6. Word-building 17. Modern English phraseology 3

General class-ion of phras. units was suggested by academician Vinogradov mainly according to the degree of idiomaticity:

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  Phraseological fusions (сращения). Completely non-motivated word-groups. The meaning of the components has no connection with the meaning of the whole group. Idiomaticallycombined with complete stability of the lexical components and the grammatical structure of the fusion. E.g. to kick the bucket (умереть), to seeze an elephant (узнать жизнь).
  
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  Phraseological unities. Practically non-motivated word-groups as their meaning can be understood through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit. E.g. to skate on thin ice (рисковать), as busy as a bee. They are marked by a comparatively high degree of stability of the lexical components and grammatical structure.
  
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  Phraseological collocations (словосочетания). Are (partially) motivated but they are made up of words having special lexical valency, which is marked by a certain degree of stability. They differ from the phraseological unities by the fact that one of the components is used in its direct meaning, the other in indirect meaning and the meaning of the whole group dominates on the meaning of its components. E.g. to pay a visit, to pay attention, to break a rule, to break a silence, to meet demands.
  

Structural class-ion

Phras. units may be defined as specific word-groups functioning as word-equivalents to definite classes of words. They have the part-of-speech meaning. Comparing the free word-group (e.g. “a long day”) and the phras. unit (e.g. “in the long run”) we observe that in the free word-group the noun “day” and the adjective “long” preserve a part of speech meaning proper to this word taken in isolation. The whole group is viewed as composed of two independent units (A+N). In the phr.unit “in the long run” the part-of-speech meaning belongs to the group as a single whole. ‘In the long run’ is grammatically equivalent to single adverbs (finally, firstly, etc.). so, we distinguish set-expressions that are:

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  nominal phrases functioning like nouns:
  

skeleton in the cupboard (семейная тайна), Baker’s dozen (чертова дюжина);

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  verbal phrases functioning like verbs:
  

to take the bull by the horn (действовать решительно), to put a finger into every pie (соваться во все дела).

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  adjectival phrases functioning kike adjectives:
  

cool as a cucumber (хладнокровный), poor as a church mouse (бедный, как церковная мышь).

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  adverbial phrases functioning like adverbs:
  

before you can say “Jack Robinson” (мгновенно), by hook or by crook (так или иначе).

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  conjunctional and prepositional phrases: As long as, as soon as, in spite of.
  
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  interjectional phrases: like hell (черта с два), my foot (держи карман шире).