Comments on: Short English phrases

Question: Short English phrases

lain — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:12:53 -0800

Is there a name for common phrases such as "at last" or "just in case" or "ever after"?

Words that go together to create such common, little, almost unnoticeable phrases. I'm just wondering what these are called if they have a name. Do you know any more of these?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:24:25 -0800

idoms.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:24:46 -0800

Er, sorry "Idioms"

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:33:10 -0800

The three you mention are all sentence adverbs. Dunno if that's what you had in mind.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:35:26 -0800

I'm not totally sure how broad the set of phrases you're considering is—can you provide any more examples, or elaborate on their specific function?

But in general, delmoi is right: idiom, or "fixed phrase", is the general case.

By: anaelith

anaelith — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:44:55 -0800

I don't think these are idioms, since they are fairly literal, even if they leave words out. "I'm bringing an umbrella just in case [I need it]", as opposed to "John kicked the bucket".

I think these are called collocations.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:06:41 -0800

What is the term for compound phrases whose meanings are different than the component words would imply? For instance, to "work over" something doesn't mean to work above it. ("Work him over" doesn't mean the same thing as "work over him", does it?)

In English there are many such which are a combination of a verb and a preposition. Is there a term for this?

By: veggieboy

veggieboy — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:11:21 -0800

SCDB: I think the terms you're after are prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs.

By: frogan

frogan — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:13:43 -0800

What is the term for compound phrases whose meanings are different than the component words would imply?

Those could also be construed as idioms, or colloquialisms.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:15:00 -0800

+1 anaelith. Collocations is what I thought of.

By: MonkeySaltedNuts

MonkeySaltedNuts — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 23:06:57 -0800

anaelith says: I don't think these are idioms, since they are fairly literal, even if they leave words out.

Often a phrase is considered idiomatic if its meaning is not compositional just from the meanings of its parts.

Having understood left out parts is idiomatic.

(Note: having left out parts that can be reconstructed via grammar is not idiomatic. It is grammar not idiom that recovers the subject of "Drop dead!".)

By: paduasoy

paduasoy — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:40:47 -0800

I reckon these are phatic statements - Wikipedia says "a phatic expression is one whose only function is to perform a social task". Not quite sure what type of category you're looking for.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 12:28:50 -0800

I reckon these are phatic statements - Wikipedia says "a phatic expression is one whose only function is to perform a social task".

No, phatic expressions are things like "Hi!" or "you're welcome"—like the man said, "whose only function is to perform a social task." This is not true of the quoted expressions, for which collocations or fixed expressions are adequate terms.