<p>Sentence: The settlers experimented for months to find the best method to channel water from the river to their fields and homes.</p>
<p>The answer said that 'method to channel' is incorrect, and the correct idiom is 'method for channeling' or 'method of channeling'. I look up on google and saw that 'method to' is an idiom used by many people.</p>
<p>So is 'method to' really an incorrect idiom?</p>
<p>Does anyone know the answer to my question?</p>
<p>I think it is an incorrect idiom. If you think about it, you don’t method to something, your method is of something… remember that just because something is widely used (unfortunately) doesn’t mean it’s correct</p>
<p>Yeah, I believe it would be find the best method of channeling water. I still don’t understand why they use idioms on the SAT… it’s an achievement test, not a cultural familiarity test. Save that for the TOEFL, please.</p>
<p>^haha, agreed</p>
<p>“Method of” is not an idiom. It is a phrase with two words–that’s all. An idiom is a phrase that is known in its entirety (e.g., “to kick the bucket” is “to die”); “method” and “of” are individual words not associated with each other. The College Board often uses the words “idiom” and “idiomatic” incorrectly. You need to know English in order to apply reasoning to English grammar in the same way you need to know math in order to apply reasoning to math problems. How else are you going to take a test that measures your reasoning ability? The only thing you really HAVE to memorize on the SAT is vocabulary. Idioms on the SAT are very rare. Methods and techniques don’t have direction, so you don’t use directional words like to or toward. That is perhaps the reasoning behind it.</p>
<p>Words like way and tendency are different; you can say either *way of<a href=“method%20of%20doing%20something”>/i</a> or *way to<a href=“course%20of%20action%20to%20a%20goal”>/i</a>, and you say tendency to or *tendency toward<a href=“you%20tend%20to%20go%20one%20way%20and%20not%20another”>/i</a>.</p>
<p>^Are you sure about that definition of idiom crazybandit? Although that is definitely the primary use of “idiom,” I think it is also ascribed to word combination that are particular to a certain language translatable. Prepositions are different with verbs in almost every language, making them idiomatic (recognize “idioma” Spanish for language). You’re very probably right but I just wanted to say what I have learned about the term</p>
<p>‘Idiom’ in this context has to do with English in itself, not how English relates to other languages. The College Board calls these phrases ‘idioms’ because it does not have any other explanation. But if you are familiar with English and apply some reasoning to each grammatical structure (as I did with method of) you’ll be able to understand that it’s not just a game of memorization.</p>