Phrasal verbs and their different treatment

The non-literal uses are a bit difficult to explain and understand. However, because verbs are used in this way to intensify or emphasise, the general meaning is the same if you just use the verb alone (eat your dinner, pour with rain, etc).

 

• As verbs with a special meaning. For example:

I'll look after the children if you want to go out.

I've applied for hundreds of jobs, but they always turn me down.

With these verbs, knowing what the individual parts mean doesn't help to understand. We need to learn the meanings of each verb as a whole.

Phrasal verbs play rather an indispensable role in communication particularly in oral forms.

Native speakers of English tend to use phrasal verbs in everyday conversation and generally reserve one-word verbs (i.e. ‘investigate’ instead of ‘look into’) for more formal occasions such as business. [25; 118-136]

 

 

1.6 New phrasal verbs

 

New phrasal verbs turn up all the time, but where do they come from? One answer is that new verbs are invented to talk about new types of activity. But in fact they are not usually completely new verbs, but new combinations of existing verbs and particles, or old ones which have found new uses.

 

• New verbs from nouns and adjectives

New phrasal verbs do not have to come from verbs. Nouns and adjectives, too, can be used. So, from the noun luck comes the phrasal verb luck out, meaning “to be very lucky”. Sometimes a short form of the noun or adjective is used to form the phrasal verb, for example max out, from maximum.

Some examples: flag up, ice down, glam up, tear up, mouse over.

 

• Modern life

New phrasal verbs (or new meaning of existing phrasal verbs) are often brought in to talk about new inventions, new concepts, etc. That have developed or become current in the modern world. In many cases these phrasal verbs have nouns or adjectives derived from them, such as drop-down (as in a drop-down menu) from drop down.

Some examples of new phrasal verbs according to the area of modern life they are connected with:

Internet: click through, dial-up;

Telecoms: charge sth up, top-up;

Business: roll sth out, spin-out;

Music: crossover, lay sth down;

Military: armoured-up, stand sb/sth down;

 

• Figurative meaning

Plough back originally meant “to return a crop that you have grown to the soil, in order to produce more”. It is easy to see how this can change to being used about reinvesting profits in business.

Some examples of phrasal verbs with a new meaning:

Norway hauled in a clutch of medals at the Winter Olympics.

Haul in with the meaning “to win”.

When I asked him about his past, he just buttoned up.

Buttoned up with the meaning “to refuse to say anything”.

 

• New particles

New phrasal verbs can be created by taking an existing phrasal verb and using it with a different particle to express a meaning which is the opposite of or different from the original meaning. For example, dress down (wear more casual clothes) can be easily understood to be the opposite of dress up (wear more formal clothes).

New particles can also be added to verbs which are not normally used with particles, sometimes keeping the same meaning and sometimes acquiring a different meaning.

For example: flash forward, flash back; ramp up, ramp down; [26; 316-330]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Practical research of using phrasal verbs

       2.1 Aims and objectives of the practical research

 

The aim of the practical investigation:

• To define the usage of phrasal verbs in different text styles.

 

We have studied four styles of text: scientific style, newspaper style, official style, Belles-lettres style.

 

The objectives of the research are:

• To create classification of phrasal verbs;
• To define the usage of phrasal verbs in different types of texts;
• To define the type of phrasal verbs according to the structural criteria of classification;
• To give a semantic meaning of phrasal verbs;
• To define the priority of phrasal verbs’ types in different text styles.
• To make a comparative analysis of usage of phrasal verbs in different styles of texts;

 

       2.2 The analysis of using phrasal verbs in different text styles

There are many classifications. Considering them all, we created the following one and our practical research is based on it. There are 5 types of phrasal verbs (Table 6).

Table 6

             2.2.1 Phrasal verbs in Belles-lettres style

 

For the Belles-lettres style we took for analysis three novels of writers of 20^th century – Jack Kerouac, his novel “On the road”, “The catcher in the rye” written by Jerome David Salinger  and Thomas Pynchon’s novel “The crying of Lot 49”.

 

We have studied the amount of phrasal verbs used in Belles-lettres style in comparison with all verbs used in the texts in order to define the percentage of using phrasal verbs in this style. The total quantity of verbs used in three novels (in 9 chapters) is 5349. We investigated 662 phrasal verbs out of 5349 verbs. The percentage of phrasal verbs is 12 %. The result introduced in the table 7.

Table 7

 

For the analysis we took Jack Kerouac's “On the Road” which is one of the most controversial American novels of the 20th century. [27]

Born, in 1922, in Lowell MA and baptized Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac, he learned English only as a second language. [28]

 

"On the Road" is a novel that makes the reader want to go out there, seize the day, and live, live, live! Jack Kerouac, creator of the "beat generation" best sums up his philosophy as "everything belongs to me because I am poor". The failure of ideology and of the American Dream in the 1960s gave young dreamers who were eager to live just one way out: the road.

 

 

   Kerouac presents Sal Paradise, a young and innocent writer, and Dean Moriarty, a crazy youth "tremendously excited with life" racing around America, and testing the limits of the American Dream. Their journeys consist of scenes of rural wilderness, sleepy small towns, urban jungles, endless deserts - all linked by the road, the outlet of a generation's desire and inner need to get out, break its confinement, and find freedom, liberated from any higher belief, notion, or ideology. The desperation and the lack of fulfilment made these youths feel that "the only thing to do was go", searching for their personal freedom, and finding pleasure in sex, drugs, and jazz.

 

 

   It seems that the "beat generation" had one and only ideology, and that was life. As Sal Paradise says: "Life is holy and every moment is precious", which is explained why Dean "seemed to be doing everything at the same time". The fear of death subconsciously followed the gang around America, as expressed by their visions of a spirit following them across the desert of life.

 

 

   Wasn't the "beat generation" a particularly wise and enlightened one then? Isn't it true that every human being's greatest fear is that death will come too soon, before he/she has time to do what he/she had always wanted to do? Isn't it always too soon?  

Even though the gang feared that "death will overtake us before Heaven" they did all in their power to experience as much of Heaven as they could while still alive. They were wise enough to see that there was no point in conforming to the materialism of the American Dream: "the mad dream-grabbing, taking, giving, sighing, and dying just so they could be buried in those awful cemetery cities beyond Long Island City".

 

 

   It is for this reason that Kerouac presents the "beat generation" as a "holy" generation: because it was liberated from the peril of ambition, materialism and ideology, and was in a constant search for some greater truth that life would teach them. Ed Dunkel, the tall, silent, lost boy is described as "an angel of a man". Dean Moriarty, the personification of the road was a "holy con-man" with a "holy lightning" gaze. By the end of the novel, Dean achieves so high a level of saintliness that "he couldn't talk any more".

 

 

   "On the Road" is a novel of experience; it tells tales of madness played out by all kinds of strange characters, in settings as diverse as a Virginia small-town diner, a New York jazz-joint, and a Mexican whore-house. What connects these adventures is the characters' refusal to miss out on life, and their determination to get the most out of now.

 

The first novel was taken for analysis is the novel “On the road” by Jack Kerouac, in order to define phrasal verbs of different types. [29]

 

I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up.

The phrasal verb split up with the meaning “If two people split up, they end their relationship or marriage”. This phrasal verb refers to the 3^rd type.

 

I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won't bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was dead.

The meaning of a phrasal verb get over according to this text is “get over an unpleasant or unhappy experience or an illness, you recover from it”. The type of a phrasal verb is the 1^st. The individual parts of the phrasal verb get over do not help to understand the whole phrase. This is a phrasal verb with a special meaning.

The second phrasal verb talk about has a meaning “to talk in a general way about a subject or a problem without discussing the difficult or important parts of it”. It refers to the 1^st type.

 

Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he actually was born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.

The phrasal verb “pass through” refers to the 4^th type according to our classification. The meaning of this phrasal verb is – “to go through a place, only stopping for a short time”. The particle can function as a preposition and as an adverb. According to this context the word through of the phrasal verb pass through functions as a preposition which has the object Salt Lake City.

 

We went to New York –  I forget what the situation was, two colored girls – there were no girls there; they were supposed to meet him in a diner and didn't show up.

The phrasal verb show up has the meaning “to arrive at a place you have arranged”. The construction of this phrasal verb is “V+ADV”, so it refers to the 2^nd type.

 

Their energies met head-on, I was a lout compared, I couldn't keep up with them.

In this sentence we can see the phrasal verb consisting of a verb followed by an adverb and followed by a preposition. The type of keep up with is the 5^th.

The meaning of keep up with is “to continue to be in contact with somebody and seeing them regularly”. The phrasal verb has a special meaning, it is impossible to understand the meaning without knowing this phrasal verb.

 

Carlo took off his glasses and looked sinister.

The meaning is “to remove something, to take clothes off from the body”. The type of the phrasal verb is the 3^rd. The author used the phrasal verb in order to describe an action literally. To understand this phrasal verb all we need is to know what the two words mean when considered separately.

 

Dean made a profile shot and looked coyly around.

The phrasal verb “look around” refers to the 4^th type according to our classification. The meaning of this phrasal verb is “to turn your head in different directions so that you can see something”. The word around can function as a preposition and as an adverb. According to this context the word around of the phrasal verb look around functions as an adverb.

 

Carlo and I saw him off at the 34th Street Greyhound station.

In the sentence the meaning of phrasal verb “see off” is “when somebody sees someone off, he goes with them to the station, airport, or port that they are leaving from, and says goodbye to them there”. It is difficult to understand the meaning of phrasal verb, because the phrase has a special meaning. The type of this phrasal verb is 3^rd.

 

I promised myself to go the same way when spring really bloomed and opened up the land.

The meaning of phrasal verb is “If a place of interest opens up, more people can go there and become involved in it”. The phrasal verb “open up” refers to the 3^rd type.

 

I was a young writer and I wanted to take off.

In this sentence we can see the phrasal verb consisting of a verb followed by an adverb. The type of take off is the 3^rd.

The meaning of take off is “If you take off or take yourself off, you go away, often suddenly and unexpectedly”. The phrasal verb has a special meaning, it is impossible to understand the meaning without knowing this phrasal verb.

 

I wrote back and said I'd be satisfied with any old freighter so long as I could take a few long Pacific trips and come back with enough money to support myself in my aunt's house while I finished my book.

In the sentence the meaning of phrasal verb write back is “If you write back to someone who has sent you a letter, you write them a letter in reply”. The type of this phrasal verb is 2^nd. This phrasal verb can be understood even if we know what two words mean considered separately. This phrasal verb describes an action literally.

 

I'd been poring over maps of the United States in Paterson for months, even reading books about the pioneers and savoring names like Platte and Cimarron and so on, and on the road-map was one long red line called Route 6 that led from the tip of Cape Cod clear to Ely, Nevada, and there dipped down to Los Angeles.

In the sentence the phrasal verb “pore over” means “to study something by looking at it or thinking about it carefully”. The type of the phrasal verb is 1^st.

 

To get out of the impossible complexities of Chicago traffic I took a bus to Joliet, Illinois, went by the Joliet pen, stationed myself just outside town after a walk through its leafy rickety streets behind, and pointed my way.

In this sentence the phrasal verb get out of means “If you get out of doing something that you do not want to do, you succeed in avoiding doing it”.

The construction includes verb followed by an adverb and followed by a preposition. The type of the phrasal verb is 5^th.

 

The sun was going down.

The meaning of the phrasal verb is “when the sun goes down, it goes below the horizon”. The type of the phrasal verb is the 2^nd. The phrasal verb describes an action literally. To understand this phrasal verb all we need to what the two words mean when considered separately.

 

He woke up with a start at dawn.

The meaning of the phrasal verb is “to stop sleeping”. The type of the phrasal verb is the 3^rd.

 

But I had to get going and stop moaning, so I picked up my bag, said so long to the old hotelkeeper sitting by his spittoon, and went to eat.

The meaning of the phrasal verb pick up is “when you pick up someone or something that is waiting to be collected, you go to the place where they are and take them away, often in a car”. The phrasal verb refers to the 3^rd type according the classification.

 

Eddie had calmed down and probably even got sleepy.

In this sentence the phrasal verb calm down means “If you calm down, or if someone calms you down, you become less angry, upset, or excited”.

The construction includes verb followed by an adverb. The phrasal verb is transitive. The type of the phrasal verb is 3^rd.

 

You come up there sometime and see God's country.

In the sentence the meaning of phrasal verb come up is “If someone comes up or comes up to you, they approach you until they are standing close to you”. The type of this phrasal verb is 2^nd.

 

The cowboy went off to have a spare tire patched, and Eddie and I sat down in a kind of homemade diner.

The meaning of a phrasal verb go off according to this text is “to leave a place, especially in order to do something”. The type of a phrasal verb is the 2^nd.

The second phrasal verb sit down has a meaning “to lower your body until you are sitting on a chair”. It refers to the 2^nd type. The phrasal verb describes an action literally. To understand this phrasal verb all we need to what the two words mean when considered separately.

 

We thought it over.

The phrasal verb think over refers to 3^rd type. According to the text the phrasal verb think over means “if you think something over, you consider it carefully before making a decision”.

 

I'm looking for some old boys willing to work and make a buck for themselves.

In this sentence we can see the phrasal verb consisting of a verb followed by a preposition. The type of look for is the 1^st. The phrasal verb look for means “to search for something, either because you need them”.

 

"It's a good opportunity," he said, and waited patiently for us to make up our minds.

If you make up something such as a story or excuse, you invent it, sometimes in order to deceive people. The type of the phrasal verb is 2^nd.

 

Eddie turned out to be a pretty absent-minded pal of the road.

If something turns out to be a particular thing, it is discovered to be that thing.

The phrasal verb turn out refers to the 2^nd type according the classification.

 

We went back to the gray road.

The phrasal verb go back means “to return”. The type of the phrasal verb is 3^rd.

 

Just as we rolled into Iowa Qty he saw another truck coming behind us, and because he had to turn off at Iowa City he blinked his tail lights at the other guy and slowed down for me to jump out, which I did with my bag, and the other truck, acknowledging this exchange, stopped for me, and once again, in the twink of nothing, I was in another big high cab, all set to go hundreds of miles across the night, and was I happy!

In the sentence the phrasal verb turn off refers to the 4^th type. The phrasal verb consists of the verb and the particle that can function as an adverb and as a preposition. The meaning of the phrasal verb is “If you turn off the road or path you are going along, you start going along a different road or path which leads away from it”.

As for the phrasal verb slow down, the meaning is “If something slows down or is if something slows it down, it starts to move or happen more slowly”. The type of the phrasal verb is 3^rd.

 

We have investigated three parts of the novel “On the road” by Jack Kerouac. The total amount of phrasal verbs is 163. As for the 1^st type (V+PREP) the quantity of phrasal verbs is – 45; 2^nd Type (V+ADV) – 51 phrasal verbs; 3^rd Type (V+ADV↔OBJ) – 45 phrasal verbs; 4^th Type (V+PREP or ADV) – 17 phrasal verbs; 5th Type (V+AVD+PREP) – 5 phrasal verbs; according to our classification. The results in percentage are introduced in table 8.

Table 8

 

The next novel we took for the analysis is “The Crying of Lot 49”, published in 1966, Thomas Pynchon's second novel. [30]

The shortest of Pynchon's novels and often considered his most accessible, the book is about a woman, Oedipa Maas.

It says something about Thomas Pynchon that “The Crying of Lot 49”, by all reports a straightforward book, is, by Pynchonian standards, an oddity. For a writer who has built a reputation on constructing labyrinthine tomes that endlessly branch off for pages and pages until the reader wearily abandons any attempt at deciphering a plot, Lot 49 is, well, linear. By far the most accessible of Pynchon’s works The Crying of Lot 49 is also probably his most concentrated. So short that it is often referred to as novella, Lot 49 manages to get at Pynchon’s big ideas and even contain some of his delightfully controlled chaos. [31]

 

It is the story of Oedipa Maas, summoned to California’s San Narcisco to fulfil a duty to left her by some shady inheritance, namely to oversee the execution of a rather large estate left by the newly deceased Pierce Inverarity. Immediately Oedipa finds herself overwhelmed by the size and complexity of Inverarity’s estate, and hopelessly imagines that she will never get Inverarity’s affairs straightened out. No sooner does she lose hope than Oedipa meets an odd man who seems to have some ideas to help her. As the two look into the estate, coincidence after coincidence piles up until Oedipa finds herself enmeshed in what may or may not be a global conspiracy where almost every person, place, and thing she meets up with can, given enough time, be plausibly fit.

 

The central question to this story, does the conspiracy exist or is Oedipa making it all up, is a metaphor which Pynchon pursues over many divergent paths, each leading to a different idea. On one level, Oedipa’s quest is a microcosm of each of our own lives: using the available information she (and we) creates a story about the way things really are and continually tests and refines it. That Oedipa finds substantial clues in the oddest and most coincidental places is part of the mystery: is it really that life is so capricious that random encounters can have profound impacts, or is life much more banal, leaving Oedipa to simply imagine connections amidst a sea of information?

 

On another level, Pynchon uses Oedipa’s quest to get at the concept of entropy. Pynchon likes to apply terms and ideas from the realm of physics to psychological and sociological phenomena, and his invocation of entropy may be the most famous instance of this. Just as in a closed system individual particles will tend toward greater disorder so in Pynchon’s universe do the people and information in our society tends toward entropy. Fighting against this decay is Oedipa, who tries to create some order out of the randomness that she encounters. Again we are met with a similar question, do Oedipa’s actions counter entropy and point toward some transcendent truth or is she simply fighting an impossible battle and unable to create order in the world?

 

Once you’ve accepted that these questions are valid there’s nothing to do but follow Pynchon’s ideas to their inevitable conclusion: in Lot 49 there is no truth other than that which we create. In a sense, all of the characters are like Oedipa; although they aren’t questing to ferret out a conspiracy, they are attempting to fit everything they come across into some kind of rational framework. And so do we. Cause and effect only exists insofar as we pick out one certain moment to be the cause and once certain moment to be the effect (even though we could have picked out any two points on the chain of causation), things only become important once we say they are. Each of us is at the center of our own self-ordered universe.