What term describes recurring fixed forms that consist of more than one word and whose meaning cannot be worked out by cutting it up?

What term describes recurring fixed forms that consist of more than one word and whose meaning cannot be worked out by cutting it up?

• A. Multi-word units
• B. Lexical field
• C. Global error
• D. Pre-systemic error

Answer: (A)

Fixed, recurring phrases made of more than one word that function as a single unit of meaning are called multi-word units. These expressions are often non‑compositional, meaning you can’t reliably figure out the overall sense by simply combining the meanings of the individual words. Instead, they need to be learned as chunks because their whole meaning isn’t predictable from the parts. This group includes idioms such as “kick the bucket” (to die) or “by and large” (generally speaking), as well as other fixed or semi-fixed expressions that appear repeatedly in language. The other terms describe different ideas: a lexical field is a set of related words, and global or pre-systemic error terms refer to error types rather than to a kind of lexical item.

Fixed, recurring phrases made of more than one word that function as a single unit of meaning are called multi-word units. These expressions are often non‑compositional, meaning you can’t reliably figure out the overall sense by simply combining the meanings of the individual words. Instead, they need to be learned as chunks because their whole meaning isn’t predictable from the parts. This group includes idioms such as “kick the bucket” (to die) or “by and large” (generally speaking), as well as other fixed or semi-fixed expressions that appear repeatedly in language. The other terms describe different ideas: a lexical field is a set of related words, and global or pre-systemic error terms refer to error types rather than to a kind of lexical item.