The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs is an interesting book that has been designed for the learners of the English language who are on their journey to improve their English communication skills. The importance of the book is that it lists the most famous proverbs in English which are most commonly used by the folks.

The best part of the book is that it first writes the proverbs in English that are very common to the mouth of the people and frequently used in everyday English conversations. Next, the book mentions the publications which used the proverbs on their articles. And then it also gives the meaning of the proverbs and the situations they are used in.

Let’s learn what proverbs in English are and how they are used and how you can master and use them in your everyday conversations in this post:

What is Proverb in English?

A proverb in English is a short sentence that is known to a certain community of the speakers of the English language, that gives you some advice, wisdom or truth and that comes out of peoples’ common experiences. Here are some examples of proverbs in English:

1. True friends must part.
2. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
3. Actions speak louder than words.
4. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
5. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
6. Better late than never.
7. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
8. Blood is thicker than water.
9. An aple a day keeps the doctor away.
10. A stitch in time saves nine.

Characteristics of Proverbs in English

1. Contains advice, truth or wisdom: Everything has a purpose. Be it grammar, vocabulary or pronounciation or anything else, it is there in the language for a reason. Proverbs in English aim at giving you a piece of advice, telling you a truth or stating about some wisdom.
2. Short expressions or sentences: As the aim of proverbs in English is to mention advice, truth or wisdom, they are often very brief expressions or sentences. The proverbs in English are short because they are often used by the folks and something easier is memorable. Think of the short lines used on ads.
3. Based on common experience: Proverbs in English are based on peoples’ everyday experiences that are very common to the lives of people. Therefore, it is the people who create, use and understand proverbs in the English language. These proverbs in English are used for the objectives mentioned in 1.
4. Known to a certain community: Proverbs differ from language to language, from peoples to peoples and from country to country. The proverbs in English are the ones that are known to the community of the English language users. Other language users may not know about them.

Why Learn Proverbs in English?

Proverbs in English are important for many reasons. Some of the reasons why you should learn them are listed below:

1. Proverbs teach moral lessons: The society we live has a lot of morals to teach, and to do so, people often use short expressions that give you moral lessons which are known as proverbs. Therefore, proverbs in English are an expression to the certain community which uses it.
2. Proverbs sound natural: Sounding natural in English is really important when it comes to learning spoken English. Idiomatic phrases and proverbs are the tools that you can use to sound natural and traditional in English. That is, you do not sound bookish when you speak in English if you use idioms and proverbs.
3. Proverbs help you connect: It’s a fact the people of the same race, same country or same language feel at home when they meet. Learning proverbs means learning the words of the mouth of a certain community. When you use them in your conversation with them, they easily connect with you.

How to Learn Proverbs in English?

Once you’ve known what proverbs are and how much important they are in your English learning journey, it’s high time that you focus on how to learn proverbs in English. Here are the top 3 tips to learn proverbs in English:

1. Read literary publications: Choosing the right resources is essential for learning proverbs. Literary publications such as literary essays, magazines and journals can be a good start if you read them on a regular basis. They often contain idiomatic expressions and proverbs in English.
2. Learn them by grouping: To ease your learning process, you need to group the most common proverbs in English by their main keywords such as friend, tool, animal, etc. You can additionally pile them on the basis of the related meanings that they contain or even you can hoard them on the basis of their nature, adivice or truth for instance.
3. Use the books online or offline: Reading books that have written with exclusive focus on idiomatic expressiosns and proverbs in English can also be a good move. You can use either hard or soft copies whichever you may find fit for your learning style.

Summary: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

To summarize what has been stated in this post, the proverbs in English are the short sentences that are rooted in the mouth of a certain community, that are based on the peoples’ common experiences and that give you some piece of advice, wisdom or truth about life experiences.

Learning idiomatic expressions and proverbs in English is an essential part of the English language learners which helps them speak the language naturally leading them to be good communicators in English. You can use different tips mentioned in this post to learn proverbs and use them in your everyday conversations.

To help you learn proverbs easily, we present to you this ebook:

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