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Hela Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
sentence analysis of phrasal verbs
Dear teachers,
Would you please help me to solve this problem?
Example 1: I have been looking for you everywhere.
"Parsing" = sentence analysis (correct use ?)
Form + Function :
I = Noun Phrase = subject
have been looking = Verb Phrase = transitive verb
for you = Prepositional Phrase you = object of the prep. "for"
everywhere = Adverb Phrase = adverbial of place
OR
have been looking for = Verb Phrase = transitive verb
you = Noun Phrase = direct object
Example 2: The building opposite our school is being pulled down.
Form + Function:
The building ... shcool = NP = subject
is being pulled down = VP = intransitive verb
OR
is being pulled = Verb Phrase = intransitive verb
down = Adverb Phrase = adverbial of place ??
Do you consider "look for" and "pulled down" as prepositional verbs or as phrasal verbs? i.e. are "for" and "down" part of the verb or do they start a new sentence element?
Thank you for your help.
Hela
Would you please help me to solve this problem?
Example 1: I have been looking for you everywhere.
"Parsing" = sentence analysis (correct use ?)
Form + Function :
I = Noun Phrase = subject
have been looking = Verb Phrase = transitive verb
for you = Prepositional Phrase you = object of the prep. "for"
everywhere = Adverb Phrase = adverbial of place
OR
have been looking for = Verb Phrase = transitive verb
you = Noun Phrase = direct object
Example 2: The building opposite our school is being pulled down.
Form + Function:
The building ... shcool = NP = subject
is being pulled down = VP = intransitive verb
OR
is being pulled = Verb Phrase = intransitive verb
down = Adverb Phrase = adverbial of place ??
Do you consider "look for" and "pulled down" as prepositional verbs or as phrasal verbs? i.e. are "for" and "down" part of the verb or do they start a new sentence element?
Thank you for your help.
Hela
Top answer
Hello Hela As for the last question, I prefer to take the whole of "look for" as a verb for the convenience of its use. On the other hand I take "pull down" as <a verb + an adverb> because we can say "we pulled it down" when the object is a pronoun. Anyway the opinions about how to parse those multi-word verbal phrases seem to vary among grammarians.
- Hello Hela As for the last question, I prefer to take the whole of "look for" as a verb for the convenience of its use.
- On the other hand I take "pull down" as <a verb + an adverb> because we can say "we pulled it down" when the object is a pronoun.
- Anyway the opinions about how to parse those multi-word verbal phrases seem to vary among grammarians.
- To me, grammar is just a tool in learning languages and my choice comes not from which way is correct but from which way is convenient for me to learn and use phrases.
- paco
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2 Answers
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Hello Hela
As for the last question, I prefer to take the whole of "look for" as a verb for the convenience of its use. On the other hand I take "pull down" as <a verb + an adverb> because we can say "we pulled it down" when the object is a pronoun. Anyway the opinions about how to parse those multi-word verbal phrases seem to vary among grammarians. To me, grammar is just a tool in
As for the last question, I prefer to take the whole of "look for" as a verb for the convenience of its use. On the other hand I take "pull down" as <a verb + an adverb> because we can say "we pulled it down" when the object is a pronoun. Anyway the opinions about how to parse those multi-word verbal phrases seem to vary among grammarians. To me, grammar is just a tool in
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Thanks, Paco. You're much helpful and your remarks are quite pertinent. 
Kind regards,
Hela
Kind regards,
Hela
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