Phraseological units and free word-groups. Criteria for distinguishing
The confusion in the terminology reflects insufficiency of positive or wholly reliable criteria by which phraseological units can be distinguished from “free” word-groups.
It should be pointed out at once that the “freedom” of free word groups is relative and arbitrary (произвольная). Nothing is entirely “free” in speech as its linear relationships are governed, restricted and regulated, on the one hand, by requirements of logic and common sense and, on the other hand, by the rules of grammar and combinability. One can speak of a black-eyed girl but not of a black-eyed table.
Free word-groups are so called not because of any absolute freedom in using them but simply because they are each time built up anew in the speech process whereas idioms are used as ready-made units with fixed and constant structures.
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