Help me!!! essay due tom. wanna go to sleep soon!!

[Dede628]

in the sentence 'He falls in love with Jane Eyre.' can in love with Jane Eyre be a prepositional adverb phrase and can it include with Jane Eyre????!!!!!!!!

[g-at-bbe]

I don't think so. If the phrase in love with Jane Eyre were a prepositional adverb phrase, it would answer one of these questions:

1. "Where?"
2. "When?"
3. "In what manner?"
4. "To what extent?"

Clearly, it does no such thing. It would have to answer the question Where did he fall? Well, he didn't "fall" anywhere! The reason it doesn't answer that question is because "to fall in love" is a phrasal verb in which the word "in" has lost its normal prepositional function. That's why prepositions that appear in phrasal verbs are often referred to as particles. They're not really acting like prepositions anymore.

Hope this helps at least a little.

[5jj]

I don't agree that 'fall in love' is a phrasal verb. A phrasal verb is generally considered to be a verb followed by a one or more particles (preposition/adverb) with a meaning different from what you would expect from the individual words used together.

'in love' is a preposition+noun expression denoting an emotional state.

One of the meanings of 'fall' is 'become' - you can fall ill, asleep, pregnant, etc.

ps. 'asleep' itself was originally 'on sleep'

[Raymott]

I'd call "to fall in love" an idiom; "in love" a prepositional phrase", and "with Jane Eyre" another prepositional phrase.

It's a good question though, since a prepositional phrase can include another prepositional phrase. "He fell over a rock on the road." - where "over a rock on the road" is a prepositional phrase. I think the problem with "in love with Jane Eyre" being a prepositional phrase is that the phrase "in love" is not independent of the verb "fall", since the whole is an idiom, and sometimes idioms can't be dissected and parsed as a literal sentence structure might be.

[5jj]

I think the problem with "in love with Jane Eyre" being a prepositional phrase is that the phrase "in love" is not independent of the verb "fall", since the whole is an idiom, and sometimes idioms can't be dissected and parsed as a literal sentence structure might be.

I don't agree. You be 'be' and possibly 'seem' in love. It's very similar to being and falling asleep.

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Dede.

Unfortunately, there's not always a simple answer to an apparently simple question.

Hope you managed to catch some sleep.

Rover

[g-at-bbe]

(Sorry Dede, but it's really not about you anymore. )

5jj said:
A phrasal verb is generally considered to be a verb followed by a one or more particles (preposition/adverb) with a meaning different from what you would expect from the individual words used together.

(Not an argument--just an honest question from one seeking a bit of enlightenment...)

I have always been under the impression that a phrasal verb was not required by definition to be idiomatic in nature, although certainly many are. Have I been misinformed, or is it just that they almost always are idiomatic to some degree? In college (in the US) I was taught that two-word / three-word verbs were idiomatic by definition, but phrasal verbs were just, well, verbs with more than one word, period...idiomatic or not. Maybe I got it wrong. Just wondering.

[bhaisahab]

(Sorry Dede, but it's really not about you anymore. )

5jj said:
A phrasal verb is generally considered to be a verb followed by a one or more particles (preposition/adverb) with a meaning different from what you would expect from the individual words used together.

(Not an argument--just an honest question from one seeking a bit of enlightenment...)

I have always been under the impression that a phrasal verb was not required by definition to be idiomatic in nature, although certainly many are. Have I been misinformed, or is it just that they almost always are idiomatic to some degree? In college (in the US) I was taught that two-word / three-word verbs were idiomatic by definition, but phrasal verbs were just, well, verbs with more than one word, period...idiomatic or not. Maybe I got it wrong. Just wondering.

You have it wrong.

[5jj]

There is no general agreement on what verbs are classed as phrasal verbs, as you can see on page 12 here: http://www.gramorak.com/Articles/Phrasal.pdf

I have not come across the idea that phrasal verbs are simply verbs with more than one word. That could cover such forms as these two, which are not phrasal verbs in any book I have ever seen.

He is driving to work this week:
I want to see you.