Lexical Units

Collocations

 

Collocations are words that are found together in language, that is to say, that are used together frequently. Collocations can be fixed, where it is difficult to replace one of the words with an alternative, or freer, allowing for more choice of words.

Example : 'Utter disaster' is a fixed collocation, as there are few words that can be used instead of 'disaster'. 'Make a cake' is a freer collocation, as there are many words that can be used instead of 'cake'.

Some words collocate because they reflect a common real world situation, such as pass me the salt; however, there are some words that English speakers have chosen to say, for example that lions ”roar” instead of “bellow”

“The most common types of collocations are as follows:

            a)subject noun + verb e.g. The earth revolves around the sun.

                                                       The lion roared.

If we want to describe the movement of the earth in relation to the sun, then “earth” + “revolve” is a likely combination. It would be less common, for example, to use “circulate”

b) verb + object noun e. g. She bites her nails.

On the whole,  we would not use “eat” here , though many other languages would.

c) Adjective + noun e.g. a loud noise, heavy traffic

Notice how a different collocation (e.g. for “noise”, a “big noise” would give an entirely different meaning)

d) adverb + past participle used adjectivally e.g. badly dressed, fully insured”

 

“Working with Words” Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman, Cambridge University Press, 1998

 

Collocations – Cambridge Resources for teachers examples:

set the table,  to log on, brand new,  hideously expensive, a sharp drop,  (it) rose dramatically , to work hard , the cat’s tail,  broken fence, high rise; acute stress; potato chips; dangerous driver

 

Fixed phrases

 

Fixed phrases are phrases whose meaning cannot be deducted by the sum of each of their parts.

A lexical phrase is a group of words which forms a grammatical unit of some kind and which exhibits a degree of 'inflexibility'some are totally 'frozen' (unchangeable) while others are rather variable:

• Invariable phrases: by and large, as well, let alone, so be it
• Somewhat variable phrases: Don't rock the boat, She's rocking the boat…[rock the boat = 'disturb the institutional status quo']

It is often claimed that certain long clichés are remembered like single items of vocabulary, e.g., There's no time like the present; Never a dull moment; It never rains but it pours, God only knows. If so, there can be lexical sentences. (Multi-word lexical unit would therefore be a better term than lexical phrase.)

Some lexical phrases are highly idiomatic (i.e., unguessable from component words)—e.g., by and large (= 'generally'). Others are not—e.g., pick up a bad habit (whose meaning can easily be guessed by a learner who knows a common meaning of each word in the phrase).

In terms of form, lexical phrases are categorized in various ways. Here is one—

• polyword - at any rate, by and large, as well [= 'also']
• frame or slot - the [adj.]-er the [adj]–er, as [adj]….as,
• so [adj]…that… ,
• Little did…realize that…
• sentence head - Could you....., God only knows wh-…
• sentence tail - …, if you would., …and so on.
• cliché There's more than one way to skin a cat.

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar03/mart1.htm  Seth Lindstromberg

 

Fixed Phrases: Cambridge Resources for teachers examples:

to sum up, come in handy, to tell you the truth, one way or another, so to speak, the thing is , more or less, as a matter of fact , time and again, you might as well, generally speaking, better late than never; sooner or later

 

 

Idiom

 

A group of words that are used together, in which the meaning of the whole word group is different from the meaning of each individual word, e.g. She felt under the weather means that she felt ill.

Idioms normally cannot be modified or the words within them changed.

Not all idioms are fixed. Sometimes the tense of the verb can be changed: "I'm going to have forty winks" or "I had forty winks" And sometimes the adjective can be varied: "You'd better keep a careful/close/sharp/watchful eye on her

One of the problems for language learners is that idioms tend to be culturally bound.

A good example of this is "as cool as a cucumber" The connection between cool and cucumber is far from obvious. However, every native speaker will naturally put the two words together. In English we say "as stubborn as a mule" whereas in Turkish the association is "as stubborn as a pig" In English we say "as strong as an ox" whereas in Dutch the association is "as strong as a bear"

 

www.hltmag.co.uk/feb12/less01.rtf

 

“It is often metaphorical: He put the cat among the pigeons; don’t count your chickens”

Teaching Collocation, Michael Lewis, LTP Teacher training

 

Idioms- Cambridge Resources for teachers examples:

a little bird told me, to learn the ropes, runs in the family, up to his eyes in work, drag and drop, on its last legs, to be in someone’s bad books,  take something in your stride, to let the cat out of the bag; to feel under the weather, to take off

 

 

 

Formulaic Phrases

 Functional vocabulary . Some lexical phrases have 'speech-functional meaning'. For example, Could I…? has the function in speech of introducing a request. Others have lexical meaning, which is to say that they are directly definable. Phrasal (or multi-word) verbs are like this. For instance, bump into is definable as 'meet by chance'.

As with vocabulary generally, lexical phrases may be formal (Would you mind if…?) or informal (Put up or shut up, Gimme… = 'Give me…', D'ya wanna…? = 'Do you want to…').

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar03/mart1.htm  Seth Lindstromberg

Formulaic Phrases:  Cambridge Resources for teachers examples:

Bye for now, How are you? Is this seat free?, Get a move on,  No worries,  See you later, How’s it going?,  Sleep well, Cheers, Have a good day, one solution to the problem might be...; I’d like to suggest