Lee Gang-hyeon’s Curious English Dictionary: Animals

2024-04-28

Bookshops carry plenty of English vocabulary guides. Many organize the words by how likely they are to appear on an exam.

Lee Gang-hyeon’s Curious English Dictionary: Animals also collects vocabulary, with a different organizing principle from an exam list.

A Curious Dictionary of Animal Expressions

The title suits a book that gathers English expressions containing the names of animals.

Familiar creatures such as dogs and cats give the book its categories. Each section puts their expressions together in one place.

Nineteen Chapters by Animal

The chapters cover origins and usage, with example sentences. It is a different format from a conventional vocabulary list.

You may know some of these phrases without thinking about the animal in them. Gathering them by animal makes familiar words interesting again. The chapters are as follows.

  1. Monkey
  2. Bee
  3. Dog
  4. Cat
  5. Insects
  6. Pig
  7. Wolf
  8. Bird
  9. Horse
  10. Fish
  11. Duck
  12. Chicken
  13. Bulls & Cows
  14. Bears & Rabbits
  15. Mouse & Elephant
  16. Sheep
  17. Bat, Goose & Gander
  18. Frog, Clam & Turkey
  19. Other Animals

Two Examples from the Book

Many animal expressions evoke a creature’s behavior. Horseplay means rough, boisterous play, with the image of a large, energetic animal behind the word.

To monkey around is to fool around or fiddle with something, as a curious monkey might.

The book brings expressions like these together under the animals they name.

A Book to Browse Out of Curiosity

The collection makes a good introduction to the playful side of English.

It is especially suited to readers who want to follow their curiosity about the language beyond exam vocabulary.

Book Information

Curious English Dictionary: Animals

Author
Lee Gang-hyeon
Publication date
15 July 2017
ISBN
979-11-961107-1-0 (15740)
View book on YES24

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