Chapter 9
THE VERB AND ITS COMPLEMENTATION
1. Intransitive phrasal verbs
2. Transitive phrasal verbs
3. Prepositional verbs
4. Phrasal prepositional verbs
5. Intransitive verbs
6. Intensive complementation
7. Transitive complementation
8. Complex transitive
complementation
9. Ditransitive complementation
1. Intransitive phrasal verbs (without O)
- consisting of a V and a particle
eg: get up, take off, break up, catch on, give in…
- the meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the
verb and particle in isolation.
2. Transitive phrasal verbs (with O)
eg: set up, bring up, find out…
- some combinations can be either transitive or intransitive,
with or without a difference in meaning
- the particle can either precede or follow Od, though
personal pronoun cannot precede, and the particle tends to
precede O if O is long or if the intention is that the O should
receive end-focus.
- many transitive phrasal verbs have prepositional adverbs
3. Prepositional verbs (V + prep.)
eg: ask for, refer to, look at, deal with, write about
- Prep must precede its complement
- allow an inserted adverb after V and a relative pronoun
after prep.
4. Phrasal-prep verbs
- consisting of a verb followed by two particles
eg: put up with, look forward to…
- following N as Od
- cannot insert an adverb immediately before O
5. Intransitive verbs
- some Vs are always intransitive (never take O)
- other can be either intransitive or transitive, with or
without a change in participant role
6. Intensive complementation
a) Copulas
- When a Cs is present → there is intensive complement of
the V → the V is a copula or linking V
- Most popular copula: ‘be’
- Current copulas vs Resulting copulas
b) N and adj phrases as Cs
- ‘be’ – current attribute
- ‘become’ – resulting attribute
c) Predicative adjuncts
- only ‘be’ allows an adverbial as compl. (termed
predicative adjuncts); mainly place adjuncts
- with eventive S, time adjuncts are also common
- other types of predicative adjuncts: recipient, purpose,
cause, means.
d) Complementation of adj phrase as Cs
- Adj compl. by prep. phrase
- Adj compl. by finite clause
- Adj compl. by ‘to’ infinitive clause
7. Transitive complementation
a) Noun Phrases (NP) as Od
- Od are typically NP
- Od of an active sentence = S of a passive sent. with S of
the active sent. as the prepositional complementation in
‘by’ phrase (optional)
- ‘by’ phrase is usually omitted because it is irrelevant or
unknown or redundant in the context.
- when there are reflexive, reciprocal or possessive
pronouns in the NP as O → no passive transformation.
b) Finite clauses as Od
c) Non-finite clauses as Od
8. Complex transitive
complementation
a) Non-finite and verbless clauses with S
b) ‘to’ infinite clauses with S
(factual vs non-factual Vs)
c) Bare infinite clauses with S
d) ‘ing’ participle clauses with S
e) ‘ed’ participle clauses with S
f) Verbless clause with S
9. Ditransitive complementation
a) NP as both Oi and Od
b) Ditransitive prepositional Vs
c) Idiomatic expressions consisting of V + NP + Prep.
d) NP as Oi + finite clause as Od
e) NP as Oi + non-finite as Od
