Structure and classification of phraseological units

In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quatations, e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes him tick», »« I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical, e.g. «Too many cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g. «Where there is a will there is a way».

I.Set expressions functioning like nouns (noun phraseologisms):

N+N: maiden name ‘the surname of a woman before she was married’; brains trust ‘a committee of experts’ or ‘a number of reputedly well – informed persons chosen to answer questions of general interest without preparation’.

N’s + N: cat’s paw ‘one who is used for the convinience of a cleverer and stronger person’ (the expression comes from a fable in which a monkey wanting to eat some chestnuts that were on a hot stove, but not wishing to burn himself while getting them, seized a cat and holding its paw in his own used it to knock the chestnuts to the ground); Hobson’s choice, a set expression used when there is no choice at all, when a person has to take what is offered or nothing (homas Hobson, a 17th century London stableman, made every person hiring horses take the next in order).

N+prep+N: the arm of the law.

N+A: knight errant (the phrase is today applied to any chivalrous man ready to help and protect oppressed and helpless people).

N+and+N: lord and master ‘husband’; all the world and his wife ‘everybody’; rank and file ‘the ordinary working members of an organization’( the origin of this expression is military life, it denotes common soldiers); ways and means ‘methods of overcoming difficulties’.

A+N: green room ‘the general reception room of a theatre’ (it is said that formerly such rooms had their walls coloured green to relieve the strain on the actors’eyes after the stage lights); high tea ‘an evening meal which combines meat or some similar extra dish with the usual tea’.

N+subordinate clause: ships that pass in the night ‘chance acquaintances’.

II. Set expressions functioning like verbs:

V+N: to take advantage

V+postpositive: to give up

V+and+V: to pick and choose

V+(one’s)+N+(prep): to snap one’s fingers at

V+one+N: to give one the bird ‘to fire smb’.

V+subordinate clause: to see how the land lies ‘to discover the state of affairs’.

III.Set expressions functioning like adjectives:

A+and+A: high and mighty

(as)+A+as+N: as old as the hills, as mad as a hatter

IV.Set expressions functioning like adverbs:

A big group containing many different types of units, some of them with a high frequency index, neutral in style and devoid of expressiveness, others expressive.

N+N: tooth and nail

Prep+N: by heart, of course