contextual information

The Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct in 1936. 塔斯马尼亚虎在1936年被宣布灭绝。

I laughed until I nearly died, figuratively speaking, of course. 我差点笑死了，这当然是比喻性的说法。

idiomatic expressions 惯用表达法

a child with poor linguistic skills 语言技巧贫乏的小孩

He is clearly not using the word ‘dead' in its literal sense. 很显然，他并没有按dead 一词的本义来使用该词。

There's an Italian dessert called tiramisu, which literally means ‘pull me up'. 有一种意大利甜点叫做提拉米苏，其字面含义是“训斥我”。

Everyone breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief. 每个人都象征性地舒了一口气。

non-standard grammar 不规范的语法

Phatic language doesn't really convey any information. Its function is social.

pidgin Spanish 混杂西班牙语

He turned up just like the proverbial bad penny. 他就像常言说的阴魂不散的人一样出现了。

examples of spoken and written English 英语口语和书面语的例子

Modern English is a syncretic language.

‘Frightened' and ‘afraid' are synonymous. frightened和afraid是近义词。

a tautological phrase such as ‘finished and done' 例如finished and done

The text is interesting and informative, without being too technical. 这篇文字具有趣味性和知识性，而且不是很专业难懂。

The umbrella term ‘computer-aided design' includes a wide range of different techniques. “计算机辅助设计”这一总称包括许多不同的技术。