Questions to focus on: Use of Idiom

These questions can be used at different levels. You can take 30 seconds to think about one or two. You can discuss them in a team or group of like-minded Christians. Or they can be used in a college class, including assignments and research projects, and answered in writing at any depth. They may be freely reproduced for this purpose. Please email us additional questions that could be added to this page.
To enlarge this window: drag border →
or hit the maxamize button in top right corner


  1. Take a recent magazine article and mark with a highlighter pen the idiomatic use of words.
  2. Which of these would be difficult for a second-language speaker to understand?
  3. Language needs color to be expressive. How can we balance this with the need to be clear?
  4. Give examples of double negatives which can be misunderstood by second-language readers.