Transitive phrasal verbs PDF

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

Separable transitive phrasal verbs

(1) Maggie looked up the address We see that the transitive phrasal verb look up followed by the direct object NP the address. This sentence could, however, be rewritten as in: (2) Maggie looked the address up

Sentence (2) illustrates that look up is a separable transitive phrasal verb. It is classified 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. They appear less frequently in academic writing. Examples of separable transitive 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 will be later held. 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. As in the example (2) above. 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 optional. 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 (3a), the telephone number, to the pronoun it, we must apply the particle movement rule, as shown in (3b). Otherwise, an ungrammatical sentence results, as shown in (3c): (3) 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 quantifiers, such as a few and several, as in the following examples:

(4) a. I picked up (some, a few) this morning b. I picked (some, a few) up this morning.

Blocking particle: end weight Although the particle movement rule is optional except in cases such as the one shown before, native speakers will not apply it if a transitive phrasal verb is followed a long object noun phrase, as illustrated in: (5) John looked up some information about an early religion in which forces 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: (6) John looked some information about an early religion in which forces of nature such as its fire were worshipped up. Although the above sentence 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 ate the end of the 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. Inseparable Transitive verbs A small group of transitive phrasal verbs do not permit the particleto move over the direct object even if it is a pronoun, as in the following sentences. Particle movement is not possible with these inseparable phrasal verbs: (7) a. Don´t pick on my brother b. Don´t pick on him c. *Don´t pick him on (8)

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 meanings¡ “annoy, pester” is not obvious from the verb+particle combination pick on in (7). This small group of verbs includes come by (“acquire”), look into (“investigate”) and run into (“encounter”).

Permanently separated transitive phrasal verbs A very small group of transitive phrasal verbs require that the direct object occur between 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 in the following examples: (8) a. That job is getting Janice down. b. That job is getting her down. c. *That job is getting down Janice. (9) 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. 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. 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 the following sentences mean “cry profusely” and “laugh uproariously”, respectively: 10. a. he cried his eyes out. b. She laughed her head off....