Which term refers to phrases learned as wholes, such as "Once upon a time"?

• A. Formulaic
• B. Function words
• C. Grammatical morphemes
• D. Generalisation

Answer: (A)

Formulaic language is about chunks of language that are learned and stored as whole units rather than created anew from rules each time. Phrases like “Once upon a time” are fixed sequences you retrieve as a single piece, used as a conventional opener in many contexts. This makes them fluently produced and recognized, which is different from generating language by assembling grammatical rules on the fly. The other options don’t fit because function words are small glue words, grammatical morphemes are affixes that mark tense or number, and generalisation refers to applying patterns rather than using fixed expressions.