Are there more expressions like "on the run" and "on the go"?

[VOYAGER]

In my opinion those two expressions seems abnormal to some non-native speakers at least for me. Because it's first known that the words run and go are classified as verbs and the word the being an article must be written before nouns as usual. What do you think?
Some people may say that the given words are not verbs at all at their displayed usage. My question is then that if there are similar expressions other than those two ones.

 

[emsr2d2]

In my opinion, those the two expressions in the title seems seem abnormal to some non-native speakers at least for me. Firstly, because it's first known that the words run and go are classified as verbs, and the word the being is an article and is usually must be written before nouns. as usual. What do you think?

Some people may say that the given words are not verbs at all at their displayed usage when used in those expressions. My question is then that if whether there are similar expressions other than to those two. ones.

I have no idea what the underlined part means above. They either seem abnormal to some native speakers or they seem abnormal to you. Which one is it?
Both "run" and "go" can be nouns. See HERE and HERE. (You need to scroll quite a long way down the page for the definitions of "run" as a noun.)

 

[VOYAGER]

I have no idea what the underlined part means above. They either seem abnormal to some native speakers or they seem abnormal to you. Which one is it?
Both "run" and "go" can be nouns. See HERE and HERE. (You need to scroll quite a long way down the page for the definitions of "run" as a noun.)

Thanks for corrections. The part you've underlined is meant that it's me if there will be only one non-native speaker who finds it abnormal.
Do you have any answer(s) to the original question given as the title of my post? Thanks again.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks for your corrections. The part you've underlined is meant means that it's me if there will be only one non-native speaker who finds it abnormal.
Do you have any answer(s) to the original question given as in the title of my post? Thanks again.

The underlined part is no clearer than the original.

In order to answer your other question, you'll need to give us at least one example sentence for each phrase and then we can see if there's a suitable alternative to each one.

 

[probus]

Coming back to the OP's question, there are additional similar synonyms such as "on the move" and "on the march".

 

[VOYAGER]

The underlined part is no clearer than the original.

Thanks for all your helpful corrections. The sentence in which the phrase at least was written is not the main problem. You can omit it. On the other hand I must state that I had used it in the sense that could be found in the examples below:

(1) It will take you at least 20 minutes to get there.
(2) He had at least £100,000 in savings.
(3) At least he didn’t lie to me.
(4) I don’t expect you to pay me, but you could at least cover my expenses.
(5) The house still needed a lot of work, but at least the kitchen was finished.

Let me clarify the actual matter: As far as I can guess, the words go and run are taught firstly as infinitive forms of verbs in many countries (excluding the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). Therefore a non-native learner/speaker of English language first learns these two words as two members of the most used verbs in English, especially in Present Simple Tense type sentences. This is why the phrases "on the go" and "on the run" may seem abnormal/strange/irregular to a non-native learner of English because he/she notices that the verbs go and run follow definite article/determiner the. However a verb can not follow definite article the-by definition or use of the.

I first saw the phrase "on the run" as the name of a futuristic instrumental song (released by Pink Floyd music band in 1973).

I first noticed the second phrase "on the go" in a technical abbreviation. It is written as USB OTG which stands for Universal Serial Bus On The Go-a small sized electronic data storage device.

I can not imagine or understand some hypothetical or imaginary phrases like "on the make"/"on the write"/"on the take", etc. So I have just been wondering whether there are similar phrases to those two in the title of my original post. Please do not tell me just not to wonder. It is obvious that there will always exist some non-native learners of English who will be wondering about it.

Unusual forms/structures in a language may usually be interesting for some people having curiosity.

 

[VOYAGER]

Coming back to the OP's question, there are additional similar synonyms such as "on the move" and "on the march".

Could you please write a few examples in sentences. It may be more helpful.

 

[probus]

See several examples here: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/on-the-move

 

[Tarheel]

You can use "on the take" and "on the make" also.

 

[probus]

There ard indeed many other expressions with "on the" (e.g. on the rib, nod, game) but neither they nor "take" and "make" relate to moving from place to place.

 

[VOYAGER]

You can use "on the take" and "on the make" also.

Thank you very much indeed. By the help of your answer, I have found examples for both in Longman's online dictionary.

 

[Tarheel]

@VOYAGER There are a bunch of phrases with "on the" in them. For example, somebody who is on the mend is recovering from an injury or illness.

 

[Skrej]

'on the lam' means fleeing from police or other authorities. It does carry some sense of movement, but someone who is on the lam might also be trying to hide from authorities by staying in one concealed or remote location.

I'm not sure why you're so confused about them. I think you're trying to over-analyze some kind of deeper connection between these phrases. I would suggest you just consider them as idiomatic set phrases.

 

[Tarheel]

Somebody who is on the ball is managing things well.

 

[jutfrank]

It's extremely common in English (and many other languages) to use words that are first and foremost verbs as nouns.

Let's go for a walk.
Have a look at this.
It's your go.

 

[VOYAGER]

I'm not sure why you're so confused about them. I think you're trying to over-analyze some kind of deeper connection between these phrases. I would suggest you just consider them as idiomatic set phrases.

Thanks for your concern. Actually I may not be said to be confused about them. What seems unusual to me or some other non-native learners of English is the particular grammatical case in which a word mostly known as a verb follows the definite article (the). Because it seems to violate the rule stating that usually a noun or an adjective type of word can follow the definite article (the):

Of course I know that some words may be classified in both categories of nouns and verbs, for example the words book and water are such nouns. These two words also have verb forms, you already know. O.K., but some non-native learners of English are unfamiliar with the cases like "on the go" and "on the run". Most of these people think at first look that "go" and "run" are verbs and they can not make sense of the two phrases. That is the reason why I wanted to know whether there are more expressions like them.

It can be concluded that non-native learners of English use a different pattern of language learning. It's not natural language learning because they do not live in the target language. Their cognitive skills which are configured according to their native languages may not allow them to feel the probable actual meaning of grammatical cases that they face in English phrases. Each language may have different logical paths and configurations, so they operate in different ways or patterns of logical interpretation and reasoning.

Thanks for your suggestion. It may be useful and simple after all.

 

[Tarheel]

I think you mean they do not live where the language is spoken by everybody around them every day.

 

[VOYAGER]

It's extremely common in English (and many other languages) to use words that are first and foremost verbs as nouns.

Let's go for a walk.
Have a look at this.
It's your go.

Thanks for your contributions. The actual matter is the particular grammatical case of the form "on the+base form of a verb".
Your examples "a walk/a look" are well-known. Perhaps "on the walk/on the look" are in use in living English. You may confirm if it is the case.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know what "on the walk" means. I don't know "on the look" either.

 

[VOYAGER]

I think you mean they do not live where the language is spoken by everybody around them every day.

I had intended to use a figurative expression by the sentence "they do not live in the target language."
What I mean is that most people can not process a second language exactly the same way as their own languages all the time. Their individual thoughts are produced mostly by/in their own languages and they may be said to live in their own languages in cognitive sense. Natural bilinguals may be exceptions because they may be accepted to live in two languages at the same time.