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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Phrasal Verbs

Hello !
In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be difficult to learn. To my surprise, sometime ago I found out that not every native speaker knows what a phrasal verb is. Then, I came to the conclusion that that shouldn't have come as a surprise because it is a Linguistics term and only people acquainted with Linguistics or teachers would know best about these issues. Nevertheless, I had fun when I used to go out with an American friend who would ask me now and then: Is this a phrasal verb ? This also reminds me of an interesting quote by Sir Winston Churchill:

"This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put."

JM
(trying to get out of lurking mode)
Cheers !
  

Top answer

english: [nq:1]Hello ! In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be ... "[/nq] Phrasal verbs are a testament to the Germanic roots of English.

  • english: [nq:1]Hello !
  • In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be ...
  • "[/nq] Phrasal verbs are a testament to the Germanic roots of English.
  • Of course, romance languages also commonly stick preposition on verbs to make new verbs, but in the case of romance languages, the prepositional part fuses with the verb and doesn't wander around in the sentence on its own.
  • com/~eighner / Great authors are admirable in this respect: in every generation they make for disagreement.
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32 Answers
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In our last episode,
(Email Removed),
the lovely and talented Josenildo Marques
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]Hello ! In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be ... an interesting quote by Sir Winston Churchill: "This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put."[/nq]
Phrasal verbs are a testament to the Ger
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[nq:1]Hello ! In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be ... because it is a Linguistics term and only people acquainted with Linguistics or teachers would know best about these issues.[/nq]
Exactly. There are a great many grammatical terms that native speakers have no use for; they come in handy for adult learners of English as a foreign l
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[nq:1]Hello ! In my opinion, phrasal verbs are one of the charms of the English language, although they may be difficult to learn. To my surprise, sometime ago I found out that not every native speaker knows what a phrasal verb is.[/nq]
You'd be even more surprised if you came to England, where you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who even knows what a verb is, let alone a phrasal one.
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[nq:1]Yes, yes, we've all heard the following anecdotes: (1) Winston Churchill was editing a proof of one of his books, ... wrote. According to the Oxford Companion to the English Language, Churchill's words were "****** nonsense" and the variants are euphemisms.)[/nq]From what I've read, the pedantry he was against was the set of rules according to which English grammar had to be subordinated to
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[nq:1]Phrasal verbs are a testament to the Germanic roots of English. Of course, romance languages also commonly stick preposition on ... of romance languages, the prepositional part fuses with the verb and doesn't wander around in the sentence on its own.[/nq]
Yes, that's right. In my first language, Brazilian Portuguese, there are many examples of what you say. My impression is that English
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[nq:1]You'd be even more surprised if you came to England, where you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who even knows what a verb is, let alone a phrasal one.[/nq]
I'd love to go to England one day. As a non-native speaker, I had the freedom to choose which standard I'd like to follow and I chose BrE. So I try to speak and write according to standard BrE.
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[nq:1]From what I've read, the pedantry he was against was the set of rules according to which English grammar had ... not end with a preposition and, although this was true to Latin grammar, it is possible and natural in English.[/nq]
It might not even be true of Latin. Most prepositions on most occasions go before the word they modify. But some prepositions can sometimes occur after, e.g., "
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[nq:1]It might not even be true of Latin. Most prepositions on most occasions go before the word they modify. But ... may fall into the class of grammatically possible, but stylistically undesirable. (But where does style end and grammar begin?) R.[/nq]
Although I studied Latin, I'm not that fluent :-)
I think that it was not adequately put. Latin grammar was a standard to be followed and
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[nq:2]Phrasal verbs are a testament to the Germanic roots of ... and doesn't wander around in the sentence on its own.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, that's right. In my first language, Brazilian Portuguese, there are many examples of what you say. My impression is ... devices. Although 'de' is not an English preposition, there are words such as 'deinterlace', 'deicing', etc. Is that correct ?[/nq]
I thi
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[nq:2]It might not even be true of Latin. Most prepositions ... stylistically undesirable. (But where does style end and grammar begin?)[/nq]
[nq:1]Although I studied Latin, I'm not that fluent :-) I think that it was not adequately put. Latin grammar was ... that feature. Thus, people began to think that other languages should follow the same pattern, even if they had it.[/nq]
Can you by

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