Register And Phrasal Verbs
BLOOMSBURY
PHRASV
Macmillan Phrasal Verbs
PKJ
PHRASV7004
UKLS
Page
Language Study
LS 13
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REGISTER AND PHRASAL VERBS
Introduction: are phrasal
whereas ‘bring up+question’ is a rather
rare combination. Phrasal verbs are
verbs ‘informal’?
used across all types of text, even where
Phrasal verbs can cause anxiety for
the writer or speaker has the option of
learners and teachers alike. Apart from
choosing a single-word alternative.
resolving the problems of meaning and
Although phrasal verbs tend to enter
grammar, there is the difficult question
the language through casual speech, in
of when it is appropriate to use them.
most cases they progressively become
Many articles written as guides for
accepted across a wider range of texts,
using phrasal verbs claim that they
until they reach even the most technical
should be used mainly in speaking
or conservative of text types.
rather than writing, and in informal
rather than formal situations and texts.
It is often said that, in formal contexts,
Some corpus-based statistics
single-word equivalents are more
In order to illustrate this point, consider
appropriate than phrasal verbs. This
the following statistics (based on the
advice may sometimes be useful but it
evidence of a large language corpus)
is an oversimplification, and if it is
showing the frequency of the phrasal
followed too closely, it can sometimes
verb give up across different text types;
lead to unnatural or over-formal
the figures show the approximate
language.
number of times this verb is used per
In fact, there are many situations – even
million words of text:
in quite formal texts – when a phrasal
verb is the most natural-sounding way
text type
per million words
of expressing a particular idea, so
academic prose
10
learners should be encouraged to use
fiction
30
phrasal verbs as and when they are
newspapers
30
most appropriate.
conversation
25
Phrasal verbs can be found in all types
So although give up is clearly less
of text. Take the example below:
common in academic writing, it is by
1a
Issues brought up by the President
no means always avoided. Learners
of the College and by the Board of
should appreciate that it is possible to
Regents shall be addressed by the Faculty
use phrasal verbs in formal contexts,
Senate and, if necessary, by the
and that they limit themselves
Association as . . . (from a college
unnaturally by accepting the idea that
constitution document)
they should use phrasal verbs in
informal chat, for example, but not in
1b
Answering the big questions raised
academic writing or in a presentation
by the war. (from an online book
to business colleagues. Most of the verbs
review)
in this dictionary (apart from those that
are marked as informal, very informal,
Sentence 1a is an extract from a very
impolite, or offensive) can be found in
formal written text. The writers of this
all types of text, and their use in English
document could have chosen to use
is widespread and prevalent. Writers of
raised in place of brought up, but
legal documents and scientific papers
clearly the phrasal verb is natural and
may still opt for tolerate in preference
acceptable in this context. On the other
to put up with, or decelerate rather
hand, sentence 1b is from an online book
than slow down, but even these
review – a much less formal register –
extremely formal texts will contain
and in this case the writer chose to use
some phrasal verbs.
raise rather than bring up. This is
probably because the combination
A similar search in the corpus shows
‘raise+question’ is a strong collocation,
that the single-word verb tolerate is
Butler and Tanner Ltd
02-18-2005 14:11:13
