A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and preposition, a verb and adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and preposition, any of which are part of the syntax (of the sentence), and so are a complete semantic unit. A phrasal verb has meaning which is different from the original verb.
According to Tom McArthur:
...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.
Alternative terms for phrasal verb are ‘verb phrase’, ‘compound verb’, ‘verb-adverb combination’, ‘verb-particle construction (VPC)’, AmE “two-part word/verb’ and ‘three-part word/verb’ (depending on the number of particles).[1]
'Preposition' and 'adverb' as used in a phrasal verb are also called 'particle' in that they do not alter their form through inflections, (are therefore uninflected – do not accept affixes, etc.).
No comments:
Post a Comment