Language Matters: Lexical Chunks (1)

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Analyse the form and use of the highlighted lexical chunks in the extracts below. Don't do them all at once - try one or two a day and then check with the suggested answers here. Note anything you miss or get wrong, and look up any terms which you're not sure of in the ELT Glossary. When you go on to further items, make sure you give fuller answers

Task

The
following extracts are from  Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003, Doubleday).

Extract A

Across
the room, Sophie Neveu felt a cold
sweat breaking across her forehead. Langdon was
still spread-eagled on
the floor. Hold on,
Robert. Almost there. Knowing the guard would never actually shoot
either of them, Sophie now turned
her attention back to the matter at hand, scanning the
entire area around one masterpiece in particular - another Da Vinci.

Extract B

The
controller's initial response was a babbling, lame attempt to
protect the privacy of their British client - one of the airfield's most
respected customers. It failed
miserably.

'Okay,'
Fache said, 'I am placing you under
arrest for permitting a private plane to take off without
registering a flight
plan.' Fache motioned to another officer, who approached
with handcuffs, and the traffic
controller felt a surge of terror.

 

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