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lexical samples [items?]

stillwater

Member
korean
The following is my own writing, and I am wondering if "lexical samples" sounds all righ to the native ear. By lexical samples, I mean those clusters of words and phrases that students need in order to write sentences. Thank you in advance for your help!

"In a way, it is impossible for second language students to learn without imitating because they won’t know the right ways to say things unless they’ve heard or seen them used first. They need to understand that there is a clear distinction between plagiarizing and getting the lexical samples, which are essential building blocks as they build their discourse."
If I read this without your accompanying definition of "lexical samples", I would assume the phrase meant something like "examples of words", possibly with their specific context and collocation. But the second part would only be suggested by the underlying idea of your writing and not the phrase itself...

Hope that helps...
I see that "lexical samples" is used in academic writing, but I think it may not mean what you have in mind. I think "lexical units" may be closer.

However, I am not certain I understand what you want to say. It seems possible that the ideas cannot be communicated by a single phrase. Could you please explain your idea using different words?
It's not entirely clear what these things are: a variety of examples might help. But depending on what they are, the expressions I would use include: texts, textual samples, constructions, collocations, expressions, lexical items. Each of these has a somewhat different meaning (which I don't propose to list until I see more clearly what you are aiming for).
If I replace "lexical samples" with "lexical items," does it only refer to words? Or can it mean phrases and collocations too?
Lexical items are words and other such things that need dictionary entries. For example, 'washing machine' and 'atomic force microscope', which you can't understand just by understanding the individual words. So also prepositional verbs such as 'look down on someone'; idioms like 'kick the bucket'; and so on. But not grammatical patterns as such. A lexical item can be explained in a dictionary, rather than in a grammar.
Thank you for taking time to explain. I think I'd change the phrase to

..."there is a clear distinction between plagiarising and gleaning lexical items..."

Does it sound all right?
I think you would want to finish the thought to explain why you are comparing it with plagiarizing. I also think it will be easier if you split the two ideas into two statement. Maybe something like:
They need to understand that there is a clear distinction between plagiarizing and gleaning lexical items from published texts. Such [OR These] lexical items are essential building blocks as they build their discourse.
​
You will be able to improve the wording.

​
Thanks so much, Cagey. I like your suggestion.
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