Features: ① The structure is relatively stereotyped. (2) the integrity of meaning. ③ Habituality of time and space. ④ Historicity of formation. ⑤ Nationality of content and form.
Source: ① Historical stories. 2 fables. (3) Myths or other legends. 4 classic literary works.
Idioms are fixed phrases or sentences expressing general concepts, which are mostly composed of four words. For example, "castles in the air", "famous", "according to you", "colorful" and "happy" are all four-character idioms. Idioms with less than four words, such as "knocking at the door", "unwarranted" and "taking for granted", and idioms with more than four words, such as "peaches and plums are all over the world", "real gold is not afraid of fire", "a leopard cannot change his spots" and "only state officials are allowed to set fires, but people are not allowed to light them", account for an absolute minority.
Idioms are similar to proper nouns, scientific terms, proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings, quotations and common phrases composed of four words in some respects. For example, proper nouns and scientific terms are fixed phrases; Proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings and quotations are not only fixed phrases or sentences, but also have meanings similar to idioms. Ordinary phrases composed of four words are simple and have the same form as most idioms, such as "East, West, North and South" and "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", but these are not idioms. A clear understanding of the differences between idioms and proper names and scientific terms will help us to determine what idioms are and what they are not. Now I will briefly explain this aspect.
Idioms are different from proper names: proper names and idioms are fixed phrases composed of several words, but proper names express specific concepts. For example, "Lizhuang Primary School" is only the unique name of a school (of course, there may be duplicate names), and "Guang 'an People's Commune" is only the unique name of a commune. Idioms express general concepts. For example, the idiom "falling apart" can be used to describe a failed flower, a failed army or a scattered crowd. Another example is the idiom "with relish", which can be used to describe anyone who is particularly interested in something.
Idioms are different from scientific terms: scientific terms represent scientific concepts, not general concepts. For example, scientific terms such as "subjective initiative", "revolutionary optimism", "infinite inflorescence" and "parallelogram" are all fixed phrases composed of several words, but they are not idioms.
Idioms are different from proverbs: proverbs are mostly sentences rather than phrases. Proverbs are often used in people's spoken language, but seldom used in articles. Proverbs often have a strong colloquial color, unlike idioms with a classical Chinese color. Proverbs are not as neat as idioms. For example, the proverb "Sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight" and "All crows are black" is not so neat. Of course, if these proverbs must be called idioms, they can be forced.
Idioms are different from two-part allegorical sayings: two-part allegorical sayings are a fixed sentence, which must be composed of two parts: the first part is a metaphor for things, and the second part is a positive explanation. In order to get vivid, vivid and concrete expression effect, we can also quote two-part allegorical sayings like idioms. For example, "a clay idol crossing the river is hard to protect itself." Dogs love to provoke mice. ""The more you wash the clay bodhisattva, the uglier it gets. " "Candied coptis is sweet first, then bitter." These words are "two-part allegorical saying" rather than "idioms".
Idioms are different from quotations: there are individual sentences in ancient works, such as "intrigue" (see Du Mu's Epanggong Fu) and "get to the bottom of it" (see Su Shi's Red Wall Fu). Because it was often used by people, it later became an idiom. But, for example, "Qian Fan passed by the sunken ship and Wan Muchun was in front of the sick tree." These are two poems by Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. These two poems are not often used, but they are occasionally quoted in articles. Therefore, such sentences should be called "quotations", not as idioms.
Idioms are different from ordinary four-word phrases, because most of them are composed of four words, so some people often regard ordinary four-word phrases, especially those with strong classical Chinese colors, as idioms. It should be pointed out that whenever the words in a phrase are interchangeable, they should be regarded as an ordinary phrase. For example, the phrase "radical change" can also be changed to "radical change", "radical change" or "great change" on some occasions. Another example is the phrase "close cooperation", which can be changed into "close cooperation" and "profligacy" and "profligacy" or "profligacy". After these phrases are changed, they do not affect the content and make people feel very appropriate. Phrases that can change freely like this are all ordinary phrases. As for idioms, they are an organic whole, and the words that make up idioms cannot be replaced by other words with the same or similar meanings. For example, the idiom "the rest of my life in the jaws of death" cannot be changed to "the rest of my life in the jaws of a wolf" or "the rest of my life in the jaws of death". Another example is: "No matter how rhetoric a colonialist talks about peace, it can't hide their aggressive nature." In this sentence, not only can we not change "rhetoric about peace" into "rhetoric about peace" or "rhetoric about peace", but we are also reluctant to change it into "rhetoric about peace".
The difference between idioms and proper names, scientific terms and allegorical sayings seems quite obvious. Generally speaking, the differences between idioms and quotations, common phrases and proverbs are clear, but some are not easy to distinguish. We should admit that some fixed phrases or fairly fixed phrases are between idioms and proverbs, quotations or ordinary phrases, and there is no need to divide them. For example, "worthless" can be considered as a common phrase, because it is not forced to call it worthless, worthless or worthless. However, after all, this phrase is relatively fixed, much like an idiom, and it is no problem to regard it as an idiom. Another example is "horse knows horsepower, and people will see it over time", and it is nothing to regard it as an idiom or proverb.
Nationalism is a commendatory term. Some words not only have certain meanings, but also often have different emotional colors. Such as "great, intelligent, pure, noble, dear", with feelings such as praise, love, respect and affirmation, are called commendatory words: "small, stupid, mean, ugly and contemptuous", while those with feelings such as derogatory, hateful, contemptuous and negative are called derogatory words.
The praise and criticism of words is the most obvious in antonyms. For example: diligence-laziness, beauty and ugliness, courage-cowardice, kindness-fierceness, humility-arrogance, and so on.
Some synonyms are also masculine or feminine. For example, "encourage" and "encourage" are synonyms, but "encourage" means encouraging people to do good deeds, which is a commendatory term; "Encourage" is a derogatory term, which is intended to provoke people to do bad things. Another example is: exposure-reporting, leadership-leadership, praise-touting; Decisiveness-arbitrariness, unity-collusion, etc., the former is a commendatory term and the latter is a derogatory term.
Some idioms are also mixed. For example, "selflessness, selflessness, courage" and so on are all commendatory terms, while "fear of death, harming others' interests, sacrificing profits and forgetting righteousness" and so on are all derogatory terms.
There are a large number of neutral words in Chinese, which can be used in both good and bad aspects, such as "initiation, protection, result, fear".
With the change of social life, the emotional color of some words has also changed. Some words change from praise to derogatory, such as "big pot rice", which was praised at first, but now it is slightly derogatory; Some words have changed from derogatory to commendatory, such as "competition", which used to be derogatory, but now it is commendatory; Some words change from neutral to derogatory, and then from derogatory to neutral, such as "planning, group".
The emotional color of words reflects people's feelings and evaluation of love and hate. Generally speaking, commendatory words should be used to express feelings such as praise, love and respect for people or things; Use derogatory terms to express feelings such as derogatory meaning, hatred and contempt. Therefore, when using words, especially synonyms, we should not only understand the meaning of words, but also distinguish words with feelings from words with negative meanings, and choose according to the needs of expression, so as to express our thoughts and feelings accurately and vividly.