Idioms....

[tenel]

Okay, so I was all like 'epic fail' on this topic in school. Both ways sounded right to me so I have some difficulty spotting when an idiom is miss used. I am not talking about cliches (which many call 'idioms'), which are overused phrases. I am talking about the correct use of something like

Comments

[anirt]

The verb-preposition combinations you mention are collocations. Different to and different than and different from are all technically correct, but different from is usually used. (Different to is not really US English in my experience.)

Passing away is classified as an idiom, I think. Literal interpretation would not get you to realizing someone had died. Wish I could loan you my idiom dictionary!

Try looking on Google for lists of English collocations and then another search for idioms.