Idioms in newspaper style

Yerevan State Linguistic Universityafter V. Brusov

Course paper
Theme: Idioms in newspaper style

Yerevan 2009

 
Table of contents
Introduction
1.Idiom, general characteristics
2.Newspaper style Conclusion
Conclusion
Bibliography
english language newspapers publication

Introduction
Today the English language is widely spoken throughoutthe world. It is the language of 21st century the language of informative technologies,so while describing the English language; first of all it should be underlined thatthe English language is the mother tongue of the global media. To understand Englishclearly one should know not only its standard vocabulary but also its differentstyles, dialects, proverbs, sayings, phrasal verbs and idioms, as they are usedin any sphere: books, films, newspapers, formal speeches. One, looking through somepapers, magazines and journals, will discover the same language to sound quite different,because he will find familiar words with unfamiliar meanings. He will face idioms,phrasal verbs etc.
Besides, knowing the standard English perfectly one mayhave difficulties in understanding for instance American English, as many factors,such as culture, the natives’ language, slang, migration and development of thesame language apart in dissimilar conditions, cause many changes in the same Englishlanguage.
The focus of the research project in this paper is torepresent idioms in British and American newspapers. Moreover, the research showsinformation on history of English language newspapers, as well as on idioms.
English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century.The first newspaper carried only news, without comments, as commenting was consideredto be against the principals of journalism. By the 19th century, newspaper languagewas recognized as a particular variety of style, characterized by a specific communicativepurpose and its own system of language means .
It includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseologicaland grammatical means serving the purpose of informing, instructing and, in addition,of entertaining the reader. The modern newspaper carries material of extremely diversecharacter. On the pages of a newspaper one can find not only news and comments onit, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles and the like.
Thus we can point out two main functions of the newspaper:
1. Informative
2. Entertaining
In order to make the article sound lively and impressivethe author enriches the writing with idioms and a like.
An idiom is a phrase where the words together have meaningthat is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. It isa phrase whose meaning cannot be made sense of from the literal definition, butrefers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use, thatis an expression in the usage of the language that has a meaning that two or morethat means something other the literal meanings of its individual words.
Ex. Between a rock and a hard place: stuck between twovery bad options.
My coarse paper consists of the following chapters: Idiomsgeneral characteristics ,and the usage of idioms in newspaper style .
In the first chapter we stated the definitions of idiomsby different scholars, their origin, the semantic and syntactic structure of idioms.We have also discussed the usage of idioms in American and British language.
In the second chapter we have discussed newspaper styleits origin and features.
Nowadays this theme is rather contemporary as everylearner must be prepared to meet the challenge simply because idioms occur so frequentlyin the spoken and written English.

1. Idiom, general characteristics
 
Idioms are found in every language and learning themis an important aspect of mastery of language. The English language is no exceptionas it contains a large number of idioms, which are extensively used. However, becauseof their rigid structure and quite unpredictable meaning, idioms are often considereddifficult to learn. John Seed defines an idiom as words collocated together happento become fossilized, becoming fixed over time. This collocation — words commonlyused in a group — changes the definition of each of the words that exist. As anexpression, the word-group becomes a team, so to speak. That is, the collocatedwords develop a specialized meaning as a whole and an idiom is born. An idiom isa group of words in which the meaning of this group is different than what wouldbe expected. If the actual words of an idiom were understood as they appear, theentire meaning would be changed and the group of words would make no sense in itscontext as if it was understood as to be an idiom. When a person uses an idiom,the listener might take the actual meaning wrong if he or she has not heard thisfigure of speech before. In someone's native language, idioms may be a natural partof speaking. Thus an idiom is not really considered to be set in a language. Theyare more in one's culture. Idioms are mostly for just one language. In some cases,when an idiom is translated into another language the meaning of the idiom is changedor does not make any sense as it once did in another language. Idioms are probablythe hardest thing for a person to learn in the process of learning a new language.This is because most people grow up using idioms as if their true meanings actuallymake sense. In the English expression «to kick the bucket«, for example, a listenerknowing only the meaning of kick and bucket would be unable to deduce the expression'sactual meaning, which is to die. Although it can refer literally to the act of strikinga specific bucket with a foot, native speakers rarely use it that way. Another kindof idiom is the use of a single word to have multiple meanings, sometimes at thesame time, and sometimes one meaning to be discerned from context. This can be seenin the (mostly uninflected) English language in polysemes, the common use of thesame word for an ability, for those engaged in it, the product, place, or time ofan activity, and sometimes for a verb. Idioms tend to confuse those not alreadyfamiliar with them; students of a new language must learn its idiomatic expressionsthe way they learn its other vocabulary. Many natural language words have idiomaticorigins, but have been sufficiently assimilated so that their figurative senseshave been lost./> An idiom is generally a colloquialmetaphor — a term which requires some foundational knowledge, information, or experience,to use only within a culture where parties must have common reference.
According to Stephen Cramley idiom is defined as « acomplex item which is longer than a word- form but shorter then a sentence and whichhas a meaning that cannot be derived from the knowledge of its component parts».
Raymond W. Gibbs suggests another definition of idiomaccording to which « by the term idiom the speaker should learn «dead» metaphorsand speech gambits by arbitrarily pairing each phrase some non – literal meaningwithout any awareness of why these phrases mean what they do».
Gill Philip stated that « idioms are class of multy –wordunits which pose a challenge to our understanding of grammar and lexics that hasn’tyet been fully met».
Charles Hocket (1958) consider idiom «as a modern linguisticagreement on one composed of two or more constituent parts generally deemed to bewords. The closer the wording of an idiom reflects a real world situation the easierit is to interpret».
However some idioms can be more universally used thanothers, and they can be easily translated, metaphorical meaning can be more easilydeduced. While many idioms are clearly based in conceptual metaphors such as «timeas a substance», «time as a path», «love as war» or «upis more», the idioms themselves are often not particularly essential, evenwhen the metaphors themselves are. For example, «spend time», «battleof the sexes», and «back in the day» are idiomatic and based in essentialmetaphors..In forms like «profits are up», the metaphor is carried by«up» itself. The phrase «profits are up» is not itself an idiom.Practically anything measurable can be used in place of «profits»: «crimeis up», «satisfaction is up», «complaints are up» etc.Truly essential idioms generally involve prepositions, for example «out of»or «turn into».
It is said that if that natural language had been designedby a logician, idioms would not exist. They are indivisible units whose componentcannot be varied or varied only within definable limits. Idioms are comparativelystable and semantically inseparable. The essential feature idioms is lack of motivation.This term (idiom) habitually used by English and American linguistics is very oftentreated as synonymous with the term phrasiological unit. Phrasiological units arehabitually defined as non – motivated word – groups that cannot be freely made upin speech but are reproduced as ready – made units. Phraseological units are comparativelystable and semantically inseparable. «idioms vary in ‘transparency’: that is whethertheir meaning can be derived from the literal meanings of the individual words.For example, make up [one’s ] mind is rather transparent in suggesting the meaning‘reach a decision ’ while kick the bucket is representing the meaning ‘die».
A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classificationof phraseological units, comparing them with words. He points out one-top unitswhich he compares with derived words because derived words have only one root morpheme.He points out two-top units which he compares with compound words because in compoundwords we usually have two root morphemes. Among one-top units he points out threestructural types; a) units of the type «to give up» (verb + postpositiontype), e.g. to art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to sandwichin etc.; b) units of the type «to be tired». Some of these units remindthe Passive Voice in their structure but they have different prepositions with them,while in the Passive Voicewe can have only prepositions «by» or»with», e.g. «tobe tired of», «to be interested in», «to be surprised at» etc.There are also unitsin this type which remind free word-groups of the type»to be young», e.g. «to beakin to», «to be aware of» etc. The difference between them is that the adjective«young» can be used as an attribute and as a predicative in a sentence, while thenominal component in such units can act only as a predicative. In these units theverb is the grammar centre and the second component is the semantic centre; c)prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are equivalents ofunchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, that is why they haveno grammar centre, their semantic centre is the nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep(quite near), on the nose (exactly), in the course of, on the stroke of, in time,on the point of etc. In the course of time such units can become words, e.g. tomorrow,instead etc. Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structuraltypes: a) attributive-nominal such as: «a month of Sundays», «grey matter»,«a millstone round one’s neck» and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalentsand can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic units (phrasems) sometimesthe first component is idiomatic, e.g. «high road», in other cases the second componentis idiomatic, e.g. first night.In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g.red tape, blind alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others. b) verb-nominalphraseological units, e.g. «to read between the lines», «to speak BBC», «tosweep under the carpet» etc. The grammar centre of such units is the verb, the semanticcentre in many cases is the nominal component, e.g. to fall in love. In some unitsthe verb is both the grammar and the semantic centre, e.g. not to know the ropes.These units can be perfectly idiomatic as well, e.g. «to burn one’s boats», «tovote with one’s feet», «to take to the cleaners» etc.Very close to such units areword-groups of the type «to have a glance», «to have a smoke». These units are notidiomatic and are treated in grammar as a special syntactical combination, a kindof aspect. c) phraseological repetitions, such as: «now or never», «partand parcel», «country and western» etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g.«ups and downs», «back and forth»; often they are formed by means of alliteration,e.g «cakes and ale», «as busy as a bee». Components in repetitions are joined bymeans of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives andhave no grammar centre. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic, e.g. «coolas a cucumber» (partly), «bread and butter» (perfectly).Phraseological units thesame as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in compound words), e.g.«to take a back seat», «a peg to hang a thing on», «to be a shaddow of one’s ownself», «at one’s own sweet will».
The essential features of idioms are stability of thelexical components and lack of motivation. Lexical stability means that the componentsof set expressions are either irreplaceable like «red tape»or partly replaceableor partly replaceable within the bounds of phraseological or phraseomatic variance(a skeleton in the cupboard or a skeleton in the closet ). It is consequently assumedthat unlike components of free word – groups which may vary according to the needsof communication, member words of idioms are always reproduced as a single unchangeablecollocations.
Phraseological units can be also classified accordingto the degree of motivation of their meaning. Gisburg stated that there are threetypes of phraseological units: a) Phreseological fusions are completely non-motivated word- groups. They are highly idiomatic and cannot be translated wordfor word into other languages,the meaning of the components has no connection e.g.on Shank’s mare — (on foot), at sixes and sevens — (in a mess) etc; b) Phreseologicalunities which are partially non motivated as their meaning can usually be perceivedthrough the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit e.g. to play thefirst fiddle ( to be a leader in something), old salt (experienced sailor) etc;c)Phraseological collocations are motivated but they are made up of wordspossessing specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stabilityin such word groups. e.g. cash and carry — (self-service shop), in a big way (ingreat degree) etc.This habitual collocations tend to become kind of clichés,where the meaning of member words is to some extent dominated by the meaning ofthe whole group. However, it is a difficult task to set a boundary between idiomsand non- idioms. When confronted with fixed exspressions like clichés orproverbs, they often seem to have idiomatic qualities and no clear line presentsitself as to when one cannot be another. The criterion of non- compositionalitydoes not always give clear delineation either. Let’s take the proverb «every rosehas its thorn». On one hand its meaning is quite compositional – it actually refersto roses having thorns. But when it metaphorically applies to non — rose situationsmeaning something beautiful or good has its own downsides.
Anyway an idiom should be correctly distinguished fromclichés. A cliché is a saying, expression, or idea that has beenoverused to the point of loosing its intended force of novelty, especially whenat some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel, rendering it a stereotype.The term is likely used in a negative context. It is frequently used in modern cultureto reference an action or idea that is expected or predictable based on a priorevent. It can be argued that the ‘negative usage of the term cliché in orderto belittle an idea or an expression’ itself is becoming a cliché.
Individual wards in an idiom cannot be replaced by synonymsand still retain the idiomatic reading of the phrase. This is what qualify themas fixed forms.
The fact that the wards of the idioms are fixed is whatmakes the idioms, firs of all. So the fixed state of idioms is quality which notonly characterizes them, but also proves idioms to be internally structured lexicalitems.
A word-group which defies word by word translation isconsequently described as idiomatic. Unlike idioms (phraseological units), proverbs,sayings and quotations do not always function as ward equivalents. They exist asready- made expressions with a specialized meaning of their own, which cannot beinferred from the meaning of their components taken singly. Idioms are mostly basedon metaphors which make the transferred meaning of the whole expression more orless transparent. An idiom has a non-compositional form, that is, its meaning cannotbe compositionally computed from its parts. This suggests that the way many idiomshad found their way into language is as dead metaphors. Secondly the bulk of idiomsnever function in speech as word equivalents which is a proof of their semanticand grammatical inseparability. It is also suggested that the idioms in generalhave very much in common with quotations from literary sources, some of which alsoexist as idiomatic ready- made units with a specialized meaning of their own. Suchquotations which have acquired specialized meaning and idiomatic value as to beor not to be differ little from proverbs and sayings which may also be regardedas quotation from English folklore and are part of this particular branch of literarystudies. However quotations differ from proverbs in their origin. They come fromliterature but by and by become part and parcel of the language, so that many peopleusing them don’t even know that they are quoting. quotations from classical sourceswere once a recognized feature of public speech. Accordingly some quotations areso often used that they become clichés.
Ginsburg also suggests that pharseological units shouldbe subdivided into phrasemes and idioms according to whether or not one of the componentsof the whole word- group possesses specialized meaning. Idioms are distinguishedfrom phrasemes by the idiomaticity of the whole word –group and the impossibilityof attaching meaning to the members of the group taken isolated. Idioms are semanticallyand grammatically inseparable units. Idioms made up of words normally brought togetherare homonymous with corresponding veliable ward groups «to let the cat out of thebag»- to divulge a secret, and the clue of idiomatic meaning is to be found in awider context outside the phrase itself.
We should note that Idioms have no social boundariesor limitations as they exist in all cultures and classes of the society as wellas in all languages. Idioms are a part of each language and cannot be describedapart from the given language.
Biblical references are also the source of many idioms.Sports terms, technical terms, legal terms, military slang and even nautical expressionshave found their way to everyday use of English language.
Nowadays American English is in this position. It ishard to find an AmE idiom that has not established itself in « worldwide English»(usually BrE).
Idioms are constantly dying and new ones are born. Someidioms may have gone through radical changes in meaning. The phrase – There is nolove lost between them – nowadays means that some people dislike one another. Originally,when there was the British English form, it meant exactly the opposite. The shiftin meaning is yet unexplained. All dialects of English have different sets of idiomsand situations where a given idiom can be used .
English is a language particularly rich in idioms — thosemodes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logicaland grammatical rules. The background and etymological origins of most idioms isat best obscure. This is the reason why a study of differences between the idiomsof American English and British English is rather difficult. New idioms originatein the U.S and then become popular in so called «worldwide English». This new situationis completely different from the birth of American English as a ‘variant’ of BritishEnglish. Here are some examples which are used in either American or British Englishsome used in both;
«Having won the first two Tests, Australia is now almostcertain to retain the Ashes» .(Ashes is a British English idiom that is nowadaysa well established cricket term);
to have the edge on/over someone is originally an AmericanEnglish idiom, now established in almost every other form of English, includingBritish English;
«a happy hunting ground» — place where one often goesto obtain something or to make money, originally was an American English idiom.
It has to be said that in the old days English idiomsrarely originated from any other form of English than British English. NowadaysAmerican English is in this position. Some examples of early American English idiomsare «to bark up the wrong tree» or «to paddle one’s own canoe». They were derivedfrom the speech of the American natives, like the phrase «someone speaks with aforked tongue» and «the happy hunting ground». These idioms have filtered to BritishEnglish through centuries through books, newspapers, and most recently through powerfulmediums like radio, television and movies.
British idioms are actually more familiar to other Europeansthan to Americans even though the language is the same. The reason for all thesefacts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said thatthe United States have taken the role of the leading nation in the development oflanguage, media and popular culture.

2. Newspaper style Conclusion
 
Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly andfrequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events. Organizationssuch as trade unions, religious groups, corporations or clubs may have their ownnewspapers, but the term is more commonly used to refer to daily or weekly publicationsthat bring news of general interest to large portions of the public in a specificgeographic area.
General circulations newspapers play a role in commercethrough the advertisements they carry; they provide readers with information ofpractical value, such as television schedules weather maps and listings of stockprices; and these newspapers provide a coarse of entertainment through their storiesand through such features as comic strips and crossword puzzles. However one ofthe most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a crucial functionin a democracy) is to provide citizens with information on government and politics.
The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europeshortly after Johann Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable typein the 1450s. in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of printed newsbooks short pamphlets reporting on a news event ballads accounts of news eventswritten in verse and usually printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, circulatedin Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news report printedin the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico in1541.
The oldest surviving newspaper written in English appearsto have been published in Amsterdam in 1620 by Pieter van de Keere, a Dutch andprint engraver who had lived in London for a few year.
According to the historian Joseph Frank along with theirpolitical coverage newspapers in England in the 1640s, were among the first in theworld to use headlines, to print advertisements, to illustrate stories with woodcuts,to employ a woman _ «a she –intelligencer»_ to collect news and to have newsboys,or more commonly newsgirls, sell papers in the streets. They are also among thefirst newspapers to complete with news books and news ballads in coverage of sensationalevents like bloody crimes.
Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of writtenliterary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart fromother forms. English newspaper style dates from the 17th century. Newspaper writingis addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events,public problems of cultural or moral character. The first of any regular seriesof English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 20, 1622.The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varyingsuccess, struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed bythe Crown. With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets weresuppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before the public a paper of itsown – the London Gazette, first published on February 5, 1666. The paper was a semi– weekly and carried official information, royal decrees, news from abroad, andadvertisements.
The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence onpublic opinion, to convince the reader or listener that the interpretation givenby writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept thepoint of view expressed in the speech, essay or article merely by logical argumentation,but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the essay and the article.
The essay in English literature dates from the 16th centuryand its name is taken from the short « Essays» (= experiments, attempts) by theFrench writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. Accordingto Galperinan essay «is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finishedargument or a conclusive examination of any matter. Nowadays an essay is usuallya kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonlyby one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individualstyle. Some essays, depending on a writer’s individuality, are written in a highlyemotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose.
The most characteristic features of essays, however remain
1) Brevity of expression
2) The use of the first person singular, whichjustifies a personal approach to the problems treated:
3) A rather expended use of connectives, whichfacilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas;
4) The abundant use of emotive words
5) The use of idioms and metaphors as one ofthe media for the cognitive process
Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weeklybasis, and they usually focus on one particular geographic area where most of theirreaders live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers arestill the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism. Tounderstand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficientto analyze the following basic newspaper features
· brief news items
· advertisements and announcements
· the headline
· the editorial
The headline is a dependent form of newspaper writing.The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the textthat follows is about. In other words headlines are almost a summary of the informationcontained in the news item or article.
The function of editorial is to influence the readerby giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the politicaland other events of the day. Editorials make an extensive use of emotionally coloredvocabulary.
The main function of advertisements and announcementsis to give information about a product or service used to attract potential consumers;advertising takes place in newspapers and magazines, on hoardings, on radio andtelevision and on the Internet .
The principal function of a brief news item is to informthe reader. News items are essentially matter — of — fact and stereotyped formsof expression prevail.it goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary whichis used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But newspaper stylehas also its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive useof:
a) special political and economic terms likeconstitution president, etc.
b) non – term political vocabulary such as publicpeople unity etc.
c) newspaper clichés which are commonplacephrases familiar to the reader. Clichés occur in newspaper headlines moreoften to give special coloring and emotiveness. e.g pressing problem, speaking realizationetc.
d) abbreviations _ names of organizations, publicand state body, political associations, industrial and other companies etc – knownby their initials are very common in newspapers. E.g UNO( united Nation Organization),FO ( foreign Office), etc.
e) neologism_ a new word or sense of a wordand the coining or use of new words and senses. Neologisms make their way into thelangiage of newspaper easily. E. g coffee (the person upon whom one cough), abdicate(to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach) etc.
/>Most modern newspapers are in one ofthree sizes:
· Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23½by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, althougha trend towards «compact» newspapers is changing this.
· Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as sensationalistin contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The NationalLedger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe.
· Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18½by 12¼ inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampain Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the UnitedKingdom.
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum ofreaders, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers definedmore by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weeklybusiness newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weeklynewspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communitiesas specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community./>
A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimeswith the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Typically, the majorityof these newspapers’ staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editionslargely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most dailynewspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed moreat commuters and office workers.
/>Weekly newspapersare common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also arenewspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States,such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.
/>Most nations have at least one newspaperthat circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrastedwith a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, thereare numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The DailyTelegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Expressand The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few, if any, nationalnewspapers, and in almost every market one newspaper has an effective monopoly.Certain newspapers, notably The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USAToday in the US and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are availableat limited locations throughout the country. Large metropolitan newspapers withalso have expanded distribution networks and, with effort, can be found outwiththeir normal area.
There is also a small group of newspapers which may becharacterised as international newspapers. Some, such as Christian ScienceMonitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, whileothers are repackaged national newspapers or «international editions» of national-scaleor large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaleddown to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.
But the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisalis the newspaper article and the editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles)are characterized by the subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise, andtherefore have more in common with political essays or articles and should ratherbe classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper. However,newspaper publicistic writing bears a stamp of its own style. Though it seems naturalto consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the systemof English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediatephenomenon characterized by a combination of styles – the newspaper style and thepublicistic style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system ofinterrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means,which is perceived bythe community as separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing,instructing the reader. In fact, all kinds of newspapers writing are to a greateror lesser degree both informative and evaluative. The newspaper also seeks to influencepublic opinion or political and appraisal and other matters. Elements of appraisalmay be observed in the very selection and the way of presentation of news, in theuse of specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in newspaper writing is naturaland common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its one of the smartestways to illustrate the topic and to direct it to the point is to use idioms in thearticle. Here are idioms found in popular newspapers.
«Venture capitalist David Cowan is a professed chess-playingnerd who studied math and computer science at Harvard. Last year, though, he decidedhe needed a crash course in getting hip». – The New York Times
Crash course — a quick lesson
«Many older tech investors, eager not to miss out,are going to great lengths to shed fuddy-duddy images and ingratiatethemselves with the younger generation The New York Times (to) miss out — to missan opportunity; to fail to make use of an opportunity (to) go to great lengths — to do a lot; to do a lot to achieve a certain goal fuddy-duddy — out of fashion;not modern; an old-fashioned person who doesn't want to change
«As she pushed her shopping cart down an aisle of theSuper Stop & Shop near her hometown of Warren, R.I., recently, Ms. Cabrera,a retired schoolteacher, offered her thoughts on why she steers clear ofhigh-fructose corn syrup: «It's been linked to obesity, and it's just not somethingthat's natural or good for you.» — The New York Times
to steer clear (of something) — to avoid something; tostay away from something. (Note that «to steer» means to guide with awheel or a similar device. When there's something in the road, you may need to steeryour car around it).
«No one is predicting that the iPod economy will be slowingsoon. Mr. Baker said: «We've barely scratched the surface with the videoiPod.» — The New York Times
«In some communities, efforts are being made to increasethe amount of affordable housing. Celebrity-heavy Aspen, for example, has created2,600 low-cost units over the past 30 years. But such measures only scratch thesurface of the problem». — Financial Times to (barely or only) scratch the surface- to only begin to explore or understand something; to deal with something onlysuperficially
«Rap-metal, once all the rage in the '90s thanks to bandslike Limp Bizkit, now seems as relevant as Beavis and Butt- head». – the New YorkTimes
«Condos are all the rage right now,»Hodgett said. «People like to be close to downtown and walk to restaurantsand shopping. They can come home in the evening and not worry about mowing the lawn.»– The daily Mail all the rage — very popular, trendy
Weber, the grill maker founded in Mount Prospect, Ill.,in 1952, is refining its most expensive grill, the $2,200 Summit Platinum D6, inresponse to buyers who want more bells and whistles, said Brooke Jones, aWeber product manager. «They are looking for stainless steel grills and moreaccessories like rotisseries, warmer drawers, side burners and hand lights,»she said. — The New York Times
bells and whistles — fancy features; product featuresthat make a product more premium or expensive but that are not usually necessary;extras Just seven months after the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics fell flat,a key booster of the effort has opened the door to a scramble for the 2016 games- statements that fly in the face of previous comments by Mayor Bloombergand other city officials. –The Observer fly in the face — contradict; go againstIt took Carolyn Fellwock and Charlie Watson only 11 months to tie the knotafter meeting on Yahoo Personals – and three years more to call it quits.The Times
to tie the knot – to get married to call it quits – toend something (such as a relationship, a job, a project, etc)/
Some people who met a spouse online and later divorcedaren’t losing heart. Some even say they would date online again. – The WallStreet Journal to lose heart – to give up hope; to get discouraged.
Diana Leal, a Woodland Hills paralegal, said that whenshe was working in Dallas, she immediately lost respect for her attorney boss whenhe asked her out for dinner. I couldn't believe it. I think he just fell for mybeauty or something. And then when I said `no,' he fired me," Leal said. "Bottomline, you can't be friends with your boss. It complicates things." – LosAngeles Daily News
bottom line – the main point is…; the conclusion is…
Kids too into school have lost their love of learning(if they ever had any). They cram and forget. They're stressed. They're sleep-deprived.They compete with their «friends» and kiss up to their teachers.– The Times
Have a good relations hip with your boss. That does notmean kiss up to your boss. If it gets too far along a bad path, it meansyou don't get the good assignments, don't get the promotions and don't have a chanceto advance your career. Plus, you may just be miserable. Make sure your relationshipwith your boss is open and honest, casual yet also professional. – The News &Observer to kiss up – to flatter; try to gain favor with; behave in a way to makepeople like you more.
But Vladimir Nuzhny, a toxicologist, said up to halfof imported wine has not corresponded to the required quality since the fall ofthe Soviet Union. «It never killed anyone and Russian leadership used toturn a blind eye, but now relations are worsening with the Georgian and Moldovanleaders they don't see a need to ignore it any more,» he said. — The Guardianto turn a blind eye — to ignore; to pretend that something is not happening; tolet something illegal or wrong happen without saying anything.
George W. Bush can be sure of one thing when he nextvisits China on official business. Chinese president Hu Jintao won't try to emulatethe Texas charm the US president dishes out at his Crawford ranch, dressing downto shoot the breeze over pork dumplings at a village restaurant. — FinancialTimes shoot the breeze — to talk; to chat; to make conversation
Steve Girdler, director of services at Kelly UK, agreesthat Sugar's methods are impressive. «Sometimes I think we can be too softin our assessment of graduates. But what's the point when we know that in reality,business can be a dog-eat-dog world?» — The Guardian dog-eat-dog world- a cruel world; a challenging environment in which people just look out for themselves,
As the cost of living for young people rises, the helpinghand from parents is extending well past college years. – The New York TimesThere was a table for the folks from Alcoholics Anonymous, another where peoplecould sign up for food stamps and another where homeless veterans could find a helpinghand. –The Guardian (the or a) helping hand – assistance; help.
In one of his first acts as president, Obama was gaggingfor the prison at Guantánamo closed within the first year of his presidencyand ordered a review of the status of the roughly 245 men still detained there.The review is underway now.- The Guardian
Be gagging for something-to want something or want todo something very much «Companies developing thistechnology are not necessarily cashing in».- The Timescash in (on something)- to make money doing something.

Conclusion
Being based on the accomplished practical and theoreticalresearch we came to the conclusion that Idioms are figurative expressions whichdo not mean what they literally state is and since they are so frequently encounteredin both oral and written discourse, comprehending and producing idioms present languagelearners with a special vocabulary learning problem The essential feature of idiomsis lack of motivation. This term (idiom) habitually used by English and Americanlinguistics is very often treated as synonymous with the term phrasiological unit.Phrasiological units are habitually defined as non – motivated word – groups thatcannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready – made units. Thephraseological units may be classified into three big groups taking into accountmainly the degree of idiomayticity: Phreseological fusions, phreseological unities,phreseological collocations the essential features of idioms are stability of thelexical components and lack of motivation.Idioms add spice to the communicationdiscourse thus making it more palatable. Idioms are often used by both journalistsand politicians as short hand ways of expressing opinion or conveying ready madeevaluations.
Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly andfrequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events Newspapers aremost often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on one particulargeographic area where most of their readers live. English newspaper style may bedefined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means,whichis perceived by the community as separate linguistic unity that serves the purposeof informing, instructing the reader. The available literature on studies of idiomsshows the considerable involvement of newspapers by the researchers. Studies inArgentina, Finland and the UnitedStates indicate strong links between having usednewspapers in the class and academic achievement. We came to the conclusion thatthe use of idioms isn’t only an interesting theme for research but also, creativelyused, newspapers and magazines can effectively promote learning, critical thinking,creativity and resourcefulness in learners of all ages .Studies have shown thatusing newspapers in education helps students increase their vocabulary and comprehension.Thereare evidences that the newspapers can play a great role in language proficiency.«Proficiency» in a language can be divided into many categories e.g. words, grammar,syntax, length of the sentences etc. but the present study presents an entirelynew angle of learning, i.e. idioms & phrases.
Although complete mastery of idioms may be nearly impossible,every learner must be prepared to meet the challenge simply because idioms occurso frequently in the spoken and written English.
In this coarse paper we have discussed how idioms canbe used in newspapers and how they can influence the speech by making it more colorfuland bright.
Many linguists analyzed approximately 200,000 words frompolitical debates, taped psychotherapy sessions and compositions written by studentsand adults. They concluded that those people used about 4.08 idioms per minute.Cooper (1998) transcribed the idioms from 3 hours of taped television programs.The newspapers’ readers and writers are in possession of a nearly fix number ofcommonly used idioms and phrases and the learning is mediated by the newspaper.

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Practicalpart from newspapers
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