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Grammar and Linguistics > A Big Grammar Confusion!!!!Help!!!!!!!!
A Big Grammar Confusion!!!!Help!!!!!!!!
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Nebal
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A Big Grammar Confusion!!!!Help!!!!!!!!
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Hello everyone,
I was explaining to my 8th graders the Transitive and Intransitive Verbs, however they faced a big confusion.
They learned that the transitive verb is followed by a direct object, whereas the intransitive verb is not followed by an object. Now , the big confusion occured when there were phrasal verbs like look up..
For example, I looked up the meaning of a word in the dictionary.
They asked whether they should take the verb as "looked� alone and thus "up the meaning" is a prepositional phrase, and looked is intransitive;or take the phrasal verb " looked up" and thus the verb is transitive followed by the object "the meaning".
Another big confusion is "take care of your body". shall they take "take care of" or "take care" as a verb.
What about epressions like "pay attention" and "die of embarrassmant", how should they be taken???????
Help me and my students get out of this confusion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thnx in advance!!!!!!!
Nebal |
8 Dec 2008
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Zora
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First - a LOT of phrasal verbs are transitive - so the whole thing would be considered as the "verb"... Second "look up" can be a phrasal or it can be literal.. example:
He looked up the word in a dictionary. - (look up here means "searched") and it is transitive.
He looked up. ... means just that - he looked upwards... and is not a phrasal, therefore it�s not (or doesn�t have to be) transitive.
"Pay attention!" is a exclamation / command.. but used in a sentence it should be "pay attention to" - (yes, the whole thing would be considered as a verb and it�s transitive...)
"Die of embarrassment" is a saying, the same as "die laughing"... and idiom of sorts.
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8 Dec 2008
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goodnesses
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Hi, All
I think that to avoid the confusion we should take the phrasal verb as one "entity" I mean as if it is a normal verb.
Eg: look + up = 1 verb
However as Zora mentioned it sometimes the same verb followed by the same preposition do not form a phrasal verb
Eg: "look up" (=direction) by opposition to "look down"
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8 Dec 2008
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Pietro
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Well, I suppose by saying �intransitive verb is not followed by an object�, you meant that transitive verbs can take an object, but an indirect one, yes? As Zora said, a lot of phrasal verbs are transitive, but when it is used without a particle it can become intransitive or take be both transitive and intransitive in different contexts. Again, as Zora said, there can be 2 possible uses of �look up� and a number of other verbs that can be regarded both phrasal (looked up in the dictionary) or a verb + its modifier (look up and down). (goodnesses, I think it�s not preporision but an adverb in the function of an adverbial modifier of place) And such phrases as �pay attention to� or �take care of� should be treated, in my opinion, as one phraseological unit, or a set-phrase, if you like. The verbs in them are transitive, as they take a direct object. And these verbs are combined with a number of nouns to form a set-phrase. Note, that the preposition following the phrase is one required by a noun.
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9 Dec 2008
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Vickiii
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HEHEHE.
Hi Nebal,
See what I mean - Goodnesses and Zora, Aren�t they great? |
9 Dec 2008
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goodnesses
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Hi again Vickii
I don�t think any of us pretended he/she is the great or the "know everything".
All we are trying to do is explaining and/or understanding thing the most simple way possible.
I agree with you Piettro contributes with great comments referenced from valuable books.
However, I think they are too elaborate and advanced. I am sure if do this in my class they will chase me out.
In final, Piettro has often confirmed what I or Zora said.
PS:
I agree with Pittro "up" in that example is an adverb (direction) since it modifies the verb. SORRY.
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9 Dec 2008
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goodnesses
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Yes, Zora.
I think that after a while we come to be convinced that some people would never be offending to you.
And that�s what I think of you and Vickii and Logos and many others.
I was sure (99.99%) it was a kind of greeting.
Thanks for confirming.
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9 Dec 2008
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alien boy
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Thank you so much for answering this. I was about to give it a go, but you�ve saved me from getting a head ache!
Thank you,
B-)
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9 Dec 2008
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Zora
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lol...no problem alien boy, I know how you feel... I actually went back and forth on this thinking "Do I attempt to answer it or not!" ... It was only until I saw that nobody else really wanted to that I took a stab at it...  Though it was nice to know that I wasn�t the only one staring at the screen and thinking.. "How the heck do I explain this??"
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9 Dec 2008
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Pietro
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goodnesses�hi there)) Yep, your comments helped me to somewhat sum everything up and avoid looking for examples =) mmm... the may seem a bit advanced, though it was not aimed at students but a teacher =)) Zora�hello =D how are you today?
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9 Dec 2008
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