An educational handout examining idiomatic expressions found in Shakespeare's works that remain in use in modern English.

Source Overview

This 2-page educational document (2 pages) focuses on teaching learners about idioms and their use in Shakespeare's writing. It emphasizes that Shakespeare's idioms, created over 400 years ago, remain relevant and lively in today's English.

Definition

The document defines an idiom as "a group of words in a fixed order that have a meaning which cannot be worked out by looking up the individual words in a dictionary. Their meaning has to be learned."

Key Shakespearean Idioms Highlighted

The document presents several idioms with their meanings:

1. "I haven't slept a wink" — I couldn't sleep last night
2. "Love's blind" — When you love someone, you don't see their faults
3. "He's eaten me out of house and home" — to eat a lot
4. "to lie low" — to hide so that you will not be caught
5. "to lead a charmed life" — A life that seems to have been protected by a charm, magic or spell

Educational Approach

The handout uses:
- Matching exercises to help learners associate idioms with their meanings
- Fill-in-the-blank sentences to practice using idioms in context
- Real-world scenarios that make idioms relatable

Relevance

This source complements the wiki's existing coverage of shakespeares-invented-words by focusing specifically on idiomatic expressions and figurative language rather than neologisms. It shows how Shakespeare didn't just create new words, but also created lasting phrases and expressions that became part of English vernacular.