Do multi-word expressions merit special attention?
Multi-word expressions (aka ‘chunks’, ‘multi-word units’, ‘formulaic sequences’, ‘standardised phrases’, ‘lexical phrases’, etc.) deserve a special treatment in language teaching for various reasons including the following: (1) In some cases there may be no alternative Multi-word expressions are numerous and, as a class, widely common. Yet it seems clear that many of them, by their nature, fall outside the scope of two key strategies for language learning-(1) learn the grammar rules and (2) learn lots of words. • The “learn-rules” strategy can hardly help anyone to acquire expressions which, by today’s rules, are grammatically anomalous-e.g., Waste not, want not; be that as it may; by and large; (Why didn’t you) say so?; if need be; Lord only knows; many a time… • Many multi-word expressions cannot be mentally composed or understood on the basis of normal word meanings (e.g., put up with someone = ‘tolerate’ and take to someone = ‘develop a liking for’). That is, such phrases are ‘id
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