*** Guide-to-Links ***
ID
ID is a special class of link-types that is generated by the
parser for idiomatic strings listed in the dictionary.
at_hand in_store: MVp- or Mp- or Pp-...
+Pp+IDTB+
| | |
Peace is at hand
Note that the "IDTB" link used here is not explicitly listed in
the dictionary. Rather, the phrase "at_hand" is simply listed as
an idiomatic string. In reading in the dictionary, the parser
generates arbitrary link names, always beginning with the letters
"ID", to link the words of the idiom together.
Little can be said in general about idiomatic
expressions. Probably the largest category are
prepositional-phrase-like constructions which cannot be
handled as ordinary prepositional phrase for some reason. In
the case of "at hand", for example, the singular noun "hand"
normally requires a determiner. Some idioms are more like
adverbs, in that they cannot be complements of "be": "by_car",
"in_turn". Some are actually like prepositions, modifying a
noun or verb and taking another noun as an object: "next_to",
"in_back_of". And some are like conjunctions, taking a clausal
complement: "now_that", "in_case". The dictionary also
includes a few idiomatic noun phrases ("head_of_state") and
verbs ("do_so").
Grammar Documentation Page.