Use of idioms:
Stylistics features:
1. Colloquialisms : e.g. hang in, big wheel, make waves, can of worms
2. Slang: e.g. cancer stick, hit the sack, dish the dirt, feel no pain, in the soup
3. Literary expressions: e.g. come to pass, be it that, in the wake of, give the lie to, of note, cross swords.
RHETORIC FEATURES:
1. Phonetic manipulation:
(1) Alliteration: e.g. chop and change, might and main, rough and ready, part and parcel, toss and turn, bag and baggage, sum and substance, neither fish, flesh, nor fowl.
(2) Rhyme: e.g. kith and kin, toil and moil, by hook and by crook, fair and square, “A little pot is soon hot.” “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” “There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.”
2. Lexical manipulation:
(1) Reiteration (duplication of synonyms): e.g. scream and shout, cut and carve, pick and choose, hustle and bustle, rough and tough, odds and ends, bits and pieces, push and shove, ways and means, by leaps and bounds.
(2) Repetition: e.g. by and by, out and out, such and such, neck and neck, lots and lots, day by day, all in all, face to face, word for word, year in year out.
(3) Juxtaposition (of antonyms): e.g. here and there, up and down, rain or shine, weal and woe, first and last, high and low, back and forth, sooner or later, play fast and loose, move heaven and earth.
3. Figures of speech:
(1) Simile: e.g. as mute as a fish, as dead as a doornail, as graceful as a swan, like a rat in a hole, eat like a horse, sleep like a log, spend money like water, “Time flies like an arrow.”
(2) Metaphor: e.g. black sheep, a dark horse, grey mare, snake in the grass, new broom, flat tire, the salt of the earth, bed of dust, crocodile tears, a wet blanket, black bottle, sit on the fence, fall from grace.
(3) Metonymy: e.g. in the cradle, live by one’s pen, from cradle to grave, make up a purse.
(4) Synecdoche: e.g. earn one’s bread, fall into good hands, two heads are better than one.
(5) Personification: e.g. Failure is the mother of success. Actions speak louder than words. The pot calls the cattle black. Fire and water are good servants, but bad masters.
(6) Euphemism: e.g. the call of nature, sleep around, powder one’s nose, kick the bucket, give leg-bail, big deal, perfumed talk.
Semantic relations in phraseology
(1) synonyms: to skate on ice – to platy with fire;
(2) antonyms: (a) differ in one component – up to date VS out of date; to do one’s best VS to do one’s worst; (b) differ in sets of components – to talk nineteen to the dozen VS to keep mum; (c) differ in meaning - by all means – (a) “of course; certainly (granting a permission)”: “May I make a suggestion?” “By all means.”; (b) “by any means or by any manner of means (following a negative) in any way; at all”: “I'm not poor by any means.”
Variations of idioms:
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Addition or deletion: e.g. behind (the) bars, (for) all night, for good (and all), as broad as (it is) long, thank one’s (lucky) stars, from (the bottom of) one’s heart.
(2) Replacement: e.g. make/cut a figure, make/pull off a great coup, catch/get/seize/take hold of, keep/break one’s word, take/lose heart, down in the bushes/mouth, a drop in the ocean/bucket, on the increase/decrease, in the know/dark, die in harness/one’s boots, in good/high/fine/full feather, on a large/big/vast scale, by all/no means, take long/short views, drop in/over/by, give a handle for/to, turn on/off, go with/against the stream, by/in the lump, flea in one’s/the ear, lay a/one’s course, in a/some sort, come off one’s/the high horse.
(3) Position-shifting: e.g. day and night = night and day, young and old = old and young, play sb a trick = play a trick on sb, fortune’s wheel = wheel of fortune, lie near sb’s heart = lie near the heart of sb.
(4) Shortening: e.g. the last straw = It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back, velvet paws = Velvet paws hide sharp claws, Jack of all trade = Jack of all trades and master of none, a rolling stone = A rolling stone gathers no moss.
(5) Dismembering: e.g. “The leopard! But he did change them, Dinny.” “He did not, Auntie: he had no spots to change.” (The leopard never changes his spots.) A round peg in the squarest of holes < a square peg in a round hole.