Discussion on the characteristics of English Numerals Idioms

1、discussion on the characteristics of english numerals idiomsabstract english numerals very extensive use of idioms. an accurate understanding of and proficiency in the composition of common english idioms numerals, syntactic functions and semantic and rhetorical features to enrich our english is ver

2、y good expression. keywords: english numerals idioms pose a rhetorical characteristic semantic features of syntactic functions english idiom referring to the numeral numerals together with other words with a fixed convention consisting of phrases or phrase, and some said the original meaning, and so

3、me said the extended meaning, or other rhetorical significance, or analogy, or exaggerated, or subtle euphemism, to make language more rich, lively, vivid, meaningful. (a) structural characteristics of from the formal point of view. english idioms numerals have the following main structures: 1. n1 a

4、nd / or n2: n1 is the base word or ordinal numeral, n2 is the base word, ordinal numeral, or other words containing the number of concepts. for example: ive invited one or two friends to theparty this morning. (this morning i invited one or two friends to the party.) there are common: two or three (

5、a few), a thou-sand/hundred and one (of many), twenty and twenty (countless), five-and-ten (large department stores), etc. 2. pn (p): p mainly refers to at, on, in, by such as prepositions, n (p) said the numeral or a numeral phrases, where n can be a base word or ordinal numeral, is the base word w

6、as there for the plural form . for example: everything in the house is at sixes andsevens, (everything in the house a mess.) such numerals idioms are: by / in twos and threes (3322), in two twos (a blink of an eye, and soon), to thenines (perfect, gorgeous land), by the hundred (s) (amounting to 100

7、 account, the large numbers), like sixty (fast to very strong), on all fours (hand, foot and land pufu zhao), etc. 3. p n1n: p mainly refers to at on, in, by such a small number of prepositions, n1, said the base word or ordinal numeral, n that term. for example: on second thouzhtsim inclined toagre

8、e with you. (further consideration, i am inclined to agree with you.) such numerals idioms are: in seventh heaven (extremely happy), at first thought (zhayi want to), at first sight (at first sight), at the eleventh hour (at the last moment, in times of crisis), etc. . 4. n1 p n2: n1 is the base of

9、the main words, p is after, in, on, out of such a small number of prepositions, n 2 can be a base of words, ordinal numbers, or other with the concept of the word. for example: our goods ale second to none in theworld, (in the world, our product better than anyone the difference.) this structure of

10、the numerals idioms are: a thousand / hun-dred to one (most likely), one in a thousand (a thousand miles to pick one), one-on/to-one (one to one, face to face ), nine to five (usually during office hours) and so on. 5. n1n: n1, said the base word or ordinal numeral, n that term. for example: he is t

11、en times the man you ale. (he was more clever than you.) second thoughts ale best. (think twice before they act.) similar numerals idioms are: twenty times (repeatedly, over and over again), seventy-two times (frequently), a thousand / million thanks (also most grateful), forty winks (nap), four-eye

12、s (the eyes of people wearing ), etc. 6. vn (p): v is to take, talk, put, have, make, and several other commonly used verbs, n (p) is the numeral or a numeral phrase, v in such structures to lose their meaning, play a key role in is n (p). for example: he is rather inclined to put two and twotogethe

13、r and make five, (as he speculated on a circle.) - there are similar: go fifty-fifty/fifty to fifty (split), strike twelve (the highest goal, to attain great success), go tothe fourth (the toilet), do number two (solution of stool), have second thoughts (re - considered), take / have five (five-minu

14、te break), etc. (b) the syntactic function mainly play the role of english idioms numeral noun (phrase), adjective (phrase), verb (phrase) and adverb (phrase) and the role can be used as subject, object, predicative, appositive, predicate, attributive, and adverbial, etc. for example: thank you, one

15、 and all (thank you.) (as appositive) they went up the steep path on all fours. (they hand, foot and land along the trail up the steep climb.) (as adverbials) lts too complicated to work out how mucheach of us lost, lets go fifty-fifty. (to calculate the loss of zanliang who would be too cumbersome.

16、 lets cost the average assessed.) (as predicate) they got a fifty-fifty chance. (half and half the success they get the chance.) (as attribute) (c) semantic features and rhetorical features 1. semantic features. english idioms numerals are mostly in a social environment and in certain historical cir

17、cumstances, and inherited, is convention and can not tamper with them. most idioms have escaped or implied meaning, but there are a few of the original meaning is still relatively clear, that is, the number of their own specific concept of relatively clear. for example: thestudents began to leave th

18、e classroom in twos andthrees. (3322 students began to leave the classroom.) heasked me a thousand and one things so that i didnt know what to answer first. (he asked me many, many of the question, i do not know what the first answer better.) obviously, the first cases of the above idioms expressed

19、in numerals the number of concepts more clearly; second case, the numerals idiom a thou-sand and one first comes from the arabian tales thousand and one nights, but it is by no means refers to the determination of the number of 1001, but rather the extended sense, refers to numerous or very large nu

20、mber of mean. even so, the original meaning of this idiom is also the number of numerals can see a little out, while the numeral following the original meaning of idioms is completely gone. for example: the young lady dressed he, eft up tothe nines. (the dress is extremely beautiful young lady.) in

21、english idiom semantics of numerals are a number of obscure, often literally can not be relied upon to understand its true semantics, such as: forty winks (nap), have one over the eight (drunk) and so on. 2. rhetorical features. english idioms numerals concise, succinct xilian expression, language a

22、nd lively, with obvious rhetorical features are common metaphor, hyperbole, euphemism and so on. (1) metaphor. as mentioned earlier, many of numeral idiom itself the meaning expressed in concrete figures no longer exists which arise with the evolution of something or have something related to the me

23、aning of characteristics, thus contributing to express feelings, rendering the atmosphere, so that language more clear, vivid image. for example: she has become one withthe villagers. she has become one and the local villagers. english idioms become one compared the scene blending water and milk (th

24、e equivalent of chinese idioms fish and water, a), simple and clear, the image of human reason. (2) exaggerated. english commonly contain one, ten, twenty, hundred, thousand, etc. numerals to the idiom to describe things, by exaggerated or reduced, deliberate exaggeration in order to achieve the pur

25、pose of rendering the atmosphere. left a deep impression on the reader to better highlight the subject. for example: a thousand thanks. (most grateful.) he was a young giant, broad of back, full ofvigor, a working-man in a thousand. (he was young and tall, shoulder back width, energetic, is thousand

26、s of miles to pick one ganhuo people.) the first sentence by a thousand (a very, extremely) to exaggerate the degree of appreciation, thanks greatly increased the potential of language. with the second sentence in a thousand (pick one of thousands of miles) to the image and characteristics of exagge

27、ration he expressed what he loved people, praising love, leap off the paper. as can be seen from the above two cases, exaggeration and metaphor are closely related, it is often carried out through the metaphor of. the following example is a combination of exaggeration and metaphors typical example:

28、her eyes were shining bril, 1iantly, but her face lost lb color within twenty sec-onds. (her eyes flash, crystal bright, but her face in an instant suddenly thrust.) (3) euphemism. euphemism is to use a mild, indirect, or vague claims alternative vulgar, blunt, frank or unpleasant argument. this substitution does not change the basic meaning, while avo