"work construction" 'do construction work'

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Wed Dec 31 02:04:51 UTC 2008


> there are plenty of instances of "do N work" (N = volunteer,
> missionary, upholstery, kitchen, plumbing, charity, voiceover,
> inpatient, ...).  but none in the "work N" pattern with the
> appropriate meaning, it seems.  so, a very specific idiom.
-

There are, I think, other examples of "work N". To my mind right now
come "work sales", "work retail", and "work landscaping". I don't know
the relative frequencies but I'm sure I've heard all of these in the wild.

-- Doug Wilson

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