The Formal Classification

Types of phraseological units:

-nominal phrases: the root of trouble;

- verbal phrases: the break the news;

- adjectival phrases: as good as gold, head and shoulders over sb;

- adverbial phrases: in the long run, from head to foot, by heart;

- conjunctional phrases: on the one hand, as long as;

- prepositional phrases: in the course of sth;

- interjectional: Well, I never!

Phraseological units functioning like nouns:

N + N maiden name

N’s + N cat’s paw, ladies’ man

N + prep + N the arm of the law

N + subordinate clause ships that pass in the night

Phraseological units 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

V+subordinate clause to see how the land lies

Phraseological units functioning like adjectives:

A + A high and mighty

A + as + N as old as the hills

Phraseological units functioning like adverbs:

N + N tooth and nail

prep + N by heart, of course

adv + prep + A + N once in a blue moon

prep + N + or + N by hook or by crook

Phraseological units functioning like interjections:

imperative sentences: Bless (one’s) soul!, God bless you!

According to their origins, phraseological units in Modern English may be divided into:

native, e.g. to eat the humble pie ‘to submit to humiliation’ < ME to eat umble pie (umbles ‘the internal organs of a deer’); to save for a rainy day; to beat about the bush ‘not to speak openly and directly’; to lose one’s rag ‘to lose one’s temper’ etc.;

borrowed, which, in their turn, can be either intralingual (borrowed from American English and other variants of English) or interlingual (borrowed from other languages).

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