Why Learn Idioms Through Movies
(preface to the book Idioms Go To The Movies: Ghost)
What are idioms?
Idioms consist of phrasal verbs and expressions, both of which are often frustrating for English language learners. In this book, you will learn and practice the very useful expressions and phrasal verbs which you will hear and see in the captions (the subtitles) as you watch the movie Ghost, which is easily available to rent or to buy.
What are phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs reflect the old Anglo-Saxon way of putting one verb plus one or two prepositions together to create a new verb. The meaning of a phrasal verb is usually independent of the meaning of both the original short verb and the one or two prepositions which combine with it to form a phrasal verb.
Because English is originally an Anglo-Saxon, that is, a Germanic language that received a huge infusion of vocabulary and other linguistic consequences after the French conquest of England in 1066, English still continues to have a somewhat dual vocabulary. Many of its (Anglo-Saxon) phrasal verbs will have a definition or synonym which comes from French. For example, in this book, “to show up,” “to check something out,” “to talk someone into something” and other phrasal verbs have synonyms which come from French.
Why are phrasal verbs so difficult?
Phrasal verbs are often difficult for English language learners for several reasons: 1) they are often used in very specific situations, 2) they often have several different meanings, 3) many of them look very similar, for example, “to check for something,” “to check something out,” “to check up on something,” etc. 4) the placement of the pronoun can be confusing, and 5) with phrasal verbs, a change from one preposition to another, for example, “to check out something” vs. “to check for something” results in a totally different meaning. The native English speaker instinctively understands the difference in meaning which results from changing one or two prepositions, but the English language learner may not be used to attaching such importance to a change of prepositions.
What are expressions?
Expressions are phrases that communicate an idea by using a visual image. They are often easy to learn, for example, “to milk someone for every penny,” but sometimes the visual image is not obvious, for example, “to be hardly the word” or “to burst someone’s bubble” which both appear in the movie Ghost.
How are phrasal verbs and expressions different from slang?
When we talk about “slang,” we often mean that informal language which a particular generation favors during its youth. As one generation gets older, it is replaced by a new generation of young people which develops its own new set of slang. Although some slang stays in the language and eventually migrates into the vocabulary of almost all age groups, most slang will fall out of favor or, if it remains in the language, will be associated with one (aging) generation. Slang also varies a lot from one English-speaking country to another. It is fun to learn slang, but it is best to use it in informal situations only, not in writing or professional situations.
Phrasal verbs, however, are a very old part of the English language and tend to be fairly stable over time and distance, although there are some differences from one English-speaking country to another. Phrasal verbs are common in the works of Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, Twain, and other great English-speaking writers from the past. However, new phrasal verbs are always being created since this is a favorite way of constructing new verbs to reflect new realities.
Expressions are also often very old and may reflect a way of life that few of the people who use a particular expression can remember. For example, we still use the old expression, “to look a gift horse in the mouth,” although most English speakers today rarely see horses and certainly never expect to get a horse as a gift!
Expressions tend to be less stable over time and distance than phrasal verbs. As you travel from the United States to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or Great Britain, you will hear some similar expressions, but you will also hear some very different expressions in each country
How should I learn idioms?
The first step in mastering idioms is to recognize them and remember their meanings. The best way to remember their meanings is to see and hear them in a situation which is interesting, exciting, or simply very enjoyable. That is why seeing and hearing idioms in a movie is so very powerful. The idioms become attached to the visual and audio images from the movie and go deep into your brain, especially if you like the movie, as I hope you like the movies in this series Idioms Go To The Movies
How will this book help me to learn idioms?
In this book, we will learn and practice idioms from the movie Ghost. At the end of this book, the idioms are listed in the order that you will hear them in the movie and see them in the captions. (Some of the idioms are repeated in the movie and are therefore repeated on the list.) As you watch the movie, keep the list of idioms in front of you and pay attention to how each idiom is used in the context of the movie. (By referring to the list of idioms, you can be sure that you will see and hear how each idiom is used in the movie, without missing any of them!) Each time you hear and see the idioms, the sound, the structure, and the meaning of each idiom will go more deeply into your brain.
I suggest that you watch the movie Ghost, using the English captions at the bottom of the screen, before you study the idioms in this book and then again after you have studied the idioms in the book.
Is this book useful for me if I don’t watch the movie Ghost?
Yes, of course. But seeing and hearing the idioms in the context of a movie is an ideal reinforcement activity.
Why do some “Extra Idioms” appear in the dialogues, but not in the exercises?
A few idioms from Ghost appear in the dialogues in this book, along with their definitions, but are not included in the exercises. I do this, in most cases, when the idiom is already being taught in another book in this series. For example, the idiom “to set someone up ” appears in the movie Ghost, but is already taught in Idioms Go To The Movies:Trading Places. Therefore, I have chosen simply to include it in a dialogue and to give its definition in this book.
Why are some idioms in the exercises missing from the list of idioms in the movie?
Some idioms in the exercises are not in the movie. They are included in this book because they 1) either look similar to, or are similar in meaning to, an idiom in the movie Ghost or 2) are useful idioms that you should know.
Is this book only useful for learning idioms?
No! I have included many common phrases in the dialogues and exercises. I encourage you to read these dialogues out loud in order to become familiar with these common phrases. To increase the benefit of each dialogue, read each dialogue several times, going faster each time. When you have difficulty with a group of words, this is almost certainly because this grouping of sounds conflicts with sound groupings in your own language. Therefore, repeat the difficult sentences until you can say them easily. The next time that you meet the same difficult groups of sounds in English, you will be able to say them much more easily.
What if I’m not sure how to pronounce some of the words in the dialogues and exercises?
The audio CD for this book will be available in 2008.
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