firewell
Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2009
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Ukraine
- Current Location
- United States
I remember a long time ago, when I was taking ESL in school, we had this textbook about idioms (and now I'm not sure the word "idioms" was used) that I found extremely useful. The "idioms" listed in that book were mostly in the "verb + preposition" form, e.g. "believe in" or "root for". Basically, combinations that can't be explained logically and you just have to memorize. Other learners sometimes ask me to explain why they must use a certain preposition with a certain verb, to which I would like to respond by giving them that kind of a book and telling them to stop trying to understand it, and just memorize. However, when I search for books or internet pages about "idioms", I get stuff like "last straw" or "when pigs fly" etc, which is all very nice, but hardly useful for people who don't understand the difference between "care for" and "care about".
So my question is twofold:
1. Are such "verb + preposition" combinations really called "idioms", or did my memory fail me on that? What are they really called then?
2. Are there any books/other resources anyone can recommend that concentrate specifically on such combos?
So my question is twofold:
1. Are such "verb + preposition" combinations really called "idioms", or did my memory fail me on that? What are they really called then?
2. Are there any books/other resources anyone can recommend that concentrate specifically on such combos?