Phraseology and Culture in English

Adverbs fairly, right 
they was fairly missin it 
‘they were (just) missing it’ 
it’s fairly lookin at me 
‘it was looking straight at me’ 
got im right in the chest 
‘shot it precisely in the chest’ 
shot it right in the eye 
‘shot it precisely in the eye’ 
These expressions all come from discourse concerned with hunting and they 
do not seem to occur elsewhere, except, perhaps by extension, with reference 
to fighting, where right may be used as an intensifier, as in he bashed him 
right up. They highlight the sense of precision which is associated with hunt-
ing behaviour. 
5. Syntactic 
Adjustment 
Some, though not all, of the syntactic modifications which occur in the verb 
phrase are the counterparts of those we observed in the noun phrase. 
a) Verb 
anticipation 
The 
term 
thing, or its allomorphs, may occupy the place immediately 
before the verb, thus providing a hesitation space similar to that noted 
with respect to the noun phrase: 
den we um thing, went inside 
‘then we went inside’. 
b) Verb phrase indefinite extension 
Devices also exist, as in the case of the noun phrase, to allow for indefi-
nite extension of what has been expressed in the verb phrase: 
an so R, ‘e started swearin an’ all 
‘and so R started swearing and do-
ing things like that’ 
they was like…sneakin into our 
rooms and stuff 
‘they were sneaking into our rooms 
and doing things like that’ 
c) Deictic 
extension 
A further kind of extension occurs where the speaker provides or alludes 
to kinesic behaviours accompanying what is being referred to and uses 
what we may call “deictic extension” to direct the listener’s attention to 
this non-verbal communication, as in: 
e’d jump up and turn like that there 
‘he’d jump up and turn, as you 
can see / imagine’ 
he walks up with the boxing gloves 
like that there 
‘he walks up with the boxing 
gloves, as you can see / imagine’ 
then she looks like that here 
‘then she looks as you can see / 
imagine’ 

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Ian G. Malcolm and Farzad Sharifian
I was tryin to stay awake like this ‘ere ‘I was trying to stay awake as 
you can see / imagine.’ 
6. Tags
Aboriginal English has developed (from creole) a range of invariant tags 
which may be used for seeking information or confirmation: 
You got a better car than that 
one, inna? 
‘You have a better car than that one, 
haven’t you?’ 
You know when we got up to 
Big Bell, inna? 
‘You know, don’t you, when we went 
to Big Bell’ 
Big one with big titties, unna? 
‘A big [udder] with big teats, eh?’