7. Phrases of Collocations with AND

Phrases with ‘and’ are in common use in English collocations combining specific words in specific order. E.g: we say ‘give and take’, not ‘take and give’. Mostly such phrases are alliterative like ‘bag and baggage’. As a figurative speech these are desirable which add to the style and elegance of writing or speaking often with an emphasis. It is further interesting to note that constituent words of a phrase do not decide its part of speech. For example the phrase ‘bag and baggage’ is an Adverb though both the words of the phrase are noun. She left home bag and baggage. Similarly ‘off and on’ is Adjective whereas both the words are otherwise adverbs. ‘hard and fast’ is an adjective but ‘thick and fast’ is adverb and so is ‘give and take (concessions & compromises)’ which is a Noun phrase in spite of both ‘give’ and ‘take’ being verbs. As for adjective phrases, some are always used as attributive whereas others are always predicative. E.g: a hard and fast rule; rains have been few and far between this monsoon. Some phrases can be used both as an adjective and adverb. Consider following examples: