VOA慢速英语2020--What Are Phrasal Expressions?

 

When you learn a new language, you must learn the meaning of individual words.

But, there is another area that you should pay attention to: expressions, or groups of words.

Some expressions are especially useful whether you want to improve your speaking, listening, reading or writing skills.

These expressions are common in everyday speech, newspaper writing and academic writing. What are these expressions?

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will explore phrasal expressions.

Phrasal expressions

In recent Everyday Grammar stories, we explored phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are groups of words that have a verb and one or more short words. Together, these words have an idiomatic¹ meaning – a meaning that differs from what the individual words suggest. For example, the phrasal verb "hang out" means to relax, or enjoy some time without any planned activity. You can hang out alone or with others.

There are also phrasal expressions – groups of words that work together to take on a meaning that is different from what the individual words suggest.

Consider this example: the words "there is." This is a phrasal expression. This group of words appears together as a unit. But if you try to think about each word, the meaning might be difficult to understand. Consider this:

"There is a bug² in my tea!"

The word "there" takes the subject position in the sentence, but it does not really give any meaning. It is what grammar experts call an expletive. Together, the words "there" and "is" make a kind of expression – "there is."

Without "there is," the sentence would be:

"A bug is in my tea!"

Do not fear. You do not need to remember the grammar that we just talked about. What is important is that you understand that English has groups of words that act together. These groups of words are generally formulaic, meaning set, fixed³ and commonly used.

More examples

Eli Hinkel is a language expert. She writes that formulaic expressions "have to be used and learned⁴ as whole units."

Hinkel gives many examples, such as "you are welcome," "who knows?" "how are you?" and "by the way."

Let's consider "by the way." If you think about the words individually, you might have a difficult time understanding this phrasal expression.

When someone says "by the way" they mean they are about to propose⁵ a new, and perhaps less important idea, to a conversation. So, you might hear an American say the following at the end of a business meeting:

"Thanks, John. By the way, could you send me those budget estimates⁶ when you get a chance?"

Norbert Schmitt and Ron Martinez published a report in the Journal⁷ of Applied⁸ Linguistics⁹ about some of the most common phrasal expressions in the British National Corpus, a 100 million word collection of written and spoken language.

They suggest that some of the more common phrasal expressions include there is, there are, such as, of course, a few, at least, I mean, you know, a bit, sort of, and in order to.

If you listen to everyday speech, you will hear these words often. Many of them are common in writing, too.

Closing thoughts

Today we explored phrasal expressions – groups of words that mean something different from what you might expect. The good news is this: these expressions are common, useful and not too difficult to learn. But they do require careful study and practice in using them!

Ashley, by the way, Schmitt and Martinez also published a list of common phrasal expressions along with examples. It might help our listeners and readers learn common phrasal expressions.

That's right! I almost forgot! You can find it, along with other useful information, at Schmitt's vocabulary resource page.

And that's Everyday Grammar.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

phrasal – adj. grammar: of, relating to, or consisting of a phrase or phrases

unit -- n. a single thing, person, or group that is a part of something larger

expletive – n. a word or phrase that fills out (or takes a slot) in a sentence without adding to the meaning

conversation – n. a talk involving two people or a small group of people

practice – v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

2 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

5 propose   

v.提出，建议；提名，推荐

参考例句：

• Did he propose marriage to you?他向你求婚了吗？
• I propose resting for an hour.我建议休息一小时。

6 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。