Set expressions and their use

CONTENT: 1. Introduction …2. Cliché …3-3. Proverbs and sayings … 5-4. Epigrams … 7-5. Quotations ….9-6. Allusions … 11-12 7. The list of used literature …INTRODUCTION. Set expressions are word groups consisting of two or more words whose combination is integrated so that they are introduced in speech, so to say, ready-made as units with a specialised meaning of

the whole that is not understood as a mere sum total of the meanings of the elements. In the spelling system of the language words are the smallest units of written discourse: they are marked off by solid spelling. The ability of an average speaker to segment any utterance into words is sustained by literacy. Yet it is a capacity only reinforced by education: it is well known that every speaker of any language is always able to break any utterance into words.

The famous American linguist E. Sapir testified that even illiterate American Indians were perfectly capable of dictating to him — when asked to do so — texts in their own language “word by word”. The segmentation of a word into morphemes, on the other hand, presents sometimes difficulties even for trained linguists. Many authors devoted a good deal of space to discussing which of the two: the word or the morpheme is to be regarded as the basic unit.

Many American linguists (Ch. Hockett or Z. Harris, for instance) segmented an utterance into morphemes ignoring words. Soviet lexicologists proceed from the assumption that it is the word that is the basic unit, especially as all branches of linguistic knowledge and all levels of language have the word as their focal point. A convincing argumentation and an exhaustive review of literature is offered by A. A. Ufimtseva (1980). Set expressions have their own specific features, which enhance their stability

and cohesion. These are their euphonic, imaginative and connatative qualities. It has been often pointed out that many set expressions are distinctly rhythmical, contain alliteration, rhyme, imagery, contrast, are based on puns, etc. These features have always been treated from the point of view of style and expressiveness. Their cementing function is perhaps no less important.

CLICHÉ. A cliché is a saying, expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. The term is frequently used in modern culture for an action or idea which is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. It is likely to be used pejoratively.

A cliché may sometimes be used in a work of fiction for comedic effect. One can consider a cliché to be a sort of stereotypical instance of a category of concepts. A cliché is a hackneyed phrase or expression. The phrase may once have been fresh or striking, but it has become tired through over-use. Examples: "He was over the moon about that goal." "

Yes please. I don't mind if I do." " Far be it from me " " I would be the last person to cast aspersions." We will leave leave no stone unturned in our search. Using: - Clichés are often used unconsciously in casual speech. - They usually suggest mental laziness or the lack of original thought. -

They should be avoided in writing. - Clichés circulate in the spoken language very readily, because they save people having to think. - When written down, they appear even more tired and vacuous than when spoken. - Traditional examples are expressions such as it takes the biscuit (это превосходит все), back to square one (возвращается на круги своя) and a taste of his own medicine (вкус его лекарства). - Current favourites (in the UK) include the bottom line is (нижнюю линию…), a whole different ball

game (совершенно другая игра в мяч), living in the real world (живущих в реальном мире), a level playing field (ровное игровое поле), and moving the goalposts (перемещения стоек). - Clichés present a temptation, because they often seem to be just what is required to make an effect. They do the trick (Они делают свое дело). They hit the nail on the head (Они попали в самую точку).

They are just what the doctor ordered (Это как раз то, что доктор прописал). - It isn't always easy to see where an idiomatic expression ends and a cliché begins. The essential difference between them is that an idiom is not being offered as original thought. We say 'fish and chips' because people do not normally say 'chips and fish' (because it's more difficult to say). But anybody who says he's 'over the moon' about something has chosen the expression, no doubt

thinking that it's impressive. A vogue word is very close to the cliché. This is an item of vocabulary whose meaning is becoming blurred, distorted, or inflated [that is, emptied] through over-use. The term 'vogue' implies that the word is currently fashionable. That's a fantastic dress! [very nice] We're in a war situation. [at war] It's a brilliant novel. [interesting] She'll get paranoid about it. [become worried]

What a fabulous car! [remarkable] The use of these terms is very common in everyday speech. They should be avoided in formal writing. There are some more examples of cliché. Without a doubt – без сомнения; in a jiffy - в один миг; without a hitch – без сучка и задоринки; goose bumps all over – мурашки по телу; even to this day – по сей день; frightened to death –испугаться до смерти; waste of time – трата времени; a matter of time – вопрос времени; lasted an eternity – длиться

целую вечность; in the nick of time – в самый последний момент; couldn't catch my breath – не мог отдышаться; at the drop of a hat – в знак; but to no avail – безрезультатно; bubble was burst – терпение лопнуло; honesty is the best policy –чесность лучшая политика; times heals all wounds – время лечит раны; quiet as a mouse –тихий как мышь. PROVERBS and SAYINGS. Nothing defines a culture as clearly as its language, and the element of language that best encapsulates a society's values and beliefs is its proverbs.

A proverb, (from the Latin proverbium), is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. If a proverb is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present

through more than one language. Both the Bible (Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe, although almost every culture has examples of its own. The study of proverbs is called: paremiology (from Greek παρο ιμία - paroim&

#237;a, "proverb") and can be dated back as far as Aristotle. Paremiography, on the other hand, is the collection of proverbs. A prominent proverb scholar in the United States is Wolfgang Mieder. He has written or edited over 50 books on the subject, edits the journal Proverbium, has written innumerable articles on proverbs, and is very widely cited by other proverb

scholars. Mieder defines the term proverb as follows: A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation. Subgenres include proverbial comparisons (“as busy as a bee”), proverbial interrogatives (“Does a chicken have lips?”) and twin formulas (“give and take”).

A saying is a short, clever expression that usually contains advice or expresses some obvious truth. Many traditional sayings are still in general use today. Most of the sayings in this section are well known in English, though some of them come from other languages. The meaning or interpretation shown for each saying is believed to be the generally accepted interpretation

of the saying, though for some sayings the interpretation may be more subjective than for others. There are literally thousands of sayings in English (and all languages). The term saying conveys the idea of any expression of wisdom or truth, usually handed down by earlier generations. The origin of a saying is, in most cases, unknown. Many English sayings have come from other languages, and vice versa.

Most sayings are effective thanks to their shortness and directness. They use simple, vivid language, often based on everyday domestic situations, making them easy to understand and remember. Sayings may be classified under a number of different terms, of which proverb is probably the best known. Other types of saying are adage, maxim, motto, epigram and aphorism, though frankly the distinction between them is often vague: - adage: is a time-honored and widely known saying ("

Where there's smoke, there's fire – нет дыма без огня") - maxim: a general rule of behaviour drawn from practical experience ("Neither a borrower nor a lender be- ни заемщик, ни кредитор") - motto: a maxim adopted as a principal of conduct ("Honesty is the best policy") - epigram: is a brief, witty, or satirical statement that often gains effect through paradox ("The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it-единственный способ

избавиться от искушения –поддаться ему") - aphorism: similar to an epigram but more profound rather than witty ("He is a fool that cannot conceal is wisdom – дурак, тот кто не может скрыть мудрость") Some examples of English proverbs and sayings: After dinner comes the reckoning. Любишь кататься, люби и саночки возить All are not hunters that blow the horn. Не всё то золото, что блестит Best defence is offence.

Нападение - лучший вид защиты Better late than never. Лучше поздно, чем никогда Burden of one's own choice is not felt. Своя ноша не тянет Cat in gloves catches no mice. Без труда не вытащишь и рыбки из пруда. Civil denial is better than a rude grant. Вежливый отказ лучше, чем грубое согласие Death is the grand leveler.

Перед смертью все равны. East or West - home is best. В гостях хорошо, а дома лучше. Every man to his taste. На вкус и цвет - товарища нет. Evil communications corrupt good manners. С кем поведешься, от того и наберешься. Give him an inch and he'll take an ell. Дай ему палец, он и всю руку откусит. Guilty conscience needs no accuser.

Грех несет в себе и наказание. He that has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it. На воре шапка горит. Honey is sweet, but the bee stings. Видит око, да зуб неймет. Let sleeping dogs lie. Не буди лиха, пока лихо спит. Little body often harbours a great soul. Мал золотник, да дорог. The furthest way about is the nearest way home. Тише едешь - дальше

Будешь. When pigs fly. Когда рак свистнет. EPIGRAMS. An epigram is a brief, clever, and usually memorable statement. Derived from the Greek: ἐπίγ ;ραμμ ;α (epi-gramma) "to write on - inscribe"[1], the literary device has been employed for over two millennia. The Greek tradition of epigrams began as poems inscribed on votive offerings

at sanctuaries — including statues of athletes — and on funerary monuments, for example "Go tell it to the Spartans, passer-by…". These original epigrams did the same job as a short prose text might have done, but in verse. Epigram became a literary genre in the Hellenistic period, probably developing out of scholarly collections of inscriptional epigrams. Though modern epigrams are usually thought of as very short,

Greek literary epigram was not always as short as later examples, and the divide between 'epigram' and 'elegy' is sometimes indistinct (they share a characteristic metre, elegiac couplets); all the same, the origin of the genre in inscription exerted a residual pressure to keep things concise. Many of the characteristic types of literary epigram look back to inscriptional contexts, particularly funerary epigram, which in the Hellenistic era becomes a literary exercise.

Other types look instead to the new performative context which epigram acquired at this time, even as it made the move from stone to papyrus: the Greek symposium. Many 'sympotic' epigrams combine sympotic and funerary elements — they tell their readers (or listeners) to drink and live for today because life is short. We also think of epigram as having a 'point' — that is, the poem ends in a punchline or satirical twist.

By no means do all Greek epigrams behave this way; many are simply descriptive. We associate epigram with 'point' because the European epigram tradition takes the Latin poet Martial as its principal model; he copied and adapted Greek models (particularly the contemporary poets Lucillius and Nicarchus) selectively and in the process redefined the genre, aligning it with the indigenous

Roman tradition of 'satura hexameter satire, as practised by (among others) his contemporary Juvenal. Greek epigram was actually much more diverse, as the Milan Papyrus now indicates. Our main source for Greek literary epigram is the Greek Anthology, a compilation from the 10th century AD based on older collections. It contains epigrams ranging from the

Hellenistic period through the Imperial period and Late Antiquity into the compiler's own Byzantine era - a thousand years of short elegiac texts on every topic under the sun. The Anthology includes one book of Christian epigrams. The examples of poetic epigrams: 1) What is an Epigram? A dwarfish whole; Its body brevity, and wit its soul. (Samuel

Taylor Coleridge) 2) Little strokes Fell great oaks. (Benjamin Franklin) 3) Here lies my wife: here let her lie! Now she's at rest — and so am I. (John Dryden) 4) I am His Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you? (Alexander Pope) 5) I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme. But

Money gives me pleasure all the time. (Hilaire Belloc) 6) I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. (Nikos Kazantzakis) 7) To define the beautiful is to misunderstand it. (Charles Robert Anon) 8) To be safe on the Fourth, Don't buy a fifth on the third. (James H Muehlbauer) 9) This Humanist whom no belief constrained

Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained. (J.V. Cunningham) Other examples: "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." (Tacitus). "Чем больше коррумпированных государств, тем более многочисленны законs". (Тацит) "I am not young enough to know everything."(Oscar Wilde). "Я не молод, чтобы знать все". (Оскар

Вальд) "Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing." (Oscar Wilde) "Аргументы следует избегать, они всегда вульгарны и часто убедительны". (Оскар Вальд). "Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine." (Fran Lebowitz) "Великие люди говорят об идеях, обычные люди говорят о вещах, и слабые люди говорят о вине". QUOTATIONS. A quotation is the repetition of one expression as

part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed (as by citation) to its original source, and it is indicated by (punctuated with) quotation marks. A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any other form of expression, especially parts of artistic works: elements of a painting, scenes from a movie or sections from a musical composition. Quotations are used for a variety of reasons: to illuminate the meaning or to support the arguments

of the work in which it is being quoted, or to provide direct information about the work being quoted (whether in order to discuss it, positively or negatively, to pay homage to the original work or author, to make the user of the quotation seem well-read). Quotations are also commonly printed as a means of inspiration and to invoke philosophical thoughts from the reader. Famous quotations are frequently collected in books that are sometimes called quotation

dictionaries or treasuries. Of these, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, The Yale Book of Quotations and The MacMillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases are considered among the most reliable and comprehensive sources.

Diaries and calendars often include quotations for entertainment or inspirational purposes, and small, dedicated sections in newspapers and weekly magazines — with recent quotations by leading personalities on current topics — have also become commonplace. The examples of quotations: What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass

and loses itself in the sunset Crowfoot, orator, 1890 Что такое жизнь? Это вспышки светлячка в ночи. Это дыхание буйвола в зимнее время. Это маленькая тень, которая проходит по траве и теряется на закате Кроуфут,оратор, 1890 A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought, and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which

it is used Oliver Wendell Holmes. Слово это не хрусталь, прозрачный и неизменный, это оболочка живой мысли, и может существенно отличаться по цвету и содержанию в зависимости от обстоятельств и времени, в котором она используется. -Оливер Уэнделл Холмс. I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze than it be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than

a sleepy and permanent planet. Jack London, 1916 Я предпочитаю быть пеплом, чем пылью! Я предпочел бы, чтобы мои искры сгорали в ярком пламени, чем они будут подавлены сухой гнилью. Я предпочел бы быть превосходным метеором, каждый атом меня великолепного свечения, чем сонной и постоянной планетой. Джек Лондон, 1916 "The causes of events are always more important than the events themselves." Cicero "Причины событий всегда являются более важными, чем сами события".

Цицерон "The principal task of civilization, its actual raison d'etre, is to defend us against nature." Sigmund Freud. "Основной задачей цивилизации, в ее фактическом смысле, является защитить нас от природы". Зигмунд Фрейд "When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom." Confucius. "Когда слова утрачивают свой смысл, люди теряют свою свободу". Конфуций. ALLUSION. An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation

of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication. M.H. Abrams defined allusion as "a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage". An allusion is a literary term, though the word also has come to encompass indirect references to any source, including allusions in film or the visual arts.

In literature, allusion is used to link concepts that the reader already has knowledge of, with concepts of discussed in the story. In the field of film criticism, a film-maker's intentionally unspoken visual reference to another film has come to be called an homage. It may even be sensed that real events have allusive overtones, when a previous event is inescapably recalled by a current one. "Allusion is bound up with a vital and perennial topic in literary theory,

the place of Allusive substitutions are as old as English. Allusion is an economical device, a figure of speech that draws upon the ready stock of ideas or emotion already associated with a topic in a relatively short space. Thus, an allusion is understandable only to those with prior knowledge of the covert reference in question. In a freer informal definition allusion is a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of

something, either directly or by implication. Example: A terrible sorrow. In discussing the richly allusive poetry of Virgil's Georgics, R.F. Thomas distinguished six categories of allusive reference, which are applicable to a wider cultural sphere. These types are: - Casual Reference, "the use of language which recalls a specific antecedent, but only in a general sense"

that is relatively unimportant to the new context; - Single Reference, in which the hearer or reader is intended to "recall the context of the model and apply that context to the new situation"; - Self-Reference, where the locus is in the poet's own work; - Corrective Allusion, where the imitation is clearly in opposition to the original source's intentions;

- Apparent Reference ""which seems clearly to recall a specific model but which on closer inspection frustrates that intention" and - Multiple Reference or Conflation, which refers in various ways simultaneously to several sources, fusing and transforming the cultural traditions. Examples of allusions: 1) All roads lead to Rome. Все дороги ведут в Рим.

2) I violated the Noah rule: predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does." (Warren Buffett). "Я нарушил правила Ноя: прогноз дождя не расчитан, строительство ковчега будет. (Уоррен Баффет) 3) I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth." (Barack Obama, October 16, 2008) "

Я родился не в яслях. Я действительно родился Криптоне и послал меня сюда мой отец, Джо-эл, чтобы спасти планету Земля". (Барак Обама, 16 октября 2008) The list of used literature. 1) Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка: 3-е изд перераб. и доп. — М.: Высш. шк 1986 2) Abrams, A Glossary of Literary

Terms, New York: Ballantine, 1971 3) Grzybek, Peter. "Proverbs and Sayings". Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1994 4) John Donne. Epigrams. London, 1985 5) Margery Sabin. "The Laws of Cliché". Oxford University Press US 1987 6) R.F. Thomas. The etymology of allusions.

Harvard, 1986 7) Allan H. Allusion: A Literary Graft. 1994. Charlottesville: Rookwood Press, 2002. 9) http://www.yandex.ru/