What is it about?
Multiword verbs have always been the source of no little difficulties among EFL learners. This article offers a usage-based approach to the topic, whereby phrasal verbs are treated as semantic units susceptible to being taught as specific realizations of common verbs such as move, go, take, etc.
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Why is it important?
For the first time, multiword verbs are analyzed from a constructionist viewpoint. This basically means that verb-particle combinations are viewed as wholes behaving exactly as one-word verbs do.
Perspectives
I got the idea of writing this article when I realized how difficult it was for my students to deal with the intricacies of non-compositional multiword verbs. Since I was fed up of reading about 'revolutionary' appraoches drawing on conceptual metaphors, I thought my knowledge of construction grammar would be of help. Indeed, my initial expectations were surpassed as the last period to this article was typed.
Professor Sergio Torres-Martínez
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A constructionist approach to the teaching of phrasal verbs, English Today, August 2015, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0266078415000255.
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