ABSTRACT
Imagine the effect that such a sentence might have on someone learning English as a foreign language. They know the word ‘run’ and the word ‘up’ and so running up a hill or a flight of stairs makes perfect sense, but the idea of running up a garment must seem surrealistic. As must the fact that they can ‘run across an old friend’, ‘run out of money’ or ‘feel run-down’. They’re all examples of how language is flexible, creative but, equally, fragile in its relationship with meaning. In these examples, it’s easy to avoid the difficulty by replacing ‘run up’ with ‘make’, ‘run across’ with ‘meet’, ‘run out of’ with ‘have no more’ and ‘run-down’ with ‘unwell’ but, if you’re dealing with complex ideas, subtle distinctions and interpretations, it may be less straightforward. Nevertheless, for someone involved in academic studies, it’s a skill that has to be acquired.
