[...] seems to be no correlation between decision times and the "frozeness" of the phrase - i.e. the extent to which it can undergo syntactic variation [Fraser, B., 1970, Idioms within transformational grammar, “Foundations of Language”, 6] *"the bucket was kicked by John" is not possible variant of "John kicked the bucket", but "the ice was broken by John" does seem to keep its idiomatic reading.
- Butterworth (2004), Pag. 16