Timeline for "I will call you back" instead of "I will call back you" Why?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
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| Jun 2, 2014 at 9:19 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Some verb + adverb and verb + preposition constructions are just that; some constructions that look just like them are actually multi-word verbs. Of these, the transitive ones may be optionally separable, obligatorily separable, or inseparable. | |
| Jun 2, 2014 at 7:39 | comment | added | WS2 | @Wlerin But working as prepositions? I wouldn't know. I do not profess to be a grammarian like some on this site. | |
| Jun 2, 2014 at 0:59 | comment | added | Wlerin | @WS2 But back is not a preposition? And neither for that matter is the "up" in that apocryphal phrase. | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 9:44 | comment | added | WS2 | @Wlerin If you were trying to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition, once de rigueur, you could say 'Back he quickly called', though 'up with that you might not feel inclined to put'! | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 9:09 | comment | added | Wlerin | On further review, the issue is that the particle and the direct object are separate pieces. They cannot both be topicalised at once, whereas the entire prepositional phrase can be. You can topicalise "back", or you can topicalise "the landlord", but not both, as in "Back the landlord he quickly called with the answer." Any of "With the answer he quickly called back the landlord", "The landlord he quickly called back with the answer", and "Back he quickly called the landlord with the answer" would be just dandy, though. | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 9:01 | comment | added | Wlerin | @WS2 You could... but not "Back the landlord he quickly called with the answer'. The issue is more the fronting of the object, I suspect, than the particle. Or perhaps, the fronting of both at once (I think you could get away with just the object if you left the particle where it belongs). | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 9:01 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | I suppose you could … though I’d at least put a question mark before it. It’s borderline ungrammatical to me. I’d certainly never say it, and though I’d understand it, hearing it used in conversation would definitely be a thing that makes me go “hmm”. | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 8:58 | comment | added | WS2 | @JanusBahsJacquet But you could say 'back he quickly called with the answer'; couldn't you? | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 8:52 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | “We walked down the road” is not a phrasal verb; it is just a verb followed by a prepositional phrase ‘down the road’. Similarly, you cannot say, “I will give it you to”, etc.; but you can topicalise the prepositional phrase: “Down the road we walked”, “to you I will give it”, which we cannot do with a phrasal verb: *“Back the landlord I will call” (vel sim). | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 8:48 | comment | added | Wlerin | And as a further example, "I need to call back the landlord," sounds acceptable to me, but, "I need to call back him," does not. So also, neither "we will get back it," nor, "I will make up it" are correct. With the exception of your last example (which I believe is something else entirely), pronouns seem to prefer placement between the verb and particle. | |
| Jun 1, 2014 at 8:17 | history | answered | WS2 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |