Idioms, collocations and formulaic expressions

What are idioms? break even; a can of worms

An expression like turn up (meaning ‘arrive’), break even (meaning ‘make neither a profit nor a loss’) or a can of worms (meaning ‘a complicated problem’) can be difficult to understand, because its meaning is different from the meanings of the separate words in the expression. (If you know break and even, this does not help you at all to understand break even.) Expressions like these are called ‘idioms’. Idioms are usually special to one language and cannot be translated word for word (though related languages may share some idioms).

Verbs with particles or prepositions: bring up; look after

Common short verbs like bring, come, do, get, give, go, have, keep, make, put, and take are very often used with prepositions or adverb particles (e.g. on, off, up, away) to make two-word verbs. These are called ‘prepositional verbs’ or ‘phrasal verbs’, and many of them are idiomatic.

• Can you look after the cats while I’m away?
• She just doesn’t know how to bring up children.
• I gave up chemistry because I didn’t like it.

Many of these two-word verbs are especially common in informal speech and writing. Compare:

• What time are you planning to turn up? (informal)
  Please let us know when you plan to arrive. (more formal)
• Just keep on till you get to the crossroads. (informal)
  Continue as far as the crossroads. (formal)

Collocations: burning desire; blazing disagreement

We can say I fully understand, but not I fully like; I rather like, but not I rather understand; I firmly believe, but not I firmly think. Somebody can be a heavy smoker or a devoted friend, but not a devoted smoker or a heavy friend. Expressions like these are also idiomatic, in a sense. They are easy to understand, but not so easy for a learner to produce correctly. One can think of many adjectives that might be used with smoker to say that somebody smokes a lot – for example big, strong, hard, fierce, mad, devoted. It just happens that English speakers have chosen to use heavy, and one has to know this in order to express the idea naturally and correctly. These conventional combinations of words are called ‘collocations’, and all languages have large numbers of them. Some more examples:

• a crashing bore (but not a crashing nuisance)
• a burning desire (but not a blazing desire)
• a blazing disagreement (but not a burning disagreement)
• highly reliable (but not highly old)
• a golden opportunity (but not a golden chance)
• change one’s mind (but not change one’s thoughts)
• Thanks a lot. (but not Thank you a lot.)

Formulaic expressions: Sorry I kept you waiting.

The expressions that are used in typical everyday situations are often idiomatic in the same sense. With the help of a dictionary and a grammar, one could invent various possible ways of expressing a particular common idea, but generally there are only one or two ways that happen to be used by English speakers, and one has to know what they are in order to speak or write naturally. Some examples:

• Could you check the oil? (More natural than Could you inspect the oil? or Could you see how much oil there is in the engine?)
• Is it a direct flight or do I have to change? (More natural than Does the plane go straight there or do I have to get another one?)
• Sorry I kept you waiting. (More natural than Sorry I made you wait.)
• Could I reserve a table for three for eight o’clock? (More natural than Could you keep me a table for three persons for eight o’clock?)

Other formulaic expressions are used as parts of sentences – useful introductions, conclusions or frames for the things that people want to say.

• Let me know when/where/what/how …
• The best thing would be to …
• The point is …
• I wouldn’t be surprised if …
• (do something) as a favour
• … is more trouble than it’s worth.
• I’ll … on condition that you …

Using idioms, collocations and fixed expressions

Idioms, collocations and formulaic expressions are common in all kinds of English, formal and informal, spoken and written. Informal spoken language is often very idiomatic.

Students should not worry because they do not know all the expressions of this kind that are commonly used by English speakers. There are enormous numbers of them, and they can take years to learn. If students use non-idiomatic ways of expressing ideas, they will normally be understood, and English speakers do not expect foreigners to speak perfect natural English. It is therefore not necessary for students to make great efforts to memorise idioms, collocations, etc: they will learn the most common ones naturally along with the rest of their English. In particular, note that books of idioms often contain expressions which are slangy, rare or out of date, and which students should avoid unless they understand exactly how and when the expressions are used. This is especially true of colourful idioms like, for example, raining cats and dogs, as cross as two sticks (= angry) or kick the bucket (= die). If students try consciously to fill their speech and writing with such expressions the effect will probably be very strange.

It is, however, helpful for learners to have a good up-to-date dictionary of collocations (for example the Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English) in order to become aware of the most common word combinations.

note

For more about formal and informal language, (see here).

For slang, (see here).