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SLS 640 Fall 2007
Some notes on verbs + particles and verbs + prepositions
In general, in linguistic treatments, the major distinction is between "particles" and
"prepositional phrases".
A, Particles, which follow the verb, and if there's a direct object, follow the object.
(Since objects normally follow the verb directly.) The particle may optionally be shifted
to the left of a direct object under certain special circumstances.
I threw up. (intransitive verb + particle)
I looked the answer up. (transitive; object next to the verb; particle at end)
I looked up the answer. (transitive; in shifted order)
Factors influencing shifting. An NP is most likely to follow the particle if the NP is
(a) long and complex or (b) heavily stressed or (c) conveys new/contrastive information.
(This is probably why shifting almost never occurs with pronouns, which are short,
unstressed, and old information.) Possibly, the relative likelihood of shifting depends
on the verb itself (see Wrinkle 1, below).
B. Prepositional Phrases, which form a PP with their following objects and are
fixed in that position. In this case, the NP is sometimes called an "oblique object" of
the verb.
I rely on your discretion. (PP) *I rely your discretion on.
I looked at the cow. (PP) *I looked the cow at.
[Combinations] Some intransitive particle-taking verbs also take a prepositional
phrase, which will occur after the particle:
You should look up to teachers.
Some wrinkles.
1. Verbs that resist shifting. In a very few cases of transitive particle-verbs, the
particle cannot be shifted and must remain at the end of the VP. The clearest examples
all are with through.
[SEE NP through ]
We must see this ordeal through.
? We must see through this ordeal.
(although some speakers appear to permit this in some circumstances)
2. Basic position. In the pedagogic literature, the basic position for a particle is
usually considered to be right after the verb (before any direct object), so the basic
SLS 640 Fall 2007
orders for particles and prepositional phrases are the same. The order with the particle
after object is called the "shifted" or "separated" order. The motivation seems to be to
encourage students to learn "look-up" as a single unit. Note that this is the opposite of
most linguistic-theoretic treatments.
The conception in linguistics is that verbs in general are learned along with particular
syntactic configurations, and meaning is associated with the entire configuration (a
kind of "construction.")
[LOOK at-P] reflects one sense
[LOOK NP up ] reflects a different sense
[LOOK up to-P} reflects a different sense
Pedagogically, it might make the distinction clearer if you learn "look at something"
but "look something up" and "look up to someone." That is you learn the construction,
and the "basic" order you have learned lets you know the "separability" (see below).
3. Pedagogic Terminology. Verbs which take particles are often called "phrasal
verbs" or "multiword verbs" or "multiword verbal expressions" in the pedagogic
literature. And, these terms are often also applied to verb+PP structures. The
distinction between transitive verb+particle and verb+PP is described as a difference in
"separability", where the particle cases are separable and the preposition cases are
inseparable.
4. Tightly bound prepositions.
a. In some cases where a verb takes a PP, the preposition seems to be tightly bound to
the verb, so that in wh-questions the preposition is always left behind (rather than
being fronted along with the wh-word: "pied-piping"). These prepositions are sometimes
said to be "inseparable" from the verb. (In some of the pedagogic literature, these
inseparable words are called "inseparable prepositions".)
At which cow are you looking?
Which cow are you looking at?
*Over what disease have you gotten?
What disease have you gotten over.?
(Of course, in contemporary English, pied piping is not usual anyway, so the distinction
is irrelevant.)
b. There seem to be differences with respect to whether an adverb can intervene
between a verb and the following prepositional phrase. The same prepositions which
are inseparable in wh-movement seems to be inseparable with respect to adverb
placement.
I looked intently at the cow.
??*I got quickly over a cold.
SLS 640 Fall 2007
7. Perfective particles. In many cases, particles seem to add a completive
("perfective") meaning to a verb (up frequently has this effect: chop, chop up/down,
tear, tear up, fall, fall over).