The Influnce of Figurative Idioms in English Language

In the field of Modern Languages and Linguistics, words are of great importance. A language’s phonology (study of how sounds are organized and used), morphology (study of the form and structure of words), syntax (study of the rules that govern sentence structure), semantics (study of meaning of words, sentences, and expressions), pragmatics (study of aspects of meaning and language use and context), and phonetics (study of human speech sounds) all play an important part in everyday life. These have a major impact in understanding the intent of what is spoken or heard. Due to the importance of communication, literary elements such as metaphors (which are defined as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase

“My Favorite Chaperone” by Jean Davies Okimoto and The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang both incorporate the use of figurative language. Figurative language helps to create a visual image in the reader’s mind. Authors also incorporate figurative language in order to enhance and explain a variety of literary elements throughout a piece of literature. For instance, in “My Favorite Chaperone,” Okimoto is conveying a sense of change through overcoming obstacles. While overcoming these obstacles, fear was always evident through Maya’s actions.

How Do Metaphor, Figurative Language, and Symbolic Imagery Contribute to Prose Fiction? [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institute] Introduction

Authors use figurative language to describe the objects and characters in the stories. In the passage “Uncle Timothy’s Ships,” by Summer Woodford, figurative language reveals the significance of the bottled ships, Woodford reveals the significance of the bottled ships by using metaphors, extended metaphors, and personification. The first piece of figurative language that Summer Woodford uses are metaphors. A metaphor is to compare two things without using like or as.

Of the countless examples of figurative language in Night I have decided to perform my in-depth analysis of the following three examples dispersed throughout the book.

Starting with figurative language, you find a hyperbole. The example is when one person at the stand shouts, "'Kill him! Kill the umpire!'" It's hyperbole because he doesn't want him to literally be killed. What makes it humorous is that some readers may find it funny for someone to yell, "Kill him," at a baseball game. The example for rhyming is when the stragglers thought about betting on Casey. The author wrote, "They thought, 'If only Casey could

Idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. Which basically means having a own saying. In the 4th paragraph, a phrase “jump down my throat” was used by the write to react angrily to something that someone said or did.

Through the entirety of “The Veldt,” the reader can tell that something is not right and that something bad is going to happen. The reader can tell this because of the authors amazing use of imagery, diction, and figurative language to foreshadow the end of the story. Throughout the story, the author foreshadows the ending of the story by using imagery to describe Africa, carefully using diction to give of an eerie feeling, and using figurative language in strange ways to describe things.

A freezing winter breeze prowls into the skin of a pubescent twelve year old, leaving his breath visible to his naked eye. All amidst butterflies maneuver in his stomach. Using few words and variations of figurative languages like the example above from “Oranges” by Gary Soto, authors alike can construct a powerful and vivid image of their novels. When people speak literally, their words lack the imagination that literary devices crate. In turn, readers lose the ability to capture the tone that the writer or the author’s characters are trying to convey. Figurative language is the gateway to an author's mind and allows others to interpret the novelist’s way of thinking. Although everyone thinks differently, figurative language is a “language” that everyone can understand. Utilizing the different symbols in “Oranges”, Gary soto harnesses figurative language to strengthen his poem and expresses the feelings of a young boy in love, as he adventures through his first date.

In the short story, “Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong”, Tim O’ Brien uses different figurative language to give the story a more realistic feel. The use of the Figurative language makes the story much more interesting and gives more detail to each and every character’s current circumstances. The Figurative language evokes a happiness and gloominess in the story. Figurative helps the stories conflicts seem much more detailed and explained. Here are some examples of figurative language used in the story.

The first example of figurative language is when the story says, "are you as wise as you are beautiful? " This is irony. She is speaking to a donkey and asking if it is as smart as it is beautiful. Another example would be imagery. The story says, " When a few good neighbours were met to drink some comfortable ale together, Puck would jump into the bowl of ale in the likeness of a roasted crab, and when some old goody was going to drink he would bob against her lips, and spill the ale over her withered chin.

Although there are diversified classifications of the term ‘metaphor’, this research will merely focus on the aspect of metaphor that was put forward by a cognitive linguist. “In the cognitive-linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain” (Kövecses, 2002, p.4).

Name some of the idioms in this story. How do you think the use of idioms enhances this story?

The meaning behind idiomatic expressions is to get an exaggerated or ironic point across in order to express a feeling or thought that cannot be expressed and lived literally. Like the saying “too big for your britches” the expression originated from a southern representative, David Crockett, in the early 1800’s. His use of the idiom was directed towards someone who was being

The language is a part of the culture and the carrier of the culture at the same time. The culture can not get away from the language. The language can not get away from the culture, either. It is impossible to study a foreign language text without considering the culture it embodied. Idiom is the essence and crystallization of a language and culture. It is the summary of life experiences of the people in a particular district. Usually, it is short but it can reflect the special features of a certain culture. Therefore, the accurate understanding of the English idiom does not only involve the phonetic conversion but also involve the western cultural conversion. It requires that the learner know the western culture background well.