Lexical Chunks (1) Suggested Answers

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This task asks you to analyse the form and use of various lexical chunks from a novel. For the full text of the task, see here.

Cold sweat

Form : Adjective cold 
+ singular countable common noun sweat

Semantic use : Collocation indicating the
physical manifestation of a state of anxiety.

Syntactic use :  Part of the noun
phrase a cold sweat, with cold used attributively to pre-modify sweat (head of the noun phrase).
The noun phrase acts as object in the clause

 

Spread eagled

Form : Past participle of the transitive,
regular verb to spread-eagle  (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English). Example from Lextutor : I found a trooper once the Apache had SPREAD-EAGLED on an
ant hill

Syntactic use : here used as part of the passive
construction to be spread-eagled. 

Semantic use :  Used to describe the position
of the protagonist - ie with arms and legs outstretched in the form of a cross
(similar to an eagle in flight with its wings outstretched).

 

Turned her attention

Form : Semi-fixed lexical chunk
composed of:

·        
regular lexical verb turn (here in past simple form – base form of the verb + -ed
suffix). Is occasionally substituted by one of a small number of other verbs
with similar meaning – eg switch, shift.

·        
+ possessive noun or (usually) determiner (here,
3^rd person singular, feminine possessive determiner her)

·        
+ uncountable
singular abstract noun attention.  

Syntactic
use:  Here used as the verb phrase
(main verb + object) in the clause

 

At hand

Form : prepositional phrase composed of
simple preposition at (head of prepositional phrase) plus
singular uncountable noun hand (complement of prepositional
phrase).

Use : Postmodifies the noun phrase the matter, and can be
seen as a reduced relative clause (one where both the relative pronoun and the
verb BE have been ellipted )  the matter which was at hand. Fixed lexical chunk  expressing
the idea the matter which needed immediate attention.

 

In particular

Form : Fixed lexical chunk – a polyword. Adverbial
(restrictive adjunct) composed of preposition in  +  noun particular,
(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

Syntactic
Use: Quirk
et al (A Grammar of Contemporary English, Section 8.16) point out that while
other restrictive adjuncts such as only  ”can either precede or follow the part on
which they are focused”,  in particular, “favours a position after
the focused part” – as happens here.

 

Lame
attempt

Form: adjective lame + singular countable common noun attempt

Semantic
use: Semi-fixed collocation. Semi-fixed
because other collocations with a very similar meaning exist, such as weak attempt or feeble attempt. Similarly, there are other expressions with lame -
eg a lame excuse (Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English). This is a metaphorical use of the
word lame. Lame literally means unable to walk properly, so by
extension  a lame attempt, or a lame excuse is
one that functions badly.

Syntactic use: Part of the noun phrase “a babbling, lame attempt”, where “lame” is used attributively to modify “attempt” (head of the noun phrase). The
full noun phrase acts as subject complement  in the clause.

 

Failed miserably

Form: 

a) failed - past simple verb - base form of regular verb  fail plus
regular past suffix -ed

b) miserably – adverb of manner derived from the
adjective miserable with suffix - ly replacing
final -le

Semantic use : Fixed lexical chunk, a collocation, expressing the
concept of having failed totally.

Syntactic
use:

a) Failed = main verb in the clause.

b) Miserably = acts as an
intensifier for the verb

 

Under arrest

Form : Prepositional
phrase: preposition under
plus singular countable noun arrest.

Semantic
Use : Semi
fixed collocation. When
used to mean in the state of being XXXed,
 “under”
collocates with a number of other nouns - eg under control/suspicion/investigation etc. (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English)

Syntactic
Use: Acts
as an adverbial in
the clause.

 

Private plane

Form :  Semi-fixed lexical chunk consisting of adjective (private)    +  singular countable common noun in clipped form (ie plane rather than aeroplane). 

Semantic use: Collocation expressing the concept of a plane owned by an individual 
rather than an airline. Only semi-fixed as the alternative personal
plane exists, although it is much less commonly used. Similarly the
noun may change to describe the specific type of plane - eg private jet. 

Syntactic use:  Here, part of the noun phrase "a private plane",  with private used attributively to pre-modify plane (head of the noun phrase). The noun phrase acts as object in the clause. 

 

Take off

Form: Intransitive phrasal
verb
(verb + adverb). Infinitive form of irregular verb take following the infinitive particle to.

Syntactic
Use: Used as non-finite
complement of the catenative
verb
construction permit someone/something to do something

 

Flight plan

Form : Compound noun composed of two singular, countable nouns flight +
plan   . 

Syntactic
use : Here acts as object of the non-finite verb registering.

 

Traffic Controller

Form :   Compound noun composed of uncountable noun traffic  + countable noun (here, singular) controller. 

Use :

§  Discoursal Use : An reduced
form of the job title more usually expressed as air traffic controller describing
the person in control of planes landing and taking off at an airport. Probably
abbreviated because fully stated in earlier text (which is also suggested by
the simple use of the controller in the first sentence). This
reduction of the full phrase prevents unnecessary repetition  which might
make the text boring.

§  Syntactic Use : Part of
the noun phrase "the traffic controller" : controller =head of the phrase, traffic = part of the pre-head. The full noun phrase acts as subject of the clause.

 

A surge of terror

Form/Use: Noun phrase
consisting of indefinite article 'a'
used as a determiner in the noun phrase 
+ singular, countable noun 'surge'
postmodified by a prepositional phrase (preposition 'of' = head of the phrase + complement : singular, uncountable noun
'terror' –

Syntactic Use: used as direct
object of verb 'felt'.

Semantic Use : Metaphoric use of
“surge”. Literally, surge = a sudden movement forward, and
the verb is often used in this literal sense - eg the crowd surged into
the square. However, the noun tends to be used metaphorically to indicate a
sudden increase in something.  As here, it often collocates with emotions
(a surge of terror / anger / resentment / optimism etc )  to
indicate a sudden strong feeling, but has a wide variety of uses. Here are
some, found on Lextutor,  from just one corpus of academic English
(BAWE) :

001.  In particular, the recent SURGE of regional trade agreements (RTAs):"about 162 RT [politics]

002. ... be argued that a variety of factors gave rise to the SURGE of recent regional projects and motivated states  [politics]

003.. A SURGE in the number of political offices was to be expected [history]

004. ...the 'renewed SURGE of feminization of labour activity'. This surge has... [sociology]

005.... the huge SURGE of international trade and foreign direct investment [sociology]

006.  The 1990s witnessed a notable SURGE of interest and activity in both regions and regi [politics]

007....youth and womens groups that sprouted in the SURGE of working class participation.  [us_studies]

008. This is largely due to rapid capital accumulation, a SURGE in the number of hours worked and faster growth  [economics]

009.  ...the SURGE of domestic tourism is expected to raise 15-20% i [hospitality]

011....a rise in income may lead to a sudden SURGE of satisfaction, but we soon become accustomed to [psychology]

012. In reality, a SURGE of activity could be expected during the last few [business]

013.... this sudden SURGE of patriotic feeling towards America translated d [politics]