SueSquared
New member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2015
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
I need some help. Please! I am a teacher of English in Australia and am having some difficulty with this idiom.
I understand the meaning of 'to cry over spilt milk' and I appreciate the different spellings (pronunciation too) of the past tense of 'spill'. What I am interested to know is: When is it appropriate to use it? Can it be applied to a house burnt (also 'burned') down by a bushfire? I don't think so. Can it be applied to a car accident? Perhaps, if no-one was injured. If so, who can say it. The person whose car was wrecked? The person who caused the accident? Can it only be applied to trivial mistakes and not serious ones.
I usually don't go into such detail when teaching idioms to my students. However, this particular idiom confounds me a bit. As we all know, idioms rely on that 'right moment' before they can be used. Also, there is that sense of what's done is done, let's move forward. Do you agree?
I think it is much too flippant to tell my students that it means 'to stop complaining about a past loss'. They will want to know what kinds of loss.
Any suggestions:?:
I understand the meaning of 'to cry over spilt milk' and I appreciate the different spellings (pronunciation too) of the past tense of 'spill'. What I am interested to know is: When is it appropriate to use it? Can it be applied to a house burnt (also 'burned') down by a bushfire? I don't think so. Can it be applied to a car accident? Perhaps, if no-one was injured. If so, who can say it. The person whose car was wrecked? The person who caused the accident? Can it only be applied to trivial mistakes and not serious ones.
I usually don't go into such detail when teaching idioms to my students. However, this particular idiom confounds me a bit. As we all know, idioms rely on that 'right moment' before they can be used. Also, there is that sense of what's done is done, let's move forward. Do you agree?
I think it is much too flippant to tell my students that it means 'to stop complaining about a past loss'. They will want to know what kinds of loss.
Any suggestions:?: