Idioms are expressions or phrases that have figurative* meaning that is different from the literal** meaning of the words that make up the expression or phrase.  Generally idioms require some foundational information or experience within a culture to understand their meaning.  Most of the time idioms are so culturally dependent that the same idioms do not exist in the same form in more than one culture or language.  There are times when the metaphoric*** meaning of an idiom can be figured out just by thinking about the phrase, while other times the meaning of an idiom only becomes clear through the repeated hearing and usage of the phrase or if someone explains it.  There are an estimated 25,000+ idioms in the English.  That’s a lot of idioms!  It would take a whole lifetime to learn all of these idioms – not even native speakers of English know all of these idioms.

Today we will look at a few of these 25,000 idioms by reviewing a group of idioms that all have to do with the idea of knowledge being connected to light.  Often in English there is a metaphoric connection between light, knowledge, and understanding.  Alternatively, the concept of darkness is often connected to a lack of understanding and ignorance.

Here are a group of idioms (each is in quotes) related to the idea that ‘knowledge is light’ and one idiom about the opposite, ‘darkness is ignorance.’  The meaning of the idiom is next to each one.

1.    “to see the light” –>  to come to understand or know
2.    “to see ____ in a whole new light” –>  to see something in a new way
3.    “it dawned**** on me”  –> to have understanding come to you
4.    “beyond the shadow of a doubt”  –> to have certain knowledge
5.    “to be plain as day” –>  to be obvious or clear
6.    “to be in the dark” –>  to be ignorant or uniformed
7.    “to shed some light on”  –> to clarify or make something known

Learning idioms take practice.  Each idiom has it’s own unique meaning and if you change one or two words in the idiomatic phrase often the entire idiom no longer has the same meaning or any meaning at all.  Below are example sentences using each of the idioms I introduced above.  These sentences will hopefully help you better understand the meaning of these idioms and how to use them in everyday conversations.

1. After not being able to pay his credit card bill for the third month in a row, Bill finally saw the light and began to spend less money.
2. After having my first child I saw the job of parenting in a whole new light.
3. One day it dawned on me that I was not going to be happy working as a secretary my whole life.  That is when I decided to go back to school.
4. My audition went incredibly well.  I am sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will be asked to play the star role in the school play.
5. It is plain as day to me that Karen and Tom need to break up.  They are always fighting.  Why don’t they see this themselves?
6. My mom is completely in the dark about our plans for her birthday party this weekend.  It is going to be a great surprise!
7. I wish the professor would shed some light on what the final exam will look like.  I don’t know how to prepare for the test.

Once you feel confident that you know how to use these idioms you might try working them into your vocabulary.  I think of idioms as adding ‘flavor’ to everyday speech; it can make what you say more interesting.  Using idioms correctly also shows you have a solid command of English vocabulary.

* figurative = words or phrases that depart from the most common meaning to take on a new meaning
** literal = words in their usual or most basic sense
*** metaphorical (metaphor) = when one thing represents or is a symbolic for something else
**** ‘dawned’ is verb related to the noun “dawn” which is the word for the first appearance of light in the sky before you can see the sun