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g) by using a sentence in a different sphere of life (e.g. that
cock won’t fight);
h) by using some unreal image (e.g. to have butterflies in the
stomach, to have green fingers);
i) by using expressions of writers or politicians in everyday
life (e.g. corridors of power, American dream, the winds of
change).
Secondary ways of forming phraseological units are those
when a phraseological unit is formed on the basis of another
phraseological unit. They are:
a) conversion: to vote with one’s feet → vote with one’s feet;
b) changing the grammar form: make hay while the sun
shines → to make hay while the sun shines;
c) analogy: curiosity killed the cat → care killed the cat;
d) contrast: acute surgery → cold surgery;
e) shortening of proverbs and sayings: you can’t make a silk
purse out of a sow’s ear → a sow’s ear;
f) borrowing phraseological units from other languages,
either as translation loans: living space (German), to take the bull
by the horns (Latin); or by means of phonetic borrowings: sotto
voce (Italian)

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