luketime
New member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2012
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
Idioms usually don't bother my too much, but I'm puzzled when a teacher classifies "behave yourself" and "set the table" as idioms.
I thought these expressions are plain and straightforward enough and never saw them as idioms.
When I actually looked, I did find "set the table" listed as an idiom in McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs and Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, as per thefreedictionary.com
On second thought, I understand why "set the table" is considered an idiom, because it means setting knives and forks etc. on the table instead of fixing the table itself.
But I can't find "behave yourself" listed as an idiom.
I see idioms as phrases that mean something else rather than the meanings of its individual words added together. It takes quite a while for me to recognize "set the table" as such, and it surely undermined my confidence in recognizing idioms.
Is there any way I can be sure of to distinguish an idiom from a non-idiom? :-|
I thought these expressions are plain and straightforward enough and never saw them as idioms.
When I actually looked, I did find "set the table" listed as an idiom in McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs and Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, as per thefreedictionary.com
On second thought, I understand why "set the table" is considered an idiom, because it means setting knives and forks etc. on the table instead of fixing the table itself.
But I can't find "behave yourself" listed as an idiom.
I see idioms as phrases that mean something else rather than the meanings of its individual words added together. It takes quite a while for me to recognize "set the table" as such, and it surely undermined my confidence in recognizing idioms.
Is there any way I can be sure of to distinguish an idiom from a non-idiom? :-|