SUCH EXPRESSIONS:

A) Idioms behave just like any other phrase since variations are possible according to normal
syntactic and morphological constraints.

B) Idioms behave just like any other phrase, although variations may be limited and restricted to
certain conditions and idioms.
C) Since idioms are “odd ducks”: their behaviors don’t follow syntactic and morphological rules.

D) All idioms allow for lexical changes, meaning that nouns, verbs, or even adverbs can be
changed without any loss in idiomatic meaning.

E) All idioms allow for syntactic changes, passivization being one of them.

2. WHILE SOME IDIOMS MAY BE CONSIDERED FIXED EXPRESSIONS,

OTHERS ALLOW FOR SOME SYNTACTIC FLEXIBILITY AND MAY EVEN
COME IN THE PASSIVE VOICE, WITHOUT ANY LOSS IN THEIR IDIOMATIC
MEANING. CHOOSE THE ALTERNATIVE WHICH CONTAINS A POSSIBLE
VARIATION FOR THE IDIOMS IN QUESTION:

A) The bucket was kicked by John.

B) By and also large, the play was good.

C) Don’t give up the boat!

D) He didn’t spill a single bean.

E) I was feeling under the harsh weather.

GABARITO

1. According to Radford (2004), idioms are expressions whose idiosyncratic meanings

are “not a purely compositional function of the meaning of their individual parts”.
Choose the alternative that contains a true statement about the behavior of such
expressions:

Option "B " is correct.

Idioms are subjected to syntactic, morphological, and lexical rules, like any other expression.
However, differently from common expressions, these variations are limited and not always
possible.

2. While some idioms may be considered fixed expressions, others allow for some
syntactic flexibility and may even come in the passive voice, without any loss in their
idiomatic meaning. Choose the alternative which contains a possible variation for the
idioms in question:

Option "D " is correct.

Some idioms may be fixed, such as by and large and under the weather, meaning that their
structure cannot be changed. Others may be semi-fixed, allowing for some morphological
modification as kick the bucket. In the passive voice, though, the idiom loses its idiomatic
meaning. Don’t give up the ship, even though the word ship may be replaced by the whole fleet,
it does not retain its idiomatic meaning when the word boat is being used instead. Don’t give up
the ship and spill the beans are examples of fully flexible idioms.

SECTION 3

 To recognize different figures of speech

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
As seen before, idioms come in all shapes and forms. There is one thing, though, that seems to
unite them all: their ability to defy our understanding of the language.

IN OTHER WORDS, IDIOMS CHALLENGE LITERAL

INTERPRETATIONS OF THEIR COMPOSITIONAL
TERMS.
Imagem: Shutterstock.com

Foto: Shutterstock.com

When we say that he is on cloud nine or that he is over the moon, we do not mean the moon
and clouds as material things, since he is not literally over the moon.
CAN YOU REALIZE HOW SURREAL THIS IMAGE IS?

Foto: Shutterstock.com

These are both expressions that mean: to be happy or pleased about something. So, we say
that he was over the moon about his new job or that since he got the job, he has been on cloud
nine. Idioms, then, refer to this non-literal level of language, to its symbolic level, if you prefer.

TO PUT IT IN SIMPLE TERMS, IDIOMS BELONG,

TOGETHER WITH METAPHORS, SIMILES, METONYMS,
AND OTHERS, TO WHAT WE CALL FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE.

Languages offer us lots of ways to convey meaning.

I can say, for instance: I got my keys out of my bag in a very straightforward way. The sentence
refers to the actual act of picking something from inside my bag. This simple sentence,
however, allows for variations.


If I want to add more nuances to it, I can say: I fished my keys out of my bag. This second
sentence adds another layer to the original one and brings an underlying meaning: that finding
my keys was no easy task, that it took me a while to reach for them because they were probably
far down in the bag.


While the first sentence presents the action in a straightforward way, since literal meaning is
being conveyed; the second one makes use of figurative language. I didn’t actually fish my
keys, the verb is being used to add color and interest, to enhance the meaning of the sentence.


Another common example is saying that he runs like the wind. Of course, I could have simply
said that he runs fast, but saying that he runs like the wind, makes it sound much more
interesting, right? Of course, it does!

Literal language means exactly what it says; figurative language, however, gives access to
different dimensions of meaning, since we move away from the concrete realism of words to
enter into a more abstract realm. Figurative language, then, means something else than it is on
the surface.

A clear example for that is the idiom lemon, discussed before.

The literal meaning of lemon (Default tooltip) is the acid fruit.


Its figurative meaning, as referred to in the idiom, is something that is defective.

Another example is the following sentence: they flocked to the beach.

The word flock as a noun can mean a group of animals, a herd;


Used as a verb, though, it means to gather or to move in a flock.

We can just picture the people gathering together, just as animals of other species would do, all
in close proximity going in the same direction. The same meaning would have been conveyed if
the word herd would have been used instead.

Foto: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro.

THEY HERDED TO THE BEACH.

There are no constraints to the use of the verb go, however. We could have simply said that
they went to the beach, more neutrally. The references to animals, though, in the verbs flock
and herd add color to the message, by making it more vivid since an instantaneous image just
comes to mind.

 COMMENTS

Notice that all the verbs mentioned before – fish, flock, herd – can be found in dictionaries,
meaning that even if figurative language calls for another dimension of meaning, many
figurative meanings have been catalogued in dictionaries. Some of them seem to have found
their way into our daily uses.

Figurative language, then, permeates all types of communication; not being restricted, as most
would think, to poetry and literature. Figurative language is found in academic settings and
business environments, as well as in the language of science, in political discourse, in
newspapers, and podcasts. Figurative language is, therefore, ubiquitous, and it shouldn’t be
disregarded as a minor aspect of the language, as a mere deviation. And even so, schools and
language schools do not attend to this aspect of the language so much, as if learning a second
language, or an additional language, only meant mastering grammar rules and key vocabulary.
Teachers and professors should give more attention to this important part of the language.

Different words (nouns, verbs, adjectives), as well as phrases, can have figurative meaning.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE IDIOM UNDER THE

WEATHER?

This is a nice example of a prepositional phrase that has an idiomatic meaning.

 FRIENDLY REMINDER

Don’t forget that idioms are one form of figurative language!

In the following topics, we will study other forms, figures of speech. You have probably already
had contact with figures of speech at school, studying your own language. Figures of speech
are stylistic resources of oral and written communication. Let’s look at some of them. They can
basically refer to the meaning of the words or to their sounds.

METAPHOR

Put simply, a metaphor occurs when a word or phrase is placed in a context in which new
meanings are evoked. A metaphor, then, refers to new uses.

The original meaning of the word is very different from the context in which it occurs, in such a
way that the original meaning and the context are at odds with one another.

When I say my life is a prison, we soon realize that life and prison are usually words or concepts
that do not go together.

Prison here does not denote jail, an enclosed space where prisoners are kept. From the very
beginning, we realize that life and prison are at odds, which points to the figurative use of the
word.


The sentence, then, does not refer to the literal jail, to its material characteristics; it refers,
however, to its qualities and the transfer of those qualities to my life.

The sentence can be paraphrased as follows:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

MY LIFE FEELS LIKE A PRISON.


In this sentence, it is clear that I am comparing my life to prison, that I feel trapped for some
reason, and unable to get out of this loop.


This sentence – My life feels like a prison – points to one feature of metaphors highlighted by
some authors: its resemblance with comparisons, similes.

They could be understood, following this train of thought, as short comparisons, implicit similes
(which will be discussed later on).

So, if I say Lawyers are sharks, I mean that lawyers are like sharks, that they have the same
predatory qualities sharks do. Once again, the qualities of a different element – in this case, an
animal – are transferred to lawyers.

LET’S SEE SOME OTHER EXAMPLES!

A very common usage of the word angel is to say that somebody is an angel. When I say John
is such an angel, I don’t mean that he is a spiritual being, I mean that he has the qualities of an
angel. He is, then, calm, quiet, well-behaved, he is, in a nutshell, exemplary.

I can also say somebody is a rock. A rock is an object that is not only hard but also always the
same, unchangeable and unmovable. Saying that someone is my rock means that this person
is stable, reliable, always by my side.

By now you may have come to the wrong impression that only nouns can be used
metaphorically. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as verbs and adjectives may also form
metaphors.

Good examples of metaphorical use of verbs are the verbs used before:

FLOCK
HERD

FISH

While in the first ones there was a clear transfer of animals’ behaviors to humans; in the third
one (fish), it was the quality of fishing, as an activity, that was transferred.

This is also what happens in the sentence:

SHE WAS DEFINITELY FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS.

She was, then, trying to make people say good things about her, but in an indirect way, with
caution.

The adjectives heated and sour are pretty common in quotidian metaphors.

We can talk about heated debates or arguments to emphasize how angry they were, or to
emphasize the excitement around these events.

If I say that she gave me a sour look, it means that her gaze was unfriendly.

Sour as a metaphor refers to bad feelings as in its literal meaning, it refers to unpleasant tastes
or smells.

SIMILES

The idiom skin as cold as ice was used before to show which forms idioms could take. Idioms
can be, among other things, similes. A simile is basically an explicit comparison using the words
like or as. Its function is to reveal unexpected similarities between two distinct objects, concepts,
people, things, etc.
Foto: Shutterstock.com

Examples of similes are the following sentences:

HE EATS LIKE A PIG.

HER SKIN IS AS DRY AS A BONE.

HE RUNS LIKE THE WIND.

IT WAS JUST LIKE A DREAM.

Some authors claim that metaphors are implicit similes, shortened similes.

In this case, saying that he eats like a pig would be a simile;


whereas saying that he is a pig, would function as a metaphor.

METONYMY

The most common figures of speech in English are metaphors and metonymies. Metonymy is a
figure of speech in which a word is substituted for another based on some relationship
established between them. This relationship can be:

MATERIAL

CAUSAL

CONCEPTUAL

Quotidian examples entail the substitution of the thing contained for the container, for instance,
in the sentences:

I’ll have a glass


instead of

I’ll have some wine

or even

I’ll have a cup


instead of

I’ll have a cup of coffee

Let’s see more examples of metonymy:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Objects can also replace users, such as the use of crown to refer to the king.
Foto: Bumble Dee /Shutterstock.com

Agents can also replace act, product or object possessed, as is the case in I’m listening to
Bach, or I’m reading Tolstoy, or He bought a Picasso.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Parts of the body (heart, head) can also replace states of consciousness.
Foto: Shutterstock.com

Materials can replace objects made of them. For instance, people say plastic meaning credit
card, and woods meaning a forest or grove.

While metonymies associate the qualities of one word or phrase with another; metaphors
substitute a word or phrase for another to draw an implicit comparison between them.

When we read:

Foto: Shutterstock.com
WHAT COMES NEXT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE?


White House stands for the American government, so the building represents the whole
administration. We could say the same for the Pentagon for the US Department of Defense, or
Palácio do Planalto for the Brazilian government.


The association here is quite obvious since there is a clear connection between them.


This is, then, a metonymy.

When, on the other hand, I say the sentence: he is such a snake, I mean that his behavior
resembles that of a snake, sneaky, treacherous. This is thus a metaphor.

HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that consists of exaggeration.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

When somebody says I’ll die if he does not call me back, it is clear that the utterance should be
understood as an exaggeration. The person will not actually die, the verb is being used to
convey the strong emotion that the lack of contact will cause.

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Similarly, saying It will take me a million years to finish that! is also a hyperbole. The
exaggerated statement is meant to create a strong emotional response on the part of the
listener. I probably want someone to sympathize with the amount of workload I have.

SYNECDOCHE

Foto: Shutterstock.com

It is a figure which entails substitution. The part can be substituted for whole, genus for species,
individual for group, and vice-versa. For instance, when people mention the sail as synonym for
the whole boat. Another beautiful example is to tickle the ivories meaning to play the piano
because piano keys are historically made of ivory. Tickling refers to touching someone gently,
usually making this person laughing. A good metaphor that comes together with the
synecdoche.

 ATTENTION

Just remember that, differently from metonymy, in synecdoche, there’s always a part/whole
relationship.

This is what happens when somebody says: Just check my new wheels! The person is not
actually referring to the wheels, the word wheels (a part of the car) is being used to represent
the whole – the car.

Foto: Unsplash

The differences between synecdoche and metonymy may not be so easy to pin down, as both
entail substitutions.

While synecdoche refers to part-whole relationships...


Metonymy entails more conceptual ones.

So, in the sentence: he asked for her hand in marriage, the use of hand may be either
representative of synecdoche or metonymy.

If hand is believed to represent the whole person, then, it is a case of synecdoche.


If the word is being used to stand for the institution of matrimony, then, it is a metonymy.
OXYMORON

It is a figure of speech that combines two contradictory elements. It is a form of condensed

paradox.

 EXAMPLE

Living death, bitter-sweet, heavy lightness, serious vanity, deafening silence, organized mess,
controlled chaos.

Imagem: Shutterstock.com

The combination of contradictory elements serves the purpose of revealing a paradox,

confusing, or even adding humor.

PERSONIFICATION

Personification happens when nonhuman objects, abstractions, or creatures are endowed with
human qualities and/or characteristics.
In the examples:

Imagem: Shutterstock.com

THE FLOWER WAS DANCING IN THE WIND.

OR

THE WIND WAS WHISPERING TO THE TREES.


The scene is being described by granting a human action (dancing or whispering) to a life form
that does not have the conscience to dance or a mouth to whisper.

The wind and the flower, then, are being personified and the scene is described in a more
engaging and interesting way.

Another common and less literary example is the following: That pizza is definitely calling my
name! The sentence is meant to express hunger by means of personifying an inanimate object,
in this case, food.

IRONY

It is a figure of speech that entails concealing or contradicting meaning. The literal meaning of
the sentence, thus, is usually at odds with the intended meaning. Even though irony can be
used in drama and literary theory, we will focus here on verbal irony, which arises from the
awareness between what it is and what ought to be.

Imagem: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro.

It can be used for indirect criticism as in:

Foto: Shutterstock.com

THAT WAS A SMART THING TO DO!

Irony is sometimes used to avoid direct confrontation. Many times, it also refers to the difference
between expectations and reality. Verbal irony is used to express humor, affection, or emotion,
by saying the opposite of what the sentence means.

ANTITHESIS
Imagem: Shutterstock.com

THE ENEMY OF YOUR ENEMY IS YOUR FRIEND.

THE JUXTAPOSITION OF CONTRARIES: THE

CONTRAST OF IDEAS, SHARPENED OR POINTED UP
BY THE USE OF WORDS OF OPPOSITE OR
CONSPICUOUSLY DIFFERENT MEANING IN
CONTIGUOUS OR PARALLEL PHRASES OR CLAUSES.

(PREMINGER; BROGAN, 1993)

This very long and complicated explanation provided by The New Princeton Encyclopedia of
Poetry and Poetics may be exemplified by a very famous sentence:
Foto: Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 - Unknown Author / Wikimedia commons /
Public domain

Contradictory words such as small x big, step x leap are being used in the same sentence;
what’s more, parallelism is being drawn between both actions. Whereas taking steps is an
ordinary human action, this specific step (on the moon!) is actually a leap, since it propels
humanity to a new level of progress.

Antithesis, then, entails the following:

TWO OR THREE PARTS

REVERSED OR INVERSED IDEAS

PARALLEL GRAMMAR STRUCTURE

EUPHEMISM

Euphemism is a figure of speech used whenever the message to be conveyed may be

considered uncomfortable or harsh. In order to soften the blow words are replaced in a
sentence. Phrasing which may sound impolite, harsh, or unpleasant is replaced.

Imagem: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro.

Imagem: Shutterstock.com / Adaptado por Pedro Tamburro.

A common example is substituting the word die for passing away. The verb die may sound too
harsh, or to direct and pass away is preferred instead.

The same happens to bodily functions such as urinate and defecate. In common daily
conversations, for the sake of discretion perhaps, people use the terms number 1 and number
2.

A person, as well, in order to avoid using the term unemployed, especially during a job
interview, may prefer the expression between jobs, instead.

To sum up, figurative language is everywhere, be it in the form of idioms, metaphors, and even
ironies. Being able to distinguish literal from figurative language is an important aspect of
language learning. Without such awareness, communication could be seriously compromised,
since levels of language and meaning would be barred. What’s more, figurative language
enables not only creative uses of the language, but also access to other dimensions of
language and, in some cases, it can also provide some cultural knowledge. Americans, for
instance, love baseball metaphors while Brazilians love soccer ones.

FIGURES OF SPEECH
Let’s have fun analyzing figures of speech used in songs.
LEARNING CHECK

1. WORDS CAN BE USED FIGURATIVELY OR IN A LITERAL WAY. CHOOSE

THE ONLY CASE IN WHICH THE WORDS ARE BEING USED LITERALLY:

A) It´s raining cats and dogs.

B) He´s such a couch potato.

C) This matter is a hot potato.

D) I´ve just seen a “cat on a hot tin roof”.

E) I have taken my dogs for a walk.

2. THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFERENT FIGURES OF SPEECH. CHOOSE THE

ALTERNATIVE IN WHICH A METAPHOR IS BEING EXEMPLIFIED:

A) He runs like the wind.

B) He is as stubborn as a mule.

C) He is such a pig.

D) She has a big heart.

E) He is between jobs right now.

GABARITO

1. Words can be used figuratively or in a literal way. Choose the only case in which the
words are being used literally:

Option "E " is correct.

The only sentence that uses the word in its literal meaning, that is, in which the animal (or
vegetable) means that exact being expressed, and does not make any analogy, metaphor,
approximation, etc., is letter e. The words "cat", "dog", and "potato" of the other options are not
real animals or vegetables.

2. There are lots of different figures of speech. Choose the alternative in which a
metaphor is being exemplified:

Option "C " is correct.

Metaphors are basically implicit similes, in which the characteristics of one being (in this case,
pig) are being transferred to another (he).

CONCLUSION

FINAL ISSUES
We have seen how lexical and grammatical words combine and their functions in sentences.
We have also studied lexical and syntactic aspects of idiomatic expressions and different
examples of figurative language.

As we have seen, figurative language is present in all types of communication, in different

settings and media. Learning how to identify uses of figurative language and also how to use
them allow for more proficient use of the language.
By now you may have become more comfortable to use the English language in more
interesting and engaging ways.

UNIT RATING:

REFERENCES
GELDEREN, E. An introduction to the Grammar of English. Philadelphia: John Benjamins,
2010.

GLUCKSBERG, S. Understanding figurative language: from metaphors to idioms. New York:

Oxford University Press, 2001.

KEYSAR, B.; BLY, B. Swimming against the current: Do idioms reflect conceptual structure?
Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1559–1578,1999.

SKOUFAKI, S. Investigating the Source of Idiom Transparency Intuitions. Metaphor and

Symbol, v.24, 20-41, 2009.

LEMS, K. Figurative Language: Are English Language Learners Falling Through the Cracks?
Faculty Publications, 2018, p.89.

PREMINGER, A.; BROGAN, T. V. F (Ed.). The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and
Poetics. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993.

RADFORD, A. English Syntax: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2004.
GO FURTHER

You can find a great number of idioms at “The Idioms” website and also at the website
“Idioms – The Free Dictionary”, where each day a new idiom is discussed;

For figures of speech and literary terms, check the “Literary Terms” website.

CONTENT AUTHOR
Tatiana de Freitas Massuno

 CURRÍCULO LATTES