Download 복합동사 구문의 수동태화에 관한 연구

복합동사 구문의 수동태화에 관한 연구
李
A
l뚫 *
~
-f::j'"
Study of the Passivization of Syntactic Structures
wi th Compound Verbs
Lee
Y ong
Sung
Contents
I. Introduction
2.
n.
Passive Voice:the Usage and the Definition
1. Usage
2. Definition
rn. Compound Verbs
IV. Syntactic Analysis and Dignosis of Passivization
Np，+Verb-十Adjective/Adverb-+-
Preposition+Np ,
V.
3. Np,+Verb+Np,+Prep. +Np,
4. Np,+Verb+Prep. +Np,I+Prep.+Np,
Apparent. Exceptions
VI. Conclusion
Bi bliography
Possibility
1. Np.+Verb+Part;cle-•Np ,
Abstract
in Korean
본 論文에서는 複슴動詞의 受動態的 用法을 中펴的으로 다루었다. 現代 科字의 쫓達과더불어
客觀的 ;없述方式으로 더욱 널리 使用되어 지고 았는 受動態의 用例는 이제 복합동사에까지 廣範
圍하게 쓰여지고 있으나 그 用法이 자못 混때을 일으키고 있다.
He wen t into the problem.
The train went into the tunne l.
t듭己 의 보기에서 前者는 受動態로 쓰일 수가 있으나 後者는 受動態의 用法을 갖지 않고 있다.
더우기 複合動詞에는 自動詞와 前置詞가 給合된 것 外에도 여러가지 結合方法을 보여 주고 있
으므로.
본 論文에서는 各 複슴動詞를 體系的으로 分類하고，
그 複合動詞가 受動態의
用例를
갖는 規範이 어떤 것인가를 判빠해 보았으며， 受動用法이 可能한 複合動詞의 f列 를 列學해
다.
* 英福f4
專 If뚫 lli1i
-205
보았
쏠 I I I 外 낸 ， :h 人 빗 l倫 X 씨
(第 1 輯
1983.
3)
아울러 上述한 複合動詞 가운데 例外的으로 受動態를 갖지 않는 것을 分類해 보았다.
英語가 外國語인 韓國 사람의 境遇
受動態의 用例가 韓國語요}’比較하여 볼때 쐐異하게 느껴
지며， 이런 差異펴으로 말미암아 英語 뽑得에 적지 않은 障嚴를 받고 있다. 이러한 사람들 에게
本 論文이 複감動詞의 生成領域과 그 用途 그리고 이러한 動詞類의 受動態化 可能性이
뚜렷이
認識될 수 있는 體系플 提(共할 것으로 期待된다.
I.
Introduct ion
There are two di fferent ways of viewing the action of a sentence
its basic meaning.
They are active and passive voices.
without
changing
So we may convey a same idea
in two different voices.
An attempt is made here to find out a certain set of rules which enables
voice to be passivized.
an active
The word passivization employed in the title of this paper has not-
hing to do with the same word now widely used in Generative-transformational grammar.
In this paper , all the materials in English are viewed from the standpoint of the
tional grammar.
tradi-
So what the passivization means here is just becoming passive voice.
As this definition indicates , the correspondence between the active and passive voices represents the core of this study.
Compound verb also needs a definition. At this point we can simPly say that a compound
verb is a group of words that performs the verbial function.
Of course ,
lion of a compound verb leaves many things to be desired. There are many
ambiguities.
this
defini-
forseeable
Some will say that 까h in k twice of" is a compound verb meaning recoπsider，
while others will say that 까 h in k " i s a single transitive verb that has “ t w ic e '’ as an object and the preposition “ o f " with its objec t.
this kind of ambiguity is all around.
The deeper discussion will be made in this paper.
But here , for the sake of conven-
i ence , let ’s say that any multiword ver b that has a synonym in a single word is a
pound verb.
Therefore , what is meant
com-
by the prepositional compound verb is any group
verb that has a t leas tone prepo sition.
They wen t into the porblem.
He went into the room.
As clearly menifested in the above two sentences , went into can either be combined
together to form a multi-word verb , or can be recognised as a single word verb
with
a prepositional phrase.
The preposition into in He went into the room has no relationship with the verb.
Naturally the analysis of syntactic structures to detect out compound
another important factor in this pape r.
verb
will
be
We can learn that the sentence They went into
the problem has a passive correspondence
The problem was gone into , while He went
-206-
into the room allows no passive counterpart. Moreover, in the sentence,
John put up with Mary,
when put up is considered to be a compound verb meaning"!ive,"this sentence can not
have a passive counterpart.
However,
when put up with means tolerate it can be pas­
sivized at any time.
Judging from this, we come to know that there should be a certain set of rules which
prohibits or allows the passivization of an active voice sentence.
finding out that rules.
This
paper
aims
at
But discussion will be confined to syntactic structures that con­
tain compound verbs.
The passivization possibility of sentences with single word verbs may be considered by
the criteria set for the compound verb, but they will not be dealt with in this paper. And
again the activopassive voice
passive meaning without passive structure and
the passive voice sentence without active counterpart will not be discussed here, either.
A study will be made here in accordance with syntectic structures by the order given
below.
NP, + Verb+ Particle + NP,
Np,+Verb+Adj. +Prep. -l-Np,
Np,+Verb+Adv. +Prep. +Np,
Np,+Verb+Np,+Prep. +Np,
Np,+Verb+Prep. +Np,+Prep. +Np,
After the analysis of above syntactic
structures and the full discussion of the possi­
bilities, the distinct exceptions will be studied.
And all the colloqual idiomatic sen tc.icc s in this paper were quoted from these two
books,
Handbook of American Idioms and Idiomatic Usage.
Longman Dictionary of English Idioms.'
n.
Passive Voice: the Usage and the Definition
1. Usage
Passive structures are now used more arid more widely and its usage is ever increa­
sing particularly with the scientific deve lopment.
The r e may be two reasons for this.
First, because any agent in the passive structure can be del eted, it is recognized as
an objective way of expressing an idea.
It is widely used especially in the scientific field,
in which the objectivity of a statement is regarded highly.
1)
Harold C.
Whitford and Robert J. Dixon, Handbook of American
Idioms and
Idiomatic Usage
(Seoul:Tower Press, 1973)
2)
Thomas H. Long et al. ed., Longman Dictionary of English Idioms(Londoll:TiJe Pitman Press,1979)
-207 ­
Second, it is often employed as a means of emphasizing an object in the active struc­
ture.
"This envolves the universal word-order principle that the left-most constituent
is the more topical one:" And moreover, by inserting passive auxillia ry verb, the whole
syntactic structure becomes heavier than its active counterpart, which may help attract
the attention
0
f
readers or' listeners.
2. Def init ion
passive voice is characterized by
support this short description of
the subject which receives the action of verb.
To
the passive voice, the definitions of a few famous gram
marians are introduced.
T. Givon quoted the definition of Pe r lms tte r and Postal as saying "I) the active sub­
ject case ceases to bear any grammatical relation to its verb and ii) the direct object
becomes suject"
in
passive.
And Otto Jesperson said, "As a rule, the person or thing that is the centre of in t r e s t
at the moment is made the subiect of the sentence, and there fore the verb is in some
case put in the active in others in the passive:" He sensed that
used in order to make the object of action focal point of the
the passive voice is
interest.
O. Cur-me also said, "The passive voice rep res ents the subject as acted upon. ,,, Gildersleeve and Lodge had the same definition: "The passive voice denotes that the subject
receives the action of verb. ,"
As clearly manifested in the above quotations, the passive voice has something
to do
with the verb and its non- static quality.
Usually an object receives the action of the verb.
So in order to let the subject re­
ceive the action in the passive structure, there should be an object in its active counter­
part.
We can represent the' relationship of the active and passive voice by chart in this
fashion:
Np,
Np,
+
+
active V
passive V
+
+
Np,
(Prep.
+
Np,)
Here, we can readily see that Np, in the active voice is the prerequisite
In
making it
3) T. Givon, On Understanding Grammar, (New York: Academic Press, 1979), p. 16l.
4) Ibid., p.185.
5)
O. Jesperson, Essentials of Eng Iisb. Grammar,(London:Morrison and Gibb Ltd., 1956), p.120.
6)
G. O. Cur-me, Enelisb. Grammar (New York: Barnes &: Noble Inc .. 1947), p. 53.
7)
B. L. Gildersleeve &: G. Lodge, Latin Grammar (London:Macmillan Press,1869) p.
-208­
151.
into the passive voice, though not a fully sufficient factor.
Some examples which can not be passivized because of the absence of Np, are intro­
duced here:
F'inally, the enimy gave in. (surrendered)
The demand for this article always falls off when the weather gets warm.
(declines)
All of a sudden, the house fell in (collapsed)
The contestant gave up. (retired)
She got up early this morning. (woke)
Next, there should be the non-static quality in the verb.
It means that static verbs can
not be passivized. This explains the reason why the following sentences can not take
their passive counterpatrs.
I have two brothers.
The hall can hold 500 students.
He definitely lacks confidence.
It
may be easy to say that the verb should have the non-static quality
In
order
to
be made into passive s t r uc tu r e , but not that much easy to judge whether a verb is sta­
tic or non- static. Fillmore's "do- so evidence '" may serve the purpose.
Judy found a gem, and Horace did so, too.
Here, with do-so criterion, we can easily say that the verb find is non-static.
However,
exceptions are found righ t away.
*Snow covers t he mountain, and the trees do so, too.
Moreover, "Fillmore himself set aside the the do-so evidence;"
Then, let's think of Lakoff's criteria.
imperative"
He said that the "progressive form" and the" real
application will distinguish the non-static from the static.
But as Anderson
pointed out, the the true imperative contains much difficiency. "Unfortunately, however, La­
koff's criteria do not all define the same set of predicates. ""
We received a lot of comp laints.
*Receive a lot of complaints.
But his suggestion of the progressive form application
IS
very plausible.
We recived a lot of complaints.
Weare receiving a lot of complaints.
8)
John M. Anderson. On Case Grammar (London: Humanities Press,1977),p.28.
Ibid.
10) Ibid.
9)
-209 ­
This criterion may not cover what G. Leech named "verb of innert congition:'"
But
it does not present any major hinderances in its application to prepositional compound
verb, since no prepositional compound verb is proved to be in the category of the
of innert cognition.
verb
So the progressive form criterion will be adopted in this paper
to
detect out the non- static quality of the prepositional compound verb.
m.
Compound Verbs
So far, two prerequisites for an active sentence to be passivized have been discussed.
They are 1) the existence of NP, and 2) the non- static quality of the compound verb. Now
we should be able to tell compound verbs from the rest.
In order to distinguish them
from those which are not compound verbs, various aspects of syntactic structures must
be put to discussion.
Let's have a look at the following two sentences.
A.
He arrived at the splendid station.
B.
He arrived at the expected result.
The comparison of above two sentences presents an interesting aspect.
Though their structures are exactly same (Np,+V+Prep. -l-Np.},
there is a distinct difference. The at of the sentence A is combined with the s plend id s
tat ion to make an adverbial phrase, while the same preposition in sentence B is combined
with arrived to form a compound verb, me aningldr-ew." So we can draw a conclusion that
an intransitive verb plus a preposition has the fuction of a transitive verb.
Otto Jesperson explains this as follows.
"In such sentence as
Everybody laughed at Jim.
laughed, of cou r e s, is intransitive;Jim is governed by or, as it may also be termed
the ob­
ject of the preposition at. But the whole may also be analysed in another way, laughed
at
may be called a transitive uerb having Jim as its object." u So this sentence which has
Jim as the object can be passivized.
However, taking the same syntactic structure into consideration,
certain frames of reference t a draw a line between
we have t a
verb- plus-prepositional
have
phrase
and compound verb-plus-object structures, which will serve as the criteria of the pas­
sivization possibility.
11) Geoffrey N. Leech, Meaninl( ana the English. Verb (Singapore: Singapore Offset
Ltd., 1971). p,
Printing (Pte)
21.
The verb understand can be freely used in the passive voice, though the sentence "We are under­
standing your difficut y " is very awkward.
12) Jesperson, Essentials of Enetisl: Grammar, pp. 122-123.
-210­
1. Pronom inal question from
For this,
the verb.
we
have to study the degree of cohesion of the preposition involved with
When the preposition of a sentence coheres with a verb to make a transitive
verb phrase, this sentence may be converted into what or who (rn ) question form.
John laughed at Jim.
Who (rn ) did John laugh at ?
*Where did John laugh?
Meanwhile, if the preposition has the high degree of cohesion with the noun phrase, it
forms an adverbial phrase and therefore it only takes adverbial question form.
He lay on the bad.
Whe re did he lie?
*What did he lie on?
Like this,
the verb-plus-adverbial ph r a s s pattern only has an adverbial question form.
But we should not jump into the conclusion that all sentences which can be put to pro­
nominal qusestion forms may take their passive counterparts.
John lived with Mary.
Whom did John live with?
*Mary was lived with by John.
As Quirk and others pointed out only some of them can be passivized: "Whereas
all
such verbs by definition take the pronominal question form with who (rn ) /what, only some
of them can take the passive" 13) Palmer also shares the same opinion: "Although the pos­
sibility of what might seem to indicate. that these are transitive verbs with objects, it
does not correlate with the possibility of passivization.""
2. Non-inversion
Prepositional phrase can be placed at the beginning of a sentence, and cause the inver­ sion of subject and intransitive verb.
Into the restaurant raced John.
Up the stairs wafted the fragrant smell of frying fish.
On the table lies a book.
But the preposition of a compound verb does not show this syntactic structure.
*At the expected result arrived he.
*Into the book ran he.
*Over the problem passed he.
This represents the second characteristic of a compound verb ph r a s e.
Here too, one
13)
Randolph Quirk e t aI., A Grammar of Contemporary English (New York:S.eminar Press, 1972),
14)
F.R.Palmer The English Verb(Whitstable:Whitstable Litho
pp.
804- 80 5 •
-211­
Lt d., 1974), p.86.
caution is necessary: this alone can not be the necessary and sufficient condition for the
passivization.
3. One word synonym
All the compou nd verbs have one-word synonyms. "All of them can be replaced, with
little change of meaning, by single word verbs, give in by yeid,look after by tend, carryon
by continue, put up with by tolerate.
In all cases the single word is less colloquiaI.""
This represent a clear difference between verb-plus-adverbial phrase and compound
verb-plus- its object.
There may be a lot of other differences besides aforesaid three conditions, but these
are the most important factors in the study of passivization possibility.
In this manner, we drew out five qualifications for a sentence with a complicated
verb
group to be passivized. They are
A. the existence of Np.,
B. non-static quality,
C. pronominal question form,
D. non-inversion, and
E. replacability by a single word transitive verb.
From now on,
we are going to analyse actual syntactic structures and discuss the pos­
sibility of passivization.
VI. Syntactic Analysis and Dignosis of Passivization Possibility
In this chapter, the study of various syntactic analysis will be conducted to detect out
the existence of compound verbs and examine the possibility of passivization.
1. Np,+Verb
+- Particle+ NP,
1) Static compound verb
He takes after his fater.
This sentence can not take a progressive form.
*He is taking after his fater.
Take after (= resemble) definitely is a compound verb but the static quality of the verb
prohibits this sentence to be passivized.
Similarly, there are some compound verbs which serves to express the relationship bet­
ween the subject and the object. These verbs are called relational verbs.
Leech named these verbs "state verbs of having and being':"
Geoffrey
"In this class, together
wi th the key verbs be and have, belong verbs which include, as part of their meaning, the
notion of
'being' or
'having' ... ·
15) Ibid., P.213.
16) Leech, Meaning and the English Verb, p, 21.
17) Ibid., 22.
-212 ­
I am against your proposal.
He lacks in confidence.
The book belongs to me.
He looks like his father.
The happiness of a country consists in the freedom of its citizens.
The committee consists of ten members.
As clearly shown here, though the verb and the preposition are fused into one
pound verb which functions like a single transitive verb, if there
com­ isn't the non-static
quality in the verb, it can not be passivized.
2) Transitive verb plus preposition
As said earlier, most prepositional verbs consist of intransitive verbs and prepositions.
However we can see many compound verbs which comprise transitive verbs and
prepo­
sitions. The prepositions are added to the transitive verbs in order to specify the direc­
tion of the activity of the verbs or to narrow and deepen the meaning of the verbs.
i ) Specifying the direction
They
fought aginst
He tried to get at
the enemy.
the apple.
Everybody is entitled to stab at
me.
W e v i s ited at his house.
"Catch, grasp, strike, clutch and similar verbs take an object, when
the
accomplished
action is to be expressed, and 'at' when -the attempt is meant:'"
ii ) Narrowing and deepening the meaning of the verb
know about him.
have heard of your success.
He truly believes in God.
He did not mind about being considered poor.
We came to know that the preposition of this combination acts somewhat like an ad­
verb in that it seems to modifiy
the main verb and that it can be omitted without
the
change of the basic meaning of t he whole sentence.
Now the possiblity of passivization:if the syntactic structure of this kind after omi­
ti ng the p reposition can take the passive, the whole structure with the preposition can al­
so take the passive.
For instance, as the sentence, He stabbed me,
can be put
tnto a
passive structure,! was stabbed (by him), the sentence, He stabbed at me, can also
be
converted into a pass ive form,
I was stabbed at (by him).
18) O. Jesperson, IA Modern English Grammar On Historical Principles vol,3: Syntax, Second Volume
(Northampton:John Dickens and Co., Ltd., 1965), p, 253.
-213­
And again, just as He was known by me is ungrammatical, so is the sentence,
He was
known about by me.
3) Phrasal verb and prepositional verb
He ran up the hill
He ran up the flag.
He ran into the book.
The preposition up in the first sentence differs from the same form in the second sen­
tence
in that the former, a preposition, is a part of an adverbial phrase, while the latter,
an adverb, is combined with the verb ran to form a compound verb ran up which means
"hoist:' This type of compound verb that shows the combination of a verb and an adverb
is called a phrasal verb.
Since the full description of the difference between ve rb-l-adver bial phrase and com ­
pound ve rb-l-Its object has been made in chapter ill, some points
of difference between
phrasal and prepositional verb will be presented here,
Four major differences distinguish phrasal verbs from prepositional verbs.
i) Phonetic difference
Usually the adverb of the phrasal verb has a stress when followed immediately by the
verb but loses the stress when located after the noun phrase, whereas the preposition of
the prepoaiikmal verb bears no stress.
"The particle
in
phrasal verbs
is
mor mally
stressed and, in the final position, bears the nuclear tone. " ••
He ran up the flag.
He r an into the book.
ii) Post noun phrase position
The adverb of phrasal verbs can be placed either before or after noun phrases.
And
especially when the noun phrase is a pronoun, it is obligatory to put the adverb after it.
Bu t the preposition of prepositional verb can not change its place.
"The adverb,
but
not the preposition, may occur after the noun phrase:"·
He ran the flag. up.
*He ran the book into.
iii) Adverb insertion
We can put an adverb between the verb and the preposifion of the p r epo s ithonal verb
but not befween the verb and the adverb of the phrasal verb.
He ran fortunately into the book.
*He ran speedily up the flag.
iv) Position in relative clause
19) Quirk et al., A Grammar of Contemporary English, p, 815.
20) Plarne r , The English Verb, p. 216.
-214­
The prepositional verb may take a relative pronoun after the preposition, but the adverb
of the phrasal verb, on the other hand. can not be put before the relative pronoun.
The man on whom they call.
*The man up whom they calL
Here are some prepositional and phrasal .ve rbs which can be employed
structure.
Prepositional Verbs
Adverbial Verbs
allow for (grant)
back up (support)
~pply for(volunteer)
beat up (attack)
call on (visit)
blow up (explode)
care for (like)
break off (sever)
do with (finish)
bring home (emphasize)
bump into (meet)
bring out (reveal)
break into (burglarize)
bring up (rear)
call for (request)
brush aside (ign.oire )
carryon (continue)
burn up (infuriate)
check with (consult)
call off (cancel)
come by (obtain)
carry out (execute)
come across (find)
clear away (remove)
cut in (interrupt)
catch on(understand)
elaborate on (explain)
cut off (terminate)
figure on(guess)
eat away (consume)
go into (discuss)
figure out (dis cove r )
go through (finish)
get across(convey)
hem in (enclose)
get back (regain)
hit upon (discover)
give up (surrender)
hint at (insinuate)
laugh off ~gnore)
object to (oppose)
look over (examine)
laugh at (deride)
Iron out (untangle)
lay in (store)
keep up (maintain)
long for
leave behind (abandon)
(anticipate)
look after (tend)
make up (fabricate)
presume on (abuse)
make out (understand)
look upon (consider)
pass by (ignore)
pant for (desire)
pass over (ignore)
part with(leave)
pull up (stop)
prevail on (persuade)
put down (subdue)
-215­
In
the passive
rely on (trust)
put off (postpone)
reckon with (consider)
put out (extinguish)
run into (discover)
ring up (telephone)
refer to (consult)
run up (hoist)
think of (consider)
round up (capture)
see after (tend)
single out (chose)
wait on (serve)
think over (consider)
4) Ve r b- adjec tive combination
The combination of a verb and an adje ctive has the exactly same function as a phras­
al verb as clearly manifested in' the following examples:
He made clear his intention. (accent)
He made his intention clear. (post noun position)
He made it clear. (pronoun object)
He made clear his intention early.
*He made early clear his intention.
The intention which he made clear
*The intention clear which he made
}
}
(adverb insertion)
(relative pronoun)
"Adjectives in combina tion-v-ar e, however, selected from a rather restricted range
of
adjectives."" Thus a verb in the adjective combined compound verb can not take anyad­
jective at random.
But an adjective may be combined with more than one verb to
form
verb-adjective combination. This constitutes the major difference between the verb-adjec­
tive combination and verb plus adjective complement.
Compare the following two senten­
ces:
He
forced
the door open.
burst
knocked
(verb-adjective combination)
pushed
swung
He found the girl
beautiful
intelligent.
obstinate.
ugly.
(verb+adjective complement)
pretty.
21) Quirk et al., A Grammar of Contemporary English, p 816.
-216 ­
In pas s ive structures, the verb and adjective combined compound verb plus noun phr­
ase undergoes no major difference in comparison with other prepositional verbs, while to
be is inserted in the passivized structure of verb plus adjective complement.
The intention was made clear.
She was found to be pretty.
5) Verb plus preposition and noun phrase
Sometime we come to find that a preposition and a noun phrase are combined toge­
ther to perform the function of the adverb in the phrasal verb or of the adjective of
verb-adjective combined compound verb.
the
Here is an example:
It brings to light the fact. (~reveals)
It brings the fact to light. (post noun phrase position)
It brings them to light. (pronoun object)
Some examples of this kind are introduced here ':
take into consideration (consider)
put to discussion (discuss)
bring into play (introduce)
learn by heart (memorize)
bring to mind (remind)
call to order (start)
set on fire (burn)
take to heart (heed)
keep in mind (remember)
put to use (utilize)
The noun phrase which is immediately followed by the preposition can never be the sub­
ject of the passive structure, Only the object of the verb can be the subject of the pas­
sive sentence.
This brings the fact to light.
*Light was brought the fact to.
The fact was brought to light.
2. Np,+ Verb+ Adjective+ Adverb+- Preposition+ NP,
1) Non-exsistence of compound verb
A. Verb- Complement - Adverbial phr a s e
He became tired after the work.
You were beautiful at the party.
B. Verb- Verb modifier-Adverbial phrase
He worked delightfully for the exam.
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The boy slept soundly on the bus.
C. Intransitive compound verb-Adverbial phrase
I can not put up with the noise.
He got off with a fine.
The above examples do not show any sign of the existence of compound verbs. They can
not be converted into one word synonyms, can not take pronominal question forms (except
example C) and can not be put to inversed structures.
above
2)
And though we can see Np, in
structures, they are not the objects of the verbs.
Prepositional verb plus adverb
They looked closely into the matter.
They can early on him.
Here, also we can not find verb-adverb-preposition combination, only the adverbs
are
inserted in between the verbs and prepositions.
This type of prepositional verbs have already been dealt with in detail.
3) Static compound verbs
I am fond of fishing. (like)
He fell short of repent. (lacked)
His tie goes well with his brawn suit. (suit)
These examples clearly contain compound verbs.
However these compound verbs
do
not have non- static quality in them. In other words, these sentences can not take
the
progressive froms.
And the absence of the activity in the verbs makes it impossible
to
put the sentences into the passive.
4) Phrasal prepositional verb
A group verb made of a verb, an adverb and a preposition is called a phrasal prepo­
sitional verb. A sentence with a phrasal prepositional verb, however, looks similar in su­
perficial sentence structure to the one which consists of an intransitive verb-adverb com­
bination plus adverbial phrase.
John put up with Vivienne.
This sentence may mean John lived with Vivienne or John tolerated Vivienne. This type
of ambiguity can be easily eliminated when a semantic criterion is applied.
Now let's add
one adverbial phrase at the end of the sentence.
John put up with Vivienne in the apartment.
Here, we can readily see that put up is an intransitive phrasal verb with the meaning
"live:' In other words, the preposition has nothing to do with the ver-b, but it adheres
the noun Vivienne to from an adverbial phrase.
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to
But the example below shows different structure.
John put up with Vivienne for two hours.
Now, John lived with Vivienne does not make any sense.
from an entirely different angle. Put up
We must analyze this se nten ce
does not mean lived here.
Rather it is com­
bined with the preposition with to make a phrasal prepositional verb meaning "tolerated"
or "endure~."
Like this,looks down on in the sentence,
He looks down on the boy from the second
floor is different in meaning from that in, He looks down on the boy for his bad school
report.
As we saw, the ambiguity can be got rid of by adding one adverbial phrase.
One more feature: the phrasal prepositional verb always has a figurative meaning. If
look up to meas literally look from a lower place to a higher lace it may not be a
ph­ rasa I prepositional verb.
Meanwhile, if it means respect or admire, in other words, if it has a figurative meanig,
it may be a compound verb.
Now here are some examples of the phrasal prepositional verbs which may be employ
ed in the passive structure.
break in on (interrupt)
brush up on (review)
catch up with (overtake)
check up on (investigate)
chisel in on (penetrate)
close in on (surround)
come down with (catch)
come in for (receive)
come up with (propose)
cut down on (lessen)
do away with (abolish)
get ahead of (supercede)
get down to (begin)
grow out of (abandon
keep away from (avoid)
lash out at (criticize)
live up to (match)
listen in on (overhear)
look down on (despise)
~ok
look forward to (anticipate)
look out for (find)
make away with (steel)
put up with (tolerate)
stand up for (support)
walk out on (abandon)
speak ill of (criticize)
speak up for (defend)
speak well of (praise)
stand up to (resist)
string along with (follow)
take up with (consult)
stick up for (support)
come up to (equal)
up to(respect)
5) Adjective combined prepositional verb.
There is no accepted name for the verb- a'tljective-preposition combination, so for
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the
sake of convenience, it is called adjective combined prepositional verb here.
Since many things have been explained, here a list of this type of compound verbs
is
introduced without any further discussion.
fight shy of (avoid)
get the better of (supercede)
make besl of (utilize)
make light of (ignore)
make familiar with (aquaint )
make little of (minimize)
make much of (admire)
make sure of (confirm)
run counter to (oppose)
steer clear of (avoid)
stay clear of (avoid)
think light of
think the better of
(ignore)
(reconsider)
3. Np,+Verb+Np,+Prep. +Np,
1) Non-existence of compound verb
i) Verb- adjectival phrase- noun phrase
I ate two dozens of eggs.
He saw a cluster of houses.
In this case, we can see Np, in the sentences, but they are not the object of
main verbs.
phrase.
the
Rather the noun phrase, combined with the preposition, forms an adjectival
So the object of the verb is not the Np, but Np,-prep.-Np, in which NP, is
the core.
The Np, may be the subject of the passive. However, no compound verb
can be foundin this structu reo
ii) Verb- Np,-prepositional phrase
I saw him at the party.
John put the
book on the table.
As clearly shown in the above examples, the preposition and the folowing noun phrase
are fused into each other to make an adverbial phrase and thereby does not affect the
basic structure of the sentence.
It can't be a part of sentence coris tiure n ts as it IS put in the traditional grammar.
This type of Np, can not be the subject in the passive structure.
One step further, we will see that in some cases the Np, in this structure may be the
subjec t in t he passive.
Here are examples:
He gave a book to Mary.
- Mary was given a book.
Betty showed a strong hatred against John.
- John was shown a strong hatr-ed,
The Np,(Mary or John) has become the subject
In
the passive.
change the structure without causing the baSIC semantic change.
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And again we can
Np,+Verb+Np,+Prep. -l-Np,
Np, + Ve rb-l- Np, + Np,
The Np, here is often called an indirect object.
"The grammatical
meaning of the
indirect object is beneficiary of the action of the verb-plus-direct object.""
But we can not say that all the beneficiary of the action may be the indirect object.
Here is an example of this exception:
He explained the fact to me.
*He explained me the fact.
*1 was explained the fact.
As we have seen, there is a certain set of verbs which may take two (direct and in­
direct) object and
may
change the sentence structure from Verb-Np,-Prep.-Np,
Verb- Np,- Np, without causing any change of the meaning of the whole sentence.
to
Some
verbs of this kind are shown here.
offer
show
give
award
spare
buy
bring
send
hand
deal
bid
owe
tell
teach
write
:
The Np, in this structure may sometimes become the subject of the passive, but
all of them.
not
We may find something awkward in the passive sentences quoted here.
He was written a letter.
The student was sent a report card.
This awkwardity may be explained from the historical view point. At
first, only
the
direct could be the subject of the passive.
"The new construction, in which the indirect object is made the subject of the pas­
sive verb and direct object is retained as such, is extremely rare before the Mn E pe­
riod."" And this new construction, as Otto Jesperson put it, became to be applied to
mo re and more verbs of this kind.
Again, though the noun phrase after the preposition may be the subject of the passive,'
it does not mean that the verb- Np,- Prep.
can be considered as a compound verb since
the preposition should be deleted before being converted into the passive structure
and
there is no single word synonym of this combination.
2) Static compound verb
Have influence on has the exactly same meaning with exert influence on
Still we
Came to know that a sentence with have influence on can not take its passive cou nter­
22) N. C. Stageberg, An Introductory English Grammar, 2nd ed.
Winston Inc., 1971), p.
184.
23) Jespe-rson, A Modern English Grammar,
p,
302.
-221­
(New York: Holt, Rinehart and
part. The point is that the groun verb exert influence on has the activity while have
influence on does not.
Like this, though a group verb may be converted into one word synonym, if the
main
ver b is have, seem or be, the sentence containing this type of group verb may not
take
the passive because of the static quality of the verb.
3) Non-static compound verb
Some of the verbs may take a limited number of noun snd preposition so act like
a
single word verb. This may be easily explained by the illustrations below:
John made room for Mary.
·John made Mary room.
Mary was made room for.
John made a toy for Mary.
John made Marya toy.
"'Mary was made a toy for.
The illustration shows a good contrast between make room for and make a toy for the
former may be called a compound verb, while the latter has nothing to with the compound
verb.
As shown here, we can find some verb-noun phrase-preposition
pound verbs.
combined com­
Here are some of them:
make love to (prpose)
get hold of (captivate)
lay hold on (control)
take part in (participate)
shake hands with (greet)
take the liberty with (abuse)
keep company with (court)
make friends with (associate)
lay the fool with (deride)
give rise to (cause)
make an honest woman of (marry)
The noun phrase in the middle of these compound verbs has the symbolic relationship
with the meaning of the entire compound verb.
What is meant by this is that, for exam­
ple, the hands in shake hands with may have nothing to do with the meaning of the com­
pound verb, greet. However people usually use their hands (shake hands) when they greet.
Therefore it can be said that the noun phrase in this compound verb has the symbolic
relationship with the meaning of the whole verb.
4) Separble compound verb
Some of the noun phrases in the above-mentioned compound verb may sometimes
be
modified by the restricted number of adjectives such as little, no, much and so forth.
In this case, the noun phrase in the compound verbs, endowed with certain characteri­
stics of a noun may be the subject of the passive.
Musc care was taken of the baby.
The baby was taken much care of.
However, there is a tendency to use the regular passive usage if
prepositional
phrase
is premodified
by an open
class adjective.
the head
of the
In this case it
is
very difficult to put it in the list of compound verbs. The following passive examples are
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awkward, and actually are not used:
The baby was taken good and tender care of.
John hates being found many serious faults with.
Special cases will be made considerable allowance for.
So the qualifiers which may be put in front of the noun phrase are strictly limited.
The following list includes some of the compound verbs of this type:
take advantage of (exploit)
take notice of (recognize)
set fire to (burn)
pay attention to (concentrate)
find faults with (criticize)
make mention of (mention)
make mockery of (mock)
make fun of
make a mess of (muss)
lose sight of (forget)
put an end to (finish)
make use of (utilize)
take care of (tend)
take offence at (offend)
catch sight of (see)
catch a glimpse of (watch)
(deride)
Unlike in the case of the inseparable compound verbs, the noun phrase in this combin­
ation is the practical core of the meaning of the given compound verb.
4. Np, + Verb+ Prep+ NP,+ Prep. + Np.
She fell in love with John.
I kept in touch with her.
This combination may also be employed in the passive.
She is ready to be fallen in love.
He is very di fficult to be kept in touch with.
However, as explained in detail before, the compound verbs,be in love with or
be in
touch with can not be put to passive.
V. Apparent exceptions
So far, various combinations of compound verbs and the possibility of their use in the
passive have been studied.
However, as the old cliche goes, no rule is without exceptions.
Here those exceptions are carefully organized to form another set of rules.
1. Colloqual idiomatic expression
"There are apparently transitive idioms which lack a passive.""
As He kicked the bucket (he died) cannot take the passive without the semantic change
there
are a few transitive colloqual idiomatic verbs.
A. You should not back down on what you said. (withdraw)
24) Anderson, On Case Grammer, p, 2{)8.
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B.
The mayor has ce rtainly fell down on the job. (failed)
C.
He dislikes his uncle and alvay s gives a wide berth to him. (avoids)
l
Especially in the example C, we may notice that the noun phrase in the middle of
the
compound verb has practically nothing to do with the meaning of the whole compound
verb. This represents the major difference between the separable compound verbs
the same combination.
of
As explained before, in the inseparable verbs the noun phrase has
the symbolic relationship with the verb's meaning, and the noun phrase in the separable
compound verb p r-ac tica.lly decide the meaning of
the compound verb.
All these and many other colloqual idiomatic sentences can not take the passive simply
because they are fixed expressions. But the chances are that these may take the pas­
sive if these expressions are accepted and used widely enough.
2. Double passivization
As discussed in the former chapter, the passive sentence can not
be passivized agan
even· if there is a retained object . However, here is an exception.
I can not rid myself of the bad habit.
- I can not get rid of the bad habbit. (pa s siviz afion)
- The bad habbit can not be got rid of. (double pa s s iviz a t ion l
As clearly shown here, get rid of is the passivized from of rid oneself of.
But as
the verb get rid of becomes more and more familiar, it is accepted as one compound
verb meaning eliminate and is used losing its original reflexive usage.
So the following
sentences came into being:
The bad guy should be got rid of.
Your bad habbit must be got rid of.
In Seibido's Dictionary of English Linguistics the rid in !got rid of was defined as an
adjective." But since rid does not show any comparable paradigm, i, e. it can not take re
la tiv e or super relative form which is unique in adjectives Therefore it can not be name
an
adje c tive.
Nor it can be a noun, because it does not take the possesive or become
plural.
3. Parallel structure
Sometimes verb and preposition which lacks in its qualities to be a prepositional
is employed in the passive structures for the sake of subject agreement.
ingenuity, this type of the passive is used to form parallel constructions.
Out of som
Here are the
exam pies:
l' \I not be intimidated or talked back to.
25) Koutarou Ishibashi et al., ed.,
Seibido s Dictionary or English Linguistics. (Tokyo: Seibido,
1972), p. 989.
-224 ­
ver
The soone of the man came not tobe ministered unto.
but to minister.
She was made not to do, but to be done unto.
Heroes in baseball are talked about and remembered as in perhaps no other
sport.
I hate to speak or to
be s pokenv to,
4. Thematization
T. Givon said about the universal word order principle that "the left-most constituent
is the more topical one···While the right-most constituent is the focus of the new info r­
mation:'·
Though in usual cases, the inversed structure with an object at the sentence is em­
Ployed, sometimes the passive structure does the job. "The use of passive often permits
thematiza tion, i. e. the placi ng of a 'certain noun phrase in subject position for the
pur­
pose of prominence. ,,"
So though Queen Victoria visited the bath sound a little bit awkward, the passive st­
ructure Bath has been visited by Queen Victoria is commonly used.
Here again are some
of these:
This bed was slept in by Queen Elizabeth.
Mary is a person who likes to
be agreed with.
Only one side of the paper is to be written upon.
Something incorruptible that may always
be gone back to is necessary.
5 • Analogy
We must do something with him.
The gerie r a l passive form of the above sentence may be,
Something must be done to him.
As you can readily see, do something with can not be a compound verb.
But somehow,
in rare cases, perhaps because of its superficial structural similarity (Ve r-b-l-Np-j-Hr ep. )
'this kind
0
f combination is considered to be a compound verb just like take care of or set
fire to and thereby can be put to an exceptional passive structure as follows:
He must be done something with.
Some passive structures of this kind are .qutoed here:
This I could not be
prevailed on to accept.
I will not say what he shall be done to.
26) Givon, on Understanding Grammar, p, 161.
,27) Palmer, The English Verb. p.
87.
-225­
He was prevailed with to accompany them.
The re is foreseeable ambiguities bettween ,the
the matizatization and the analogy.
The reson why the analogy is separately set in the exceptions in spite of the presence
of the thematization is that, in some cases, intransitive verb structure is
made into the
passive though not triggered by the speaker's intention to them atize his sentence.
Again, in some ve rb plus prepositional adve rbial phi-as ,the preposition of the adverbial
though it does not contain any cohesive power with the verb, is combined with the verb
to make a pseud -compound verb and take the passive. The following passive sentences
are the examples:
I hate being spoken to.
I have been telegraphed for.
She could not bear being read to. any longer.
The girl was lain with by half of the young fellow at Bath.
VI. Conlusion
As discussed so far, we came to know that there are eight kinds of combinations
compound verbs. The combinations are as follows:
Verb plus preposition
Verb plus adjective
Verb plus adverb
Verb plus preposition plus noun phrase
Verb plus adverb plus preposition
Verb plu s adjective plus preposition
Verb plus noun phrase plus preposition
Verb plus preposition plus noun phrase plus preposition.
These compound verbs have their own unique characteristics. First, all the sentences
with these compound verbs except intransitive compound
estion
forms but do they take promoninal question forms.
verbabverbial phrase constructions, they can not- be
verbs do not take adverbial qu
Second, unlike the intransitive
inve r sed, i, e.
the preposition or ad­
ve rb (adjective) can not be separated from the verb. Third, all of these verbs can be con­
verted into one word synonyms. These characteristics are unique and they may be found
only in compound verbs.
Needless to say,
there should be an objective in the active structure in order to be pur
into the passive. W hat is meant by this is this: the sentence The roof gave
in has a
compound verb, give in (=collapse) , however it does not have the object of the verb. So
this type of intransitive verbs may not be used in the passive structures.
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Secondly,
ed
the compound verb should have the non-static quality in order to be employ­
in the passive.
The following sentences contain compound verbs.
compound verbs are static,
But since these
they do not have their passive counterparts.
The class consist of sixty students.
The book belongs to me.
Another interesting observation is that,
in V-Np2-Prep.-Np3 combination,
the noun, ph
rase immediately after the verb, which is merely a part of a compound verb,
times endowed with some noun characteristics when modified by an objective
is
some­
other
than
open class adjectives and thereby can be the subject of the passive.
Meanwhile,
some group verbs which are compound verbs in all respects do not used
in the passive structures, if they have colloqual usage
the other hands,
in
the
active
voice only.
some verb- plus- adverbial phrase constructions may take
On
the passive
for the sake of thematization or for the purpose of making 'parallel structures.
One more noticable thing is that the group verb get rid of,
ized form of the verb rid oneself of,
which itself is the passiv­
also takes the passive, thereby making the only ex­
ception of the double passivization prohibition in the English
language.
Besides, a few verbs are used in the' passive voice in spite of their lack of
of compound verbs.
qualities
In this paper these verbs are discussed under the title of analogy.
One more thing that shat should be added at this point is that,
judging from the recent
inc r ea s e of the use of the passive constructions, it can be safely said that some multi­
word verbs which are presently doubtable to be employed in the passive construction
will
soon make their appearance in the passive structures and make their ways into full fledg­
ed
members of compound verbs.
Bibliography
Anderson, John M. Meaning and the English Verb. London: Humanities Press, 1977.
Curme, George O. English Grammar. New York: Barnes &. Noble Inc., 1947.
Gildersleeve, B. L. and Lodge G. Latin Grammar. Lond on: Macmillan Press, 1897.
Givon, Talmy. On Understanding Grammar. New York: Academic Press, 1979.
Ishibashi, Koutar ou, ed. Seibidos Dictionary of English Linguistics. Tokyo: Seibido, 1972.
Jesperson, Otto. Essentials of English Grammar. London: Morrison and Gibb Ltd., 1956.
A Modern Enghish Grammar on Historical Principles.
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Long, Thomas Hil, ed. Longman Dicticnary of English Idiorrs, London: The Pitman Press. 1979.
Leech, Geoffrey N. Meaning and the English Verb. Singapore: Singapore Offset Printing (Pte)Ltd.,
1971
Quirk, Randolph: Greenbaum, S. : Leech, G. : and Sva r tvik, J. A Grammar of Contemporary Eng­ lish. New york: Seminar Press, 1972.
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Stagebe rg . Norman C. An Introductory English Grammar. New york: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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Whitford, Harold C., and Dixon, Robert J. Handbook of American Idioms and Idiomatic Usage.
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