CORE Unit 2 Coursebook Language

Section 4: Lexis
Overview

Introduction

Conveying Concepts

Clarifying Concepts

Written Form

Pronunciation

Multi-Word Lexis

Tasks

Introduction
Lexis (Vocabulary)
Here are two questions that are often used to highlight the importance of lexis:

Question 1
Youre stuck in a foreign country, alone, and youre walking along the streets, when all of sudden theres an
uncomfortable rumble in your stomach. Whether it was the food that youre not used to yet, the tap water,
or just the jet-lag affecting your health - its urgent. You ask a local in the street for help. Which is more
likely to save you:

Would you mind telling me where the . is?

Bathroom!!!

Question 2
Read the following story. How much sense does it make to you? Who was involved? Where did they go?
Why?
Was a. He the of the and them the. The the. They there all. Then the back the and back. It was a.
How about the next story?
Peter shepherd. One day, let sheep out pen. Take up hill. Sheep eat grass. Stay all day, eat. Peter bring
sheep down hill. Back home. Nice day.
Obviously a good command of grammar and lexis makes language the most effective, but clearly lexis
conveys much more meaning than grammar, and the more developed a students vocabulary is the more
effectively they will be able to communicate. From Elementary level to Advanced, learners need to learn
lots of words and phrases* quickly and effectively.
* Lexis, or vocabulary, means words (individual words) and phrases (combinations of words)

For a huge number of words, especially concrete nouns and simple action verbs, there are four simple
techniques that teachers can use to quickly and effectively convey meaning:

Visuals - drawings on the board, flashcards, photos, magazine clippings, etc.

Realia - displaying actual real life objects.

Mime - acting out activities and actions.

Gesture - using facial expressions, pointing at things and people, etc.

Note that it can also help to divide visuals into two categories: quick drawings and pictures/photos. Thats
because doing a quick drawing can save a lot of time (theres no point searching Google for a photo of a
car and printing it out when you can simply scribble a car on the board), but professionally made pictures
or photos can much more clearly convey more specific concepts (for example, unless youre particularly
good at drawing, clarifying the difference between a sedan, a hatchback, a station wagon, and a sports
car, is going to be very difficult).

Often it is obvious which technique would be most effective:

a mountain - a quick drawing on the board

a paper cup - most schools and offices have them available, so actually take one in

a harbour - safest to take in a professionally made picture (or two - a photo and a map view)

run - actually run from one side of the room to the other

drive - sit on a chair and mime moving a steering wheel and beeping a horn

greet someone - gesture waving or shaking hands; or actually shake hands with someone

you, me, him, her, etc - use gestures to indicate each person with your hands

Of course, sometimes a combination is more effective, and sometimes the concept is too abstract (like
politics, creativity, independent), or is too easily confused with other similar words (like sprint, dash
and run), to get across in 30 seconds, so a more sophisticated approach will be needed.

For more complicated or abstract concepts one of the best methods is to describe a situation. This will
often involve using visuals and mime as well, but will probably involve some spoken explanation and/or will
build up towards the concept in steps.
For example, what word is the teacher trying to convey here:

I like football. Do you like football? (Getting a few responses from the students).
My favourite team is Manchester United. (Holding up a picture of the team).
Last night, they played a game.
Near the end, the score was 1 - 1. (Writing 1 - 1 on the board).
In the last minute they got the ball. (Miming running with the ball toward goal).
I sat in the chair like this. (Miming sitting forward, on the edge of the chair).
How can I describe the game? It was very...

The teacher is trying to convey the concept for the word exciting. There are several possible problems
with this approach, and the teacher needs to be careful how he/she uses it, but it can get some otherwise
very tricky concepts across very effectively when it is done well. Here are some things to be careful about:

If the language the teacher is using is more complicated than the word he/she is trying to convey,
the students wont understand it. In the example above, which is more likely to be known by the
students: exciting orfavourite? exciting or team? exciting or score? The teacher needs to think
about this carefully, either avoiding more difficult words altogether or using other techniques to
ensure it is clear (a picture of the team, writing the score on the board, etc.).

The above situation has a lot of words and a lot of set up. It can be done fairly quickly and is
easy enough to do in less than a minute, but represents quite a lot of time and effort for the sake of
explaining one word. You might like to get some more out of the situation you've created by using it
to introduce some more words. For example, the above situation could extend to, And I felt to
convey excited followed by, Then they kicked the ball and missed. At the end, I was to convey
disappointed.

At first it can be quite difficult to make the situations specific enough. For example, to convey
exciting a lot of teachers might go for something simpler like, I like football. Last night, I watched
my favourite team play. How did I feel? This would present two problems: firstly, it is too general the answer could be exciting, but it could also be happy, relaxed, interested, etc. Secondly, even
if students did get the narrower meaning, their answer would be excited not exciting. To elicit
'exciting' you need to make it clear you are describing the game, not describing your feelings.

It can help to try out your 'situation' on a colleague - if they dont get the word you are trying to convey, the
students certainly wont!

So far weve looked at 5 techniques that are useful for a very wide range of vocabulary. But there are other
methods that, although they can be used for fewer words, are often more effective or more efficient. Some
of these other common techniques include:
Giving a definition.

If you need to explain "left-handed", telling a long story which ends with someone using their lefthand to write something might be unnecessarily time-consuming when you can just say, it's an
adjective to describe a person who writes with their left hand.

A situation can sometimes make a stronger impression, though, so its something to think about
carefully. Would a definition be more appropriate for the words on the previous page, inherit, afford
and stamina for example?

Using synonyms and antonyms.

Synonyms and antonyms can be extremely efficient and can help learners build up a network of
related vocabulary in their memories. Sometimes they will need a bit of definition as well, to
accurately convey words like sprint versus run. Other times it can be fairly straightforward: over
the moon is the same as very, very happy ; dangerous is the opposite of safe.

Categories of related words and parts of a whole work in a similar way: a beret is a type of or kind
of hat; a lapel is a part of a shirt or jacket.

Using a cline.

A cline is a sliding scale with words that fit in at different points. One common example is with

temperatures:
The gap at the bottom of the cline is for freezing and the gap at the top is for boiling.
Use a combination of ways. Use your imagination. Use what it takes to get your meaning across!

Thunder cant be conveyed through a picture alone - a picture can convey storm or lightning,
but to convey thunder making a deep rumbling sound, along with the picture, could be very
effective.

One way to convey the day after tomorrow is by circling days on a calendar.

To convey reggae the only real option might be to actually play a piece of reggae music.

Clarifying Meaning
Once we have established the meaning there are two things to consider:

Is the concept narrow enough?

1.

Is it clearly distinguished from other words that are similar in meaning?

2.

Are any connotations clear?

3.

Are any restrictions on meaning or use clear?

4.

Is it clear in when it is appropriate to use it? (e.g. Is it formal, informal, technical, literary,
slang, etc. ?)

Do the students understand it?

One very effective tool to use is the concept checking question.

Concept check questions are questions asked by teachers to check that students have understood a new
language point, be it grammar or vocabulary.
For example, lets revisit the grammar structure of the third conditional.

If Sarah had studied, she would have passed.

Students need to know that this means that Sarah didnt study. This can be confusing for students as there
is no negative in the first part of our sentence, nor the second. To check this we can ask, Did Sarah study?
and Did she pass?
These very simple questions are a far more effective way to check understanding than simply asking
students if they understand.
For vocabulary, the idea is the same. Consider the word sprint. Once you have taught the meaning, you
can check students understanding by asking questions like,

Is it a fast or very fast action?(very fast)

Does it normally last for a long time or a short time (short)

Can you do it with your hands? (no)

If you speak more than one language you will already know, but for those of you who dont languages
can be verydifferent.
In English we have 5 different words for the following:

pen

whiteboard marker

pencil

chalk

paint brush

In other languages, however, it is perfectly possible for any of the following to be true:

There is just 1 word because theyre all writing instruments.

There are 2 words because one needs to be dipped into something to work but the others work
by themselves.

There are 4 words because two use ink, one uses lead, one uses chalk and the other uses
paint.

There are more than 5 words because there are separate words for coloured pencils versus
grey-lead ones, and there are several different categories of paint brush with specific words for each
one.

Or even something completely different.

Indeed, the first is true for Chinese to some extent there is a general word that covers all 5 and they add
different adjectives to the general word when they need to distinguish them (a direct translation of the term
used for paint brush is roughly hairy pen).
Considering that even for such a simple concept there are so many different possibilities between
languages, it is important that teachers consider that things arent always as obvious as wed like them to
be. Holding up a pen and saying this is a pen is not necessarily enough, we need to narrow it down by
showing students that pencils, markers, chalk, and paint brushes are not pens. And thats just for simple
concepts.
Students often assume, or are taught, that formal and literary language is the best. This is far from true
and can often result in inappropriate language use. Imagine meeting a friend of a friend for the third or
fourth time what would you think of them if they said, How do you do? or I wish to express my pleasure
at renewing our acquaintance as an initial greeting? Obviously, Hello or Hi would be much more
appropriate.

Many words might be considered to be neutral, and can be used in many situations. But even seemingly
neutral lexis can have a strong formal or informal bias, e.g. brilliant, fantastic, great, and marvellous are all
pretty informal, whereas excellent could be used in a formal text. Formal language is generally limited to
particular types of written text (e.g. an academic paper, a letter of complaint) and is very rarely used in
speaking, while informal vocabulary is used in speaking and in types of writing which mimic speaking (e.g.
a letter to a friend, a magazine article).
In addition to questions of formality, learners need to know when words are:

restricted to technical uses (e.g. medical, legal, and linguistic terms)

old-fashioned (e.g. words like groovy)

literary (e.g. languish in the maritime sun)

slang, regional, or impolite (e.g. Australian slang: dunny = toilet; impolite: bloody = very)

So far we have talked about the meaning and use of lexis. There are two other key areas that learners
need to know about the written form and the spoken form. That is, what the word looks like, what it
sounds like, and in both cases, how it fits in with other words during normal communication.
Here we will look at the written form and the grammar that comes with vocabulary.
Very simply, what the word looks like is how it is spelled. There will be occasional changes, when
abbreviated (e.g. e.g. meaning for example) or in a contraction (e.g. cant for cannot), but mostly it will
be the spelling that needs to be highlighted.
Is English spelling relatively straightforward? Most would say, 'No, not at all!' In fact it follows some
noticeable patterns, but these are indeed fairly complex.

Some potential difficulties with spelling:

1. teacher, beggar, inventor - the same meaning and the same pronunciation but the
spelling of the suffix is different (-er, -ar, -or respectively).
2. ate/eight, their/theyre/there - homophones: they sound the same but they look different.
3. through, trough, rough, bought - 'ough' is notorious for the number of different
pronunciations it has!
4. knife, debt, autumn, pneumonia - all these words have letters in their written form which
are not pronounced in speaking.
5. niece, thief, receive, seize, weird, science - 'i before e except after c' is a rule that
English schoolchildren learn but it's slightly more complicated than that.
6. bookcase, police officer, distance learning, housewife, daughter-in-law, six-pack compound words
7. colour/color, metre/meter, aluminium/aluminum - different spellings in American English
and British English
8. separate, definitely, relative - the 'schwa' sound (the weak vowel sound in some
syllables that is not emhasised. This will be looked at in the section on phonology but it
is basically a very weak vowel sound) can make it difficult to remember what the written
vowel is.

Another essential concept that must be referred to when introducing or working on vocabulary is
collocation.
Look at the following. Why do they sound wrong?
1.

My wife sweeps the floor and I do the bed.

2.

I forgot to make my homework last night.

3.

I play exercise twice a week.

4.

We often do swimming after work.

5.

I bought a new car. Its blonde.

6.

Do you want black coffee or light brown coffee?

7.

A lot of crime is done in this neighbourhood.

8.

My dad is a strong smoker.

The issue here is that some words simply go together. In number 1, the speaker should say I make the
bed because make and bed collocate (they typically occur together). We can do the dishes, and do the
ironing, but we make the bed. When talking about cleaning up the house, it is not enough to teach
students that make and do are verbs that can mean clean, wash or tidy, we need to teach them in direct
connection with the nouns that they collocate with.

It is also vital to teach the grammar around a word, including what part of speech ("kind of word") it is, and
any patterns that might occur around it.
Importance of part of speech: "What a happy child!" and not "What a happiness child!", because "happy" is
an adjective.
Importance of patterns: "I want to go home now" and not "I want go home" or "I want going home" because
any verb which follows want" takes the infinitive form.
When teaching a new word it is extremely helpful for students if we make it clear what part of speech it is
is it a countable or uncountable noun, is it a transitive or intransitive verb, is it an adjective, or an adverb,
or a preposition, etc. An easy way to highlight this is through two simple steps:

When planning the lesson, look up the part of speech in a dictionary.

After teaching the meaning and pronunciation, write the word on the whiteboard and include the
part of speech. For example:
collocation (n)[C][U]

(these symbols mean: noun, countable or uncountable)

typically (adv)

(adverb)

describe (v)[T]

(verb which is transitive)

common (adj)

(Adjective)

pair (n)[C]

(noun which is countable)

together (adv)

(adverb)

Then it helps to add:

For nouns: Is it usually preceded by a, an or the, or is it usually in plural form, or none of these?
Compare. the world, a pencil, jeans, water

For verbs: Does it usually have one or two objects?

Compare: He hit me. (hit + somebody) He gave me the pen. (give + somebody + something)

For verbs: Can it be followed by another verb? If so, is it followed by to + V, or V-ing or just a
normal V.
Compare: I want to stay home. We often go swimming. She can drive.

For verbs: Is it usually followed by a preposition? If so, which one?

Compare: apply for a job; escape from prison; adhere to the rules; dig up a bone.

For adjectives: Is it usually followed by a preposition? If so, which one?

Compare: scared of mice; excited about the party; happy with the promotion.

This kind of information can be clarified in a similar way on the board:

(Note: sb = somebody; sth = something; do = any verb)
the world (n)[C]
jeans (n)[C](pl)
hit sb
give sb sth
want (to do sth)
apply (for sth)
Alternatively, it can be highlighted within an example sentence, for example:
He has travelled all over the world.
I wear jeans at the weekend.
The courier gave me a letter.
Have you applied for a raise yet?

Pronunciation
Attention to pronunciation is extremely important and it helps both with communication and with memory:
poor pronunciation is more likely to cause communication problems than poor grammar; and attention to
pronunciation helps learners build connections and links between words, meanings, and sounds, making
language easier to recognise when listening and easier to recall when speaking.
Firstly, lets look at stress patterns.
Take comfortable as an example.

In written form it looks like it has 4 syllables: com-for-ta-ble.

Most speakers actually pronounce it with 3 syllables so that it sounds like: comf-ter-ble

The stress occurs on the first syllable: COMF-ter-ble

If we stress the second syllable, the sound changes, and people will hear comf-TAY-ble which sounds like
it ends in the word table. This becomes even more problematic when words from similar families, for
example politics, political and politician are all stressed on a different syllable (1st, 2nd and
3rd respectively).

Now let's return to discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation. We touched on this above when
looking at potential spelling problems, but quite often the problem occurs in the other direction learners
remember how the word is spelled, but pronounce it incorrectly.

There are a number of connections between spelling and pronunciation in English, but most have
exceptions, and the relationship is much more complicated than in many languages. For example, here is
an extremely common English word:
women
Take a moment to think about it. Why is that potentially difficult to pronounce for learners of English? If
youre still not sure, compare it first with woman, then with stop. Notice anything unusual now about the
letter o?
The letter o can be pronounced how it is in stop, and sometimes how it is in open. In woman it is a little
unusual because it is pronounced like the sound in foot which is usually related to double o. But in the
word women the o is pronounced like the 'i' in win. Quite a difference from the regular pronunciation of
o isnt it? Just to confuse matters further, the 'e' in 'women' is also pronounced like the 'i' in 'mint'!
To enable students to pronounce words correctly, it is advisable they are taught to read phonetics, or in
other words, the written representation of English sounds. If they are able to read phonetics, they will be
perfectly able to pronounce words correctly on their own. This is a great step toward learner
independence, and although students may react rather reluctantly at first, they very soon realise the
benefits of being familiar with these phonetic symbols (or phonemes).
You, as a new teacher, may also feel a little overwhelmed by this new world of symbols, but once you are
familiar with it, it will make your job far easier.
There will be a great deal more detail on the phonetic script in TKT Unit 1 Section 3 (Phonology), but for
now, this task looks at what difficulties students might have with various sounds, and a little understanding
of the phonemic table can be helpful. If you are unable to identify words or sounds in the task, you can do
an internet search for an 'online phonemic chart' and, there, you'll be able to experiment a little with what
these strange-looking symbols sound like.

Words and Lexis

Traditionally, people think of vocabulary in terms of single words, i.e. when they are written there is a
space between each: Hot is a word. Hot air is two words. Hot-air balloon consists of three words.
However, the compound noun hot-air balloon can actually be thought of as a single piece of vocabulary
because it represents a single and specific meaning.
This is why we often now use the term lexical

item. A lexical item can be any piece of language, made

up of any number of words, that refers to a single concept. Here are just a few examples of types of
phrases and expressions that often have separate entries in a dictionary:

compound nouns (e.g. distance learning, tower block)

phrasal verbs (e.g. carry on, get by, rip off)

idiomatic expressions (e.g. ball-park figure, by the way, raining cats and dogs)

Fixed and semi-fixed expressions are also significant lexical items, for example, I beg your pardon, How
do you do?, Could you pass the please?
Occasionally the meaning is clear from the words that make up the phrase. For instance, a bus stop is a
place where buses stop. These can be easier to remember, but they can also lead to mistakes: a 'taxi
stop' instead of ataxi rank, or even 'car stop' instead of car park.
On top of that, a lot of lexical items either cannot be understood from the separate words, or can only be
understood as metaphors. Consider the following two examples:
1.

Hes a great employee. Hell do whatever you ask at the drop of a hat.

2.

I think she stood me up on purpose.

The first one means he will agree to do things immediately without hesitation. It doesnt actually involve
dropping anything, it doesnt involve hats, and it doesnt involve location (at). Once you know the
meaning you can perhaps make sense of the metaphor (a dropped hat will fall to the ground quickly), but
it's extremely unlikely that a language learner would deduce the meaning form the separate words in the
phrase. The second example is even more opaque.
It is far more effective to treat them as phrases or expressions that have a single meaning:

at the drop of a hat = quickly (especially when agreeing to do something for someone)

stand someone up = not turn up for a meeting (especially a date)

It's also worth noting that both of these phrases are used in rather specific contexts (in other words, to
describe particular situations).

Phrasal verbs are a matter of some fascination to many learners, and perhaps they should be, as they are
a central feature of English, especially spoken English. But they are extremely challenging.
Phrasal verbs are verbs made up of more than one word, typically formed of: verb + preposition; verb +
adverb; verb + adverb + preposition. Here are some examples:

go over sth= read and/or review something carefully

look sth up = find something in a dictionary, encyclopaedia, etc.

make sth out = be able to see under conditions that make it difficult

check in = to let a hotel, etc., know that you have arrived

make up for sth= do something to make a bad situation (usually that you caused) better

look down on sb= to think you are better than someone else

There are a few patterns that can help learners to make predictions about the meaning of new phrasal
verbs. For example, phrasal verbs ending in down are often negative in meaning (e.g. look down on
someone), whereas phrasal verbs ending in up are often positive (e.g. make up for something). These
can be useful but they are not rules (e.g. stand someone up might be seen as negative, while look
something up is pretty much neutral).
In general, a phrasal verb needs to be learned as a whole piece with a single and unique meaning, and a
set of useful collocations and contexts, the same as any other lexical item.

Students often have difficulty with phrasal verbs for numerous reasons. One of these reasons is that they
often try to translate each word of the phrasal verb in question. Consider the phrasal verb to put sb
through (to sb else). We understand that this has one clear meaning, which is to connect somebody by
telephone. Students, however, may interpret this combination of words to mean literally picking someone

up and putting that person through a window or a door, for example. Other phrasal verbs that cause
confusion when translated word for word include the following:

to bring sb up (to raise a child). Students may interpret this as carrying sb in an upward direction,
perhaps from the floor.

to lay sb off (terminate employment). Students may interpret this as an action as being related to
lying down or worse still, laying an egg!

Other phrasal verbs can indeed be translated literally, such as to put sth away. It is the ones that cannot be
translated in a literal sense that we really need to help our learners with.

When teaching phrasal verbs, it is also important that students are aware of how to use each phrasal verb.
(i) Is the verb transitive or intransitive (does it take a direct object or not?) (ii) If it is transitive, is it
separable or inseparable (can the object go between the two parts of the phrasal verb or does it have to
come after the complete phrasal verb?)
Lets go through this in a little more detail as it can be rather a lot to take in. First well look at normal verbs
and then phrasal verbs.
A transitive verb is a verb which needs a direct object. For example 'take' and 'bring' and 'send' are
transitive verbs. If we use these words in a sentence, they must be followed by a direct object. For
example,
Every day he takes the bus to school. (the direct object is the bus)
Every day he takes time to get ready. (the direct object is time)
Every day he takes notes in class. (the direct object is the notes)
Consider the following sentences, which include the transitive verb 'send'
Every day he sends letters.
Every day they send flowers.
Every day they send emails.
It is not possible to say Every day he takes. It is neither possible to say He sends. These verbs must be
followed by an object; they are transitive.
Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, do not take a direct object. For example 'arrive' and 'sneeze' and 'lie'.
If we used these words in a sentence they are not followed by a direct object. For example:
Every day he lies.
When people have a cold, they sneeze.
Finally, he arrived. (These verbs could be followed by an adverb or a preposition, but not a direct object.)
Note, some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. For example 'to play'
-Every day the children play. (no direct object - intransitive)
-Every day the children play football. (the direct object is football - transitive)

Okay, so now lets look at phrasal verbs.

Consider the following:
a) Some people get scared when airplanes take off. (Here the phrasal verb is 'to take off')
b) When I get home I always take my shoes off. (Here the phrasal verb is 'to take something off')
In sentence a) the phrasal verb does not have a direct object. It is therefore intransitive. However, in
sentence b) the phrasal verb has a direct object (my shoes). It is therefore transitive.

The difference between transitive and intransitive should be clear now. Now, we can address the issue of
whether or not a phrasal verb is separable or inseparable.
Consider the following:
a) Every afternoon I take my shoes off.
b) Every afternoon I take off my shoes.
Both a) and b) are correct because the object (my shoes) can go at the end or in the middle of the phrasal
verb. Hence, this phrasal verb is separable.
Now, consider the following:
a) He looks after his daughter.
b) He looks his daughter after.
Here, sentence a) is correct, but b) is incorrect because this phrasal verb (to look after
somebody/something) is inseparable.
When we are thinking about separable or inseparable phrasal verbs, we are obviously only talking about
the ones that have a direct object (transitive ones) because we are interested in the position of this direct
object, so of course there has to BE a direct object.

Other separable phrasal verbs include: (Note, here, sb is an abbreviation for somebody and sth is an
abbreviation for something)
to look sth up (find in a dictionary)
to bring sb up (raise)
to throw sth away (discard)
to give sth up (note: this can also be intransitive -to give up- as in "I was tired, so I gave up.)
Other inseparable phrasal verbs include:
to look into sth (investigate). We cannot look sth into.
to stand for sth (PE stands for Physical Education. We cannot say PE stands Physical Education for.)
to take after sb (e.g. He takes after his father in personality. We cannot say He takes his father after.)
These phrasal verbs are intransitive (they do not take a direct object). As there is no object, we do not
need to worry about whether they are separable or not.
to grow up
to back off
to die down
Now consider the following summary:
Intransitive

Possible

She passed out.

Not possible

She passed out herself.

The beer passed her out.

Transitive Inseparable
The car crashed into the van.
The car crashed into it.
The car crashed the van into.
The car crashed it into.
The car crashed into.

Transitive - Separable
He turned on the light.
He turned the light on.
He turned it on.
He turned on.
He turned on it.

Pass out is intransitive. It cant have an object.

Crash into is transitive & inseparable. It takes an object (in this case the van), which goes after
the phrasal verb.

Turn on is transitive and separable. It takes an object (in this case the light'), which goes either
between the verb and preposition or after the phrasal verb.

Note that with separable phrasal verbs pronouns (e.g. he, she, you, me, it, they, etc.) go between the verb
and the preposition they do not go after the phrasal verb. So he turned it on is correct, not he turned on
it.

Also note that 3-part phrasal verbs are always transitive and inseparable. e.g. 'I'm looking forward to the
party.'

An idiom is similar to a phrasal verb in that it is a phrase in which the meaning is not clear from the
individual words which make it up. Unlike the term phrasal verb, which refers to a specific grammatical
construction, an idiom can be formed in a wide variety of ways.
For example:
1.

out of it

2.

in the red

3.

in on something

4.

spill the beans

5.

going out with someone

6.

a pain in the neck

7.

above and beyond

8.

hit the spot

A lot of day-to-day language is made up of formulaic phrases and expressions that are routinely used to
perform specific functions.
These expressions tend to come in two kinds: fixed or semi-fixed. Fixed expressions are ones in which
none of the words can be changed in any way and they are usually stand-alone sentences. Consider the
following:
1.

I beg your pardon. (correct)

2.

She begs your pardon. (incorrect)

3.

I plead your pardon. (incorrect)

4.

I beg Toms pardon. (incorrect)

5.

I beg your reprieve. (incorrect)

6.

Id like to beg your pardon. (incorrect)

7.

Your pardon has been begged. (incorrect)

8.

I beg your forgiveness. (correct, but different meaning)

I beg your pardon is a fixed expression meaning Im sorry, I didnt hear that. Could you repeat that
please? All 8 sentences are grammatically accurate, and yet only the first and last are acceptable, and the
last one suggests a completely different meaning.
Semi-fixed expressions are very similar, but can have a couple of similar variations or a slot that can be
filled. Here are examples of both.
1.

Im not sure.

2.

Im not too sure.

3.

Im not sure about that.

4.

Im not too sure about that.

5.

Have a nice day.

6.

Have a nice trip.

7.

Have a nice weekend.

8.

Have a nice meal.

The first four are different possible variations of an expression that can be used to express disagreement.
The latter four are variations of a routine expression usually used when parting or saying goodbye. This
expression has both a slot (the last word can be replaced with quite a few things, typically things involving
food, travel or time) and allows for a small number of variations (e.g. Have a great day).
Language like this is best treated as a chunk and taught as vocabulary - in other words, teach the phrase
as a complete utterance with its own meaning, appropriateness, etc. as a whole. Breaking them down
completely, into all their grammatical components, might not be all that helpful.
It can also be useful to teach typical responses these expressions, perhaps the single most typical
response or one positive and one negative. In general, it's a good idea to encourage the learner to put any
new vocabulary into some kind of meaningful context. For example:
1.

How are you? Good thanks.

2.

Thatll be ($2.50), please. Here you are.

3.

Would you like a coffee while you wait? Yes, please./No, thanks.

4.

Could you give me a hand (with the reports)? Sure/I wish I could, but ...