Bally remarks in passing, as Hall does not, that the inversion in toujours est-il que is part of a set phrase and hence invariable.
Source: wiktionary
Set phrase
Synonyms for "set phrase" (45 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (9)
Noun(6 words)
Adjective(1 words)
colloquial idiom
Strong matches (14)
Noun(10 words)
conventional phrasefixed expressionfraserafrozen unitidiomatic expressionidiomatic usageidiomsinseparablesis notjumps in ideas
Adjective(3 words)
Related words (22)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
6 entriesMore specific
10 entriesboilerplate expressioncanned expressioncanned phraseconventional phraseformulaic expressionfrozen expressionidiomatic expressionstandard clausestandard locutionstock phrase
Collocations
8 entriesboilerplate phrasecanned expressionconventional phrasefixed expressionformulaic expressionfrozen expressionidiomatic expressionstock phrase
Inflections
3 entriesmore set phrasemost set phraseset phrases
Derivations
4 entriesSample sentences
3 total sentences available.
American courts sometimes use cherry in place of apple, but the latter fruit vastly predominates. The American version is that rare set phrase that is not so well set, variations on the phrase being more common than the main phrase itself.
Source: wiktionary
If it proves clearly unfeasible to make the audience laugh at a thin and far-fetched joke, it is always better to change the way the joke works . . . for instance, a pun based on the speaker's taking literally some set phrase or metaphor with a pun based on phonetic similarity.
Source: wiktionary