Example of expression word

What are the examples of expression?

The definition of an example of expression is a frequently used word or phrase or it is a way to convey your thoughts, feelings or emotions. An example of an expression is the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned.” An example of an expression is a smile. A facial aspect or a look that conveys a special feeling.

What are expressions in English grammar?

the choice of words, phrases, syntax, intonation, etc, in communicating. 6. a particular phrase used conventionally to express something. a dialect expression.

What is expression and types?

An expression is a combination of one or more operands, zero or more operators, and zero or more pairs of parentheses. There are three kinds of expressions: An arithmetic expression evaluates to a single arithmetic value. A logical or relational expression evaluates to a single logical value.

How do you express expressions?

What is words of expression?

the act of expressing or setting forth in words: the free expression of political opinions. a particular word, phrase, or form of words: old-fashioned expressions. the manner or form in which a thing is expressed in words; wording; phrasing: delicacy of expression.

What is a personal expression?

the expression or assertion of one’s own personality, as in conversation, behavior, poetry, or painting.

What are 10 examples interjections?

Interjection

• Hurrah! We won the game! ( Emotion of joy)
• Alas! I failed the exam! ( Emotion of sorrow)
• Wow! What a beautiful car! ( Emotion of surprise)
• Oh! I forgot to bring my purse! ( Emotion of sorrow)
• Ouch! It hurts! ( Emotion of pain)
• Eww! It tastes so bad! (
• Yahoo! I got a job! (
• Huh! I don’t care! (

What to say when you are excited?

What’s another way to say excited?

What is another word for excited?

enthusiastic	eager
passionate	lively
fervent	aroused
stimulated	rapturous
zealous	spirited

How do you say excited professionally?

excited

1. agitated.
2. delighted.
3. disturbed.
4. eager.
5. enthusiastic.
6. hysterical.
7. nervous.
8. passionate.

What is a good word for exciting?

exciting

• appealing.
• astonishing.
• breathtaking.
• dramatic.
• impressive.
• interesting.
• intriguing.
• thrilling.

Idiomatic Expressions: The English language is a very vast subject. It includes various topics and divisions that we come across regularly. Idiom is an interesting and important part included in the English language and it means a bunch of words stacked together to form a sentence whose meaning is quite different from the actual meaning of the used words.

There are numerous idiomatic expressions with sentences whose meanings are extremely interesting and are also used commonly while by the native English language speakers. There are more than 100 idiomatic expressions with different meanings that might come handy if one wants to fluently speak English.

Enrich your Vocabulary by practicing the English Idioms that are commonly used in everyday conversations and understand their actual meaning.

This article consists of more than 50 idiomatic expressions examples meaning that will help one to easily interpret the actual meaning and use them correctly while holding conversations.

• Meaning and examples of few commonly used idiomatic expressions

List of Idiomatic Expressions

• Keep a straight face
• Save face
• All bets are off
• Ante up
• Step up one’s game
• Pull a rabbit out of the hat
• Once in a blue moon
• To make a long story short
• Jump on the bandwagon
• Hit the books
• Give the benefit of the doubt
• Cut someone some slack
• Curiosity killed the cat
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Caught in a crossfire
• Bucket list
• Your guess is as good as mine
• Scrape the barrel
• Burn your boats
• Let the cat out of the bag
• Never judge a book by its cover
• Up in the air
• Hit the hay
• Break a leg
• Piece of cake
• It takes two to tango
• Costs an arm and a leg
• Kill two birds with one stone
• Tickled pink
• Sick as a dog
• Couch potato
• Rise and shine
• Close but no cigar
• Raining cats and dogs
• Slap on the wrist
• Under the weather
• By the skin of your teeth
• I could eat a horse
• Beat around the bush
• Sell like hot cakes
• On cloud nine
• A bird’s eye view
• Keep an ear to the ground
• Kick the bucket
• Stabbed in the back
• Have butterflies in one’s stomach
• Blow off steam
• Steal someone’s thunder
• Down in the dumps
• Till the cow come home
• Bite someone’s head off
• Not the brightest bulb in the box
• Clear the air
• A drop in the ocean
• Born on the wrong side of the blanket
• Slap in the face
• The ball is in your court
• Go down in flames
• Get your act together
• Blow hot and cold
• Go down the drain
• Through thick and thin

Meaning and examples of few commonly used idiomatic expressions

Keep a straight face.

Meaning: To control and restrain oneself from smiling or laughing.

Example: I had to keep a straight face while my five-year-old brother filled me in about how he had to go through so much “suffering” because of his friends.

Save face

Meaning: To preserve one’s dignity and respect in front of society or other people from getting humiliated.

Example: Jennifer successfully saved her face by living up to her words and doing what she promised.

All bets are off

Meaning: Refers to a situation where everything predicted is now wholly uncertain, and there is no assurance of future events.

Example: The racing cars looked alright, but then the ones driving understood that all bets were off.

Ante up

Meaning: Used when one has to pay money often with a lot of unwillingness.

Example: Jeremy had to ante up the bill for the whole group.

Step up one’s game

Meaning: This refers to the significant improvement of an individual to perform well and compete with others.

Example: Since Clara took part in the art competition, she decided to step up her game.

Pull a rabbit out of the hat

Meaning: To suddenly and unexpectedly do something that solves an issue very effectively and efficiently.

Example: The chef indeed pulled a rabbit out of the hat by decorating 200 cupcakes within 30 minutes.

Once in a blue moon

Meaning: This phrase refers to something that occurs very rarely.

Example: Spotting a tiger in the Sunderbans is a once in a blue moon situation for many tourists.

To make a long story short

Meaning: To sum up a long and fill in the essential details about the story.

Example: The incident last night went on for a long time, but Rachel knew how to make a long story short.

Jump on the bandwagon

Meaning: When one gets involved in an activity or a trend that has a high success rate or is significantly in fashion at that particular moment.

Example: Since everyone was going to the Maldives for a vacation, Rosa also decided to jump on the bandwagon and do the same.

Hit the books

Meaning: When one starts studying seriously and in an determined way.

Example: This time, Jacob hit the books before the exam.

Give the benefit of the doubt

Meaning: This refers to a situation in which an individual assures someone that they will believe in them even though there are doubts about the truth.

Example: Vanessa was very skeptical about Lisa’s story, but still, she gave her the benefit of the doubt.

Cut someone some slack

Meaning: To give someone some space and not cruelly treat them.

Example: Beth asked her mother to cut her some slack since she was doing all the house chores even when she was sick.

Curiosity killed the cat

Meaning: This idiom warns people that being excessively curious may cause trouble and bring unnecessary danger and misfortune.

Example: I wanted to follow the new girl since she was acting extremely suspicious, but then I decided against it because curiosity killed the cat.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Meaning: This idiom means that when individuals stay apart from others they love and cherish, they will grow more affectionate towards them.

Example: After Jim left to pursue his dream career, Pam felt highly overwhelmed and understood that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Caught in a crossfire

Meaning: This phrase refers to individual suffering or undergoing the effects caused by the fallout or clashing between two individuals or a group of individuals.

Example: When my mom and dad were going through their divorce phase, I was caught in a crossfire and had no idea how to process it.

Bucket list

Meaning: This idiom refers to a list of items that an individual wants to attain or do before their death or a certain age.

Example: My bucket list includes sky diving, horse riding, bungee jumping, and many other things. I wish to complete all of them.

Your guess is as good as mine

Meaning: This idiom is used to respond to a specific question whose answer is unknown by an individual.

Example: Hinata kept asking about the chances of him passing the English exam, but Kageyama said that his guess was as good as Hinata’s.

Scrape the barrel

Meaning: To pick or choose from the last and worst range of options or resources since that is the only thing available.

Example: Since Michael arrived very late at the party, he had to scrape the barrel for food.

Burn your boats

Meaning: When one does something that leaves them with a troubled situation that can not be reversed, they need to continue to walk down the previously chosen path.

Example: Gina stupidly burned her boats by fighting with everyone, and now she had no partner to help her in her projects.

Let the cat out of the bag

Meaning: To reveal a secret that was kept hidden.

Example: Everyone suspected me of being the culprit, so I decided to let the cat out of the bag.

Never judge a book by its cover

Meaning: This idiom means that nobody should judge anything or anybody by just viewing or looking at their outer appearance.

Example: Even if Clarissa looked mean and weird, she was a very kind-hearted girl who helped everyone. It is very accurate that one should never judge a book by its cover.

Up in the air

Meaning: This phrase is used to talk regarding something that is yet to be decided or confirmed.

Example: The finalization of her marriage date was still up in the air.

Hit the hay

Meaning: This is used when one wants to go and sleep in their bed.

Example: After a hectic day, Paul wanted to hit the hay.

Break a leg

Meaning: This idiom is used in theaters, and it is said to performers to wish them good luck.

Example: Before the musical began, Chris asked Cathy to break a leg in the show.

Piece of cake

Meaning: It is used to refer to something straightforward and easy to do.

Example: Finishing the house chores within a stipulated time was like a piece of cake to Jenny’s mom.

It takes two to tango

Meaning: In a complex situation, or during an argument, both the parties involved are equally responsible, and hence they should accept their fault equally.

Example: After the huge fight, all the blame went to Marcus while Jeff was treated innocently. But then everyone knew that it takes two to tango.

Costs an arm and a leg

Meaning: Something that is very expensive.

Example: She wanted a red dress on her birthday, but then it cost an arm and a leg, so she decided to buy the blue one.

Kill two birds with one stone

Meaning: To attain two things or resolve two issues simultaneously by doing just a single thing.

Example: Oliver decided to kill two birds with one stone by increasing his vocabulary while completing his journal.

Hold your horses

Meaning: This idiom means to slow down and be patient.

Example: I need to hold my horses since I have already made thousands of plans regarding my wedding.

Tickled pink

Meaning: When someone is delighted and pleased about someone or something.

Example: Bokuto was tickled pink when he heard that Akaashi will come to visit him.

Sick as a dog

Meaning: This idiom describes someone who is extremely ill and feels nauseous, and is vomiting consistently.

Example: After the late-night party, Owen was sick as a dog since he consumed way too much alcohol.

Couch potato

Meaning: Someone who is exceptionally lethargic and sluggish usually spends their time watching television and sitting or lying on bed or sofa.

Example: Due to the lockdown, more or less, many people turned into couch potatoes.

Rise and shine

Meaning: This expression is used when someone needs to awaken from their sleep and get out of bed.

Example: The mother came into the room and asked her children to rise and shine since it was already past 8.

Close but no cigar

Meaning: A success or achievement that one almost achieved but failed to attain it ultimately.

Example: It was close but no cigar for Shuyi since he again failed to win the swimming competition.

Raining cats and dogs

Meaning: This idiom means extreme and tremendous rainfall.

Example: Joanne canceled all her appointments since it started raining cats and dogs.

Slap on the wrist

Meaning: Letting someone go with just a warning or a very minimal punishment.

Example: Thank God, that the officers allowed her to go with just a slap on the wrist for breaking the traffic rules.

Under the weather

Meaning: This phrase is utilized to refer to someone who feels sick.

Example: I was apprehensive about Jeonghan since he looked flushed and hence I asked him whether he was under the weather or not.

By the skin of your teeth

Meaning: When one barely manages to complete or succeed in a specific activity or a job.

Example: Bokuto did pass the Maths exam but it was just by the skin of his teeth.

I could eat a horse

Meaning: This expression refers to someone who is extremely hungry and can eat a lot.

Example: Due to the work pressure, Joshua could not eat anything properly during the day and he could eat like a horse.

Beat around the bush

Meaning: When one approaches a specific topic roundabout and avoids speaking about the exact point.

Example: Genelia had no idea about what to say regarding the proposal so she decided to beat around the bush.

Sell like hot cakes

Meaning: Refers to the fast buying and selling of a particular item in a massive quantity within a minimal amount of time.

Example: The new album released by the band were selling like hot cakes.

On cloud nine

Meaning: Extremely delighted and beaming with joy and happiness.

Example: Seungkwan was on cloud nine when his band members celebrated his birthday precisely at midnight.

A bird’s-eye view

Meaning: Having a magnificent and clear view of a particular thing or situation is usually high.

Example: While travelling in the airplane, we got a bird’s-eye view of all the places we flew above.

Keep an ear to the ground

Meaning: Listen very closely and keenly, keeping a track of any new information available.

Example: Martha kept an ear to the ground and got to know about the office barbecue party before anyone.

Kick the bucket

Meaning: This phrase is used informally and it means to die.

Example: John’s grandfather kicked the bucket just a few hours ago. It truly is devastating for him.

Stabbed in the back

Meaning: To break the trust and faith of someone.

Example: I really trusted Sara and gave her immense love but she stabbed me in the back and ran away with my money.

Have butterflies in one’s stomach

Meaning: When someone is excited as well as nervous about someone or something.

Example: While Timothy was waiting for Dora’s reply to his proposal, he felt butterflies in his stomach.

Blow off steam

Meaning: Release someone’s stored up feelings by either talking and screaming loudly or by doing a very vital task.

Example: Sandra was fed up by the daily arguments in her house and hence she went for a long run to blow off her steam.

Steal someone’s thunder

Meaning: When one steal someone else’s limelight of success and becomes the center of attraction themselves.

Example: Monica was extremely afraid that Rachel will steal her thunder just before her wedding.

Down in the dumps

Meaning: The feeling of sadness.

Example: Peter has been down in the dumps ever since her elder brother left for military training.

Till the cows come home

Meaning: This refers to something that can be done for a long time and still there won’t be any significant effect.

Example: I knew it was futile to talk to Jenny, because I can try to make her understand till the cows come home and still she won’t understand.

Bite someone’s head off

Meaning: To get mad and yell at someone or criticize someone without any specific reason.

Example: Yuuji was confused about what he did since Megumi has been biting his head off from the morning.

Not the brightest bulb in the box

Meaning: Refers to someone who is not very sharp and understands things slowly and at their own pace.

Example: Even after giving several instructions, some students in the class did not follow the pattern. They indeed were not the brightest bulb in the box.

Clear the air

Meaning: To eliminate the confusion and tension between certain people by being honest or talking about the dispute so that the matter does not intensify.

Example: The teacher asked everyone to be honest with each other and clear the air so that the conflict or dispute does not go out of hand and everyone remains peacefully.

A drop in the ocean

Meaning: Refers to an amount that is exceptionally minimal and does not count as an essential contribution.

Example: The money that the Mathew family donated was clearly like a drop in the ocean.

Born on the wrong side of the blanket.

Meaning: This phrase is used to refer to a child who is born outside of marriage.

Example: The rumor says that the baby in the Scott family was born on the wrong side of the blanket.

Slap in the face

Meaning: A sudden and surprising act that embarrasses, insults, or hurts someone.

Example: Anna gave a slap in the face to her old company by working for the competitive company after quitting

The ball is in your court

Meaning: It means that a decision is up to you, and you can decide what to do further.

Example: Finn was ready to get married, and now the ball was in Meredith’s court.

Go down in flames

Meaning: This idiom is used when one spectacularly fails something.

Example: My maths exam went down in flames. I should’ve practiced geometry.

Get your act together

Meaning: Keep everything in an organized manner and start doing things more effectively and smoothly.

Example: My teacher asked me to get my act together and start preparing for the annual day since it was just a week away.

Blow hot and cold

Meaning: Used to refer to someone whose is extremely moody since their attitude keeps changing every moment.

Example: During her pregnancy period, she was blowing hot and cold.

Go down the drain

Meaning: When something is on the way of getting lost or spoiled.

Example: Lisa unnecessarily bought five dresses of the same color and spent her money down the drain.

Through thick and thin

Meaning: To remain faithful to someone no matter what happens.

Example: Jeremy and Bonny were always together through thick and thin, and that’s what made their love grow stronger.

Check out IH Bristol’s extensive list of over 1000 of the most useful expressions in English, available for free for Beginner/Elementary students to Advanced speakers.

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Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………1

CHAPTER I. OCCASIONAL WORDS AND THEIR FEATURES

1.1. The concept of occasional word………………….…………….…….6

1.2. Classification of occasionalisms. Degree of occasionality ………….15

1.3. Methods of formation of occasionalisms…………………………….18

CHAPTER II. WAYS OF FORMATION AND FUNCTIONS OF OCCASIONALISMS IN WORKS OF FICTION AND PUBLICISTIC LITERATURE

2.1. Features of the use of occasionalisms in the texts of fiction and newspaper and journalistic literature…………………………………………………………26

2.2. The basic models of the formation of occasionalisms…………………35

conclusion……………………..……………..……………………………….42

References………….…………………………………………………………44

SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL…………………………………..48

Introduction

Language is a rather unique phenomenon, its study will never be complete. One of the main reasons for the development of the language is the constant replenishment of the vocabulary of the language with new lexical units. The cultural wealth of any nation and its unique traditions are reflected in the language. The more developed the various spheres of our life are, the more new words and expressions are born in the language.

Language is a tool of cognition and reflection of the world. To be able to reflect the reality in the most complete and correct way, the language must be in constant development. Language development occurs at several levels: phonetic, morphological, syntactic, semantic. All phenomena related to the dynamics of changes, language development, first of all, should be attributed to this area, as the vocabulary of the language is its most open and prone to changes subsystem. Each period of time brings to the language multiple tumors that must meet the trends and demands of society.

Moreover, a constant study of new vocabulary should be provided to help people make a successful process of communication.

During the year, about 800 new words are born in English, which is slightly more than in any other language in the world. This fact sets the task for linguists not so much to record the fact of the emergence of new words, as their analysis. In addition, it is important to note that there is a large number of English textbooks that include outdated lexical material, and therefore they tend not to keep up with the ever-changing active English at the modern level. In our daily life, we use words in speech, which denote objects and phenomena, the future of which no one could imagine before.

But not all new words in the language are considered as new lexical units. New words that have been invented and used by certain people, but are not common, or usual, are called occasionalisms. They are formed by models of word formation, which can be quite common in the language. The formation of such words occurs as a result of the use of productive models of word formation. For example, the expression «on-screen bonditry» is often used to refer to films featuring James Bond. In linguistics, the phenomenon of occasionality as a special aspect began to pay special attention relatively recently, perhaps due to the duality of this phenomenon, although different author’s occasional words have always attracted the attention of scientists. Currently, a kind of personal author’s word creation of people more and more attracts linguists.

Scientists drew attention to the problem of the emergence and use of new words at different times. Quite intensive enrichment of English vocabulary in the 60s of the XX century is the reason for increased interest in the problems of neology, to the study of tumors in different aspects.

The identification of the reasons of word creation allows you to define the value function of tumors as an important means of creation of author’s style, characteristic of the writer. The most common material of the study is the language of poetry (O. Vinokur, M. A. Bakin, I. L. Loading, R. Yu.

Much less studied in this respect, the language of fiction (V. A. Gorelkin, N.. Kozhevnikova, L. A. Novikov, M. R. Naptsok, E. A. Zhigarev).

The actuality of this work is based on the object of study — the occasional word. Despite the fact that there are a large number of works devoted to the study of occasional formations, occasionalism is still insufficiently investigated as a unique phenomenon, a manifestation of the author’s language. Occasionalism reflects the development, the dynamics of language, thanks to its potential, researchers have the opportunity to see the language in action.

The object of this study are occasional expressions in literary and newspaper-journalistic texts in English.

The subject of the research is the peculiarities of formation and functioning of occasionalisms in the English language.

The aim of the work is to identify and describe the main ways of formation of occasionalism in literary and newspaper-journalistic texts in English.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks are solved:

* consider the most important aspects of the theory of occasionality;

* describe an occasionalism as a phenomenon in the context of the current situation in the English language;

* consider occasionalism as a link in the chain of linguistic neoplasms: «potential word-occasionalism-neologism»;

* to analyze the problem of classification of occasionalisms;

* to analyze the functioning of occasionalisms in literary texts;

* consider the functioning of occasional words and expressions, as well as the features of the formation and use of occasionalisms in newspaper and journalistic speech.

The material for the study was:

* examples of occasional formations from various sources, total 146;

• a series of books by J.K. Rowling «Harry Potter», Tolkien » Lord of the rings»;

* electronic versions of Newspapers «Daily Mail”, “Mail Online”, «Morning Star».

In accordance with the objectives, the following research methods were used:

• the method of solid sample material;

• the method of analysis and synthesis;

* comparative method;

* method of linguistic-stylistic analysis.

This work consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusion and list of references.

CHAPTER I. OCCASIONAL WORDS AND THEIR FEATURES

1.1. The concept of occasional word

Occasional words are considered to be an integral part of the chain «potential word – occasionalism – neologism».

A potential word is considered to be a unit of speech, but a potential unit in relation to language.

Linguists give a broad definition of potentiality. A. I. Smirnitsky argues that words that can be formed according to the models widely used in the word-formation system of the language, and words that have already been created, but have not yet entered the language [Smirnitsky 1954 : 28]. G. O. Vinokur believed that the potential words include those words that appear when necessary [Vinokur 1990: 31]. O. S. Akhmanova believed that the potential is the word that has not yet been used in a live speech, but it can be formed by a model that is productive in this language [akhmanova 1966 : 15].

The term «potential» can be used only describing a word that does not exist in the language, but can be included into the literary language under certain linguistic and extralinguistic conditions.

It is obvious that in linguistic science there is no specific definition of the concept of «potential word», so there are a large number of opinions of scientists about the ratio of «new word» — » occasionalism»

Modern linguists use such definition as» potential», speaking about the words that were formed by a productive word-formation model in the process of creating a statement by one specific person. Linguists oppose such words to occasionalisms, which are created by unproductive model, which may even be completely unknown to native speakers.

It is important to note that it is necessary to distinguish occasional formations and neologisms. To distinguish these terms, it is necessary to take into account the following criteria:

1. Belonging of the lexical unit to the language or speech. An important distinguishing feature of neologism from the occasional and potential words is based on the opposition of language and speech, observed by F. de Saussure. Neologism is considered a phenomenon of the language system [Feldman 1957: 34]. Potential and occasional words are defined as phenomena of speech that are not included in the language.

2. Word-formation productivity. Productivity is not an obligatory quality of neologisms: they can appear with the help of word-formative means of language, but can also be non-derivative units, for example, coming from other languages. As for occasional words, there are two approaches to their research: lexical and word-formation. Supporters of the lexical approach consider any word that is not included in the vocabulary of the language to be occasional. According to the word-formative approach, occasional and potential words are always derived, they are contextual derivatives «formed by the speaker in speech as needed», in contrast to the system derivatives constructed» in strict accordance with the word-formative laws of the language «and» fixed in explanatory and other dictionaries » [Hoods 2009 : 45]. In our study, we adhere to the second of these approaches.

3. Compliance with the laws of the language system. Here lies one of the most important differences between occasional and potential words. Potential words are produced on the model of highly productive word-formation types.

4. The word is already formed / can only appear. Occasionalisms and neologisms are specific units of the dictionary, already formed and used in speech by the author, or even already included in the language (neologisms).

5. Context dependence. Neologisms as facts of language are not tied to any context and can be used in isolation. Potential words are also the least context-sensitive and generally understood, even when used in isolation. This is explained by the fact that potential words are devoid of phraseological semantics, i.e. the meaning of such a derivative is derived entirely from the sum of the values of its components.

The brightness and singularity of both the occasional word and neologism is very clearly felt by native speakers. Neologism is a word that appeared in the language not so long ago.

The concept of neologism is often used in the history of language to characterize the enrichment of the vocabulary of the language in different periods of history, so, for example, it can be argued about the existence of neologisms of certain cultural figures, history.

In modern languages with a very developed system of word formation tens of thousands of neologisms appear every year. In people’s lives, new phenomena and objects constantly arise, and, accordingly, words appear to call them. After a certain time, these words will cease to be new, and one part of the new formations will cease its short life, and the other part will be fixed in the language, will be widely used and will become an integral part of people’s lives.

For the first time the word «occasionalism» was used in The article «Occasional words and lexicography» by I. Feldman. Under occasionalism she understood the word formed in the marginal model for the transmission of thoughts or ideas or to create an artistic image. Calling occasionalisms short-lived words, she believed that they could not exist out of context. Also, occasional education is considered a phenomenon in speech, not in language. Based on the name of this term, we can say that it is used only under the influence of the situation and once.

According To N. D. Holevo, every entity in the language of the people should have the author, who used the word or expression under specific conditions [Golev 1986 : 49]. The whole team can not be considered the author of the occasional word, so it is opposed to the usual. Occasionalisms are formed in different ways and are not subject to conventional and common methods of word formation. They also have characteristic features that define the essence of occasionality. First, such words belong to a certain part of speech. They are individual and unique. Secondly, such entities can be referred to as «non-normativity», since they are not fixed in the dictionary, and therefore are not the norm of the language. Occasionalisms are only suitable for describing a specific situation or phenomenon under specific conditions. Third, occasional formations are not deprived of stylistic load and expressive content. Thus, the occasional word can be defined as a non-reproducible, expressive and one-time unit of speech, which is not included in the common use and exists only in a certain context.

The occasional word is characterized by a specific, highly individual context in which it is used [Akhmanova 1966 : 284]. It goes against the words, characterized by a wide, mass use in speech.

There are two main ways of formation of occasionalism. In the first case, common, normative models of word formation in the language are used, in the second case there is a distortion of the word formation norm.

The analysis of occasional formations is mainly contextual and is carried out either by studying them or by studying the context surrounding the given formation. In this case, various methods are used, such as the study of definitions in the dictionary, morphological analysis, the study of grammatical form, the analysis of word-formation model. This study of occasional words is closely related to the stylistic characteristics of the text in which the word was used. Since occasionalisms have a greater stylistic and semantic load than words, they can be more suitable in a certain context. However, it is worth noting that such words do not claim to be fixed in the language and in the dictionary and for universal use. The occasionalism is perceived as a new word, regardless of the time of its creation and use: if it becomes usual, then the novelty will be felt always. This fact distinguishes occasionalism from another type of neoplasms in the language – neologism, the novelty of which is gradually erased in the process of using this word.

There are fundamental provisions of occasionality that must be considered when considering occasional words and expressions:

In akhmanova’s dictionary it is possible to find the definition of the word «occasional», asserting that occasional words, word combinations are not usual, are not included in the common use, are characterized by a purely individual taste and are used only under certain conditions in a particular situation [akhmanova 1966 : 284]. However, occasionalism is a fact of speech and is determined by the language system. Occasionalism is a reflection of the peculiarities of language development – semantic, grammatical and word-formation. Occasionalisms do not exist in current life, they are a «hint» in the language system. They are manifested in the works of the authors, are the author’s expressions, transform the potential into the actual.

Every word (language or speech) realizes its meaning in the context, but the usual (canonical) words require the so — called reproducing context, and the occasional-formative, creative.

The analysis of different types of occasionalisms can be considered to be more semantic, and it is carried out mainly using seminal and contextual methods using such methods of research as the analysis of dictionary entries, the analysis of word-formation character, functional and grammatical analysis. The structural and semantic study of occasionalisms is directly related to the stylistic analysis of a literary work.

Artistic, aesthetically significant occasionalisms are considered to be an important text-forming means, which is extremely capacious from a semantic point of view.

1.2. Classification of occasionalisms.

Degree of occasionality

In the theory of occasionality it is customary to distinguish the following types of occasionalisms:

1) Phonetic occasionalisms are born when the author suggests a sound complex as a neoplasm, considering that this complex transmits, contains a certain semantics, due to the phonetic values of sounds, its components.

2) Lexical occasionalisms are created in most cases by a combination of different usual bases and affixes in accordance with the word-formation norm or in some contradiction with it. The neoplasm is composed of morphemes that already exist in the language.

3) Grammatical (morphological) occasionalisms are formations in which lexical semantics and grammatical form are in conflict.

4) Semantic occasionalisms are the result of the emergence of the semantic increment, which significantly transform the semantics of the original language usage of the lexeme, used in an artistic context.

5) Occasional combinations of words are a confluence of lexemes, the compatibility of which is impossible in usus, because it contradicts the law of semantic coordination due to the lack of common semes in their lexical meanings. Due to the emergence of contextually conditioned semantic shifts in the dependent component of the phrase common semes appear.

Among the occasional word combinations there is a special group of those that are motivated by a stable combination of words and are built on the play of the ratio of the phraseological generating basis and the derivative of the occasional word combination.

Linguists distinguish different degrees of occasionality of words:

1) First degree. This group of first-degree occasionalisms includes standard, potential neoplasms that have been created and used in full correlation with the word-formation norms and rules of the modern language, for example cat-Napper.

2) Second degree. Such occasionalisms linguists consider education, which unusual, innovative to a certain extent. In addition, in this case, there may be deviations from the derivational norm of the language, which occurred in the formation of a new word, however, do not cause difficulties in semantic perception.

3) Third degree. This group of words includes purely occasional formations, completely non-standard and unusual, the semantic interpretation of which is quite time-consuming, and the deviation from the derivational norm is essential. Such formations often have no analogues even among occasionalisms.

1.3.Methods of formation of occasionalisms

Based on the principles of economy, occasional word formation is based on the use of models operating in the language, and despite the presence of a number of distinctive features, it is necessary to note the universality of the most productive models of education, namely:

1) affixation;

2) compositional method;

3) compression (abbreviation);

4) semantic derivation;

5) the conversion of;

6) onomatopoeia;

7) reduplication.

Affixation is considered to be one of the most productive ways of forming new lexical units.

In General, in word formation there are noticeable tendencies to create a variety of multicomponent, composite structures, the productivity of which, of course, is associated with newly acquired by adding parameters of tumors: information content, capacity, expressiveness, emotionality. The components of a complex sub-standard word are often neutral units, receiving stylistic reduction and expressiveness in addition, as, for example, «stick-insert-legged».

The productivity of these formations is based on the typological features of the English language, the main indicator of which is its one-morphemic structure and adjacency as a method of syntactic communication [Arakin 2000 : 228]. This feature of the English language is also associated with the productivity of occasional conversion as a method of word formation based on the non-affix transition of the lexical unit to another part of speech when changing the paradigm. EDS. Kubrakova considering conversive derivation from a position of semantic shift metonymic nature, as during the conversion the value of the derivative of the sign takes on added significance (cf a gun ‘gun’ → a gun ‘shooter’, ie. ‘the man with the gun’). The conversion element is also present when converting onomatopoeia (for example, «mwa» – the sound of a kiss) into a full-fledged word with partial characteristics.

I would also like to mention one more sub – standard way of word formation in the English language-reduplication. Based on the addition of elements, reduplication meets all the requirements of the sub-standard subsystem: explicit and implicit expressiveness and axiology: Musi-pusi, the main muck. The rhythm and Rhyme of a complex occasional reduplicate determine the productivity of reduplication in children’s and adults ‘speech when addressing children:» should we play fairies? Rebecca was Trilling, changing tactics, trying to take Constance by the hand. “You live in a fairy tale castle? Is Harry a fairy, too? Where are your magical hairy friends?»[Fielding, Bridget Jones: the edge of reason]

Special attention should be paid to the occasionalisms that are formed in the translation from a foreign language. From the point of view of translation, occasionalisms often refer to the so – called non-equivalent vocabulary-lexical units of the source language that do not have regular (dictionary) matches in the target language. Occasional innovations are new emotional, expressive words that have appeared in the language and that have a specific purpose. This goal is usually to draw the reader’s attention to certain events. And given the fact that these are new words, they do not have their equivalents in the language of translation, and even more than that, the translation of these words is quite a big difficulty. The fact is that the translator, when translating occasional innovations, should try to preserve this expressiveness, which presents certain difficulties

speeches.

CHAPTER II. WAYS OF FORMATION AND FUNCTIONS OF OCCASIONALISMS IN WORKS OF FICTION AND PUBLICISTIC LITERATURE

2.1. Features of the use of occasionalisms in the texts of fiction and newspaper and journalistic literature

By the method of continuous sampling from journalistic texts we selected 16 occasional formations. As examples of artistic style, the object of the research is occasional words in the novels of G. Rowling «Harry Potter»and J. Tolkien’s «Lord Of The Rings». 30 occasionalisms were selected from these works.

There are a number of reasons why many writers and authors resort to the use of individual author’s tumors:

a) often common words are not enough to Express an exact thought;

b) occasionalism is sometimes able to replace a combination of words or even a whole sentence, thus helping to briefly and concisely Express a certain thought;

C) occasionalism can satisfy the need to Express the author’s attitude to the subject of speech, and also emphasizes its certain features and characteristics;

d) often the authors, using the unusual appearance of the word, seek to attract the attention of readers to its semantic content, wanting to make its perception less automatic and ordinary;

e) the author wants to avoid tautology;

f) the author seeks to maintain the rhythm of the verse, to bring rhyme, to achieve the necessary instrumentation.

On the basis of the already existing lexical basis, various neoplasms constantly appear in the language. John. Tolkien in his works developed a fictional language called Quenya. In the author’s legendarium it is an elven language and represents a wide platform for the formation of new words and expressions characteristic of the magical world. The word quenya itself is a phonetic occasionalism, which roots go back to the Finnish language.

First of all, it is necessary to highlight the productivity of such word-formation model as word composition among the tumors characteristic of the creativity of this author. With the help of this model the following words were formed:

Eleventy-first Dwarf-candles

Gentlehobbit Elf-fountain

Goblin-barkers Elf-rune

Dwarf-make Riddermark

Nazgul

The word eleventy-first was used in conjunction with the word birthday and means «one hundred and eleventh birthday». It is formed by the compositional method with one of the foundations of eleventy being a derivative.

The word gentlehobbit was formed by analogy with the word gentleman, where the component of gentle has the meaning «gentle, kind, soft». The word hobbit itself cannot be unambiguously analyzed from the point of view of its origin. On the one hand, many tolkinists argue that it is formed from the Latin word homo (man) and from the English rabbit, and in this case we can talk about the use of blending in the formation of the word. This opinion can be inspired by the appearance of hobbits, really resembling rabbits to some extent. However, the John. Tolkien repeatedly denied such a view. In the Book» peoples of middle-earth», published by Tolkien’s son on the basis of his father’s unpublished materials, it is said that this word goes back to the ancient English word hol-bytla, which can be translated as «Builder of holes», the equivalent in modern English — hole builder.

Words like Dwarf-candles, dwarf-make, goblin-barkers, elf-fountain, elf-ruin is also made of the compositional method and represent objects and phenomena of relevance to this magical races like dwarves, elves and goblins.

The word Riddermark, denoting the name of the magical state in the legendarium by J. Tolkien derived from the old English ridder, and mark (area). However, in modern English, these words have changed in writing (rider), and narrowed the circle of the word mark (border).

As already mentioned above, for the creativity of J. Tolkien’s is characterized by occasional incidents from the fictional language of Quenya, which makes his artistic style unique. The word nazgul, denoting a race of people» Nazgul «, comes from the Quenya language from the words Nazg (ring) and gul (Ghost).

In addition to the word hobbit, which is historically a complex word, the word Isengard also comes from ancient languages. The old English word isen (iron) and the French word gard (English guard) together form the word for Tolkien’s one of the main fortresses of middle-earth Isengard.

Quite a wide range of occasional expressions in the series of books by G. Rowling is also formed by word composition, for example:

Sneakoscope Hufflepuff

Slytherin Ravenclaw

Gryffindor Animagus

Pensieve Firebolt

The word sneakoscope («sneak» + scope «horizons») in translation can be found as «вредноскоп«.

The name of the faculty Hufflepuff comes from two words – huff and puff “blow”. It is interesting to note that in this case, the onomatopoeic translation in combination with the tracing so that this word is translated into the Russian language as “Пуффендуй”. However, this tendency can not be seen in the translations of other faculty names.

Slytherin is formed in a compositional way from the words sly «cunning, treacherous” and therein “here”. And for English-speaking readers the word Slytherin a negative meaning, since the Slytherin faculty in the book expresses support for the villain Voldemort, but Russian-speaking readers do not have such an association.

The word Ravenclaw is formed by 2 words-raven and claw and is translated into Russian as “Когтевран”. Gryffindor comes from the word griffon and d’or (French golden.)

The word pensieve comes from two words – pen and sieve “sift”. With the help of descriptive method this word was translated as «омут памяти«. Animagus is derived from the animal and magus «magician». A striking example of this method of word formation as a word composition is the word Firebolt. It consists of two foundations: fire and bolt (crossbow arrow) and means the broom presented to Harry Potter.

In most of the cases considered, the occasionalisms were formed from the usual foundations and affixes in compliance with the norms of the English language or in minor discrepancy with them, which gives the right to argue that the new vocabulary formed by the composition is a group of lexical occasionalisms.

To lexical occasionalisms we also can refer the words formed by the method of affixation. For example, the word Scrabbers, meaning a rat of one of the main characters of the series of books about Harry Potter. The word scrabble means «dig, scratch», and when combined with the affix, it receives the meaning of the name of the animal.

The word dementor deserves special attention. On the one hand it may seem that J.K. Rowling joined the two words — dement and tormentor, resulting in the meaning «torturer that drives you crazy», and so we get here such a phenomenon as blending. And on the other hand, to the word dement (to drive crazy) could be attached suffix –or, denoting the person performing these actions. The reason for this phenomenon is similar sound composition of the words dement and torment (tormentor).

A striking example of blending is the word wizengamot, denoting the council of wizards in the books of J.K. Rowling. This word is a combination of the words wizard and witenagemot (council of the Anglo-Saxons kings)

In the Tolkien’s trilogy «The Lord of Rings» we are confronted with situations when words are known to us and fixed in dictionaries, acquire another meaning: Men (Thugs), Bag End (Turbine Pad). The word Shire denotes a country inhabited by hobbits. In English, the word shire already exists, but in a particular context it takes on a new meaning. Thus, we can say that these words are semantic occasionalisms.

A number of occasionalisms were invented by the authors, for example the word mumakil, which means a magical animal in the series of books «The Lord of Rings».

The name Gollum could be taken from the ancient Norse language, in which there is the word gull (another form — gol), which means «gold, treasure, jewel«, and in the phrase finger-gull also means «ring».

Occasionalism Smaug, meaning fire-breathing dragon, is modified from the word smog (fog and smoke). The name of the area Mordor is translated from the fictional language of the author, as he claims, «black country». However, referring to the etymological dictionary, it can be found that in the old English language there was a lexical unit morðor, meaning murder, and there may be some analogy. Occasional word ents means one of the peoples inhabiting middle-earth, resembling huge trees. This word was also borrowed from the old English language, where it used to mean «giant«.

At present, occasionalism is widespread not only in works of art, but also in printed publications. Their number on the pages of Newspapers and magazines increases every day. Probably, such rapid growth of occasionalisms in journalism can be explained as the appeared social need of unusual naming of all new, and intra-language factors-propensity to economy, unification of language means, use of nominations with different internal form and etymology. But the main reason for the popularity of occasionalism is the desire to achieve the maximum emotional, expressive and stylistic expressiveness of the printed word.

The increased interest of publicists in occasionalism can also be explained by the fact that such tumors destroy stereotypes of perception, being extraordinary structurally and unusual semantically.

Occasionalisms allow you to more accurately Express thoughts and feelings, to give a clear assessment of what is happening, strengthen emotionally expressive expressive speech, and will save the language means.

Occasionalisms are considered to be one of the linguistic means of achieving expressiveness in periodicals, as they are used to have more influence on the reader. The intentional use of words invented by the author in his speech is always meaningful, aesthetically significant and expressive.

Most often in journalistic publications, occasionalisms are used to create a method of “word play”, i.e. we can see an example of a language game at the level of word formation.

For example:

Forth from his den to steal he stole,

His bags of chink he chunk,

And many a wicked smile he smole,

And many a wink he wunk.

[First news, 2006]

In this poem, the author uses the so — called grammatical occasionalisms, specially forming the form of the past tense of the verb «smile» («smole» instead of «smiled») by analogy with the verb «steel» («stole»). In the second line on the basis of contrast the noun «chink» (ringing coin) and the form of the past tense — «chunk«, by analogy with them in the last line of the poem the author tries to construct the form of the past tense from the verb «wink» – «wunk» (instead of «winked«).

In the next comic poem, you can see the possible variants of the formation of the plural form of nouns, which are also played in an unusual way:

The рlural of tooth is teeth;

Is the plural of booth then beeth?

The plural of mouse is mice;

Is the plural of spouse then spice?

The plural of that is those;

Is the plural of hat then hose?

And the plural of rat then rose?

Who knows?

[First news, 2006]

These occasionalisms are also grammatical. Because of their use appear to be «false» have no place in the English language plural form of nouns: «beeth» (instead of «booths»), «spice» (instead of «spouses«), «hose» (instead of «hats«), «rose» (instead of «rats»).

In the headline of the June issue of the newspaper “Morning Star” [June 3, 2005] “Yet more old style Toryism” occasionalism is formed by suffixation. The word toryism is a lexical occasionalism. «»Tory», the name of the English political party with the suffix » ism » shows the ironic attitude of the author to the party.

In the articles there is the use of occasional words formed by blending. For example, the word tandemocracy (TANDEMOCRACY — Back in the saddle) [The Moscow news, Sep 26, 2011], illustrated by the caricature with the image of the bicycle, consisting of two, hints at the current in Russia the post-election political situation.

A cartoon show a butcher standing in front of his shop, looking with a puzzled expression at the signs on the two shops on either side of him: Butch/Butcher/Butchest. [Morning Star, May 15, 2005] in this example, ambiguity is due to the use of suffixes of comparative and superlative adjectives “ – er” and “ – est” respectively. In addition, the suffix “ – er” can have two different meanings: on the one hand, it is a suffix with which you can form a noun from a verb (“work” — “worker”), and on the other hand, it is a suffix of the comparative degree of a certain number of English adjectives (“fast” — “faster”).

The title ”Poopless pets’ top the list for must-have toys this Christmas” in the newspaper Mail Online» on January 1, 2009 is another example of the function of occasionalism at the word-formation level. The affix » less «gives the noun poop the meaning of deprivation, shortage. Thus, the author of the article is talking about computerized toys-Pets that do not bring trouble to the owners, in comparison with real Pets.

An unusual occasionalism is formed by contamination takes place in the title “Mystery of the cat-Nipper” [Mail Online, Oct 18, 2007]. Combining the word «a kidnapper» and «a cat» is semantically clear and perfectly understandable without context: it is a person who steals of pets from their neighbors, although the last specific details become clear only after reading the article itself.

The technique of contamination is often used by authors in a language, for example, in works of children’s literature, in the media, in annotations to films, books, exhibitions, etc. For example: “not referred to education leaders as «educrats» or wielders of «blackboard power” [Saturday Review, April 20,2000]. In this example, the word «educrats» is an example of a blend formed from two words –» education» and «bureaucrats«.

The newspaper » Mail Online «[Jul 16, 2009] presents an article about the world’s first airlines for animals with a bright title “Where ‘pawsengers’ come first”. The language game is achieved by contamination «paw” + ” passenger». In this humorous occasionalism you can clearly see a comic effect of the article.

In the following example, the language game is shown on three levels. In the first part of the headline, Who’s a VERY clever doggy! Prepare to be bow-wowed as we put Chaser, the world’s has the brainiest dog, to the test” — In the second part the author uses onomatopoeia for imitating the dog barking and at the same time, expressions of amazement and joy because of the ability of the dog referred to in the article of the newspaper “Daily Mail” [Jan 1, 2011]. The «to bow-wow» occasionalism with the meaning «to bow in amazement» can be considered as the author’s new formation, so the language game is implemented in this example and at the word-formation level.

In the title of the article “Pawtraits of love: the owners who paid hundreds to immortalize their pets for ever” [daily Mail, Feb 12, 2011] you can also see the lexical occasionalism formed by blending (“paw” + “portrait”).

2.2. The basic models of the formation of occasionalisms

After analyzing the selected examples of occasionalisms, it can be noted that most of the words are lexical occasionalisms formed using the bases and affixes. They are most common in both fiction and non-fiction literature-their number is about 66% (pic. 1). This is due to the fact that the authors are most likely to use and transform existing material. Less common in the texts are semantic occasionalisms (8%), such as ents, Men, Bag End. The percentage of phonetic occasionalisms is slightly higher-11%, for example, quenya, mumakil. Grammatical occasionalisms, which lexical semantics and grammatical form are in conflict: smole (smiled), wunk (winked). Their number is 15%.

Рис. 1

The most common way of formation of lexical occasionalisms was word composition. The number of words formed by this method was 62% of the total (pic.2): sneakoscope, Hufflepuff, firebolt, eleventy-first, gentlehobbit, riddermark, etc. This can be explained by the nature of the English language. Word composition plays an important role in the formation of new words and is considered one of the most productive ways of word formation in the English language.

The spread of this word – formation model can be explained by two types of factors-linguistic and extralinguistic. The linguistic factors include the analytical nature of the English language, which has to create new words by adding the basics. In English, there is no broad system of endings, so this method of word formation is the most practical. The lack of a developed system of endings makes English words more mobile and active in the process of word composition. In addition, most words in English are short or monosyllabic words. Extralinguistic factors include certain events in the life of society. Language is a reflection of people’s lives, what is happening in the human mind. Society is developing-language is also developing.

The second most productive model was such a method of word formation as blending. This way was formed about 22% of all lexical occasionalisms, for example: wizengamot, educrat, tandemocracy, pawsenger, etc. The relative productivity of this method of word formation can be explained by the desire of language to simplify, to the ability to express a broad concept or phenomenon with a minimum number of letters. For example, if the reader sees catnapper‘s occasionalism in the text, based on experience (kidnapper) and with the help of a language guess, he will be able to understand its meaning, namely «the one who steals Pets».

Approximately 15% of lexical occasionalisms was formed by affixation. In most cases, the task was to form a new part of speech from the original, necessary for further presentation, for example butcher – butchest.

Thus, there is a tendency to widespread use of the word composition in modern English.

Pic. 2

CONCLUSION

Occasionalisms are the result of personal word creation, linguistic innovations. Few of them have the potential to become full-fledged units of the literary language.

The occasionalisms functioning in artistic speech are an effective way of influencing the addressee. The novelty of the form of occasionalism, its uniqueness attract the reader’s attention, interest him, involve in the process of deciphering the meaning inherent in it by the author.

Unlike conventional methods of expression of meanings and values, occasionally in the art of speech, in journalism and in other types of discourse, has certain advantages. First, it is often considered a unique verbal means of transmission of individual author’s ideas, the author’s picture of the world; secondly, because of its brightness, expressiveness, freshness, unusual form and content, occasionalism serves as an effective means of influence on the addressee, as well as a means of control of his consciousness.

The occasionalisms created by the authors-publicists are of great interest to linguists, because they represent the subjective-evaluative ability of word formation and colorful examples of language play of the intellectual-author with the reader, able to evaluate his creative possibilities.

In the process of writing the research work we have achieved the goal-to identify and describe the main ways of education of occasionalisms.

When writing the research work, we studied the special literature, including the works of famous Russian and foreign linguists. We have described the theoretical basis for the study of this issue and the basic concepts of the study.

As a result of the analysis of the collected material, we came to the conclusion that lexical occasionalisms prevail in the English fiction and publicistic literature. The most productive model of the formation of occasionalisms is word composition, blending and affixation.

REFERENCES

1. Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language / David Crystal. – Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1995.

SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL

1. Helen Fielding. Bridget Jones Diary. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/bridget-jones-diary-119

2. J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://e-libra.ru/read/332069-harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire.html

3. J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://e-libra.ru/read/328218-harry-potter-and-the-order-of-phoenix.html

4. J.R.Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://freenovelonline.com/242597-the-fellowship-of-the-ring.html

5. J.R.Tolkien. The Lord of Rings: The Two Towers. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://freenovelonline.com/242598-the-two-towers.html

6. J.R.Tolkien. The Lord of Rings: the Return of the King. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://freenovelonline.com/242599-the-return-of-the-king.html

7. John Green. An Abundance of Katherines. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа:

http://www.rednovels.net/Young_Adult/An_Abundance_of_Katherines/

1. Jonathan Foer. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://english4success.ru/Upload/books/614.pdf

2. Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://etextread.ru/Book/Read/32874

3. First News. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа:http://www.firstnews.co.uk/

4. Daily mail. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

5. Morning Star. Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа:http://morningstaronline.co.uk/

14

List of Common English Idioms:

Idiom	Meaning
Hard to swallow	Difficult to believe
Digging around	Looking for
He’s a really bright spark	He’s an intelligent person
He’s kicked the bucket	He’s died
She’s hitting the books	She’s studying hard
Break a leg!	Good luck!
Set out on a new career	Start a new career
Saunter through life	Live in a relaxed way
Follow in someone’s footsteps	Do something the way another person did it before
One step at a time	Do something slowly and carefully
Career path	The sequence of jobs someone takes that create their career
Milestones	Important events in a person’s life or career
Dead end job	A job that offers no opportunity for advancement
To be at a crossroads	When someone is at a point in life where their decisions will have long term consequences
He’s on the straight and narrow	He’s living in a morally proper way
To walk someone through something	To show someone how to do something
We need to come up with a road map	We need to make a plan
I wouldn’t go down that road if I were you!	I wouldn’t do that if I were you!
Don’t run before you can walk	Don’t try to do something difficult before mastering the basics
Inching forward	When progress on something is being made in small increments
To move at a snail’s pace	To move slowly
To get good mileage out of something	To get a lot of benefits from something
To have your whole life in front of you	To be young and have a lot of years to live
To get on with your life	To make progress in life goals after a difficulty
To tread carefully	To behave or speak carefully to avoid offending or causing problems with someone or something
To be a minefield	When something presents many possible dangers
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it	To wait to worry about one problem at a time
Information superhighway	The internet
Time is money	Time is a valuable resource
A tasty (or juicy) bit of gossip	Very interesting or sensational gossip
To devour someone or something	To consume something very quickly
To add a pinch of salt to something	To acknowledge that someone exaggerates
To chew something over	To think about something before making a decision
To not swallow something	To not accept something as fact
To bite off more than you can chew	When someone makes a commitment that they cannot keep
To eat your wods	When someone has to admit they were wrong
A warm welcome	A friendly welcome
The cold shoulder	An unfriendly welcome
When things heat up between people	When a relationship becomes romantic
To be cold-hearted	To be dispassionate or uncaring
A 24-hour hotline	A phone line that is always active
A very frosty reception	To receive a greeting that makes someone feel unwelcome
The Cold War	War without active fighting between nations
A warm smile and the warm handshake	A welcoming smile and handshake
Cold callers	People who call phones, usually for sales, who don’t have previous contact with the person they’re calling
We took the temperature of the group	Checked the overall opinion of a person or group of people about something
Most people were quite warm about the idea	People have a positive reaction to the idea
You’ll reap the rewards later	To collect the benefits of your work
To prune out	To clear, clean or groom something
Separate the wheat from the chaff	Separate what is useful or valuable from what is worthless
Rooted in	Based on something or connected to a source/cause
To cutback something	To reduce something, usually related to the amount of money spent
To dig deep	To use a lot of your physical, mental or financial resources to achieve something
Great growth	A positive change in the production of goods or services
Root and branch	Completely/utter
Seed money	Money that is used to start a small business or other activity
Bright shoot	Start something new, a new chapter
Plough its own furrow	To follow a plan or course of action independently
Green fingers	Have an ability to make plants grow, to be good at gardening
Build/make a good case	To argue that something is the best thing to do, to explain and give reasons why something should be done
A fabrication	To tell lies about something, completely made-up/invented
To be on solid ground	To be confident about the topic you are dealing with, or because you are in a safe situation
Build on	To use something as a base or foundation to develop something else
Shattered	To break something into a smaller form or into many pieces
Undermine your position	Behave in a way that makes you less likely to succeed
Demolish your arguments	To break down someone’s argument to an extent that it is no longer accurate or correct
Constructive criticism	Criticism that is useful because they can help improve something
Grounds for dismissal	A reason for you to be dismissed from your job, often due to your (negative) behavior
Completely groundless	Not based on any good reason
Grounded in fact	Something that is based on facts
Come to light	To be revealed
Unearthed	To find something that was lost or forgotten
A mine of information/gossip/data	Someone or something that can provide you with a lot of information etc.
Get to the bottom of	Find an explanation, often to a mystery
Digging into	To methodically reveal information
To bury the memory	To try to hide something, such as a memory, the truth etc.
Emerge	Something that is brought to attention
Out in the open	In public view or knowledge, everybody knows
Underground scene	An alternative culture, different from the mainstream of society and culture
Transparency	Something that can be seen by everyone/the public
Crystal clear	Perfectly easy to understand
Put your head in the sand	To ignore or hide from the obvious signs of danger
Bright spark	Someone that is highly intelligent
Enlightenment	To understand something completely
Throw light on something	To reveal something about someone/something, to clarify something
Dull	Something that lacks imagination, boring
Brilliant	Shining brightly, stands out, illustrious
In the dark	A state of ignorance, to not have knowledge about something
Dim-witted	Something/someone that thinks slowly, lacks intelligence
Dark ages	When something was not understood, a time when knowledge was limited
Illuminating	To make something more understandable
Right-wing	A part of a political group that consists of people who support conservative or traditional ideas
Look down upon	To view someone or something as unworthy
Side of the fence	Refers to either side of opposing views or ideas
Political landscape	The current state of things and how they are looking in the future
Look at life	How you observe things that happen, your opinion on daily matters
Behind you all the way	To fully support someone’s actions
Point of view	An opinion on something
Better perspective	A clearer view of something, a more thorough understanding of a situation
Take someone’s side	To support one person’s side of an argument
Where I stand	Your opinion, point of view
Look up to	To respect someone as a role model
Moral high ground	The status of being respected, a position of being ‘more’ moral than others
Sitting on the fence	Undecided on a decision, avoid making a decision on something

A typical ESL student is both fascinated and frustrated by idioms; they give you fluency but are very hard to use accurately because:

• They may change meaning if you forget or change a single word.
• You must use them in the right context – don’t say ‘he’s kicked the bucket’ (died) at a funeral!
• You can’t translate them into, or from, another language. There is no literal translation.

7 Ways to Make English Idioms and Phrases Easier to Understand:

1. Listen to context.

Idioms are unusual expressions. So ask yourself ‘Why is that person using an unusual expression?’ The reasons are likely to be connected with emphasis, exaggeration, or a high state of emotion! So check the context – and the facial expression!

2. Check to see if you understood.

Use expressions like; ‘so you’re pretty angry about that right?’ or ‘OK, you mean that you’re too busy at the moment.’

3. Be honest when you don’t understand.

Try using; ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean.’

4. Never translate idioms.

Idioms from your own language may use the same imagery or concepts (and it is always interesting to notice these similarities) but they are unlikely to translate word-for-word into English expressions.

5. Listen to how native speakers use idioms.

A native English speaker NEVER says ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ – so why should an ESL student? Listen to what native speakers actually say in a given situation, and copy.

6. Take notes.

Keep a notebook of your favorite expressions in English and add anything new that you hear. Try to use new expressions soon after you learn them, this is called ‘use it or lose it.’

7. Tolerate your mistakes.

You will definitely make mistakes and create confusion when you use idiomatic expressions, so be brave and allow yourself the space to try, fail, and try again.

Learn English Idiomatic Expressions without Memorizing

Most lists of common English idiomatic expressions I see have 2 things wrong with them. They include a lot of out-dated expressions that no one actually uses anymore (it’s raining cats and dogs), and they’re really hard to memorize.

Rather than force you to memorize a list of expressions, we’re going to teach you some tricks that will make it easy to understand English expressions, even if you’ve never heard them before.

Most idiomatic expressions can be divided into a few groups, and these groups have things in common that make them easier to understand. Below you’ll find these groups, with the English expressions in bold.

English Expressions About Life:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – so said Lao Tzu, the founder of Chinese Taoism.

When he said these wise words, he wasn’t just offering encouragement to people who had to walk long distances in Zhou Dynasty China during the 6^th BC, but was talking about every kind of journey in life.

The quotation is generally taken to mean that any undertaking in life – even really big ones – must start with small steps, and that we must not become discouraged by the size of the tasks in front of us. The idea that our tasks, and indeed our lives, can be seen as physical journeys that can be broken down into steps is common in many languages; English is no exception.

So we might set out on a new career, saunter through life without a care, follow in someone’s footsteps or take a difficult task one step at a time.

And just as the physical hikes, strolls or walks that we go on require paths or roads, which can be straight or winding, and sometimes lead to dead ends – so it is with our projects, careers and lives.

This means that some of us want to follow a clear career path, are proud of the milestones we achieve and don’t want to work in a dead end job. When deciding on a course of action we might find ourselves at a crossroads in life, wondering which way to turn, hoping we don’t take the road to ruin!

Examples of idiomatic expressions about life:

• He’s put his criminal past behind him – He’s on the straight and narrow now!
• It’s a difficult system to get used to, so let me just walk you through the first few steps.
• We need to come up with a road map to go forward with these negotiations.
• Being selected for the national team was the first major milestone in my career.
• So you want to invest in his business? I wouldn’t go down that road if I were you!
• I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my career and I’m not sure which way to turn.
• I have tried to follow in Dad’s footsteps and to do the right things.
• I suppose I’ve gone down quite a winding career path – I’ve never done things the easy way!
• Holmes had crossed paths with Moriarty several times before and it had never gone well.
• I know I said you should read a bit more, but War and Peace? Don’t run before you can walk!

Please note that we use the imperial system, rather than the modern metric system, to refer to distances in idioms:

• We are just inching forward with this project at a snail’s pace.
• I think I can get good mileage out of this idea.

Notice the way that prepositions are used to imply movement or direction in life:

• He envied his grandchildren having their whole lives in front of them.
• I always try and put failures behind me and get on with my life.

Also, if we are traveling along a road or pathway, we might expect to find obstacles to our progress and have to handle them in some way:

• We need to tread carefully here because ethnic tensions in the area can be a minefield.
• I don’t know yet what we’ll do if they reject our offer – but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

And please note that idioms involving roads can refer to other things:

• The information superhighway has changed the way we think about the world.

English Expressions About Money:

When Benjamin Franklyn wrote that ‘time is money’ in his Advice to a Young Tradesman in 1746, he meant that time was a commodity which can be treated the same way that we treat money or any other resource. He was right too, from a linguistic perspective anyway, as we have long had this attitude towards time within the English language.

Like money, time is something that we save, waste or spend. We praise good time management, we complain that we don’t have enough time, and we wonder how long our time will last. Let’s look at the way the English language treats the concepts of time and money.

Examples of English Expressions About Money:

Look at these sentences and decide if you can substitute the word ‘time’ for the word ‘money’ (you may have to make a few extra changes):

• We will have to go soon – we are getting short of money.
• I have wasted a lot of time on this project.
• We made some changes at work to save money.
• He is determined to make it work – he’s invested so much time in the business already.
• He worked my shift at work for me – so I guess I owe him some time in return.
• I would like to devote more time to keeping the garden in shape.
• This problem has cost us too much money already!
• We are living on borrowed time.
• I thought I gave him enough money – but he seems to have squandered it all!
• She’s always had better money-management skills than me.

In most of the sentences above you can substitute ‘time’ for ‘money’ without a problem. The context may change, but the sentences themselves still look fine.

Please note that we can replace the actual word ‘time’ with an amount of time – and we can do this with ‘money’ too:

• We spent three weeks there.
• I spent $50 on it.
• It takes half an hour to get there.
• It took $100 to convince him!

English Expressions About Knowledge:

What is the basic unit of knowledge – a fact, a truth, a maxim or a law? Well, from a computing point of view it is called a ‘byte’. In 1956 Werner Buchholz, a computer scientist working at IBM, wanted a term he could use to describe the eight binary digits (bits) needed to encode a single letter, number or symbol on a computer.

He chose the word ‘byte’ – a deliberate misspelling of the word ‘bite’ – and this term now refers to the basic unit of all the information held on all computers, everywhere. When he chose this word, Buchholz was (perhaps unknowingly) using a very common, basic and important idiom in the English language; knowledge (or information) is food.

If you think about it, this idiom is quite easy to understand; information exists in the outside world and must somehow comes inside us so that we can learn and understand it.

This process of bringing information into ourselves can be thought of as eating. So we might hear a tasty bit of gossip or devour a newspaper, we may need to add a pinch of salt to unlikely stories, chew over a difficult subject, or digest information – we may even need to spit information out if required!

Examples of English Expressions about Knowledge:

• He absolutely devours newspapers – he gets about three every morning!
• You have a great appetite for knowledge, and I respect that.
• I won’t give you an answer yet – Let me chew it over for a while.
• Who broke the school window? Come on lad – spit it out!
• I got my dad a subscription to The Reader’s Digest.
• She always exaggerates so if I were you I’d take what she says with a pinch of salt.
• Don’t give them too much information at the start of the course – just bite-sized chunks for now.
• We sat with a bottle by the river ruminating on the meaning of life.
• The exam system is terrible – you just have to regurgitate the textbook, basically.
• Information is food? – I’m not swallowing that!

Please note that idiomatic expressions involving food or eating can express other meanings in English, for example if you bite off more than you can chew, you try to do too much or more than you are able to do; or if you eat your own words, you retract what you said earlier:

• He bit off more than he could chew when he agreed to paint the house by himself.
• He’s going to regret saying that – I’m going to make him eat his own words!

Don’t try making a literal translation of those! And choices, for example, have taste:

• I can offer you a couple of tasty options from our new winter collection.
• The delegates are being forced to choose between two unpalatable candidates.

English Expressions About Relationships:

Here is a party game that I used to play with friends and family when I was young (a long time ago!) It involves somebody hiding something, and somebody else searching for it.

Firstly, I would close my eyes or leave the room. Then someone would hide something, some keys perhaps, in some part of the room. After this I would be allowed to look for them and the rest of the players could offer encouragement by saying; ‘You’re getting warmer,’ when I approached the hidden object, or; ‘You’re getting colder,’ when I went in the wrong direction.

When I got really close to the hidden keys, some of the younger children would be shouting ‘You’re really hot now – boiling!’ And finally I would find the keys under a magazine on the coffee table!

The idea that you get warmer when you are closer to something is quite common in English and is particularly strong when applied to our relationships with each other. Heat is a metaphor for how close we feel to someone else, and how well we think they are treating us.

Close relationships are ‘warm’, and unfriendly relationships are ‘cold’. This means that if I say that the receptionist at the hotel greeted me very warmly, you can be sure that she was very friendly and welcoming. Equally, if I tell you that the audience gave me a frosty reception, you will know that my lecture was not a great success!

So we can say that our relationships and feelings have some sort of ‘linguistic temperature!’

Examples of English Idioms about relationships:

• Hello – and a very warm welcome to the show!
• I tried to explain to her but she just gave me the cold shoulder.
• Perhaps you should cool things off with him for a while.
• I think things are heating up between Dave and Mary!
• She was a very cold-hearted mother who never gave us hugs or praise.
• We have set up a 24-hour hotline for anyone who wants more information.
• Well, that was a very frosty reception – I don’t think we’re very welcome here!
• The cold war was a low point in East-West relations in Europe.
• She liked him immediately; it was the warm smile and the warm handshake.
• I can’t stand these cold callers trying to sell me things I don’t want!

Notice that heat can also describe our relationship to ideas:

• We took the temperature of the group as to whether John would be a suitable replacement for Mark and found that most people were quite warm to the idea.

English Expressions About Economics

In Hal Ashby’s excellent 1979 comedy ‘Being There’, Peter Sellers plays the part of a simple-minded gardener who accidentally becomes a top financial adviser in Washington DC.

One of the running jokes in the film is the way that Sellers’ character misunderstands questions about the economy to be questions about his garden – and how businessmen and television presenters mistake his answers and comments about gardening to be sound financial advice!

How can this be? Well, in the English language there are many words and expressions that we use in agriculture and gardening that can also be used to describe the world of economics and business. After all, if a gardener and an economist meet at a party, we can be sure they’ll agree with each other that encouraging growth is a good idea!

Examples of English Expressions About Economics:

• If you work hard now, you’ll reap the rewards later.
• We needed to prune out the deadwood to make the company more competitive.
• The first stage of the interview process is really just to separate the wheat from the chaff – to discount the applicants who are definitely unsuitable.
• Our main business is rooted in this sector.
• There have been sharp staff cutbacks since they lost the contract.
• We will have to dig deep if we want this project to succeed.
• There has been great growth over the second quarter.
• The company was in a terrible state – we needed to make root and branch reform.
• We have invested a lot of seed money in this project.
• After the recession we can now see the first bright shoots of recovery, with several new businesses opening around town.

Please note that many of the above phrases can be used in other contexts; for example, ‘dig deep’ simply means ‘try harder’ and can be used in any situation where more effort is required;

• Liverpool are going to have to dig deep here if they are going to win this match.

Also, some agricultural idioms can be used in non-business contexts:

• The entire university should act as one on this issue, rather than each department trying to plough its own furrow.

And some gardening idioms don’t seem to transfer to other contexts:

• I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned. But she has got really green fingers, you should see her garden – it’s beautiful!

Ok, that should really help you with business English.

English Expressions About Opinions

‘The wise man builds his house on the rock,’ – so goes the traditional saying (it’s loosely based on Matthew 7:24-27 in the Bible), but while it is certainly wise to build a house on solid ground, and with the proper materials, this saying is generally taken to be about the foundations of our beliefs.

In fact there has always been a close link between buildings and beliefs; for example, the word ‘church’ originally referred to a group of people who worshipped together (now more commonly called a ‘congregation’), the teachings and philosophy they followed, and the physical building that they used.

Keeping this mind (and checking your dictionary for details) it won’t be surprising for you to find that the word ‘edifice’ refers to an important or imposing building (like a church), ‘edification’ means ‘moral improvement’ and ‘edified’ means ‘educated’ or ‘informed’.

This idiom now has a wider use in the English language so that an idiomatic phrase mentioning construction or foundation can refer to knowledge and ideas generally. So ideas and theories should be grounded in fact or based on truth, an argument should have a clear structure; we can deconstruct a complex idea in order to explain it, or even demolish ideas which we strongly disagree with.

English Expressions About Knowledge:

• With so much supporting evidence, the police can build a good case for conviction.
• He is such an unreliable witness – his entire testimony was a fabrication of lies and half-truths.
• I feel like I am on pretty solid ground when I’m talking about my thesis.
• Our products are strong on reliability and we can build on this foundation in the future.
• His essay was terrible – there was no structure to the argument.
• His reputation has been completely shattered by these baseless accusations.
• If she is taking bribes, it completely undermines her position on corruption.
• She won the debate easily – she just demolished their arguments!
• I welcome any constructive criticisms of my work.

‘Ground’ is the most commonly used word in this context:

• Being rude to customers is grounds for dismissal.
• These allegations are completely groundless and are just intended to disrupt our preparations for the Games.
• Is any of this grounded in fact?

English Expressions About Truth:

In Steven Spielberg’s excellent 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones must find the Ark of the Covenant.

This was a kind of box which was supposed to contain the 10 commandments that were given to Moses. There’s something symbolic in this – if you consider that the commandments represent some kind of universal truth or wisdom, then perhaps you can see the search for the covenant as a search for truth.

I used to work as an archaeologist and watching this excellent movie was more or less compulsory for us ‘diggers’ at the time – we used to joke that Indy was searching for truth itself and that an archaeologist was the ideal person to choose for a search for truth and wisdom!

But you don’t need to get your hands dirty to unearth interesting information, because in the English language, any kind of discovery can be made under the ground.

It often seems that an investigation is an excavation: information may be hidden from us, perhaps buried deep somewhere; it needs to be dug around for, and finally brought to light.

English Expressions About Truth:

• I want you to dig deep into your memories and think about your first day at school.
• The Police have reopened the case after new evidence came to light.
• I’ve been working in the archives for the last few months and have unearthed some interesting stories about him.
• Ask Mary – she’s a mine of information on the subject!
• They have started an investigation and hope to get to the bottom of the problem soon.
• I don’t want the newspapers digging into my private life.
• She had tried to bury the memory of it for years.
• New developments in the scandal emerged over the weekend.
• I think we need to get things out in the open and talk about them honestly.
• The city is home to a vibrant underground music scene.

When a meaning is obvious and easy to understand we use a reversal of the idiom:

• We need new financial transparency regulations.
• I understand you – your message is crystal clear.

Interestingly, if we have an exam to prepare for or a bill to pay, many of us adopt a very interesting strategy – often called the ‘Ostrich method!‘

• This is no way to run a company – whenever there’s a problem you just put your head in the sand and hope it will go away!

English Expressions About Intelligence

Imagine that you are in a college lecture and that your teacher is trying to explain something that the class have been having difficulty with. Maybe a tough equation, a difficult moral problem or a poem that nobody understands.

Finally the teacher shows, proves or says something that finally makes everybody understand; everything now makes sense! Around the room, people nod in agreement; some raise their eyebrows and smile; the mood in the room lifts – as if some new bright light is now shining.

This is called a ‘light-bulb moment’ and it’s the moment when we conceive or understand a (usually good) idea for the first time. It’s quite a common idiomatic expression; The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘A moment of sudden realization, enlightenment, or inspiration’ and it is a powerful image.

For example, we often see cartoon characters with light-bulbs above their heads when they have a new idea, or come to understand something.

The idea that understanding (and, as we will see, intelligence) can be expressed as light is very common in English; people have bright, ideas, become brilliant scholars, shine a light on things when they explain them, and achieve enlightenment.

This idiom also works in reverse; in English, darkness often refers to different types of ignorance. We get kept in the dark when people don’t tell us a secret; we make dim-witted mistakes, and we walk out of dull movies.

Examples of English Expressions about Intelligence:

• John came top of his class in all of his tests again – he’s a real bright spark!
• People come from all over the world to find enlightenment at the meditation centre.
• The recent discovery of King Richard’s body has thrown light on his actual cause of death.
• This film is really dull – when is something interesting going to happen?
• He was always a brilliant student and it was no surprise when he won the scholarship.
• New evidence has recently come to light that could lead to further charges in the case.
• Let’s keep Sarah in the dark about it for now – she loves a good surprise.
• I think that his political supporters are pretty dim-witted, they don’t seem to know much about the world.
• These kinds of injuries were more common back in the Dark Ages of NFL concussion awareness.
• Well that was a very illuminating lecture – I think I really get it now!

English Expressions About Opinions

What is a political map and why might we need one? In some countries there seem to be so many different political parties and points of view that things can become rather confusing for voters at election time – so maybe some kind of map would be useful.

But why a map – why not a list, or a diagram?

Perhaps the reason is that we imagine a political landscape where people stand in particular places that indicate their opinions on particular issues. For example, in most democratic parliaments the political parties sit together in particular parts of the room that they meet in.

The prime minister sits in a seat at the front of his grouping with his supporters behind him and with the opposition politicians sitting opposite. The minor parties usually sit according to whether they support the government or not – which side they are on. This is why we can talk about right – or left-wing politics, and how we can take a position on an issue, stand behind someone we agree with, or change sides in an argument.

Interestingly, if I express my opinion by standing in a particular location then this will effect what I can see, what my view of the world is. So I can see things differently from other people, have a positive outlook, look up to – or down on people, or describe my point of view of a situation or issue.

Examples of English Expressions About Opinions:

• I don’t want him to come to dinner – he has very right-wing views.
• I think the royal family look down on us all.
• How are things on your side of the political fence?
• There has always been a complex political landscape in the country.
• Artists and musicians often look at life in new and interesting ways.
• We’ll give you all the support you need – we’re behind you all the way.
• From my point of view, I think that it’s a very good deal.
• We need more information to give us a better perspective of this situation.
• It’s not fair – whenever there’s an argument you always take his side!

Notice that ‘stand’ can be used in both senses:

• From where I stand it looks like the economy is going nowhere.
• Where do you stand on nuclear energy?

Perhaps it’s not surprising to note that altitude affects morals:

• I’ve always looked up to my Mum; she’s been an inspiration to me.
• I think we hold the moral high ground on this issue.

Also, the two sides of an argument are often separated by some kind of barrier:

• He’s always sitting on the fence whenever there’s an argument.

Whether your an ESL student, teacher or just someone curious about the language, we hope you found that helpful! If you keep these concepts in mind, English idiomatic expressions should be easy for you.

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to add them in comments and we’ll respond. If you want to take your English further, try a live, online English class with LOI.

About the Author: Peter Ball has been teaching English for 15 years and has taught in Poland, Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, Pakistan, Britain and Ireland, he still really enjoys the challenge – each student is unique. Peter has a Cambridge certificate in teaching (CELTA) and a Cambridge diploma (DELTA).

He’s also an FCE and Cambridge examiner. He works with students of all levels from beginner to advanced and has taught professionals from all walks of life. Peter loves teaching pronunciation, explaining grammar, learner-training and better conversation. In his free time he has his own radio show in Connemara, Ireland and he swims, juggles and plays guitar – but not all at the same time!

In linguistics there are different terms to denote those particular means by which a writer obtains his effect. Expressive means, stylistic means, stylistic devices and other terms are all used indiscriminately. For our purposes it is necessary to make a distinction between expressive means and stylistic devices.

All stylistic means of a language can be divided into expressive means (EM), which are used in some specific way, and special devices called stylistic devices (SD).

The expressive means of a language are those phonetic means, morphological forms, means of word-building, and lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms, all of which function in the lan­guage for emotional or logical intensification of the utterance.

The most powerful expressive means of any language are phonetic. The human voice can indicate subtle nuances of meaning that no other means can attain. Pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling, drawling out certain syllables, whispering, a sing-song manner of speech and other ways of using the voice are more effective than any other means in intensifying the utterance emotionally or logically.

Among the morphological expressive means the use of the Present Indefinite instead of the Past Indefinite must be mentioned first. This has already been acknowledged as a special means and is named the Historical Present. In describing some past event the author uses the present tense, thus achieving a more vivid picturisation of what was going on.

The use of shall in the second and third person may also be regarded as an expressive means.

He shall do it (= I shall make him do it). He has to do it (=’ It is necessary for him to do it).

Diminutive suffixes may also have an expressive effect: girlie, Freddie, doggy, piggie.

Among word-building expressive means we find a great many forms which serve to make the utterance more expressive and fresh or to intensify it. The diminutive suffixes as -y(ie), -let, e. g. dear, dearie, stream, streamlet, add some emotional colouring to the words.

Certain affixes have gained such a power of expressiveness that they begin functioning as separate words, absorbing all of the generalizing meaning they usually attach to different roots, as for example: ‘isms and ologies’.

At the lexical level there are a great many words which due to their inner expressiveness, constitute a special layer. There are words with emotive meaning only, like interjections, words which have both referential and emotive meaning, like some of the qualitative adjectives; words which still retain a twofold meaning; denotative and connotative; or words belonging to special groups of literary English or of non-standard English (poetic, archaic, slang, vulgar, etc.) and some other groups. The expressive power of these words cannot be doubted, especially when they are compared with the neutral vocabulary, for example: house – neutral; dome (величественное здание, устар.), abode (жилище, обиталище) – bookish; cot (хижина, лачуга) – poetic; crib (хата, квартира)- jargonism;  hutch (каморка, хибарка), hovel (шалаш, хибара) – colloquial; den (берлога, логово, нора, укрытие)- positive; hole (притон, захолустье, дыра, убежище) – negative.

The same can be said of the set expressions of the language. Proverbs and sayings as well as catch-words form a considerable number of language units which serve to make speech more emphatic, mainly from the emotional point of view. Some of these proverbs and sayings are so well-known that their use in the process of communication passes almost unobserved; others are rare and therefore catch the attention of the reader or the listener.

In every-day speech you often hear such phrases as “Well, it will only add fuel to the fire”, and the like, which can easily be replaced by synonymous neutral expressions, like “It will only make the situa­tion worse.”

Finally at the syntactical level there are many constructions which, being set against synonymous ones, will reveal a certain degree of logical or emotional emphasis.

Let us compare the following pairs of structures:

“I have never seen such a film.” “Never have I seen such a film.”

“Mr. Smith came in first.” “It was Mr. Smith who came in first.”

«I know you». «I do know you».

The second structure in each pair contains emphatic elements. They cause intensification of the utterance: in the first case emotional in character, in the second, logical.

In the English language there are many syntactical patterns which serve to intensify emotional quality. Examples of these emotional constructions are:

He is a brute of a man, is John. That you should deceive me! If only I could help you! Isn’t she cute! Fool that he was!

Stylistics, however, observes not only the nature of an expressive means, but also its potential capacity of becoming a stylistic device.

A stylistic device (SD) is a literary model in which semantic and structural features are blended so that it represents a generalised pattern.

According to Professor I. R. Galperin a stylistic device (SD) is a conscious and intentional literary use of some of the facts of the language (including expressive means), it is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural or semantic property of a language unit, promoted to a generalized status and thus becoming a generative model.

Not every stylistic use of a language fact will come under the term SD. For a language fact to become a SD there is one indispensable (обязательный) requirement, that it should be so much used in one and the same function that it has become generalized in its functions.

Classifications of expressive means (EM) and stylistic devices (SD)

The classification suggested by Prof. Galperin is simply organised and very detailed. His subdivision of expressive means and stylistic devices is based on the level-oriented approach:

1.  Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices.

2.  Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices.

3.  Syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices.

Asked by: Santino Carter

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