Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
1. The concept of phraseology and Phraseological Units............................................................................5
2. Ways of forming phraseological units.....................................................................................................7
3. The classification of phraseological units...............................................................................................8
4. Proverbs, sayings, familiar quotations and clichés................................................................................12
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................15

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 Introduction
In the past 20 years there has been a growing interest in what was traditionally known as ‘idioms’
in the American and British traditions, but what is also called ‘multi-word combinations or units’, ‘fixed
expressions’, ‘co-selection of words’, ‘phrasal lexemes’ and ‘phrasemes’ or ‘phraseological units’. This
expansion reflects a keener awareness that phraseology is pervasive in speech and writing, and that it
plays an important role in first and second language acquisition and speech production.
The study of a vocabulary of modern English performed by scientists from various branches
shows that an extra linguistic reference of the word influences its linguistic features. However, forms of
such influence are poorly known, and a range of problems of the research is not clearly narrowed from
neighboring fields.
The sources of phraseology attract the attention of many linguists who investigate its matters in
order to disclose them and reveal their core information. Learning proverbs and phraseological units are
very interesting, because you can be close with this or that peoples. Mostly authors also use many
proverbs in their novels, short stories, fairy tales and others in order to illustrate the work. Using
proverbs in fairy tales is understandable for young pupils too.
Despite being undoubtedly fascinating, phraseology has been relatively neglected even in lexical
studies and semantics. It is only in the past decade that the spectrum of perspectives broadened to
include different aspects of the phenomenon, thus shaping the new and more widely acknowledged
discipline: phraseology. One of the reasons for the increased interest in phraseological units is the
tendency in modern linguistics to study language as a mental phenomenon, and the tendency towards
interdisciplinary studies. Another recent tendency is to study language in use, and not in its ideal state,
which means that spoken discourse, as well as formerly neglected registers and variants, became one of
the central objects of linguistic research.
Nowadays a number of scholars turn their attention to the science of phraseology. One of the
ideas, is connected with the understanding of phraseological units as phenomena of culture, and
therefore the functioning of them is investigated in cultural context. Thus phraseology has entered the
sphere of sociolinguistics. To the author’s mind, one of the best definitions of phraseological units is as
follows: it is a stable, coherent combination of words with partially or fully figurative meaning. The
present analysis may be useful for those who learn language and want to enlarge their knowledge about
phraseological units.
In modern linguistics, there is considerable confusion about the terminology associated with these
word-groups. Most Russian scholars use the term phraseological unit, which was first introduced by
Academician V. Vinogradov. The term idiom is widely used by western scholars. There are some other
terms denoting more or less the same linguistic phenomenon: set-expressions, set-phrases, phrases, fixed

3
word groups, collocations. The linguistics like V. V. Vinogradov, A. V. Koonin, A. I. Smirnitski, and I. V.
Arnold have investigated the phraseology branch.
The presence of figurative phraseology provides brightness and flexibility. Such phraseological
units conclude a wealth of expressive and stylistic nuances that make language more vivid and
emotional. Translation of figured phraseology causes considerable difficulties for a translator because
often there is a risk to give the incorrect meaning of the idiom.
The importance of phraseological studies is permanently discussed as it demonstrates the
interrelation between the language and the society.
The structure of the research work. The work consists of the following parts: Introduction, 4
chapters, Conclusion and List of used literature. Introduction presents the importance of the investigated
theme, the current use of phraseological units, the linguists who researched the phraseology.
In Chapters I, II and III all the duties and problems of the work are investigated and analyzed in
details. Chapter I investigate the concept of phraseology and phraseological units. Chapter II presents
the ways forming of phraseological units by A. V. Koonin. Chapter III is devoted to the classification of
phraseological units by different scholars (V. V. Vinogradov, A. I. Smirnitski, I. V. Arnold and A. V.
Koonin). In Conclusion we pointed out the most important facts of the review, the opinion of the
linguists and the personal opinion too. List of used literature presents the names of authors and their
theoretical issues and books, which were used for writing this research work.

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 1. The concept of phraseology and Phraseological Units

Phraseology (from gr. phrasis "the words" and logos "science"). In linguistics, phraseology is the
study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs, and other types of multi-word lexical
units (often collectively referred to as phrasemes), in which the component parts of the expression take
on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable from the sum of their meanings when used
independently.
The subject of phraseology as a science is the study of the nature of the phraseological units and
their characteristics, and identify patterns of functioning in their speech.
Phraseology is a comparatively young field of linguistics which has only relatively recently
become established as a self-contained linguistic discipline. Phraseology is pervasive in all language
fields. The phraseology literature represents it as a subfield of lexicology dealing with the study of word
combinations.
In linguistics, phraseology is the study of set or fixed expressions, such as idioms, phrasal verbs,
and other types of multi-word lexical units (often collectively referred to as phrasemes), in which the
component parts of the expression take on a meaning more specific than or otherwise not predictable
from the sum of their meanings when used independently. For example, ‘Dutch auction’ is composed of
the words Dutch ‘of or pertaining to the Netherlands’ and auction ‘a public sale in which goods are
sold to the highest bidder’, but its meaning is not ‘a sale in the Netherlands where goods are sold to the
highest bidder’. Instead, the phrase has a conventionalized meaning referring to any auction where,
instead of rising, the prices fall.
Phraseology is one of the sources of vocabulary enlargement and enrichment. It is the
most colorful part of vocabulary system, and it describes the peculiar vision of the world by this
speaking community. It reflects the history of the nation, the customs and traditions of the people
speaking the language. Phraseology forms a special subsystem in the vocabulary system. The units of
the subsystem are called differently: phraseological units, phraseologisms, set expressions,
idioms. Phraseological units are not modeled according to regular linguistic patterns, they are
reproduced ready-made, e.g., to read between the lines, a hard nut to crack. Each phraseological
unit represents a word group with a unique combination of components, which make up a
single specific meaning. The integral meaning of the phraseological units is not just a combination
of literal meanings of the components. The meaning is not distributed between the
components and is not reduced to the mere sum of their meanings. Phraseological units are defined as
stable word groups with a specialized meaning of the whole. The meaning can be partially or
completely transferred. Some features are usually stressed by this definition:
•Stability, the basic quality of all phraseological units. The usage of phraseological units is not
subject to free variations, and grammatical structure of phraseological units is also stable to a
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certain extent, e.g., we say "red tape", but not “red tapes". Phraseological meaning may be
motivated by the meaning of components, but not confined. Stability makes phraseological units more
similar to words, rather than free word combinations.
•Idiomaticity, the quality of a phraseological unit, when the meaning of the whole is not
deducible from the sum of the meanings of the parts.
•Reproducibility is a regular use of phraseological units in speech as single unchangeable
collocations. In lexicology opinions differ as to how phraseology should be defined, classified,
described, and analyzed.
The word "phraseology" has very different meanings in Great Britain and in the United
States. In linguistic literature the term is used for the expressions where the meaning of one element is
dependent on the other, irrespective of the structure and properties of the unit (V.V.
Vinogradov); with other authors it denotes only such set expressions which do not possess
expressiveness or emotional coloring (A.I. Smirnitsky), and also vice versa: only those that are
imaginative, expressive and emotional (I.V. Arnold). N.N. Amosova calls such expressions fixed
context units, i.e., units in which it is impossible to substitute any of the components without changing
the meaning not only of the whole unit, but also of the elements that remain intact. O.S. Ahmanova
insists on the semantic integrity of such phrases prevailing over the structural separateness of
their elements. A.V. Koonin lays stress on the structural separateness of the elements in a
phraseological unit, on the change of meaning in the whole as compared with its elements taken
separately and on a certain minimum stability.
In English and American linguistics no special branch of study exists, and the term "phraseology"
has a stylistic meaning, according to Webster's dictionary 'mode of expression, peculiarities of
diction, i.e., choice and arrangement of words and phrases characteristic of some author or
some literary work'. As far as semantic motivation is concerned phraseological units are
extremely varied from motivated, e.g., black dress to partially motivated, e.g., to have broad shoulders
or to demotivated like tit for tat, red tape. (Lexical and grammatical stability of phraseological
units is displayed by the fact that no substitution of any elements is possible in the stereotyped
set expressions, which differ in many other respects; all the world and his wife, red tape, calf love,
heads or tails, first night, to gild the pill, to hope for the best, busy as a bee, fair and square,
stuff and non-sense, time and again, to and fro).
Phraseological units absorb values of the ages in which it lives. The problem of understanding
the meaning of a phraseological unit is linked with a possibility of increasing our knowledge about the
world diachronically. The authors underline the importance of phraseological studies as it demonstrates
the interrelation between the language and the society. The role of phraseological units as specific
structures in forming vocabulary and linguacultural competence of students is very significant because

6
they encapsulate a national, country’s cultural outlook. Usage-based theories of language learning
suggest that
phraseology must be studied as a part of vocabulary. Teaching phraseology is a part of cultural approach
in foreign teaching methodology and arranging vocabulary studying though structure of component
meaning is linguistic approach. The major phraseological concepts on the problem are reviewed.
Complex methodology is applied: method of phraseological identification, semantic analysis.
The vocabulary of the English language consists of words and, so called, words equivalents which
are not created by speakers but used as ready-made linguistic units. Such units are primarily
characterized by the contradiction which exists between the semantic integrity of the whole and the
formal independence of its parts. In speech phraseological units have connotations related to emotions
and appraisals. Connotation is determined only by social, ideological attitude of a speaker, therefore an
appraisal component of such connotation has a subjective nature. Knowing English phraseological units,
proverbs and sayings enriches students’ vocabulary and helps them to realize figurative system of
English, lambent English humor and broadens their lingua cultural competence.
2. Ways of forming phraseological units

Phraseological units can be classified according to the ways they are formed, according to the
degree of the motivation of their meaning, according to their structure and according to their part-of-
speech meaning.
A.V. Koonin classified phraseological units according to the way they are formed. He pointed out
primary and secondary ways of forming phraseological units.
Primary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a unit is formed on the basis of a
free word-group:
a) Most productive in Modern English is the formation of phraseological units by means of
transferring the meaning of terminological word-groups, e.g. in cosmic technique we can point out the
following phrases: launching pad in its terminological meaning is “a special area from which spacecraft
or missiles are sent into the sky”, in its transferred meaning - starting point, to link up – “the act of
connecting two things, organizations” in its transferred meaning it means – to become familiar with
somebody;
b) a large group of phraseological units was formed from free word groups by transforming their
meaning, e.g. granny farm - “boarding-house for the elderly”, Troyan horse - “computer program,
intentionally composed for computer damage”;
c) phraseological units can be formed by means of alliteration , e.g. a sad sack - “a person who
makes mistakes, but not to have bad intentions”, culture vulture – “someone who is interested in art”,
fudge and nudge - “evasiveness”.

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 d) they can be formed by means of expressiveness, especially it is characteristic for forming
interjections, e.g. My aunt!, Hear, hear ! etc
e) they can be formed by means of distorting a word group, e.g. odds and ends – “small items that
are not valuable” was formed from odd ends,
f) they can be formed by using archaisms, e.g. in brown study means in gloomy meditation where
both components preserve their archaic meanings,
g) they can be formed by using a sentence in a different sphere of life, e.g. that cock won’t fight
can be used as a free word-group when it is used in sports (cock fighting ), it becomes a phraseological
unit when it is used in everyday life, because it is used metaphorically,
h) they can be formed when we use some unreal image, e.g. to have butterflies in the stomach –
“be agitated”, to have green fingers – “succeed like an amateur gardener” etc.
i) they can be formed by using expressions of writers or polititions in everyday life, e.g. corridors
of power (Snow), American dream (Alby), “locust years” (Churchil) , the winds of change (Mc Millan).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those when a phraseological unit is formed on the
basis of another phraseological unit; they are:
a) conversion, e.g. to vote with one’s feet was converted into vote with one’s feet;
b) changing the grammar form, e.g. Make hay while the sun shines is transferred into a verbal
phrase - to make hay while the sun shines;
c) analogy, e.g. Curiosity killed the cat was transferred into Care killed the cat;
d) contrast, e.g. cold surgery - a planned before operation was formed by contrasting it with acute
surgery, thin cat - a poor person was formed by contrasting it with fat cat;
e) shortening of proverbs or sayings e.g. from the proverb You can’t make a silk purse out of a
sow’s ear by means of clipping the middle of it the phraseological unit to make a sow’s ear was formed
with the meaning make a mistake.
f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages, either as translation loans, e.g. living
space (German), to take the bull by the horns ( Latin) or by means of phonetic borrowings meche
blanche (French), corpse d’elite (French), sotto voce (Italian) etc.
Phonetic borrowings among phraseological units refer to the bookish style and are not used very
often.
3. The classification of phraseological units

The first classification system which was based on the semantic principle was made by
Academician V. Vinogradov. His classification is founded on the degree of semantic cohesion between
the components of a phraseological unit. Accordingly, Vinogradov classifies phraseological units into
three phraseological combinations, unities and fusions.

8
 1. Phraseological fusions are units whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of their
component parts. The meaning of phraseological fusions is unmotivated at the present stage of language
development, e.g. red tape, a mare’s nest, My aunt!; at sixes and sevens (in confusion or in
disagreement), to leave somebody in the lurch (to abandon a friend when he is in trouble). The meaning
of the components is completely absorbed by the meaning of the whole;
2. Phraseological unities are expressions the meaning of which can be deduced from the meanings
of their components; the meaning of the whole is based on the transferred meanings of the components,
e.g. to show one’s teeth (to be unfriendly), to stand to one’s guns (to refuse to change one’s opinion), to
lose one's head (to be out of one's mind), to lase one's heart to somebody (to fall in love), to look a gift
horse in the mouth (to examine a present too critically). etc. They are motivated expressions.
3. Phraseological collocations (combinations) are word-groups with a partially changed meaning.
They may be said to be clearly motivated, that is the meaning of the unit can be easily deduced from the
meanings of its constituents, e.g. to be good at something, to take something for granted, to stick to one,
e.g. to meet requirements, to attain success.

The structural principle of classifying phraseological units is based on their ability to perform
the same syntactical functions as words. In the traditional structural approach, the following principal
groups of phraseological units are distinguishable:
a) Nominal phraseological units, e.g. cat-and-dog life, birds of a feather, white lie;
b) Verbal phraseological units, e.g. to give the sack, to talk through one's hat, to lead somebody a
pretty dance;
c) Adjectival phraseological units, e.g. safe and sound, (as) cool as a cucumber (as) mad as a
March hare;
d) Adverbial phraseological units, e.g. by hook or by crook, in cold blood, to the bitter end;
e) Interjectional phraseological units, e.g. My God! By George! Thank Heaven!
f) Prepositional phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, by reason of, in consequence of;
g) Conjunctional phraseological units, e.g. as long as on the other hand.
Professor A. I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of phraseological units, comparing
them with words. He points out one-top units which he compares with derived words because derived
words have only one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares with compound
words because in compound words we usually have two root morphemes.
Among one-top units he points out three structural types;
a) units of the type “to give up” (verb + postposition type), e.g. to art up, to back up, to drop out,
to nose out, to buy into, to sandwich in etc.;
b) units of the type “to be tired” . Some of these units remind the Passive Voice in their structure
but they have different prepositions with them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions

9
«by» or «with», e.g. to be tired of, to be interested in, to be surprised at etc. There are also units in this
type which remind free word-groups of the type «to be young», e.g. to be akin to, to be aware of etc.
The difference between them is that the adjective «young» can be used as an attribute and as a
predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such units can act only as a predicative. In
these units the verb is the grammar center and the second component is the semantic center;
c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are equivalents of unchangeable
words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, that is why they have no grammar center, their semantic
center is the nominal part, e.g. on the doorstep (quite near), on the nose (exactly), in the course of, on
the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the course of time such units can become words, e.g.
tomorrow, instead etc.
Among two-top units A.I. Smirnitsky points out the following structural types:
a) attributive-nominal such as: a month of Sundays, grey matter, a millstone round one’s neck
and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalents and can be partly or perfectly idiomatic. In
partly idiomatic units sometimes the first component is idiomatic, e.g. high road, in other cases the
second component is idiomatic, e.g. first night. In many cases both components are idiomatic, e.g. red
tape, blind alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others.
b) verb-nominal phraseological units, e.g. to read between the lines, to speak BBC, to sweep
under the carpet etc. The grammar center of such units is the verb, the semantic center in many cases is
the nominal component, e.g. to fall in love. In some units the verb is both the grammar and the semantic
center, e.g. not to know the ropes. These units can be perfectly idiomatic as well, e.g. to burn one’s
boats, to vote with one’s feet, to take to the cleaners’ etc.
Very close to such units are word-groups of the type to have a glance, to have a smoke. These
units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect.
c) phraseological repetitions, such as: now or never, part and parcel , country and western etc.
Such units can be built on antonyms, e.g. ups and downs, back and forth; often they are formed by
means of alliteration, e.g. cakes and ale, as busy as a bee. Components in repetitions are joined by
means of conjunctions. These units are equivalents of adverbs or adjectives and have no grammar
center. They can also be partly or perfectly idiomatic, e.g. cool as a cucumber (partly), bread and butter
(perfectly).
Phraseological units the same as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in
compound words), e.g. to take a back seat, a peg to hang a thing on, lock, stock and barrel, to be a
shadow of one’s own self, at one’s own sweet will.
Phraseological units can be classified as parts of speech. This classification was suggested by I.V.
Arnold. Here we have the following groups:

10
 a) Noun phraseologisms denoting an object, a person, a living being, e.g. bullet train, latchkey
child, redbrick university, Green Berets;
b) Verb phraseologisms denoting an action, a state, a feeling, e.g. to break the log-jam, to get on
somebody’s coattails, to be on the beam, to nose out, to make headlines;
c) Adjective phraseologisms denoting a quality, e.g. loose as a goose, dull as lead;
d) Adverb phraseological units, such as: with a bump, in the soup, like a dream, like a dog with
two tails;
e) Preposition phraseological units, e.g. in the course of, on the stroke of;
f) Interjection phraseological units, e.g. Catch me! Well, I never.
In I.V.Arnold’s classification there are also sentence equivalents, proverbs, sayings and quotations,
e.g. «The sky is the limit», «What makes him tick», » I am easy». Proverbs are usually metaphorical,
e.g. «Too many cooks spoil the broth», while sayings are as a rule non-metaphorical, e.g. «Where there
is a will there is a way».
The classification system of phraseological units based on the combined structural-semantic
principle and the stability of phraseological units suggested by Professor A. V. Koonin and is the latest
out-standing achievement in the Russian theory of phraseology. Phraseological units are subdivided into
the following four classes according to their function in communication determined by their structural-
semantic characteristics: nominative, nominative-communicative, interjectional and communicative.
1. Nominative phraseological units are represented by word-groups, including the ones with one
meaningful word, and coordinative phrases of the type wear and tear, well and good. Nominative
phraseological units are units denoting objects, phenomena, actions, states, qualities. They can be:
a) Verbal. E. g. to run for one's (dear) life, to get (win) the upper hand, to talk through one's hat,
to make a song and dance about something, to sit pretty;
b) Substantive – a snake in the grass; a bitter pill to swallow; dog's life, cat-and-dog life, calf
love, white lie, tall order, birds of a feather, birds of passage, red tape, brown study.
c) Adjectival – long in the tooth; high and mighty, spick and span, brand new, safe and sound. In
this group the so-called comparative word-groups are particularly expressive and sometimes amusing in
their unanticipated and capricious associations: (as) cool as a cucumber, (as) nervous as a cat, (as) weak
as a kitten, (as) good as gold (usu. spoken about children), (as) pretty as a picture, as large as life, (as)
slippery as an eel, (as) thick as thieves, (as) drunk as an owl (sl.), (as) mad as a hatter/a hare in March.
d) Adverbial – out of a blue sky, as quick as a flash; high and low (as in They searched for him
high and low), by hook or by crook (as in She decided that, by hook or by crook, she must marry him),
for love or money (as in He came to the conclusion that a really good job couldn't be found for love or
money), in cold blood (as in The crime was said to have been committed in cold blood), in the dead of
night, between the devil and the deep sea (in a situation in which danger threatens whatever course of

11
action one takes), to the bitter end (as in to fight to the bitter end), by a long chalk (as in It is not the
same thing, by a long chalk).
e) prepositional – with an eye to (intentionally), at the head of.
The first class also includes word-groups with a predicative structure, such as as the crow flies,
and, also, predicative phrases of the type see how the land lies, ships that pass in the night.
2. Nominative-communicative phraseological units contain a verb and include word-groups of
the type to break the ice – the ice is broken, that is, verbal word-groups which are transformed into a
sentence when the verb is used in the Passive Voice. E.g. to dance on a volcano, to set the Thames on
fire (do something unusual), to know which side one's bread is buttered, to make (someone) turn (over)
in his grave, to put the hat on smb’s misery (on the top off all his troubles).
3. Interjectional phraseological units express the speaker’s emotions and attitude to things: A
pretty kettle of fish! (A good job!), Good God! God damn it! Like hell! They are neither nominative nor
communicative and include interjectional word-groups.
4. Communicative phraseological units are represented by proverbs (An hour in the morning is
worth two in the evening; Never say “never”) and sayings. Sayings, unlike proverbs, are not evaluative
and didactic: That’s another pair of shoes! It’s a small world.
4. Proverbs, sayings, familiar quotations and clichés.

Proverbs have a long history. English people use proverbs in speech so often, that proverbs will be
a valuable help to the advanced people of the language. English proverbs are attractive because they
involve a small mass of comparatively accessible material. Proverbs are, moreover, easy to group and to
execute. Proverbs are so much the common property of all Englishmen that in conversation it is often
enough to repeat just the beginning of a proverb; the rest easily supplied by the other collocutor. By
studying English proverbs we can know the history of that country. The place of proverbs, sayings and
familiar quotations with respect to set expressions is a controversial issue.
A proverb is a short familiar epigrammatic saying expressing popular wisdom, a truth or a moral
lesson in a concise and imaginative way. Proverbs have much in common with set expressions, because
their lexical components are also constant, their meaning is traditional and mostly figurative, and they
are introduced into speech ready-made. Another reason why proverbs must be taken into consideration
together with set expressions is that they often form the basis of set expressions. E. g. the last straw
breaks the camel's back: the last straw; a drowning man will clutch at a straw: clutch at a straw; it is
useless to lock the stable door when the steed is stolen: lock the stable door.
Proverbs are different from phraseological units. The first distinctive feature is the structural
dissimilarity. Phraseological units are a kind of ready-made blocks which fit into the structure of a
sentence performing a certain syntactical function, while proverbs if viewed in their structural aspect,
are sentences and are used as independent units of communication.
12
 The second distinctive feature is the semantic difference. Proverbs could be compared with fables
as they sum up the collective experience of the community. They moralize (Hell is paved with good
intentions), give advice (Don’t judge a tree by its bark), give warning (If you sing before breakfast, you
will cry before night) criticize (Everyone calls his own geese swans). Phraseological units do not stand
for whole statements as proverbs do but for a single concept. Their function speech is purely nominative
(i.e. they denote an object, an act, etc.), while the function of proverbs in speech is communicative (i.e.
they communicate certain information).
The question of whether or not proverbs should be regarded as a subtype of phraseological units
and studied together with the phraseology of a language is a controversial one. Professor A. V Koonin
includes proverbs in his classification of phraseological units labels them communicative phraseological
units.
As to familiar quotations, they are different from proverbs in their origin. They come from
literature and become part of the language, so that many people using them do not even know that they
are quoting, and very few could accurately name the play or passage on which they are drawing even
when they are aware of using a quotation from W. Shakespeare.
The Shakespearian quotations have become and remain extremely numerous — they have
contributed enormously to the store of the language. Very many come from "Hamlet", for example:
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark; Brevity is the soul of wit; the rest is silence; Thus
conscience does make cowards of us all; there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.
Some quotations are so often used that they come to be considered clichés. The term is used to
denote such phrases as have become hackneyed and stale. Being constantly and mechanically repeated
they have lost their original expressiveness. The following are perhaps the most generally recognized:
the acid test, ample opportunities, astronomical figures, the arms of Morpheus, to break the ice, the
irony of fate, etc.

13
 Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that phraseology includes all the combinations of two or more
words functioning as a single unit, excluding free word combinations. It is a very interesting and at the
same time young part of linguistics. However many linguists investigated it and tried to approach to it
differently, there are some problems which remain unsolved now. In this work, we discussed the
classification of phraseological units basing on semantic, functional and contextual approaches, the
ways forming of phraseological units and proverbs, sayings, familiar quotations and clichés.
The main goal of language teaching must be to create opportunities to acquire more and more
language. We need to know more new words with more fixed collocations increasing their collocation
competence with words which they already know. It is lexis and collocations competence which allows
us to red more widely, understand more quickly and speak more fluently. The Phraseological units and
Proverbs are the outcome of language. They come from people and are used by people. Proverbs and
phraseological units, as a prominent scholar once said the mirror of a nation and the living fossil of a
language, do play an important role in different languages and cultures. So proverbs and sayings give
people advice or warnings in dealing with everyday issues, and point out the path to knowledge and
self-cultivation.
Phraseological units reflect the wealth of a language displaying cultural paradigms of the speakers
of a particular language. They reflect cultural archetypes of an ethno-linguistic community and help to
make explicit the peculiarities of its world perception.
Phraseological units as the particular units of language came into the focus of linguists’ attention
in the beginning of the 20th century. In the second part of the 20th century these word-combinations
became the object of scientific investigation.
In my opinion the field of phraseology in any language is so varied and fascinating that one could
spend an entire lifetime considering and analysing it from various viewpoints. A phraseological unit is
an established, universal and essential element that, used with care, ornaments and enriches the
language.
Phraseological units are interesting because they are colorful and lively and because they are
linguistic curiosities. At the same time, they are difficult because they have unpredictable meanings and
grammar, and often have special connotations. Research into phraseological units shows that they have
important role in language.

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 References

Arnold, I. V. (1959). Lexicology of Modern English language (p. 351). Moscow: Publishing
House of Literature in Foreign Language.
Ciobanu O. (2013) A guide to English Lexicology (p. 209)
Koonin, A. V. (1981). English Phraseology. Theoretical Course (p. 285). Moscow: Science.
Koonin, A. V. (1996). Phraseology of Modern English Language (p. 380). Moscow: International
relations.
Smirnitsky, A. I. (1998). Lexicology of the English Language (p. 260). Moscow: MSU.
Vinogradov, V. V. (1986). On the main types of phraseological units in the Russian language (p.
182). Moscow: Science.
Internet resources
http://kpfu.ru/docs/F1797492221/Lectures.on.Le_icology1.pdf
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijel/article/viewFile/60681/32919
http://www.studmed.ru/docs/document34589?view=5
https://www.dukonference.lv/files/proceedings_of_conf/53konf/valodnieciba_literaturzinatne/Jans
one.pdf

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