Hanoi Open University Faculty of English GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH The Use of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human Body by the ThirdYear Students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Thuy Hong, M.A Student : Dang Thuy Duong Date of birth : 7/5/1993 Course : K18A4 (2011-2015) Hanoi- 2015 DECLARATION Title: The Use of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human Body by the Third-Year Students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in English) I certify that no part of this thesis has been reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and this thesis is completely written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, May 2015 Student Supervisor Dang They Duong Nguyen This They Hong ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to say that I am grateful to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Hong for her wholehearted instruction, supply of useful reference books and correction of my mistakes in this thesis I also would like to thank all of the teachers at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University for their guidance for four years I wish to express my great thanks to my family for their encouragement and moral support, which give me more motivation not only during four years but also the process of writing the thesis Last but not least, I would be really thankful to my friends who ususally stay by my side to support me Hanoi, March 2015 Dang Thuy Duong LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FOE: Faculty of English HOU: Hanoi Open University IELTS: International English Language Testing System Sb: somebody Sth: something TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgements Part1 Introduction Rationale .7 Aims and Scope of the Study .8 Methods of the Study Design of the Study .9 Part Development 10 Chapter Literature Review of Idioms .10 1.1 Definition of Idiom 10 1.2 Uses of Idioms 11 1.3 Scope uses of idioms .13 1.4 Idioms and their Style Markers 14 1.5 Features of Body Parts Idioms .17 1.6 Strategies of Interpreting Idioms 18 Chapter The Study .21 2.1 Introduction 21 2.2 Methodology and Procedures 21 2.2.1 Subject 21 2.2.2 Research method used 22 2.2.3 Procedures 22 2.2.4 Data analysis 22 2.2.4.1 The survey questionnaire 22 2.2.4.1.1 Exercise One 22 2.2.4.1.2 Exercise Two 24 2.3 The findings 26 2.3.1 Misusing words 26 2.3.2 Wrong word form 27 2.3.3 Word omission 28 2.3.4 Literal matching 27 2.3.5 Wrong types of phrases… 29 2.4 Summary 29 Chapter Conclusion and recommendations for better uses of English idioms related to parts of human body 30 3.1 Introduction 30 3.2 Some causes of making mistakes in acquiring English idioms related to parts of human body 30 3.2.1 Causes of the mistakes 30 3.2.2 Mistakes caused by logical thought .30 3.2.3 Mistakes caused by cultural behaviour .30 3.2.4 Mistakes caused by carelessness 30 3.3 Recommendations for an effective avoidance of the errors 31 3.3.1 Recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of human body 31 3.3.2 Recommendations for learning English idioms related to parts of human body 33 3.4 Summary 34 Part Conclusion 35 References .36 Appendix …… .38 Answer keys 40 THE USE OF ENGLISH IDIOMS RELATED TO PARTS OF HUMAN BODY BY THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY PART INTRODUCTION Rationale It is a universal knowledge that English is one of the most widely used languages in the world Especially in Vietnam, English has been populazied in schools, universities, companies and many other kinds of organizations Therefore, the majority of Vietnamese people learn this language to enlarge their knowledge, to find a good job or to go abroad However, in English, besides four main skills, there are still a lot of fields, for instance: idioms, proverbs, phrasal verbs, etc which confuse learners of English because of their abstract meaning and usages Only with idioms, foreign learners encounter lots of forms and elements As a result, it is very difficult for anyone to master this language Moreover, when speaking to a English native, instead of using normal words, if someone uses as many idioms as he can, his knowledge will be highly appreciated Sometimes, these special linguistic units could also be spoken in some international speaking tests, such as IELTS, to bring more points to candidates But choosing right and suitable idioms according to situation always have the best effects Therefore, in the sphere of my thesis, I would like to mention and put forward one small and modest part in English idioms, which is related to the parts of human body appearing in daily communication of English people Through this study, I would like to help learners of English comprehend complicated figurative meanings of English idioms related to parts of human body and have a proper choice to use them in daily communication Last but not least, particularly, I would like to point out several ways to assist the third-year students of English faculty at HOU to select English idioms related to parts of human body for better communication Hopefully, they can avoid mistakes when they communicate with foreigners Aims and Scope of the Study Due to the limitation of time, space and sphere, this study cannot present all categories of English idioms In this study, I will only write about the idioms concerning to parts of human body and their figurative meanings I decided to devote chapter One to introduce all aspects of those items, including definitions, a great numbers of idioms and their meanings In the chapter Two, I will identify problems encountered by the learners of English in general and by the third- year students of English Faculty at HOU in particular and analyze all of the current situations relating to learning English idioms related to parts of human body Chapter Three- the last chapter will be the conclusion for the study Methods of the Study To collect all data and information, which are neccesary for the study, I have combined several methods to gain the maximum effect In short, the two main methods I applied are quantitative and qualitative Regarding quantitative research, I have studied many course books and articles on idioms, which are related to my parts of human body As far as qualitative research is concerned, I have made a survey questionnaire which includes 20 questions and delivered it to a group of 57 third-year students in the Faculty of English, HOU This survey questionnaire aimed at finding out some common errors in using idioms related to parts of human body By analyzing the results collected, the author generalizes the common mistakes made by the third-year students of English, HOU Basing on the data collected, the study author could discover the causes leading to the mistakes and suggest some recommendations to help the third- year students of English at HOU to avoid them Design of the Study The study consists of three chapters, references and an appendix The study begins with the introduction which deals with the rationale, the aims, the scope, and the methods of the study Chapter Literature Review In this chapter, I would like to put forward an overview of idiom definition and main points of idioms related to parts of human body Chapter The Study This main chapter includes the following parts: - Methodology - Common errors made by the third-year students of English at HOU when using English idioms related to parts of human body - Recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of human body - Recommendations for learning English idioms related to parts of human body PART DEVELOPMENT Chapter Literature review of idioms 1.1 Definition of idiom English conversation in human daily speech is full of expressions or phrases that are so characteristic of the spoken and written language These phrases make the native speaker's language richly idiomatic and it will be a matter of puzzle to many users and students of English Here are some quotations and definitions of English idioms concerning parts of human body: Spear (1991) had a viewpoint as follow: “every language has some phrases or sentences that cannot be understood literally Even if we know the meaning of all the words in a phrase and understand the grammar completely, the meaning of the phrase may still be confusing Many clichés, proverbs, slang phrases, phrasal verbs and common sayings pose this kind of problem Phrases or sentences of this type are usually said to be idiomatic” Manser had a similar point of view: “Until now, there is no complete guide to the large number of phrases that are peculiar to everyday conversation Any idiom, whatever its types, is deceptive Its real meaning is not what it appears to be on the surface Idioms provide an opaque connection between the surface sense of the words and their real individual meaning” “Language is not merely a combination of words in the sense that by collecting their total meanings the significance of the whole phrase can be guessed Idioms are also defined as fixed phrases, which contain a number of words carrying a meaning that cannot be predicted and understood from the meaning of its components Idioms are very useful to the writers who want to catch and use what the natives actually say (Longman Dictionnary of Applied Linguistics, 1985) For example, those who write cartoons, titles of books, articles, programmers on televisions and radios find them quite adequate Those expressions can function as a single unit and their meaning cannot be 10 two other words “hand” and “finger”, which are also the two smaller parts than “arm” As far as the ninth question is concerned, “finger” and its plural form must be used in this case to create an exact idiom All the same, there were still ones choosing “arm” and “hand” to complete the question, which absolutely make up wrongness for both the sentence and the idiom The correct answer is “There’s something wrong somewhere I can’t put my fingers on what it is exactly, but something just doesn’t feel right, but some students did this question like: “There’s something wrong somewhere I can’t put my hand/arm on what it is exactly, but something just doesn’t feel right” Obviously, this mistake makes the idiom lose their original meanings 2.3.2 Wrong word forms The mistake also occurs in the questions number eight, nine and ten of the exercise one The students just chose the right words but did not put them in the correct forms Definitely, the errors also violate the basic definition and rule of idioms The researcher will clearly analyze each sentence as following For the tenth sentence, there were 29 students choosing “leg” but only of them put it in the plural form to create an exact idiom Thus, only the six students are estimated to choose the right answer Regarding the eighth sentence, the word must be chose to fill in the blank is “arm” and certainly this word must be put in the plural form However, the number of students seleting the right word is only and no one added “s” after it As far as the ninth sentence is concerned, the error was noted The right word must be chosen is “finger” that must be put in plural form to create a true answer and a correct idiom However, only of 22 students who made “finger” as their choice put it in the plural form Thus, only the students were estimated to have a correct answer 27 2.3.3 Word omission In comparison to the two above- mentioned mistakes, the similar mistake are found in a lot of questions, both in exercise One and Two In the exercise One, the students often leave a blank empty in nine out of ten sentence, which is the majority They did not know what to choose to fill in the blank or were confused because they had used all given words in the box for the other sentences For example, the sixth sentence of the exercise one: Instead of having a true and full sentence: “You need to have a strong stomach to work in a slaughter-house” A few students gave out a false answer like that: “You need to have a strong .to work in a slaughter-house” 2.3.4 Literal matching Unlike the mistakes in terms of misusing words, word omission and wrong word form, literal matching appeared in the exercise Two, which asks the students to match the literal meanings in the left column with the most suitable idioms in the right column (see Appendix) Exactly, the phrase 8- “madly in love with someone” must be matched with the idiom “head over heels” to be perfect However, in fact, there were sixteen students chose “off one’s head” to go with the literal phrase Personally, I think that those students mistook “off one’s head” is an idiom describing a love feeling which drives somebody crazy and cannot control his actions and emotion, but actually it means “insane and crazy” Similarly, the fifth phrase in the left column “know sth very clearly” needs to be matched with the idiom “like the back of one’s hand” Nevertheless, while seventeen students chose the correct answer, sixteen selected “on the brain” to match with this phrase Actually, no single English person chooses this idiom to describe the level of their knowledge about something 28 2.3.5 Wrong types of phrases Similar to the above-mentioned error, the mistake appears in the exercise Two as a lot of students chose wrong idioms which are not suitable with their correct phrases due to they had made wrong choice in terms of grammar Truthfully, this mistake clearly occurs in some phrases such as the third and the first Firstly, the third noun phrase “a tiresome, irritating person or thing” of the left column must be connected with a noun phrase to create correspondence There were eleven students selecting the idiom “put one’s foot down”, and surely, they made mistake on the grounds of grammar Secondly, the first verb phrase “panic” must be matched with an idiom that is also a verb phrase to make up grammatical adequateness However, in reality, only five students chose correctly while more than double selected the idiom “head over heels”, which is definitely break the rule of correspondence No English person use “head over heels” to talk about their fearfulness 2.4 Summary As mentioned above, this chapter has presented the subjects, the method, the procedures and the data analysis of the study After analyzing the data, the researcher has presented some common mistakes made by the third-year English majors at HOU when doing tests about English idioms related to parts of human body The mistakes are misusing words, wrong word form, literal matching, word omission, wrong grammatical forms In order to help the students over the errors made by the third- year students of English faculty, HOU; some causes and recommendation will be shown in the next parts 29 Chapter Conclusion and Recommendations for Better Uses of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human Body 3.1 Introduction Some common mistakes have been pointed out in the previous chapter In this chapter, some causes of making the mistakes and some recommendations in learning the idioms related to parts of human body will be put forward 3.2 Some causes of making mistakes in acquiring English idioms related to parts of human body 3.2.1 The causes of these mistakes I have carefully analyzed five kinds of mistakes made by the students In this chapter, I would like to give out some reasons as following 3.2.2 The mistakes caused by logical thought A great number of the students wrongly did many sentences in both exercises due to their own logic As the explanation I made, I consider the two mistakes misusing word and literal matching are caused by normally logical thought of the students Perhaps, they did not think carefully before completing their test or just chose an answer accidentally to fill in all blanks 3.2.3 The mistakes caused by cultural behaviors Without doubt, cultural behaviors can account for the mistake word omission caused by a lot of students, which appears in a lot of sentences and in both exercises As far as I am concerned, most of Vietnamese people usually leave a question, a space in a test empty when they not know what to fill in the blank Gradually, it becomes their familiar mistake and it is hard to correct In the above analysis, I have written down an example and my explanation 3.2.4 The mistakes caused by carelessness As in the title of the exercise One, plural requirement is necessary One person must have two hands, two legs, ten fingers, etc Therefore in a lot of 30 English idioms related to parts of human body, these parts cannot go separately This fact can be obviously seen in the question eight, nine and ten of the exercise One and d, f of the exercise Two However, if the exercise Two gives the plural form of the idioms available, the exercise One requires the students to use the plural form of the given words when necessary to create the true idioms For the case when the students not add “s” to make up the plural factor to the given singular words, they will not get the point even though they have chose the right word Thus, in the exercise One, as the statistics the author has made above, many students chose the right words but only a few wrote them in the plural form, so evidently, they could not get any points for the sentences they selected true words Even, in the nine sentence of the exercise One, only seven students chose the correct word “arm” but no one put them in the plural form Therefore, though regrettably, the seven students can be estimated to have the correct answer 3.3 Some recommendations for an effective avoidance of these errors From the data collected, the author found out that most of the third-year students of English, HOU still lack knowledge about English idioms related to parts of human body They only based on their logical thoughts, cultural misunderstandings or rash answers to complete the test It is very crucial for them to know and have a deep knowledge of English idioms in general and the items of my topic in particular because idioms are often used to comment how an English learner perceives this language After analyzing all mistakes, I would like to introduce some recommendations for an effective avoidance of these errors 3.3.1 Some recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of human body If the students want to acquire English idioms related to parts of human body- a wide and deep topic of English language, the role of teachers and teaching is very important Therefore, I would like to propose some 31 suggestions for teaching English idioms related to parts of human body as followed: Fisrtly, teachers should teach this topic as a supplementary material to any subject in the first year such as conversation, composition, comprehension, literature etc to bridge (to some extent) the gap between learners’ culture and the culture of the English language Secondly, teachers should encourage students to have an access into the internet to get materials, to study, to search, to exchange information, to build a mentality within this vast sphere of knowledge and this, of course, should be done under the supervision and control of the teacher Thirdly, teachers should make their students understand that learning a language involves learning a new culture because the relationship between language and culture is deeply rooted Consequently, teachers of a language are also teachers of culture (Byram 1989) Teachers must instruct their students on the cultural background of language usage If one teaches language without teaching about the cutlure in which it operates, the students are learning empty or meaningless symbols or they may attach the incorrect meaning to what is being taught The meaning is bound in cultural contexts One must not only explain the meaning of the language used, but the cultural context in which it is placed as well Often meanings are lost because of cultural boundaries which not allow such ideas to persist An important step is exposing learners to idioms in contexts for contextual clues are useful to learners in comprehending unknown idioms Learners should be encouraged to infer the meaning of the idiom by using contextual clues, background knowledge or first language equivalents Teachers may help learners during this process, especially if the idiom is not easily worked out Fourthly, teachers need to teach students to use language appropriately for a variety of purposes, accepting that their students’ view of the world is as valid as their own 32 3.3.2 Some recommendations for learning English idioms related to parts of human body Firstly, students should study idioms, with a good learner’s dictionary, ideally one which focuses on idioms The Cambridge Idioms Dictionary gives them examples of how idioms are used, and also gives information on their use, for example, whether they are used humorously, or informally, or in a more literary context It also highlights the most important idioms to learn They can access this dictionary online at http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ The best learner’s dictionaries are corpus-based, i.e they focus on idioms that people actually use and give authentic examples of their use English Idioms in Use Advancedand the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary are based on the Cambridge International Corpus, which is a collection of over one billion words of real spoken and written English Secondly, students should use the Internet to find out more about the meanings and origins of idioms, and to see more examples of their use Students should go to http://www.phrases.org.uk/ to discover the meanings and origins of many idioms This site also provides examples of how the idioms are used, and they can even discuss the origins of other phrases not listed there Students can access the British National Corpusat http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ Type in an idiom and they will be given up to fifty authentic examples of its use Students should use a search engine, e.g http://www.google.co.uk/ , to find further examples of idioms in use Type in an idiom in double inverted commas (e.g “like it or lump it”) to get a list of sites including that idiom Thirdly, students should always make good, detailed notes about idioms in their vocabulary notebooks which include an example of the idiom in context, as well as its meaning Besides, they should add any notes about its usage, e.g informal or literary Doing a quick drawing of an idiom may help them to learn it 33 3.4 Summary This chapter has mentioned some common errors in acquiring English idioms related to parts of human body-a large subject in English language made by the third-year students at FOE-HOU This chapter points out the misunderstandings on the ground of culture and logic which resulting in ridiculous mistakes in all sentences made by the students and provides some recommendations to help students avoid the mentioned errors as well 34 Part CONCLUSION As mentioned above, English idioms in general and the items related to parts of human body in particular are quite difficult and confuse learners of English at whatever level If learners of English make mistakes when using the idioms to communicate or complete an exercise, it will bring regrettable and ridiculous results Therefore, I decided to choose this topic for the study I write the thesis with the purpose of improving my knowledge of a small part in English idioms in general and the language in particular Additionally, I would like to present the knowledge to other students through the study In part 2, chapter 1- the literature review having been consulted from different books on English idioms in general and the items related to parts of human body in particular is very useful for the third- year English majors in the process of learning The Methodology and Procedure have been shown in chapter to help readers know some steps which I conducted this study Furthermore, in the study, I also based on the data collected from tests on English idioms related to parts of human body done by the third-year students of English at HOU to find out common mistakes they usually make From that, I analyzed the reasons for the errors and provided some recommendations for both teaching and learning to help students avoid those errors Due to the limit of time and space, the limitation and shortcoming in the study is unavoidable so I hope to get forgiveness and instructions from my supervisor, my teachers, and other students Nevertheless, I hope that the study will be useful to students who concern about this topic 35 References Vietnamese language: Minh, Le Tue (2010), Cẩm nang sử dụng thành ngữ tiếng Anh, NXB Dân Trí The Windy (2010), Bài tập thành ngữ tiếng Anh, NXB Lao Động Uyen, Nguyen Ai Minh (2010), Body Part Idioms in English and Vietnamese: A Contrastive Analysis and Teaching Implications, University of Pedagogy English language: Anonymous (2009), Body Parts Idioms: A Cross-Cultural Significance, J Of College Of Education For Women Anonymous "Czech and English Idioms of Body Parts: A View from Cognitive Arnold.D.J (1995) "Idioms".URL:http:\\www.essex.ac.uk Byram M (1997b) “Cultural studies and foreign language teaching” Felicity O’Dell & Michael McCarthy, English Idioms in Use Advanced, Cambridge Felicity O’Dell & Michael McCarthy, English Collocation in Use Advanced, Cambridge Duong, La Thi Thuy (2008), Some Common Mistakes in Essay Writing Made by Third-Year English Majors at Hanoi National University Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics.1985 Manser H.M (1992) A Dictionary of Everyday Idioms London: London University Press 10 McCarthy M.& O'Dell.F.2003."Idiom:Heavey Going or Piece of Cake".URL:http:\\www.BBCBritishCouncilteachingEnglish- IATEFL.htm 36 11 Hong, Nguyen Thi Thuy (2002), The Use of Ellipsis in Written English by the Third-Year Students of English at Hanoi Open University: Problems and Solutions 12 Palmer F.R (1981) Semantics London: Cambridge University Press 13 Solomon Wiener (1994), Commonly-Used English-American Idioms Translator: Hai, Mai Khac, Minh Duc bookstore 14 Spears A.R (1991) American Idioms Dictionary United States of America 15 (URL:http:\\www.btinternet.com, 2003) 16 (http://www.bohemica.com) 17 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom 18 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ 19 http://www.phrases.org.uk/ 20 http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ 21 http://www.google.co.uk/ 37 APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS IN FOE ABOUT ENGLISH IDIOMS RELATED TO PARTS OF HUMAN BODY To collect real statistics for my thesis, I carefully chose the two exercises and presented them in a test, then delivered it to fifty-seven thirdyear students of English at HOU The two exercises have different ways of completion and aims but one common point is that they required the rudiments of the third-year students in HOU about English idioms related to parts of human body I Fill in the missing words from the sentences below Choose from the following, using plural forms where necessary hand leg stomach brain cheek nerve tooth arm back finger He got up very late this morning and then had the to complain about his breakfast being cold She had a sweet and couldn’t resist buying chocolates and cream cakes I’ve got an essay to write on the history of computing Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about it, so you mind if I pick your ? He used to love mountain-climbing, but when a friend of his was killed in the Himalayas, he lost his and never went climbing again Being retired, he suddenly found himself with lots of time on his but with little to to occupy it 38 You need to have a strong .to work in a slaughter-house None of the students liked Mr Baker In fact, everyone was glad to see the of him when he left to teach in Italy The viewers were up in when the television station announced that it was going to change the time of the evening news broadcast from o’clock to 9.30 There’s something wrong somewhere I can’t put my on what it is exactly, but something just doesn’t feel right 10 I think I’ll go and stretch my .I’ve been sitting down all morning and I’m feeling a bit stiff II Match up the definitions on the left (1-10) with the correct idioms on the right (a-j) Panic To a A pain in the neck be obsessed with something A hand tiresome, irritating person or thing c Lose one’s head d Keep one’s hands clean Crazy, insane Know b Like the back of one’s e On the brain something very clearly f Head over heels g Off one’s head Avoid doing something illegal h Put one’s foot down i Put one’s back up Annoy somebody Madly in love j Foot the bill with someone Pay for sth 10 Insist on doing sth Thanks for your co-operation! 39 ANSWER KEYS The answer keys for the test: Exercise 1: Cheek Tooth Brain(s) Nerve Hand Stomach Back Arms Fingers 10 Legs Exercise 2: C E A G B D I F J 10 H 40 41 [...]... related to parts of human body are used in telling stories, in commenting, and when voicing opinions Secondly, English idioms related to parts of human body carry their own meaning and explanation Thirdly, the main function of English idioms related to parts of human body is to paraphrase what is going on and what is being said Fourthly, English idioms related to parts of human body are very useful... Procedures 2.2.1 The Subject The fifty-seven students of the third- year studying at English department, HOU They are at the age of from 21 to 23 They have taken part in the survey by doing a survey questionnaire on English idioms related to parts of human body The third - year students are chosen because they still have just had a small access to English idioms and when encountering an idiom, many of they still... out how the students know about English idioms related to parts of human body and match the idioms with their right phrasal form Similar to the analysis of the exercise One, I also divide them into three groups, which are related to the upper, middle and lower parts of human body The question number one, two, three and four will belong to group one which refers to the upper part of human body The question... Introduction Some theoretical backgrounds concerning English idioms, especially, the ones related to parts of human body have been presented in the previous chapters This chapter will present some errors made by the third- year students of English in HOU, the causes of the errors Some suggestions to avoid these errors will be proposed for more effective uses of English idioms related to parts of human body 2.2... recommendations for an effective avoidance of these errors 3.3.1 Some recommendations for teaching English idioms related to parts of human body If the students want to acquire English idioms related to parts of human body- a wide and deep topic of English language, the role of teachers and teaching is very important Therefore, I would like to propose some 31 suggestions for teaching English idioms related. .. related to parts of human body The mistakes are misusing words, wrong word form, literal matching, word omission, wrong grammatical forms In order to help the students over the errors made by the third- year students of English faculty, HOU; some causes and recommendation will be shown in the next parts 29 Chapter 3 Conclusion and Recommendations for Better Uses of English Idioms Related to Parts of Human. .. mistakes made by the third- year students of English at HOU when using idioms in the process of communicating, writing essays or paragraphs in English 2.2.2 Research method used The method was mainly used in this chapter is to distribute the survey questionnaire on English idioms related to parts of human body to fifty-seven third- year students studying at FOE of HOU 2.2.3 Procedures To achieve the good... and the items related to parts of human body in particular is very useful for the third- year English majors in the process of learning The Methodology and Procedure have been shown in chapter 2 to help readers know some steps which I conducted this study Furthermore, in the study, I also based on the data collected from tests on English idioms related to parts of human body done by the third- year students. .. group two that is related to the middle part of human body And the question number eight, nine and ten will absolutely put in the group three related to the lower part of human body The tables 4, 5 and 6 below show the results of the questions of three groups respectively 24 Table 4: the results of the questions related to the upper part of human body Question number 1 2 3 4 Number of students 21 5... students chose the correct word “arm” but no one put them in the plural form Therefore, though regrettably, the seven students can be estimated to have the correct answer 3.3 Some recommendations for an effective avoidance of these errors From the data collected, the author found out that most of the third- year students of English, HOU still lack knowledge about English idioms related to parts of human