我為甚麼不用「phrasal verb」這個名稱 (2)
上星期我表示自己並不喜歡「phrasal verbs」這名稱。你們能從上次的內容中理解到原因嗎?
我之所以不喜歡這名稱,是因為我認為「phrasal verbs」一詞,無助於真正想要學會在組成句子時,正確運用像「check in」這種 expression 的學生。
這名稱不過是指出了最顯然而見的事 -- 即像「check in」這樣的 expression,是包含一個動詞(如「check」)和一個特定的修飾語(如「in」)。
但它卻沒有告訴你任何有關該動詞或特定修飾語的結構特徵。
上週已討論過,我們必須了解該 expression 的結構特徵,才能避免犯與那位朋友一樣的錯:
We checked in the hotel after dinner. ❌
「check in」中的特定修飾語「in」,是一個單字副詞而非 preposition。名詞組「the hotel」欠缺連接它的 preposition,在此句中沒有合適的結構位置。
但如果我們轉用另一個 expression「check into (something)」來表現相同意思:
We checked into the hotel after dinner. ✓
由於這 expression 中的「into」是 preposition,「into the hotel」是正確地修飾「checked」,因此句子是正確的。
可見,如果你將「check in」和「check into」等 expression 一同歸類為「phrasal verbs」,但卻沒有考慮這兩個 expression 中各自的特定修飾語的結構角色,你便很容易會用得不正確。
你應該要做的,反而是不將它們一同視為所謂的「phrasal verbs」,而是先對英文的整體結構有多點理解,然後在這框架中,各自分析這些 expression,找出這些修飾語在句子中的不同角色。
我在網路字典中快速搜尋了一下,找到兩個都被列為「phrasal verbs」的 expression:
單看字典中的呈現方式,你可能會以為這兩個 expression 的結構特徵一樣,畢竟它們都有相同的標籤。
但只要看看例句,再分析一下各個修飾語的結構特點,你會發現,之前我說「check in」中的「in」不是 preposition,而「believe in」中的「in」卻是 preposition:
Please check in at least an hour before departure.
Do you believe in God?
因為「check in」後面沒有連接名詞,我們知道這個「in」 不會是 preposition;第二句中的「in」後卻有連接名詞,組成 preposition 詞組「in God」來修飾「believe」。
假如你不懂如何分析這些句子的結構,只認知它們「都」是「phrasal verbs」,就會很容易用錯它們,錯誤地組成以下句子:
Please check in the airport at least an hour before departure. ❌
Do you believe in? ❌
所以,如果你的目標是要精準地在句子中運用這些 expression,你需要建立對英文整體文法的理解,再在這框架中分析包含這些 expression 的正確句子。
小練習
以下幾個俗稱「phrasal verbs」中的特定修飾語,你能分辨出哪些是preposition,哪些是單字副詞嗎?
I saw to the arrangements last week.
Let’s hang out at my place!
The meeting just went on and on.
(You can read #1 here.)
Last week, I mentioned that I don’t like the term “phrasal verb” and asked if you could think of why, based on what I had explained about the expression “check in” and my friend’s misunderstanding of it.
I don’t like the term because I think that the term “phrasal verb” is not helpful to students who want to learn to use an expression like “check in” accurately.
The reason is that this term only points out the obvious -- that an expression like “check in” is a “phrase” involving a verb, like “check,” and a specific modifier, like “in” -- without telling you anything more about the structural characteristics of either that verb or that modifier.
This makes the term unhelpful -- because, as we have seen last week, understanding the structural characteristics of the expression is essential if you want to avoid a mistake like the one my friend made:
We checked in the hotel after dinner. ❌
The specific modifier “in” in the expression “check in” is a single-word adverb and not a preposition, so the noun phrase “the hotel” is left hanging in the sentence when there is no structural place for it.
If we use the other expression I mentioned last week -- “check into (something)” -- to express the same meaning, however, the specific modifier needed is a prepositional phrase:
We checked into the hotel after dinner. ✓
Because “into” is a preposition in this expression, “into the hotel” correctly modifies “checked,” and this sentence is correct.
The point is, if you just learn the expressions “check in” and “check into (something)” as “phrasal verbs” without thinking about the structural roles that these respective modifiers play, you would not be able to use these expressions accurately even if you know what they mean.
What you need to do in order to use these expressions accurately is to not to know them as so-called “phrasal verbs,” but to have the tools to analyze what their modifiers are structurally from example sentences.
I did a quick search in an online dictionary and found two expressions listed as “phrasal verbs” with “in”:
From the way these two expressions are presented in the dictionary, you might think that they function the same way -- they have the same label.
But if you look at the example sentences and analyze the structural characteristics of the respective modifiers, you realize that, like we said before, the “in” in “check in” is not a preposition, whereas the “in” in “believe in” is a preposition:
Please check in at least an hour before departure.
Do you believe in God?
You can tell because there is no noun directly after the “in” in “check in” -- so it can’t be a preposition -- whereas there is one after “in” in the second sentence, forming the prepositional phrase “in God” to modify “believe.”
If you don’t have the tools to analyze these sentences this way, knowing that they are “phrasal verbs” would not help you use them accurately. You would easily make mistakes like these:
Please check in the airport at least an hour before departure. ❌
Do you believe in? ❌
So, if you want to start using these expressions accurately, you need to learn the tools to analyze them in correct sentences within the overall grammatical framework of English.
Mini Exercise
Can you tell whether these so-called “phrasal verbs” have prepositions or single-word adverbs?
I saw to the arrangements last week.
Let’s hang out at my place!
The meeting just went on and on.
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