Types of Lexical Items
Common types of lexical items/chunks include
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- Words, e.g. cat, tree
- Parts of words, e.g. -s in trees, -er in worker, non- in nondescript, -est in loudest
- Phrasal verbs, e.g. put off or get out
- Polywords, e.g. by the way, inside out
- Collocations, e.g. motor vehicle, absolutely convinced.
- Institutionalized utterances, e.g. I'll get it, We'll see, That'll do, If I were you, Would you like a cup of coffee?
- Idioms, e.g. break a leg, was one whale of a, a bitter pill to swallow
- Sayings, e.g. The early bird gets the worm, The devil is in the details
- Sentence frames and heads, e.g. That is not as...as you think, The problem was
- Text frames, e.g., In this paper we explore...; Firstly...; Secondly...; Finally ....
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An associated concept is that of noun-modifier semantic relations, wherein certain word pairings have a standard interpretation. For example, the phrase cold virus is generally understood to refer to the virus that causes a cold, rather than to a virus that is cold.
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Famous quotes containing the words types of, types and/or items:
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“Our children evaluate themselves based on the opinions we have of them. When we use harsh words, biting comments, and a sarcastic tone of voice, we plant the seeds of self-doubt in their developing minds.... Children who receive a steady diet of these types of messages end up feeling powerless, inadequate, and unimportant. They start to believe that they are bad, and that they can never do enough.”
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“In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds.”
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