Multiword Verbs

INTRODUCTION
English has a large number of multiword verbs, which consist of a combination of a
verb and one or two other elements. The discussion in this chapter recognizes three
main categories of multiword verbs - phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal
prepositional verbs - and each category is described in terms of both syntactic and
semantic characteristics. The relatively simple treatment that these verbs receive here
accords with their treatment in the syntax literature on this topic and is intended to
make the topic easier for both teachers and students to grasp.
A clearer understanding of the different types of multiword verbs can provide a basis
for explaining some of the documented difficulties that English language learners
have with them. It should also enable teachers to better organize the teaching of these
special verbs, which sometimes receive an inaccurate and incomplete presentation
in textbooks.

PHRASAL VERBS
Phrasal verbs are made up of a verb and a following particle. The term particle is used
to refer to words that function as prepositions or adverbs in other contexts (e.g., up,
down, away, around) but do not function as prepositions or adverbs when part of a
phrasal verb. Examples of phrasal verbs are presented in (1).
(1) a. Tony set up all the chairs before class began.
b. Daniela handed in her homework early.
c. Don't give up!
The meaning of a phrasal verb cannot always be predicted from the meanings of its
individual elements. For example, the meaning of rule out ("eliminate") cannot be de-
termrned by simply understanding what rule means and combining that meaning with
the meaning of out. This is one reason that phrasal verbs present a challenge to English
language learners.'
Phrasal verbs fall into two major categories: transitive phrasal verbs, as in (2a), and
intransitive phrasal ver衒， as in (2b).

170
 Mα／t/wo/d Verbs 171

t/ 〃 P
(2) a. Maggie [looked up] [the address].
v
b. Maggie [sat up]

Transitive Phrasal Verbs

Transitive phrasal verbs fall into three categories, depending on where the object NP
can occur in relation to the verb and the particle.

Separable Transitive Phrasal Verbs

In (2a), we see the transitive phrasal verb looked up followed by the direct object NP
the address. This sentence could, however, be rewritten as in (3).
(3) Maggie looked the address up.
Sentence (3) illustrates that look up is a separable transitive phrasal verb. It is classi-
fled as such because its parts may be "separated" by an object; that is, the direct object
may appear between the verb looked and the particle up.
Separable transitive phrasal verbs occur frequently in conversation, fiction, and news
reports.2 They appear less frequently in academic writing. Examples of separable tran-
sitive phrasal verbs that occur with high frequency are get back, pick up, put on, look
up, make up, take off; take on, and turn off A more complete list of these verbs is in
Appendix A.
PARTICLE MOVEMENT
The separation of the phrasal verb is the result of applying the particle movement rule,
which moves the particle to the position following the object. This is shown in (4b).
(4) a. Maggie looked up the address.
b. Maggie looked - the address up
ㅣ 수

Most transitive phrasal verbs take the particle movement rule. As long as the direct
object of a separable phrasal verb is not a pronoun, the particle movement rule is op-
tional (i.e., you can apply it or not). If, however, the direct object is a personal pronoun
(him, her, it, them, etc.) or a demonstrative pronoun (this/that, these/those), the particle
movement rule must be applied. Thus, if we change the direct object in (5a), the tele-
phone number, to the pronoun it, we must apply the particle movement rule, as shown
in (5b). Otherwise, an ungrammatical sentence results, as shown in (5c).
(5) a. John looked up the telephone number.
b. John looked it up.
c. *John looked up it.
The particle movement rule is optional if the direct object is an indefinite pronoun, such
as some and other, or a quantifier, such as afew and several, as (6a) and (6b) illustrate.
isome 〕
(b) a. I niclel un 《 , . 7:,`,, 》 tflis morning.
ㄷ＝
( 44J VVJ ∼
1 somei
0. 1 nici(eu `＇쟁 /l】｀., 7 up tnis morning.
I(4Jcvv) ' -,
172 Chapter 9

BLOCKING PARTICLE MOVEMENT: END WEIGHT

Although the particle movement rule is optional except in cases such as the one shown
in (5c), native speakers will not apply it if a transitive phrasal verb is followed by a long
object noun phrase, as illustrated in (7).
(7) John looked up some iiVbrmatzon about an early religion "' wine)나brces of
nature such as fire were worshipped.
One reason for not applying the particle movement rule in this case is to avoid creating
a sentence such as (8).
(8) John looked some inform ation about α＇
' earzy religion in wi沇／나brces qrnature
such as fire were worshipped up.
Although (8) is grammatical, it sounds clumsy because the particle is so far away
from the verb. The sentence violates the principle of end weight, a general tendency in
English that can be formulated as follows: put long, "heavy" elements such as complex
NPs at the end of a clause or sentence, rather than in the middle. Failure to follow the
principle of end weight with phrasal verbs that have long object NPs makes a sentence
harder to process or understand.3

Inseparable Transitive Phrasal Verbs

A small group of transitive phrasal verbs do not permit the particle to move over the
direct object even if it is a pronoun, as (9) and (10) illustrate. Particle movement is not
possible with these inseparable phrasal verbs.
(9) a. Don't pick on my brother.
b. Don't pick on him.
c. *Don't pick him on.
(10) a. Look after my sister, will you?
b. Look after her, will you?
c. *Look her after, will you?
As with separable transitive phrasal verbs, the meanings of inseparable transitive
phrasal verbs usually cannot be deduced from the sum of their parts. For example, the
meanma "annoy. nester" is not obvious from the verb + particle combination pick on in
(9). This small group of verbs includes come by ("acquire"), look into (""invest1gatej,
and run into ("encounter"); see also Appendix A.

Permanently Separated Transitive Phrasal Verbs

A very small group of transitive phrasal verbs require that the direct object occur be-
tween the verb and the particle. These verbs are therefore referred to as permanently
separated transitive phrasal verbs. The particle cannot appear directly after the verb,
as (11) and (12) illustrate.4
(11) a. That job is getting Janice down.
b. That job is getting her down.
c. *That job is getting down Janice
(12) a. The judge let the thief off with a light sentence.
b. The judge let him off with a light sentence.
c. *The judge let off the thief with a light sentence.
 Multiword Verbs 173

In addition to get (someone) down and let (someone) off this group of verbs includes ask
(someone) out, do (something) over, and see (something) through; see also Appendix A.
There are a few idioms that appear to be permanently separated transitive phrasal verbs.
However, in contrast to permanently separated verbs, these verbs are highly restricted to
certain nouns for their objects. It is therefore more appropriate to view the structures as
idioms that have the same form as permanently separated transitive phrasal verbs. The
idioms in (13a) and (13b) mean "cry profusely," and "laugh uproariously," respectively.
(13) a. He cried his eyes out.
b. She laughed her head off.

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

We can distinguish two types of intransitive phrasal verbs: pure intransitive phrasal
verbs and ergative phrasal verbs As with other phrasal verbs, the meaning of an in-
transitive phrasal verb usually cannot be arrived at by simply combining the meanings
of its individual parts.

Pure Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

The pure intransitive phrasal verbs took off and sat down are shown in (14) and (15),
respectively. As (14b) and (15b) illustrate, the verb part of an intransitive phrasal verb
usually cannot be separated from the following particle by an adverb.
(14) a. The plane took off quickly and climbed to cruising altitude.
b. *The plane took quickly off and climbed to cruising altitude.
(15) a. She sat down very slowly and began to cry.
b. *She sat very slowly down and began to cry.
Pure intransitive phrasal verbs, common examples of which include come over ("vis-
it"), get together ("meet"), and line up (see Appendix A for others), are used primarily
in conversation and fiction. They are used less frequently than transitive phrasal verbs
in news reports and much less frequently in academic prose.
Like single-word intransitive verbs, intransitive phrasal verbs may be followed by
prepositional phrases. These often describe thematic relations that we saw in Chapter
8 For example, the next item in the PP headed by on in (l6b) has the thematic role of
goal. It is what we are moving on toward, Similarly, the hotel in the PP headed by of in
(17b) has the thematic role of the source of the action expressed by checked out. Sen-
tences (17c) and (l7d) show that prepositional phrases of location (in Nice) and time (on
Tuesday) may follow thematic relations of goal or source.
(16) a. We are going to move on.
PP
b. We are now going to move on [to the next item].
(17) a. He checked Out.
PP
b. He checked out [of the hotel].
c. He checked out of the hotel on Tuesday.
d. He checked out of a hotel in Nice on Tuesday.
174 Chapter 9

It is important for teachers to recognize that prepositional phrases of goal and

source are not part of the preceding intransitive phrasal verbs. Failure to do this can
result in teaching students that there are two different verbs that they have to learn -
check out and check out of This error, which occurs in some textbooks, can lead students
to believe that the task of learning phrasal verbs is far more daunting than it actually is.5

Ergative Phrasal Verbs

Some phrasal verbs are ergative; that is, they describe an action that is experienced by
the subject. Typical examples are die down, taper off and crop up, as shown in (18);
see Appendix A for others.
(18) a. After about an hour, the storm began to die down.
b. At the end of December, sales of consumer goods usually taper off
c. Over the past two weeks, a number of problems have cropped up.
Some ergative phrasal verbs have transitive counterparts, which take the particle
movement rule. Examples of these paired ergative phrasal verbs and their transitive
counterparts are shown iii (19) and (20). (The verbs in [18], in contrast, can be termed
unpaired ergative phrasal verbs).
(19) a. The ship blew up. ergative
b. The terrorists blew up the ship. transitive counterpart
c. The terrorists blew the ship up. transitive counterpart
(20) a. Her shoes wore out. ergative
b. She wore out her shoes walking to work. transitive counterpart
c. She wore her shoes out walking to work. transitive counterpart

SUMMARY
PHRASAL VERBS
,Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and particle, which together have the meaning of a
‘「肋iIe verb. There are two types: transitive and intransitive.
',!' I-fe picked 쨔7some milkαrthe supermarket.
：길，
' Wake up! It's late.
'!)Transitive phrasal verbs may be separable, inseparable, or permanently separated: ,
媤 ·Separable transitive phrasat verbs have parts that can be separated by the direct
4 object of the phrasal verb through application of the particle movement rule.
He looked 쨔’ the number.
He looked the number 쨔？.
「 ·Inseparable transitive phrasal verbs cannot take particle movement.
He 7α〃 across αpicture of his father in αphoto album.
*He／α＇ ' αpicture of his father across /'z αphoto album.
* Permanently separated transitive phrasal verbs have parts that must be separated
by the direct object.
The coach's α仇tude is getting the team down.
*The coach's attitude is getting down the team.
 Multiword Verbs 175

h＄聊se ph烱saI. ye
1hepi wtgakoff
ze sat:dowz y

－軻e phrasal ye
《．，…
4mt앵색me inte,轉쟈
『 OJ」a suaaen se커erai고
W
Some phrasal verbs, called
The SUfl came out, and the
The hot sun dried Up i/ic pools of waler on the pavement, transitive ::: ,:,;::
샀

EXERCISE 9.1
Identify each phrasal verb in italics as separable transitive, inseparable transitive, perma-
nently separated transitive, pure intransitive, ergative, or paired ergative.
Example: On his way home, Alec stopped at the supermarket to pick up some milk.
Answer: pick up = separable transitive phrasal verb
1. Under the intense heat of the sun, the water hole gradually began to dry up.
2. As he was walking through the woods he came upon a freshly killed deer.
3. He didn't know the answer, so he made one up.
4. Would you please hand out these brochures to the other members of the committee?
5. The police thought they had the thief cornered, but he got away.
6. NE stands for "never exceed" speed. If you fly the plane over the NE speed, it may break
up and start to shed parts.
7. She believes that he loves her, but I think he is stringing her along.
8. We're getting together this weekend with some friends from college.

PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
Prepositional verbs consist of a verb and a following prepositional phrase, as already
discussed in Chapter 8. Typical examples are decide on, stare at, care for, standfor, de-
pend on, and apply for. (See Appendix A for others.) Like many phrasal verbs, prepo-
sitional verbs are transitive. However, their second element is a preposition and so their
two parts cannot be separated by the object, in contrast to separable trai'isitive phrasal
verbs, to which particle movement can apply. An attempt to separate the verb and
preposition will produce an ungrammatical sentence, as (21b) and (22b) illustrate.
(21) a. He applied for the job.
b. *He applied the job for.
(22) a. Alice depends on her mother.
b. *Alice depends her mother on.

Also, in contrast to phrasal verbs, with most prepositional verbs meaning can usually
be deduced from the verb alone. However, some have meanings that are not obvious
from the verb alone or from the two parts together. Examples of these prepositional
verbs include stand for, which means "represent," and call on, which means "visit."
176 Chapter 9

Tests for Distinguishing Between Phrasal and Prepositional Verbs

It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a sentence contains a phrasal verb or
a prepositional verb. One test that can sometimes help with this determination is that
phrasal verbs have meanings that are not the sum of their parts, whereas the mean-
ings of prepositional verbs are usually revealed in the verb that precedes the preposi-
tion. But using this semantic test alone will not be sufficient to decide many cases.
A number of syntactic tests, one of which we have already touched on in Chapter 8,
provide evidence that allows us to determine whether we have a phrasal or preposi-
tional verb.

The Particle Movement Test

Only separable phrasal verbs can take particle movement. Thus, if the element after the
verb can be moved over a following direct object, as (23) and (24) illustrate, we know
that we have a separable phrasal verb.
(23) In an argument, Sam will always back up his buddies.
(24) Bill won the argument because Sam backed him up

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 inser-
tion because the preposition is part of a PP.
(25) a. 차ie turned quickly out the light, separable phrasat verb
b. *He ran unexpectedly into his cousin, inseparable phrasal verb
c. He starec朴ntently at the target. prepositional vcrb

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 waiting for] 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. The pattern in (26b) is possible only with
prepositional verbs, and not with phrasal verbs. The preposition in a prepositional verb
can appear with the relative pronoun; the particle in a phrasal verb cannot. Thus, if we
take a phrasal verb such as put on and a prepositional verb such as depend on and put
them in relative clauses, we find that only the sentence with the prepositional verb is
grammatical if the element following the verb is moved in front of the relative pronoun,
as in the pattern in (26b). This comparison is illustrated in (27b) and (28b).
(27) a. The dress, which she tried on, didn't fi나ter. phrasa! verb
b. *The dress on which she tried didn't fit her.
(28) a. The person who he depends on the most is his brother, prepositional verb
b. The person on whom he depends the most is his brother.
 Multiword Verbs 177

The Wh- Question Test

Wh- questions with prepositional verbs can have two forms. In the first, shown in (29a),
the preposition remains at the end of the question In the second, shown in (29b), the
preposition occurs at the beginning of the question.
(29) a. Who were you shouting at?
b. At whom were you shouting?

Phrasal verbs cannot have the pattern shown in (29b), as (30b) illustrates.

(30) a. What are you looking up?

b. *Up what are you looking?
Thus, the wh- question test is similar to the relative clause test, and together these four tests
permit us to distinguish between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs, both of which ap-
pear to have the same external structure -, verb + element. Particle movement is possible
only with separable transitive phrasal verbs, adverb insertion and the two patterns for rela-
tive clauses and for wh- questions are possible only with prepositional verbs.

These tests provide a justification for proposing the small class of inseparable transitive
phrasal verbs, These verbs, unlike other phrasal verbs but like prepositional verbs, do not
take particle movement, so why put them with phrasal verbs rather than prepositional verbs?
The reason is that they do not pattern with prepositional verbs on the other syntactic tests.
This is shown in (31) with the verb run across, which means "encounter" or "discover."

(31) a. He ran across an old manuscript in the library. inseparable phrasal verb
b *He ran unexpectedly across an old manuscript
in the library, adverb insertion
c. *The manuscript across which he ran was quite
valuable, relative clause
d. *Across what did you run in the library? wh- question

In addition to failing the adverb insertion, relative clause, and wh- question tests for
prepositional verbs, run across passes the semantic test that most phrasal verbs do: its
meaning is not readily determined from the sum of its parts or primarily from the verb,
as is the case with most prepositional verbs. The combination of these syntactic and Se-
mantic factors justifies categorizing verbs such as run across, falifor ("become attracted
to"), look into ("investigate"), look after ("care for"), and pick on ("molest, mistreat") as
inseparable transitive phrasal verbs. More examples can be found in Appendix A.

Constructions That Look Like Prepositional Verbs

There are two constructions that have a superficial similarity to prepositional verbs. A
closer look reveals the clear differences.

Verb + Noun Phrase + Adjective

Verbs such cut, set, and wash can be followed by adjectives to create a meaning that dif-
fers from that of the verb when it stands alone. For instance, cut short means "curtail,"
and setfree means "liberate." These combinations seem to have meanings that are a literal
product of their components, rather like prepositional verbs. However, these combinations
differ from prepositional verbs in that the element following the verb is an adjective; and
although the combinations are transitive, its two elements are usually separated, as shown
in (32) and (33). There are some exceptions to the latter point, for example, cut short, as
shown by (34b), in which the adjective appears directly after the verb.
178 Chapter 9

(32)a. The gamekeepers set the young honfree.

b. *The gamekeepers set free the young lion.
(33)a. After a few minutes she was able to work the ropes loose.
b. *After a few minutes she was able to work loose the ropes.
(34)a. Robert had to cut his vacation short and fly home the next day.
b. Robert had to cut short his vacation and fly home the next day.
Be + Adjective + Preposition
The verb be combines with various adjectives and specific prepositions (primarily of
and to) to form predicates that have the same meaning as simple verbs. For instance, be
able to and can have the same meaning, as do be afraid of and7rear, be fond of and like,
and be aware of and know. These combinations clearly differ from prepositional verbs
in their inclusion of an adjective. They are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 12.
(35)a. I'm aware ofyour objections to the plan.
b. He is notfond of my brother-in-law.

;1 REPOSITIONAL VERBS .
Prepositiorialve出sconsist ofa transitive verb followed by a preposition with which
it isk closely associated.
" He sta논edat the girt
' She fina巧7 decided on the blue car
Pretositionai verbs do not take the particle movement rule. The verb and the fol-
lowii甥 prepos拗on can be separated by an adverbs and the preposition can precede
:; ;a 倒ativ pronoun and appear at thc beginning of a wh- question.
；』，
;,，綽 , He 汐t 구re心ntentzyαr ／締」girl,
:,, The girlαrwhom he was staring was strikingly beautiful.
』 /4$ whom"fag he staring? ;1

In addition to being distinguished from phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs can be

『 distinguished from two constructions that they superficially look like: verb+ noun
phrase + adjective sequences and be + adjective + preposition sequences.
They set the captive animals free.
He is very fond of my sister.

EXERCISE 9.2
Identify each verb + element combination as a phrasal or prepositional verb and use the
syntactic tests (particle movement, adverb insertion, relative clause, wh- question) to sup-
port your choice.
Example: He shouted at the girl.
Answer: prepositional verb (It doesn't take particle movement: *He shouted the girl at. It
takes adverb insertion: He shouted angrily at the girl. The preposition can occur
at the beginning of a relative clause, The girl at whom he shouted ran away; or a
wh- question, 爪 whom was he shouting?)
 Multiword Verbs 179

1. He finally figured out the answer.

2. 자rn chairman 价dn't comment on 出e proposal.
3. He is just getting over 澈 bad case of the flu.
4. This new fad is catching on all over the country.
5. All of the stress that was associated with the job was getting John down.

EXERCISE 9.3
Answer each question about phrasal and prepositional verbs.
1. Which of these two classes of multiword verbs has intransitive forms?
2. How many subclasses of phrasal verbs are there? Provide an example of each one.

PHRASAL PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

The final category of multiword verbs,phrasal prepositional verbs, consists of verbs that
are followed by two elements. The verb and the first element, a preposition, is followed
by a prepositional phrase. All phrasal prepositional verbs are followed by objects, and
hence are transitive. Some common examples of verbs in this category are do away with
(something), look up ro (someone), put up "／鮮z (something), run up against (something),
and look forward to (something). See Appendix A for other examples.
Most of these verbs have one-word equivalents. For example, do away with is equiva-
lent to "exterminate" or "abolish"; look up to to "admire"; put up with to "endure" or
"tolerate"; run up against to "encounter"; look forward to to "anticipate"; come up with
to "produce"; come down with to "develop (an illness)"; and look down on to "despise."
The final element of these verbs cannot be omitted before the object without changing
the intended meaning, as (36), (37), and (38) illustrate.6
(36) a. I guess I will have to put up with his bad behavior.
b. *1 guess I will have to put up his bad behavior.
(37) a. Joan really looks up to her father. She almost worships him.
b. *Joan really looks up her father. She almost worships him.
(38) a. You will have to come up with a better excuse than that.
b. *You will have to come up a better excuse than that.
An object may follow some of these verbs, for example, He let her in on a secret and
They put his grouchiness down to overwork. Some verbs in this category may take
objects other than nouns and pronouns. For example, the phrasal prepositional verbs in
(39a) and (40a) are followed by gerund complements, which is true for other types of
multiword verbs.
(39) a. We are looking forward to seeing you at the party.
b. We are looking forward to the party.
(40) a. He got away with telling a terrible lie.
b. He got away with murder.
180 Chapter 9

SUMMARY
PHRASAL PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
Phrasal prepositional verbs consist of a verb followed by two elements: a particle
and a preposition. They are transitive.
Joan really looks up ro her fathe r.
／介’// have /o come up with α better excuse.

EXERCISE 9.4
Indicate whether each sentence contains a phrasal prepositional verb, an intransitive phrasal
verb followed by a prepositional phrase, a prepositional verb, or a construction that simply
looks like a prepositional verb.
Example: He came up with a great idea.
Answer: came up with = phrasal prepositional verb
1. I wasn't aware of that.
2. She listened intently to what the speaker was saying.
3. It took her over 15 minutes to scrub the pot clean.
4. The new boss said that he planned to do away with some procedures that he felt were
inefficient and costly.
5. They broke out of prison and fled across the border.
6. She thinks that her boss looks down on her, but he doesn't.

THE USE OF MULTIWORD VERBS

Some scholars claim that English multiword verbs are used more frequently in infor-
ma!, colloquial speech than in formal speech and writing.7 The Longman Spoken and
Written English Corpus (the LSWE corpus) shows that this is not exactly true. Overall,
both phrasal and prepositional verbs are used most frequently in speech and fiction,
less frequently in news reports, and much less frequently in academic English. How-
ever, even this distribution does not tell the entire story. Some prepositional verbs (e.g.,
refer to, live on) are used with greater frequency in academic English than in conversa-
tion. Other prepositional verbs of a type referred to as "causative" (e.g., lead to, result
in, contribute to, allow for) actually occur more than twice as frequently in academic
English as in news reports or fiction and much more frequently than in conversation.
Thus, it appears that the frequency of usage of multiword verbs depends as much on the
verb as on the register of English.
Given the widespread use of multiword verbs in different registers, it seems that a good
policy for teachers might be to avoid any statements about preferences for using the
verbs in certain contexts. Instead, teachers can tell their students that multiword verbs
are on a par with single-word verbs and that, as with single-word verbs, their meanings
and grammar have to be individually learned.
 Multiword Verbs 181

PROBLEMS THAT ESL/EFL STUDENTS HAVE WITH

MULTIWORD VERBS
Three studies (Dagut & Laufer, 1985; Hulstijn & Marchena, 1989; Laufer & Ehas-
son, 1993) examined learners' avoidance of phrasai verbs in favor of their single-word
synonyms. All three studies found that ESL students whose Lis do not contain phrasal
verbs - for example, Hebrew - tend to prefer single-word English verb equivalents
to phrasal verbs, whereas students whose Lis have phrasal verbs tend to use English
phrasal verbs. A study by Sj5holm (1995) indicates that results in learning English
phrasal verbs are related in part to their presence or absence in the learner's native
language. Thus, it appears that experience with phrasal verbs in the Li is an important
factor influencing whether students will be receptive to learning and using them.
Two types of errors were found in our corpus of written errors made by Spanish and
Korean ESL students. The errors in our corpora all involve prepositional verbs. Their
specific details and possible causes are discussed next.

Omitting Prepositions from Prepositional Verbs (Spanish, Korean)

When an English prepositional verb has a meaning equivalent to a verb in the student's
Li that lacks a preposition, the learner may omit the appropriate English preposition.
Spanish speakers' compositions provide examples of this. The equivalent of the Eng-
hsh prepositional verb listen to is escuchar in Spanish. Similarly, look at corresponds
to the Spanish mirar or ver, and cope with is equivalent to the Spanish aguantar. The
errors in (41) are the result of omitting the necessary prepositions from the English
verbs. The Spanish equivalents are shown below the errors.
(41) a. *Every day I listen the radio and I hear...
Todos los dIas escucho ／α radio . . .
b. *Jf I look a picture I can learn very well.
Si miro unafoto . . .
c. *They are coping this situation'with calm...
Estan aguantando esta situacln . . .
This problem occurs in other languages as well. The example in (42)is from a Korean
student's composition The Korean equivalent of the English prepositional verb major
in has no preposition before a direct object.
(42) *There are many careers which students majoring psychology can choose.

Inserting Unnecessary Prepositions After a Verb (Korean)

An English single-word verb may have an Li equivalent that takes a specific preposi-
tion. In this case, the English language learner may insert an English preposition that
matches the required Li preposition. The Korean equivalent of English enter requires a
directional postposition -e ("to") following its object (as discussed in Chapter 8, Kore-
an uses postposltions instead of prepositions). This inclusion is carried over to English
in (43), where the preposition to is included before the object, the United States.
(43) *There are hundreds of other ways for terrorists to enter to the United States.
These errors are quite common in the Korean corpus. They can also result from the
fact that transitive verbs in Korean may be preceded by more than one case particles.
For example. the Korean verb 'taytap-hata' (answer-do) can take either the dative
182 Chapter 9

case particle -'eyI--ek'y by itself or -ey/-'ekey plus the accusative particle (l)-ul/ey
and tayhayse (on or about). Korean learners of English may assume that the dative
particle -ey/-'ekey, which appears in both options, corresponds to the English preposi-
tion to. Furthermore, they may be unaware of the restrictions on the English verb an-
swer. Hence when they use the verb answer they may insert their English equivalent of
-eyl--'eykey after it, thereby producing ungrammatical sentences like the one in (44).
(44) *All students are answering to the questions at their own speed.

Incorrect Choice of Verb

Some errors that we have found, such as the one in (45), seem to be due to imperfect
learning, not Li transfer. They occur in the writing of students from a variety of Li
backgrounds. In (45), a Korean ESL student appears to have chosen the prepositional
verb look for ("seek") instead of the appropriate phrasal look after ("care for, tend").
(45) *They [women] can accept changes like spending most of their time looking
for babies happily and willingly.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING MULTIWORD VERBS

Multiword verbs are often given limited coverage in English language teaching text-
books. A number of specialty textbooks are devoted solely to teaching the meanings of
multiword verbs, but the coverage and presentation in these is often haphazard.8 The
particle movement rule may be indirectly conveyed by modeling both patterns, but of-
ten transitive phrasal verbs are lumped together with verbs that are neither phrasal nor
prepositional. Little or no attempt at showing the structure of multiword verbs is made,
beyond stating that some verbs are separable and others are not. As a result, students
can see no system to multiword verbs in these presentations, and the erroneous descrip-
tions that are sometimes provided give the impression that learning multiword verbs
requires more effort than it actually does.
Since you will frequently encounter incorrect information or virtually no information
about multiword verbs in commercial textbooks, it will be helpful to you and your stu-
dents if you become familiar with the different categories of these verbs presented in
this chapter. This will allow you to correct errors in commercial texts and prepare your
own teaching materials and tests on this subject. Your goal should be to teach all of the
categories of multiword verbs covered in this chapter. Of course, you do not have to teach
these categories in a particular time span or consecutively as part of a series of connected
lessons. It is probably better to stagger your presentation and provide review sessions to
see whether your students have grasped the grammar as well as the meaning of previously
taught items. You may then want to use Processing Instruction (P1) techniques to examine
how well the students have mastered both aspects (syntax and semantics) of the verbs they
have learned. The research cited previously suggests that English learners may have more
trouble learning phrasal verbs that have a figurative meaning - that is, verbs for which a
corresponding one-word synonym cannot easily be deduced from the component parts,
such as play up ("emphasize"), back up ("support"),face down ("not yield to"), and bring
off ("execute successfully") - thus, you might want to spend a little more time on these.
You should demonstrate the basic grammatical facts of verbs in each category de-
scribed in this chapter. You can find plenty of examples in Appendix A, and you can
add to these, using the syntactic tests to help you decide which category the verbs
 Multiword Verbs 183

belong in. In teaching and organizing your presentation of multiword verbs, you do
not have to use the category labels that were used in this chapter. Other labels are fine,
provided they are consistent and unambiguous.
It is important to introduce and practice multiword verbs within a context. For instance,
you might select examples of the types of verbs you want to teach and then prepare
extended discourse modeling the use of these verbs. It is very helpful to find actual
prose or oral discourse that uses the items you want to introduce your students to, but
this may not always be possible. The best alternative is to write a prose passage or
dialog that uses several multiword verbs. It is possible to start out with phrasal verbs
and then move on to prepositional verbs, but you do not have to follow the order of
presentation in this chapter rigidly. For example, if you are working on a lesson that
deals with intransitive phrasal verbs and a particular prepositional phrasal verb seems
to fit in nicely, then include it. Just be sure that you show your students the grammatical
structure of this new verb category before practicing it. You can expand your covefage
of these verbs in a later lesson or in a review.
Finally, you should address any persistent errors that your students make with multi-
word verbs using recasting, P1, and editing activities as illustrated in Activity 4.

Activity 1: Introducing Transitive and Intransitive Phrasal Verbs (Beginning)

To introduce transitive and intransitive phrasal verbs to beginning-level students, Se-
lect a set of these verbs that can be demonstrated through actions alone, in the case of
intransitives (e.g., stand up, sit down, speak up, turn around), or through actions with
classroom objects in the case of transitives (e.g., pick up, put down, hand out, hand in,
write down, cross out). Have the students act out the phrasal verbs with you. For the
separable phrasal verbs, illustrate the particle movement rule with a diagram on the
board, using one of the sentences that the students act out. Another good activity for
practicing phrasal and prepositional verbs is to present them with a series of illustra-
tions that are used as cues for telling a story.

Activity 2: Rewriting Dialogs with Phrasal Verbs (Intermediate)

Write some short dialogs that contain phrasal verbs that you want to practice. Then replace
the phrasal verbs with single-word verbs that have the same meaning. In class, write on
the board the phrasal verbs that are no longer in the passage you prepared and teach their
meanings. Erase the items on the board and hand out to groups of students the versions of
the dialogs that do not contain the phrasal verbs. Each group is expected to work on rec-
ognizing the points in the dialog where the phrasal verbs are more appropriate. After the
groups have finished, have them act out their dialog for the entire class. If the purpose of
the activity is to review phrasal verbs that the class has covered, simply give them the dia-
logs and tell them to find appropriate phrasal verbs to substitute for verbs in their dialog.

Activity 3: Multiword Verb Card Games (Intermediate)

This activity is a variation of an idea suggested by Sansome (2000). Divide your class
into two teams. Give one team a set of cards that have written on each one a multiword
verb. The set of cards should include several multiword verbs with the same first ele-
ment (e.g., put on, put o[J and put out). Give the other team a set of cards that sepa-
rately list the meanings of the multiword verbs.
The team with the meanings selects a card and shows it to the other team. That team
has to select the appropriate multiword verb. If the correct word is selected, the team
184 Chapter 9

with the definitions then has to make up a sentence in which the verb is used correctly.
Each team gets one point - one team for choosing the correct multiword verb, the other
for making a sentence in which the multiword verb is used correctly.
An alternative game, which is perhaps even more useful, is to give several small groups
a set of cards with multiword verbs written on them. All of the groups are allotted an
amount of time in which to write a story that uses all of the verbs on the cards. When
the time is up, each group presents its story to the class. Points are awarded for using
the muitiword verbs correctly. Members of other teams can challenge the usage of any
verb by an opposing team, but if the challenge is incorrect, the challenging team loses
a point. The teacher is the final authority in deciding whether challenges are valid.

Activity 4: Focusing on Errors with Prepositional Verbs (Intermediate)

A very useful activity is to collect samples of errors that your students make using
prepositional verbs. Compositions are the best source of these. As context, use the
paragraph within which an error is embedded. Correct any other errors in the para-
graph. Put several paragraphs together on a handout. Do not reveal the writers' identi-
ties. Ask the class to read through the paragraphs and see if they can find any errors.
When someone finds an error, have him or her correct it. Write down the corrected
error on the board and ask various students to produce other sentences using the
multiword verb. The passage in (46) is from a composition written by a Spanish-
speaking ESL student in a high-intermediate level class. The passage has been altered
slightly to remove errors that were not related to multiword verbs.
(46) For me it is easier to learn a foreign language when I see what I am learning.
One advantage of seeing the language is that I can learn the correct spelling of
words. When I look a picture or a graph, I remember what I saw. That is why I
prefer a visual style of learning.
In order to present several errors at once, you may have to include several short para-
graphs from different compositions. Although this activity requires some work, it has
one big advantage - it addresses attested errors. This is far better than making up para-
graphs that contain errors that may never occur. As more corpora of errors made by
English learners with different Lls are amassed, our understanding of what real errors
involving multiword verbs look like and how persistent they are will help us develop
instruction that can effectively address them.

ENDNOTES
'Radford (1988), p. 94, notes that phrasal verbs have an "idiosyncratic," or idiomatic, mean-
ing. Nevertheless, there may be some gradation of transparency within phrasal verbs, as
Laufer and Eliasson (1993) suggest. The meanings of so-called literal phrasal verbs such
as hand out ("distribute") and take away ("remove") are transparently predictable. The
meanings of semitransparent phrasal verbs such as clear up ("solve") and lay aside ("save")
are less obvious. And the largest group of phrasal verbs are said to be figurative, in which a
corresponding one-word synonym is not so easily deduced from the parts.
2 See Biber et al. (1999), pp. 409-411.
3Arnold et al. (2000) point out that another reason for following the principle of end weight
is to facilitate the planning and production of sentences, By postponing the production of
long, complex NPs, the speaker has time to formulate them.
4As with irregular verbs, where, for example, the past tense of irregular dive has become
regularized to dived, some items in this class will inevitably migrate into the separable verb
 Multiword Verbs 185

category. This can happen under pressure from end weight. As an example, The judge let
the robber off sounds better than *The judge let off the robber, but The judge let off the poor
old woman with three small children sounds marginally acceptable to some native speakers.
Verbs such as ask out, do over, and see through are good candidates for this migration
5See Hart (1999), p. 59, for an example of this practice.
6 There are some exceptions to this, For some native speakers, the preposition can be deleted
when the object is indefinite. Thus, some native speakers will say "Can't we all just get
along?" Other native speakers prefer an indefinite pronoun object. This requires a preposi-
tion: "Can't we all just get along with each other?"
7Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999, p. 434) suggest that native speakers of English
may prefer a two-word verb like put off as opposed to its Latinate counterpart, postpone,
because the former is considered less formal, although they cite evidence from Cornell
(1985) that two-word verbs are "not absent from formal discourse." It is not clear that this
preference for phrasal verbs in informal discourse can be documented, Data from Biber
et al. (1999) suggest that the reasons for preferring certain phrasal and prepositional verbs
may be more complex than whether some single word verbs appear to be more formal.
8 See for example Acklam (1992), Britten (1991), and Hart (1999).

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