Timeline for When can compound verbs be split?
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7 events
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| May 22, 2023 at 6:20 | comment | added | BillJ | I wasn't referring to the terminology, but to the fact that "take off" is not a single word, not a verb, but two separate constituents at word level. See my comments above to Cascabel and to the OP. | |
| May 21, 2023 at 20:06 | comment | added | Tinfoil Hat | @BillJ ‚ I'm aware that CGEL does not use the term phrasal verb for the above, but rather verb-particle-object construction. | |
| May 21, 2023 at 17:32 | comment | added | BillJ | @Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ The same applies. For example in "They took off" ('fled') "took off" is a constituent, but it is not a constituent at word level: it’s a verb phrase. Verb is a word category, like noun, adjective, etc., and it’s "take" that is a verb: this is the word that takes verbal inflections. So we have "They have taken off", but not *"They have take offed". | |
| May 21, 2023 at 17:01 | comment | added | Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ | ...and how does the intransitive version of "take off" work here? @BillJ | |
| May 21, 2023 at 16:59 | comment | added | BillJ | How can you 'split' a verb when it's not a verb in the first place? It's not the whole expression "take off" that is a verb, but just the word "take". "Off" is a separate constituent, a preposition. | |
| May 21, 2023 at 16:28 | comment | added | John Lawler | You're right to be cautious about "phrasal verb" terminology, but that's certainly the phrase to google. The answer to the question is that only the phrasal verbs that govern the "particle shift" syntax rule allow the object to precede the particle and require it of pronoun objects. | |
| May 21, 2023 at 15:32 | history | answered | Tinfoil Hat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |