The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three
distinct but related constructions in English: a
verb and a
particle and/or a
preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit. This semantic
unit cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual
parts in isolation, but rather it must be taken as a whole. In other
words, the meaning is non-compositional
and thus unpredictable.[1]
Phrasal verbs that include a preposition are known as prepositional
verbs and phrasal verbs that include a particle are also known as
particle verbs. Additional alternative terms for phrasal verb
are
compound verb, verb-adverb combination, verb-particle
construction, two-part word/verb, and three-part word/verb
(depending on the number of particles), and
multi-word verb.[2]
Examples
One can discern at least three main types of phrasal verb
constructions depending upon whether the verb combines with a
preposition, a particle, or both.[3]
The words constituting the phrasal verb constructions in the following
examples are in bold:
-
- Verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal verbs)[4]
- a. Who is looking after the kids? –
after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional
phrase after the kids.
- b. They pick on Joseph. – on is a
preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on
Joseph.
- c. I ran into an old friend. – into is
a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase into
an old friend.[5]
- d. She takes after her mother. – after
is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase
after her mother.
- e. Sam passes for a linguist. – for is
a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase for a
linguist.
- f. You should stand by your friend. – by is a
preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase by your
friend.
-
- Verb + particle (particle phrasal verbs)
- a. They brought that up twice. – up
is a particle, not a preposition.
- b. You should think it over. – over
is a particle, not a preposition.
- c. Why does he always dress down? – down
is a particle, not a preposition.
- d. You should not give in so quickly. – in
is a particle, not a preposition.
- e. Where do they want to hang out? – out
is a particle, not a preposition.
- f. She handed it in. – in is a
particle, not a preposition.
-
- Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional
phrasal verbs)
- a. Who can put up with that? – up is a
particle and with is a preposition.[6]
- b. She is looking forward to a rest. –
forward is a particle and to is a preposition.
- c. The other tanks were bearing down on my panther.
– down is a particle and on is a
preposition.
- d. They were really teeing off on me. – off
is a particle and on is a preposition.
- e. We loaded up on Mountain Dew and chips. –
up is a particle and on is a preposition
- f. Susan has been sitting in for me. – in is a
particle and for is a preposition.
The difference between these types of phrasal verbs lies with the
status of the element(s) that appear in addition to the verb. When the
element is a preposition, it is the
head of a full prepositional phrase and the phrasal verb is a thus a
prepositional phrasal verb. When the element is a particle, it
can not (or no longer) be construed as a preposition, but rather it is a
particle by virtue of the fact that it does not take a
complement.[7]
Finally, many phrasal verbs are combined with both a preposition and a
particle.
The aspect of these types of phrasal verbs that unifies them under
the single banner phrasal verb is the fact that their meaning
cannot be understood based upon the meaning of their parts taken in
isolation. When one picks on someone, one is not selecting that person
for something, but rather one is harassing them. When one hangs out, one
is in no way actually hanging from anything. The meaning of the two or
more words together is often drastically different from what one might
guess it to be based upon the meanings of the individual parts in
isolation.
As a class, particle phrasal verbs belong to the same category as the
so-called
separable verbs of other Germanic languages. They are commonly found
in everyday, informal speech as opposed to more formal English and
Latinate verbs, such as to get together rather than to
congregate, to put off rather than to postpone (or
to deter), or to do up rather than to fasten.
Some notes
on terminology
The terminology of phrasal verbs is inconsistent. Modern theories of
syntax tend to use the term phrasal verb to denote particle verbs
only; they do not view prepositional verbs as phrasal verbs.[8]
The EFL/ESL literature (English as a foreign or second language), in
contrast, tends to employ the term phrasal verb to encompass both
prepositional and particle verbs.[9]
The terminology used to denote the particle is also inconsistent.
Sometimes it is called an adverb, and at other times an intransitive
prepositional phrase.[10]
The inconsistent use of terminology in these areas is a source of
confusion about what does and does not qualify as a phrasal verb and
about the status of the particle or a preposition.
Concerning the history of the term phrasal verb, Tom McArthur
writes:
-
- "...the term phrasal verb was first used by
Logan Pearsall Smith, in Words and Idioms (1925), in
which he states that the
OED Editor
Henry Bradley suggested the term to him."
The value of this choice and its alternatives (including separable
verb for Germanic languages) is debatable. In origin the concept is
based on translation linguistics; as many single-word English and
Latinate words are translatable by a phrasal verb complex in English,
therefore the logic is that the phrasal verb complex must be a complete
semantic unit in itself. One should consider in this regard that the
actual term phrasal verb suggests that such constructions should
form
phrases. In most cases however, they clearly do NOT form phrases.
Hence the very term phrasal verb is misleading and a source of
confusion, which has motivated some to reject the term outright.[11]
A diagnostic
When a particle phrasal verb is
transitive, it can look just like a prepositional phrasal verb. This
similarity is another source of confusion, since it obscures the
difference between prepositional and particle phrasal verbs. A simple
diagnostic distinguishes between the two, however. When the object of a
particle verb is a definite pronoun, it can and usually does precede the
particle.[12]
In contrast, the object of a preposition can never precede the
preposition:[13]
-
- a. You can bank on Susan. – on is a
preposition.
- b. *You can bank her on. – The object
of the preposition cannot precede the preposition.
-
- a. You can take on Susan. – on is a
particle.
- b. You can take her on. – The object of
the particle verb can precede the particle.
-
- a. He is getting over the situation. – over
is a preposition.
- b. *He is getting it over. – The object
of a preposition cannot precede the preposition.
-
- a. He is thinking over the situation. –
over is a particle.
- b. He is thinking it over. – The object
of the particle verb can precede the particle.
The object of a preposition must follow the preposition, whereas the
object of the particle verb can precede the particle especially if it is
a definite pronoun, since definite pronouns are very light.
Catenae
The aspect of phrasal verb constructions that makes them difficult to
learn for non-native speakers of English is that their meaning is
non-compositional. That is, one cannot know what a given phrasal verb
construction means based upon what the verb alone and/or the preposition
and/or particle alone mean, as emphasized above. This trait of phrasal
verbs is also what makes them interesting for linguists, since they
appear to defy the
principle of compositionality. An analysis of phrasal verbs in terms
of
catenae (=chains), however, is not challenged by the apparent lack
of meaning compositionality. The verb and particle/preposition form a
catena, and as such, they qualify as a concrete unit of syntax. The
following
dependency grammar trees illustrate the point:[14]
-
-
The words of each phrasal verb construction are highlighted in
orange. These words form a catena because they are linked together in
the vertical dimension. They constitute units of meaning, and these
units are stored as multi-part wholes in the lexicon.
Shifting
A confusing aspect of phrasal verbs concerns the distinction between
prepositional phrasal verbs and particle phrasal verbs that are
transitive, as discussed and illustrated above. Particle phrasal verbs
that are transitive allow some variability in word order depending on
the relative weight of the constituents involved.
Shifting often occurs when the object is very light, e.g.
-
- a. Fred chatted up the girl with red hair. –
Canonical word order
- b. Fred chatted her up. – Shifting occurs
because the definite pronoun her is very light.
- c. Fred chatted the girl up. - The girl
is also very light.
- d. ?Fred chatted the redhead up. -
A three-syllable object can appear in either position for many
speakers.
- e. ??Fred chatted the girl with red hair
up. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently
motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.
-
- a. They dropped off the kids from the war zone.
– Canonical word order
- b. They dropped them off. – Shifting occurs
because the definite pronoun them is very light.
- c. ??They dropped the kids from the war zone
off. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently
motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.
-
- a. Mary made up a really entertaining story. –
Canonical word order
- b. Mary made it up. – Shifting occurs because
the definite pronoun it is very light.
- c. ??Mary made a really entertaining story
up. – Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently
motivated by the weight of the constituents involved.
Shifting occurs between two (or more) sister
constituents that appear on the same side of their
head. The lighter constituent shifts leftward and the heavier
constituent shifts rightward, and this happens in order to accommodate
the relative weight of the two. Dependency grammar trees are again used
to illustrate the point:
-
-
The trees illustrate when shifting can occur. English sentence
structures that grow down and to the right are easier to process. There
is a consistent tendency to place heavier constituents to the right, as
is evident in the a-trees. Shifting is possible when the resulting
structure does not contradict this tendency, as is evident in the
b-trees. Note again that the particle verb constructions (in orange)
qualify as catenae in both the a- and b-trees. Shifting does not alter
this fact.
Origin of
phrasal verbs
Prepositions and adverbs can have a literal meaning which is spatial
or "orientational", and then, as happens with all words, metaphorical
meanings develop that are systematic extensions from the original core
meaning.[15]
Many verbs in English can interact with an adverb or a preposition, and
the verb + preposition/adverb complex is readily understood when used in
its literal sense.
-
- He walked across the square.
- She opened the shutters and looked outside.
- When he heard the crash, he looked up.
The function of the prepositional phrase/particle in such clauses is
to show the relationship between the action (walked, opened,
looked) and the relative positioning, action or state of the
subject. Even when such prepositions appear alone and are hence
adverbs/particles, they have a retrievable
prepositional object. Thus, He walked across clearly shows
that the "walking" is "across" a given area. In the case of He walked
across the square, across the square is a prepositional
phrase (with across as its head word). In both cases, the
single-word/multi-word expression (across and across the
square) is independent of the verb. The action of the subject (walking)
is being portrayed as having happened in/at/on/over a certain location (across
the square). Similarly in She opened the shutters and looked
outside and When he heard the crash, he looked up, outside
is logically outside (of) the house, and up is similarly
an adjunct (= upwards, in an upwards direction, he is
looking in a direction that is higher than where his eyes were
previously directed).
Phrasal verbs are represented in many languages by
compound verbs. An intermediate state is in
Dutch, where de lamp aansteken (to light the lamp) becomes,
in a
principal clause, ik steek de lamp aan (I light the lamp).
Phrasal nouns
An extension of the concept of phrasal verb is that of
phrasal noun, where a verb+particle complex is nominalized.[16]
The
particle may come before or after the verb.
-
- standby: We are keeping the old equipment on
standby, in case of emergency.
- back-up: Neil can provide technical backup if
you need it.
- onset: The match was halted by the onset of
rain.
- input: Try to come to the meeting – we'd value your
input.
If the particle is in first place, then the phrasal noun is never
written with a hyphen, if the particle comes second, then there is
sometimes a hyphen between the two parts of the phrasal noun.
The two categories have different values. Particle-verb compounds in
English are of ancient development, and are common to all Germanic
languages, as well as to Indo-European languages in general. Those such
as onset tend to retain older uses of the particles; in Old
English on/an had a wider domain, which included areas which are
now covered by at and in in English. Some such compound
nouns have a corresponding phrasal verb but some do not, partly because
of historical developments. The modern English verb+particle complex
set on exists, but it means "start to attack" (set itself
means start a process). In modern English there is no exact
verbal phrase equivalent to the older set on, but rather various
combinations which give different nuances to the idea of starting a
process, such as winter has set in, set off on a journey,
set up the stand, set out on a day trip, etc.
Verb-particle compounds are a more modern development in English, and
focus more on the action expressed by the compound; that is to say, they
are more overtly "verbal".
See also
Notes
-
^
That unpredictable meaning is the
defining trait of phrasal verb constructions is widely assumed.
See for instance Huddleston and Pullum (2002:273) and Allerton
(2006:166).
-
^
Concerning these terms, see
McArthur (1992:72ff.).
-
^
Declerck, R. Comprehensive
Descriptive Grammar of English, A – 1991 Page 45 "The term
multi-word verb can be used as a cover term for phrasal verbs,
prepositional verbs, prepositional phrasal verbs and
combinations like put an end to."
-
^
The Collins Cobuild English Grammar
(1995:162) is a source that takes prepositional verbs to be
phrasal verbs. Many other grammars, in contrast, distinguish
between prepositional verbs (the additional word is a
preposition) and phrasal verbs (the additional word is a
particle).
-
^
Ron Cowan – The Teacher's Grammar
of English: A Course Book and Reference 2008 Page 176
"The Adverb Insertion Test – Earlier, we saw that
intransitive phrasal verbs usually do not permit the insertion
of an adverb between the verb and the particle, and the same is
true of transitive phrasal verbs, as (25a) and (25b) show. In
contrast, prepositional verbs do permit adverb insertion, as
(25c) demonstrates.
(25) a. *He turned quickly out the light. = separable phrasal
verb.
b. *He ran unexpectedly into his cousin = inseparable phrasal
verb.
c. He stared intently at the target = prepositional verb.
The Relative Clause Test Relative clauses in which the
relative pronoun is the object of a preposition permit the two
patterns shown in (26).
(26) a. The man [that they were waitings/or] was late b. The man
[ for whom they were waiting] was late. In (26a), the
preposition for is at the end of the relative clause enclosed by
square brackets, but (26b) shows that this preposition can also
occur at the beginning of the clause before the relative pronoun
whom."
-
^
Jeanette S. DeCarrico The structure
of English: studies in form and function – Volume 1 – Page 80 –
2000 "4.6.3 Prepositional Phrasal Verbs – It is also possible to
find phrasal verbs that are themselves followed by a
preposition. These structures are called prepositional phrasal
verbs or multiword verbs. Examples are put up with (e.g., I
can't put up with "
-
^
For a list of the particles that
occur with particle phrasal verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin
(2000:319).
-
^
For examples of accounts that use
the term phrasal verb to denote just particle verbs (not
prepositional verbs as well), see for example Tallerman
(1998:130), Adger (2003:99f.), and Haiden (2006).
-
^
This fact can be easily verified by
googling "phrasal verb". The online resources for EFL/ESL
learners produce lists of phrasal verbs. These lists include
both particle phrasal verbs and prepositional phrasal verbs.
-
^ Huddleston and
Pullum (2002:273), for instance, use both particle and
intransitive preposition to call what is being called a particle
here.
-
^ Huddleston and
Pullum (2002:274) reject the term phrasal verb precisely
because the relevant word combinations often do not form
phrases.
-
^ For an example of
the shifting diagnostic used to distinguish particle verbs from
prepositional verbs, see Tallerman (1998:129).
-
^ Concerning the
difference between particles and prepositions with phrasal
verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin (2000:318).
-
^ That constructions
(including phrasal verb constructions) are catenae is a point
established at length by Osborne and Groß (2012).
-
^ Concerning the
extension of literal meaning to metaphorical meaning with
phrasal verbs, see Knowles and Moon (2006:17).
-
^ Concerning the
term phrasal noun, see McCarthy and O'dell (2007).
References
- Adger, D. 2003. Core syntax: A minimalist approach.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Allerton, D. 2006. Verbs and their satellites. In The
handbook of linguistics, ed. by B. Aarts and A. McMahaon,
126–149. Malden, M.: Blackwell Publishing.
- Collins Cobuild English Grammar 1995. London:
HarperCollins Publishers.
- Haiden, M. 2006. Verb particle constructions. In M.
Everaert and H. van Riemsdijk, The Blackwell companion to
syntax, volume V. 344–375. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
- Juraffsky, D. and J. Martin. 2000. Speech and language
processing. Dorling Kindersley, India: Pearson Education.
- Huddleston, R. and G. Pullum 2002. The Cambridge grammar
of the English language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
- Knowles, M. and R Moon. 2006. Introducing metaphor.
London: Routledge, 2006.
-
- Long, T. (ed.). 1979. Longman dictionary of English
idioms. Longman Group Limited.
- Macmillan phrasal verbs plus dictionary. 2005
Oxford: Macmillan Education 2005.
- McArthur, T. 1992. The Oxford companion to the
English language. Oxford University Press.
- McCarthy M. and F. O'dell. 2007. English phrasal
verbs in use. Cambridge University Press.
- Osborne, T. and T. Groß 2012. Constructions are
catenae: Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar.
Cognitive Linguistics 23, 1, 163–214.
- Oxford phrasal verbs dictionary. 2001.
- Tallerman, M. 1998. Understanding syntax. London:
Arnold.
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