2. Inflectability of verbs in predicate
FEIs
Verbs in predicate FEIs normally inflect,
although there may be restrictions on
number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.
Also, other lexical items that supply
subjects, objects and prepositional objects
almost always inflect fully. The exceptions
involve requirements for inserted nouns to
be plural (e.g. X+Y rub shoulders, or X
rubs shoulders with Y)
3. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
The problem of inflectability mainly involves the
fixed nouns and adjectives in FEIs.
Nouns in non-metaphorical FEIs are more likely
to inflect than ones in metaphors.
Nouns bill, conclusion, and question inflect freely
in FEIs foot the bill, a forgone conclusion, and
beg the question.
The nouns in kick the bucket, bite the bullet and
spill the beans do not change, but in FEIs have a
chip on one’s shoulder, and (have) a frog in
one’s throat both nouns pluralize.
4. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
When we talk about particular FEIs, nothing systematic
accounts for the way in which words denoting parts of
the body inflect in some FEIs, in accordance with the
number of the grammatical subject or referent, but not in
others. The problem is at its most acute where the FEI
contains an item (often metonymic) such as eye, ear,or
hand, which is singular in the FEI, but normally found in
pairs in the real world. These items rarely, if ever, occur
in plural in FEIs. For example, FEIs containg an item ear:
a word in someone’s ear, be beaming from ear to ear,
bend someone’s ear (“peglati koga”), (with) half an ear,
keep one’s ear to the ground, lend someone an ear, play
something by ear, turn a deaf ear.
5. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
In terms of inflectability, there is an
interesting distinction between He has
pulled our legs (which refers to separate
occasions) and He has pulled our leg
(which refers to a single occasion affecting
the plural referent of our). The distinction
can also mean that with the plural forms,
the focus is on the individual
experiencers, whereas with the singular,
focus is on the mass.
6. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
(1) Like a lot of Mt Isa old-timers, he’ll yarn to
visitors, happily pulling their legs a little,
becoming just a little impatient with complaints
about modern living in the outback.
(2) Ms Thomson is already making plans for next
year’s eisteddfod: ‘It has proved so popular we
must limit the number of acts but all children
will take part.’ It’s a worthy cause but is Ms
Thomson pulling our leg by saying the
eisteddfod is part of the Excellence In
Education In the Outback?
7. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
There seems to be insecurity amongst speakers
concerning pluralizations – the FEIs are
comparatively infrequent, plural subjects are not
that common, and the rules are not formalized.
A partial solution is suggested by the occasional
use of an inserted plural marker: collective is
used as a grammatical device in metaphorical
FEIs with plural subjects or referents and
indeterminate rules for pluralization; corporate
is also used in this way, although this insertion is
influenced by management or business context.
8. Inflectability of nouns in FEIs
In all examples, the action denoted by the FEI is a mass experience or
joint action, rather than affecting people individually:
1. But advertisers have since mostly seen that they have shot themselves
and their viewers in their collective feet.
2. Banks, building societies and other high street lenders look set to put a
collective hand in their pockets to help people in debt.
3. ...it is qualitatively different from the old review of the franchises where,
provided the corporate nose had been kept reasonably clean, a
renewal was virtually certain.
4. Tobacco was carrying health warnings in the West and it seemed prudent
not to put all your corporate eggs into one basket.
Shoot someone in the foot = do or say sth. stupid which causes problems for
you
Put one’s hand in one’s pocket = give money to charity
Keep one’s nose clean = keep out of trouble, esp. trouble with law
Put all one’s eggs in one basket = make everything dependent only on one
thing
9. Distribution of proverbs in main and
subordinate clauses
The author did not record in her database the tenses in which FEIs
occurred in her corpus; she did not record mood choices of
interrogative and imperative either, except where they were
fossilized and near-mandatory, nor the clause types in which FEIs
occurred in her corpus.
However, the distribution of proverbs in main and subordinate
clauses shows some regularity. 20% of proverbs occur in
subordinate clauses, typically report clauses. In this way, the
selection of the proverb represents a further level of distancing or
interpretation on the part of the speaker/writer, reporting and
sheltering behind received wisdom.
10. Examples of proverbs used in
subordinate clauses
1. There comes a point when we have to say
enough is enough.
2. Dudgeon, who throughout his professional life
stressed that prevention is better than cure,
had the highly original idea that preliminary
trials should be undertaken in closed religious
communities.
3. You have to accept the notion that two heads
are better than one.
12. Polarity (positive vs negative)
Negation is a very basic transformation.
Around 5% of database FEIs are
conventionally negative, i.e. a negative is
part of the canonical expression. For
example: I kid you not, leave no stone
unturned, no laughing matter, not lift a
finger, there is no time to lose, (there
is) nothing new under the sun.
13. Negation
A few other FEIs typically occur in
negative environments, for example: lift a
finger, a red cent, at all, in the least, be
the end of the world.
14. Negation
The proportion of positive and negative clauses as regards FEIs,
more specifically proverbs:
The typical case is where the canonical form is a negative
imperative or modal (Don’t..., You can’t...): such examples can be
transformed to positive predicates, although a negative evaluation
may still be implied, e.g.:
(1) He wanted to have his cake and eat it – somehow to marry Mrs.
Simpson and yet to remain on the throne. = you can’t have your
cake and eat it
(2) Well, Mr Patten will do his best to make a silk purse out of a
sow’s ear, and the audience will know it was not his idea. = you
can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear (= you cannot make
a good quality product, using bad quality materials)
15. Negation
In a few cases, proverb tokens have their
conventional polarity (either negative or
positive), but are then contradicted in the
further text:
(1) Variety, as the poet William Cowper first
observed, may be ‘the very spice of life’.
But in motor racing, the less the variety,
the spicier the contest.
16. Passivization
There are FEIs where passive forms are
at least as common as active forms:
(1) X bears something in mind
something is borne in mind
(2) X cuts Y short
Y is cut short
17. Passivization
There are FEIs where there is no evidence in the
corpus of active forms:
(1)something is cheered to the echo = shout and
call a lot in order to support someone
(2)X is laughed out of court = dismiss something
presented in earnest as ridiculous
(3)X is mentioned in dispatches = be commended
for one’s actions by name in an official military
report
18. Nonfinite uses
FEIs can be used as –ing forms or infinitives:
(1)Or some writers felt they had earned the right in the
Seventies, and now had the duty, to participate in the
reassessment of the Left, if necessary by washing dirty
linen in public. Most writers have done a bit of both.
(2)A much grander house, the property of firm solicitors,
suffered similar treatment. Again, original, perfectly
sound wooden parts were destroyed and, to add insult
to injury, plastic, press-moulded doors inserted.
19. Embedding
Embedding involves moving part of an FEI to a relative clause:
(1) Another straw at which we can clutch is that if real snow arrives
in the near future it will be falling on cold slopes and so will last
reasonably well. = clutch at straws
(2) It is not, however, easy to contemplate putting whole federations out
of action. That is a bullet on which the Arthur Golds of this
world have steadfastly failed to bite. = bite the bullet
(3) The question begged by all those glowing predictions is whether
they will ever be fulfilled. = beg the question
(4) This may be a hard bullet for the left to bite, but there is no
question of what families want. = bite the bullet
20. Nominalization
There are three specific forms of
nominalizations of FEIs.
In the first, the FEI is truncated and reduced to
one of its clausal components:
(1)a new broom sweeps clean - new broom
(2)every cloud has a silver lining – silver lining
(3)play second fiddle to someone – second fiddle
21. Nominalization
In the second kind of nominalization, verbs
occur as verbal nouns or participial adjectives,
or they are replaced by cognate nouns:
(1)lose face – loss of face (loss – verbal noun)
(2)stab someone in the back – a stab in the back
(stab - cognate noun)
(3)turn up one’s nose – upturned noses
(upturned – participial adjective)
(4)waste one’s breath – a waste of breath (waste
– cognate noun)
22. Nominalization
In the third kind, a different lexical item is
formed, often involving the inversion of the
original lexical elements:
(1)keep house – housekeeper
(2)pick someone’s pocket – pickpocket
(3)take the mickey – mickey-taker, mickey-
taking
(4)twist someone’s arm – arm-twisting
23. Transformation to adjectives
Adverbial and nominal FEIs may be
transformed into adjectives. The
transformations are often hyphenated, and
truncation is sometimes involved:
(1)(a)round the clock – round-the-clock
(2)face to face – face-to-face
(3)on the spur of the moment – spur-of-the-
moment
(4)clear as crystal – crystal-clear
