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as an example： He makes his friends a laughing stock. He made his friends a laughing stock. He is making his friends a laughing stock. He has made his friends a laughing stock. Making his friends a laughing stock is his deed. B. Number In English the changing of the number mainly refers to the changing of the plural from of the noun plural，For example: A lame duck—the lame ducks C. Case The possessive case of nouns can be transferred into noun endocentric structure with post-modifier. For example: Lie near sb’s heart→ lie near the heart of sb Fortune’s wheel→ wheel of fortune D. Adjectives and Adverb The change of adjective and adverb mainly refers to the comparative degree and superlative degree of the adjectives and adverbs. For example: She had a hard heart, but he had a harder heart. She had a hard heart, but he had a hardest heart in their group. II．Lexical change Idioms are structurally fixed, and as a rule one is not supposed to change any element in idiomatic. But it is not unusual for writers to give a new twist to an old saying by making slight changes for rhetorical effect. A. Replacement The replacement of one element by another without affecting the meaning of the whole: In many cases one noun can be substituted for another without affecting the meaning of the whole, the substitutable words being usually synonyms. For example: Come into blossom/flower (Zhang, 2004); Make a bolt/dash for; Take to bits/pieces; Take pains/trouble over; Rise from the dead/grave (Zhang, 2004); In some idioms, a constituent may be replaced by a word of the same part of speech, resulting in synonymous or antonymous idioms. (1) Verb, e.g. make [cut] a figure, make [pull off] a great coup, catch [get, seize, or take] hold of, keep [break] one’s word, take [lose] heart. (2) Noun, e.g. down in the bushes [mouth], a drop in the ocean [bucket], on the increase [decrease], in the know [dark]. (3) Adjectives, e.g. in good [high, fine, full] father, by all [no] means, take long [short] views, on a large [big, vast] scale. (4) Article, pronoun, numeral, e.g. flea in one’s [the] ear, in a [some] sort, come off one’s [the] high, lay a [one’s] course, take thirteen [nineteen] to the dozen. (5) Adverb or preposition, e.g. drop in [over, by], by [in] the lump, turn on [off], go with [against] the stream, give handle for [to]. B. Addition In some idioms, some constituents can be added or deleted, which does not affect the meaning of the idioms. For example: Be [very, fairly] well off, Deal someone a [severe, heart] blow, Behind [the] bars, [For] all night, Form [the bottom of] one’s heart, As broad ad [it is] long, For good [and all] Bear one’s cross---bear a [terrible, heavy] cross (Zhang, 2004) Keep an eye on--- keep a [careful, professional, sharp, watchful] eye on Play it safe ---play it very safe Take pains---take [great, endless] pains C. Deletion In English idioms, some elements, especially articles can be deleted. For example: Play it very safe--- play it safe Stand one’s trial for--- Stand one’s trial When in Rome, do as the Romans do--- When in Rome, do as the Romans At the outs (1968 WNWD) --- at outs (1982 COD); Pull the wires (1964 COD) --- pull wires (1979 CDOEL) Hit the (right) nail on the head (1976 COD) ---hit the nail on the head (1979 CDOEL); Talk (cold) turkey (1965 COD) ---talk turkey (1982 COD) (Zhang, 2004); D. Position-shifting The posit