Bro Posted April 2, 2020 Report Share Posted April 2, 2020 Hello! Really quick question. Are "The clock is ticking" and "Time is running out" idioms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted April 2, 2020 Report Share Posted April 2, 2020 15 minutes ago, Bro said: Hello! Really quick question. Are "The clock is ticking" and "Time is running out" idioms? 15 minutes ago, Bro said: Hello! Really quick question. Are "The clock is ticking" and "Time is running out" idioms? I would say that "That clock is ticking" is not an idiom. "Time is running out" is an idiom I would say, because running has no relation to "time". So "running" is used in a metaphorical way, whereas "ticking" is not used in a metaphorical way. Curious what others have to say about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bro Posted April 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2020 21 minutes ago, linguaholic said: I would say that "That clock is ticking" is not an idiom. "Time is running out" is an idiom I would say, because running has no relation to "time". So "running" is used in a metaphorical way, whereas "ticking" is not used in a metaphorical way. Curious what others have to say about it. So would "The clock is ticking" just be an expression or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted April 3, 2020 Report Share Posted April 3, 2020 Yes, it is just a normal utterance as it truly says what is happening. I guess that "ticking" (tick) is actually an Onomatopoeia because it mimics the sound that the clock is doing. There are many words that are onomatopoeia actually. Think about expressions like Woof woof, Kikeriki, meeeow and so on. They all "imitate" the sound that these animals make. Why do you need to know these things? Is it part of your homework? :=) Best, L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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