This close to V-ing construction

Part of language	Spoken American English
Meaning of the construction	An agent is/was metaphorically very close to a goal or an outcome.

Construction elements

Small Quantity Gesture Construction

Colloprofile for Element 6

Colloprofile for Element 3

Small Quantity Gesture Construction

duration	Usually for the entire duration of the co-occurring verbal construction.
handedness	oneHand
handshape	Middle, right, and little fingers retracted toward the palm.
handshape	Thumb and index extended or crooked and parallel to each other.
movement	Static hold or beat.
orientation	Palm Lateral.
position	Central space or at face level.
pragmaticProperty	Affective/evaluative framing.
pragmaticProperty	Foregrounding the small quantity of the referent.
semanticProperty	Small quantity.

Examples

Example 1

Text	It was this close to happening, right? This close to happening!
comment	http://go.redhenlab.org/yas/0117

Research

Research Question	Multimodal constructional space
Findings	The verbal form “this close to V-ing” and the close index finger - thumb gesture co-occur 93% of the time. The two forms are likely entrenched together as a single unit, thus making it one formal multimodal unit. The construction is multimodal.

Metadata

Date Created	2026-02-02
Annotator	Yassine Iabdounane

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