Nguyen Ngoc Vu
Nguyen Thi Thu Van
Why do we use the past tense?
 Did you know that the conference has started?
 Could you open the door for me?
 I wish you would stop smoking.
 I would rather you didn’t talk in class.
 If I were you, I would not do that.
 I wish I were rich.
What is
an
idiom?
What is an idiom?
 A phrase or sentence whose meaning is
not clear from the meaning of its
individual words and which must be
learnt as a whole unit
(Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary.
1995)
Can you predict the meaning of
this?
Loins des yeux,
loins du coeur
Other cases
 To be at the crossroad
 To run out of steam
 The right hand man
 The head of the company
 Look up/ Feel up/ Feel down
Why do we use past forms
in present time?
How do we predict the
meaning of idioms?
Conceptual metaphor
 Defined as understanding one conceptual domain in
terms of another conceptual domain.
 Source domain: the conceptual domain from which we
draw metaphorical expressions.
 Target domain: the conceptual domain that we try to
understand.
ARGUMENT IS WAR
defend
attack
demolish
win
lose
Shoot down
Right on
target
Source domain: War
defend
attack
demolish
win
lose
Shoot down
Right on
target
Target domain: Argument
Structural metaphor
• a conventional metaphor in which one concept is
understood and expressed in terms of another
structured concept.
• Examples:
 They are at a crossroads in their relationship.
 This relationship isn't going anywhere.
 They're in a dead-end relationship.
 This marriage is on the rocks.
 This relationship has been spinning its wheels for years.
 Their marriage has really gone off the track.
Orientational metaphor
• An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which
concepts are spatially related to each other, as in the
following ways:
– Up or down
– In or out
– Front or back
– On or off
– Deep or shallow
– Central or peripheral
Orientational metaphor
Ex: “HAPPY IS UP”; “SAD IS DOWN”
 I'm feeling up.
 That boosted my spirits.
 Thinking about her always gives me a lift.
 I'm feeling down.
 I fell into a depression.
Ontological metaphor
• An abstraction, such as an activity, emotion, or idea, is
represented as something concrete, such as an object,
substance, container, or person
• Ex: THE MIND IS A MACHINE
 He has a screw loose.
 He slipped a cog.
 I could see the wheels turning.
 He churns out ideas.
MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN
 They put up the price on that model by five dollars.
 They brought their children up in the countryside.
 Production went up at the plant by 15 percent.
 The car sped up and passed the slow driver.
 It's really heated up these past few days.
 Can you turn the sound up?
 The local economy has really picked up since the new factory was built.
 The quarterly profits went down from the second to the third quarter.
 Turn down that horrible music!
 Please keep the noise down in this room!
 It's really cooled down these past few days.
 Computer prices have really come down recently.
POWER IS OVER/UP; WEAKNESS IS UNDER/DOWN
• He was lording it over me.
• The Emperor ruled over a vast area.
• They have come up in the world.
• She's been moved up to a more responsible job.
• The police clamped down on drinking in the streets.
• The rebellion was swiftly put down.
• Prisoners are kept under constant surveillance.
• We had to knuckle under and do what we were told.
THE PAST IS FAR; THE PRESENT IS NEAR
 Could you open the door for me?
 It’s high time you stopped smoking.
 Would you mind my staying here?
 Did you know that Tom has arrived?
 If I were you, I would take the job.
Coke versus Pepsi; Nike versus Reebok; Nintendo versus Sega the battle is on amongst the world’s top brands.
Aggressive competitive advertising has now reached fever
pitch; extra millions are pouring into R & D, and the market
leaders are under constant pressure to slash their prices in
a cut-throat struggle for market domination. When Philip
Morris knocked 40c off a packet of Marlboro, $ 47-and-ahalf billion was instantly wiped off the market. Value of
America’s top twenty cigarette manufacturers lesser brands
went to the wall. And that’s just one example of how fair
competition within a free market has rapidly escalated
into all-out brand war..
Implications for teaching
 Conventional knowledge plus conceptual metaphor
motivate meanings of idioms.
 Explicit teaching of conceptual metaphors help
improve language learning
 Ts should try to get their Ss guess meanings of idioms
rather than do rote learning.
What is an idiom?
 A group of words whose meaning is
different from the meanings of the
individual words.
(Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary.
2010)