[lg policy] about idioms and proverbs !

[Anthea Fraser Gupta]

Not an easy thing to answer. What is an idiom? It is impossible to write without using idioms. I think this has to be answered on a case by case basis [is that an idiom?]. The initial style to aim for in academic writing (I do not know what you mean by 'free essay') should be a plain but formal one, and in that kind of modern academic writing neither proverbs nor idioms are banned.

How about getting them to look at some academic writing and see whether they can identify proverbs and idioms?

I notice, by the way [is that an idiom?], that your own emails tend to be more informal that many postings on this list (e.g. 'Hi all', 'i'), yet you sign yourself very formally ('Dr Mostari'). This has got to be a very difficult area of usage that all writers struggle with, but I think the way to go [another idiom] is to make comparisons and see what people do.

Anthea
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Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)
School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
<www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg>>
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________________________________
From: lgpolicy-list-bounces at groups.sas.upenn.edu [lgpolicy-list-bounces at groups.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of mostari hind [hmostari at yahoo.com]
Sent: 19 April 2010 22:04
To: Language Policy List
Subject: [lg policy] about idioms and proverbs !

Hi all ,
My first year EFL students  asked me whether it is acceptable to use idioms in  their written essays  , what i know is that it is feasible with proverbs but with idioms , do you think it is acceptable for any academic work or even free essay to include idioms to refer to a particular  idea ?

thanks for your answer
Dr Mostari
Algeria



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