Ways of forming phraseological units

A. V. Koonin classified phraseological units according to the way they are formed. He pointed out primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological units.

Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is formed on the basis of a free word-group:

a) the most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological units by means of transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups, e.g. in cosmic terminology we can point out the following phrases: launching pad – in the direct meaning стартовий майданчик, in its transferred meaning – відправний пункт, to link up – стикуватися, стикувати космічні кораблі, in its transferred meaning it means знайомитися;

b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by transferring their meaning (smile, consonant, metaphor), e.g. granny farm – пансіонат для людей похилого віку, as old as the hills – старий як світ, in a nutshell – коротше кажучи, more or less – більш чи менш;

c) phraseological units cam be formed by means of alliteration, e.g. a sad sack –нещасний випадок, culture vulture – людина, яка цікавиться мистецтвом, fudge and nudge – уникання;

d) by means of rhiming, e.g. by hook or by crook – by any possible means, high and dry – left without help etc;

e) they can also be formed by using synonyms, e.g. to pick and choose – to be terribly choosy, really and truly – quite honestly;

f) they can be formed by means of expressiveness, it is especially characteristic of interjections, e.g. My aunt! Hear! Hear! etc;

g) they can be formed by using archaism, e.g. in brown study means in gloomy meditation where both components preserve their archaic meanings;

h) they can be formed by using a sentence in a different sphere of life, e.g. that cock won’t fight can be used as a free word-group when it is used in sports (cock fighting), but it becomes a phraseological unit when it is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically;

i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or politicians in everyday life, e.g. corridors of power (Snow), American dream (Alby), the winds of change (Mc Millan).

Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another phraseological unit. They are:

a) conversion, e.g. to vote with one’s feet was converted into vote with one’s feet (expressing a process by going away);

b) changing the grammar form, a sentence, e.g. Make hay while the sun shines is transferred into a verbal phrase – to make hay while the sun shines;

c) analogy, e.g. Curiosity killed the cat was transferred into Care killed the cat;

d) contrast, e.g. thin cat – a poor person was formed by contrasting it with fat cat – a rich person, kiss of death – treachery was formed by contrasting kiss of life – saving a person;

e) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as translation loans, e.g. living space (German), or as phonetic borrowings, e.g. meche blanche (French), corpse d’elite (French), sotto voce (Italian), bona fide (Latin).

Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style and are not used very often.