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a single concept (whereas in free word-groups each meaningful
component stands for a separate concept). It is this feature that
makes phraseological units similar to words: both words and
phraseological units possess semantic unity. Yet, words are also
characterized by structural unity which phraseological units very
obviously lack being combinations of words.
Most Russian scholars today accept the semantic criterion of
distinguishing phraseological units from free word-groups as the
major one and base their research work in the field of phraseology
on the definition of a phraseological unit offered by Professor A.
V. Kunin, the leading authority on problems of English
phraseology in our country: "A phraseological unit is a stable
word-group characterized by a completely or partially transferred
meaning."
The border-line dividing phraseological units with partially
changed meanings from the so-called semi-fixed or non-
phraseological word-groups (marginal cases) is uncertain and
confusing.
The term "idiom", both in this country and abroad, is mostly
applied to phraseological units with completely transferred
meanings, that is, to the ones in which the meaning of the whole
unit does not correspond to the current meanings of the
components. There are many scholars who regard idioms as the
essence of phraseology and the major focus of interest in
phraseology research.
The structural criterion also brings forth pronounced
distinctive features characterizing phraseological units and
contrasting them to free word-groups. Structural invariability is an
essential feature of phraseological units, though, as we shall see,
some of them possess it to a lesser degree than others. Structural
invariability of phraseological units finds expression in a number
of restrictions. First of all, restriction in substitution. As a rule, no
word can be substituted for any meaningful component of a

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