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GnqMMRnnnoUsncs

O MemorizecomnnonlYusedidioms;Idiomsarecomrnoncombinat ionsofwordsthathaveagreed-uponmethatdonotfollowgrammarrules'

accuseofj: . ----,-i.j.eg.t-e-t6-igreewithagreeonaPologizeforaPPIYto, aPPIYfor -

arriveatblameforcareaboutcareforcomparetocomparewith

consistofcontributetocountoncoverwithdecideoridependQndifferfrontdistinguiexcusefQrforgiveforinsistonlookin onlookintolit

objecttopartieiPateinpreventfromprohibitfromprovidewithrelyonrespondtowaitforwaiton'workwith

TnvIr OurIn eachsentencebelow,underlinetheimpro$erlyusedwordor phrase.

t. Sheagreedto participatewitha sporteachsemester'

2. I do no taPProveYourbehavior'

3, Onecannotobjectfo r ho wyou spendyoUrweekends'

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202 SATt l : WRtTtNG/ MUL] - IPLE-CHOICEOUESTTONS

10. Either way,Nat expectsto move to thecountrybecausehe lclvesnature and hvesimplybecausehe doesn'thavemuchmoney.

and he ' l leme: rgeeventua l lywrest lerin the:ster te. asthe bes t

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12. His ideal housewould be in awith land aror indit , and with

Answers'on page2,61.

.Thehikersdecidedt,cwalk k_rthe mountarnThe hikersarr iver ja/ the mor-rntain.The h ikerscanrpedcrnthemounta in .

wh o use the standa::dtongue.Iv1ostneLtrvespeak_ers of the languagehave learnedidiornsas natu-ral ly as they learnedto walk.

Thekidshadnot onlybooksal i over the bussidewalk.scatteredtheirbu t a lsothe

good locat ion,a view.

l'3. Joan'spencil was broken, yellow, und .uri$om-Dnlsage-known lo Lfl ,from thisbox.

14. His t rainingin designwould help him roknow how to furnishthe housei impty anddecorat ingwould be simple.too.

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l o .

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"fhe landladyrolclhima hotpJatein his roomLi :00o 'c lock .tha t i re cou ldnot haveand showersafter

On the o therhand,hear ingno car hornsandbusesand to be miles from fr iendsmay cause.him to be bored and rest less

E i ther the mousewi l l f indthe a t t j co r w i l i gnawat thea qu ic l

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: f :-soundingword or phrasemay be the most tel l ingclue to the presenceof faulty idiom'

Th e First Amendrnent is invoked in those ttmeswhen journalists are asked to disclose theirsources. (The phrasein thosetimesis awkward'Replace in with al, which often refers to time-alfour o'clock,at th e tuln of th e century-or, better,deleteth e phrasealtogether.)The FirstAmendment is invoked when journal -istsareaskedto disclosetheirsources'(Thisrevisedsentenceis not only more graceful butrnore economicalthan thp or.iginal')A knightwas fa i thfu lto h is king, to his church,an d to his lady, an d he would gladly die in th ename of them. (The phrasein thenameof themis grammaticalbu t awkward')A kni$htwas fai thfu lto h is king, to his church,and to hi s ladv,an d he woulq[theirname.Each error in English icljom is unique'

Although many errors involve the faulty use ofprepositions,yo u ma y just as easily find libertiesiat"n with verbs,adverbs,or any other Part ofspeech. Faulty idiom may distort a cornmonEnglishexpressionor be a colloquial usagethat awriter has tried to passof f asstandard'Fnulrv:My parentsareno'texact lystr ictin whenI slrouldbe homeonSaturd.aYnight.(FaultYuseof

PrePoslt lon)SrnruoRno:My parentsar e no t exactlystrictaboutwhenI shouldbe homeonSatr-rrdaYnight.

Fnulrv: ln appreciationabout her serviceto the shelter ,she was giventheVolunteer-of- lhe-MonthAward'( Incorrectuseof idiomat icPhrase)Ster.roeRo:tn apprec.iationof her servlce lothe shelter ,shewas giventheVolunleer-of- the-MonthAward'

Fnulrv:Therewas no oPPosit ionlnregardslo the showingof the "R "ratedf i lm.( Incorrectuseofidiomat icPhrase)

SrnruoeRo:Therewas no oppositionYvllhregardto the showingol the "R"ratedf i lm.

Fnulrv:Phi land Georgeare readyforworkingat a rnoment'snotice.(FaultYuseof verb)SrnlronRo:Philand Geort;ear e ready lo, workat a monlent'snotice.

Fnurv: The storyis filledup with allusionsto Norsentythology.(IJnnecessaryprePositionaddedto verb)SuruonRo:Th.estoryis filledwith allusionstoNorsemYlhology'

Corloounr: Susancan't help but think thatshe lost.herPurseat the bu sstation.(Gram:maticallYcorrect,bu tnonstartdard.On th eSAT II'therefore,thisvvouldbe an exampleof faultYidiom.)SrnnoARo:Susancan't help thinkingthat shelostherpurseal the busstation.

CortoJio'-:Whenlastseen,the mancarrieda kind of atknapsack.(ColloquiallyaccePtable,but a nonstandardusage-)

SrnruoAno:When last seen, the man carried' a kind of knapsack.

PRACTICEEXERCISEIN EJ'IGLXSHIDIOMidentify the errors in English idiom in th e follow-in g sentences.Write revisedversionsin'the spacesprovided.Sdmesentencesma)' contain no erlor'

1. It was an honor to die at trattle fo r theirreligionr

After the ceremony,t t renewlywedsascendedup the s ta i r s .z.

3. I hopethat theadmissionsofficewill complyto myrequestfor an extenslon'

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20 4 SA Tll : WRtTtNG/ MULTIPLE-CHO|CEOUESTTONS

4. UnJessthe cal l comessoon,we wi l l loseouron a lucrat ivebusinessventure. Mary doubtsiJshe' l lcontinueto run theoarniva]nextvear.

Thef.ugitivewascapableto doavoidcapture. anythingto

om I:rontreligion an d the press.

- 1. \Mhenshereturned,itnever.been away. felt asthoughshed

12.

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6. Pleasetypeup yourpaperandsubmitit 14.Amongorherthings,theBil l hts guar-

9.

7. For the first time, Rita feJtindependent fromh e r 9 t o 5 s c h e d u l e .

The possewent in pursuitaf ter the horsethieves.

As a chi ld he had a greatinterestfordinosaursand other prehistor iccreatures.

Thetwo teacherswalkeddownthe corridorarguingagainsteachotherabouttheplan.

15. He was the type ,cfa studentwho said l i t t lein alassbut wrote,lorrgpapers.

No new planswele dr:velopedin respecttothe environment.

The two agenciesrnustcooperatein caseswhereinterstatecc)mnterceis concerned

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Colun- ibussai ledwr:stin searcl ifor athe Ind ies , way to

When they looked c lose lya tcou ldn ' the ip to seetha t thetoo fast .the wreck, theyca r wa s traveling The so ld ie rcou ldno t enduretha tk ind o f apa inwi thou tpass in l iou t .

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