"scare wild beasts away". - What's the function of 'away'?

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IsaacZ

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"scare wild beasts away". - What's the function of 'away'? I thought it is a complement of wild beasts, but thinking of scare sth away as a set phrase, I can't help wondering if it can be seen as an adverbial.

more examples:

put down his words. (put down as a phrasal verb)
put his words down. (down as complement?)
 

TheParser

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1. The online Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary reminds us that "scare away" is a phrasal verb." (In other words, it's a two-word verb. There are also some three-word phrasal verbs such as "I am trying to cut down on my calories.")

a. "scare" is the verb, and "away" is an adverb. (My note: Some books prefer to call it a "particle" when it is part of a phrasal verb.)

b. Some phrasal verbs (not all) can be separated. So you could say "The hunters scared the wild beasts away" or "The hunters scared away the wild beasts."

2. If you were diagramming that sentence using the Reed-Kellogg system, I think that you would use the second sentence to diagram, even though you might write/say the first sentence.

a. The "skeleton" of a diagram would be: "hunters scared away beasts." Then you would add the other words in order to come up with an acceptable English sentence.
 
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jutfrank

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Yes, scare away is a phrasal verb. The particle away is adverbial.
 

PaulMatthews

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scare wild beasts away

"Away" is a complement, but of "scare", not of "wild beasts". We often generalise by using the term 'particle' for such complements.

Particles are the only complements that can freely come between the verb and its direct object. Compare:

[1] We took our luggage down.
[2] We took down our luggage.

[3] We took our luggage downstairs.
[4] *We took downstairs our luggage.

Both "down" and "downstairs" can follow the object, but only "down" can occur between the verb and its object, as in [2]. "Down" is thus a particle, but "downstairs" is not.

Particles are usually prepositions, though a few adjectives and verbs can also be particles.

Incidentally, the term 'phrasal verb' is sometimes used for expressions like "take down", and "scare away" but it is a misnomer and best avoided. It is just the words "take" and "scare" that are verbs, not the whole expressions "take down" and "scare away". The term 'verbal idiom" is preferable to describe such expressions.
 

IsaacZ

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Incidentally, the term 'phrasal verb' is sometimes used for expressions like "take down", and "scare away" but it is a misnomer and best avoided. It is just the words "take" and "scare" that are verbs, not the whole expressions "take down" and "scare away". The term 'verbal idiom" is preferable to describe such expressions.

I also noticed the differences long time ago. That's why I don't like to treat them together, but try to give the particle a specific function.

"Away" is a complement, but of "scare", not of "wild beasts".

If so, away is an adverbial, isn't it?
 

PaulMatthews

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I also noticed the differences long time ago. That's why I don't like to treat them together, but try to give the particle a specific function.
If so, away is an adverbial, isn't it?

No: as I said before, in "scare away wild beasts" it's a complement of "scare".
 

IsaacZ

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Yes, scare away is a phrasal verb. The particle away is adverbial.

I saw you liked PaulMatthews's post. Does that mean you have changed your above opinion?
 

IsaacZ

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No: as I said before, in "scare away wild beasts" it's a complement of "scare".

If my terms are limited to the following, how can I solve the problem?

Subject
Verb
Predicative   
Object
Complement (subject complement / object complement)
Attribute  
Adverbial
Appositive 
 

jutfrank

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Yes, scare away is a phrasal verb. The particle away is adverbial.

I saw you liked PaulMatthews's post. Does that mean you have changed your above opinion?

Yes. Well, it's not really that I've changed my opinion so much as understood how I was wrong. I've always thought of phrasal verb particles as adverbial because they 'go with' the stem, which is a verb. But now, in light of post #4, I see that away 'completes' the sense of the verb. The meaning of 'scare wild beasts away' is not about making wild beasts afraid but about making them leave where they are.
 

PaulMatthews

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If my terms are limited to the following, how can I solve the problem?

Subject Verb Predicative, Object Complement (subject complement / object complement), Attribute, Adverbial, Appositive 

scare away wild beasts

"Away" is a complement of "scare", but it's not predicative.

It's a complement because it is selected by the verb for this sense of "scare", though "off" is possible, too.

Some people call "scare away" a phrasal verb, but verbal idiom is a much better term.

Why are your functions limited to the ones you cite?

Incidentally, your list includes seven functions and one word class (part of speech), so it's neither consistent nor complete.
 

jutfrank

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Incidentally, your list includes seven functions and one word class (part of speech), so it's neither consistent nor complete.

Which one is the word class?
 

IsaacZ

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scare away wild beasts

Why are your functions limited to the ones you cite?

Incidentally, your list includes seven functions and one word class (part of speech), so it's neither consistent nor complete.


Traditionally, We use five basic sentence structures (plus There be) to categorize every sentence. They are:

S V P
S V
S V O
S V IO DO
S V O C

Explanations of the letters:

S for Subject
V for Verb
P for Predicative   
O for Object
C for Complement

Three other members can appear in a sentence to make it longer with more details. They are:

attribute  
adverbial
appositive 

These are the eight functions I mentioned e
arlier, in which Verb is actually a word class. I didn't use the term 'predicate', because it seems to be a bigger concept which could contain other functions.

With this system, We only talk about object complements and subject complements, with no position for compliments of verbs. Then, is it possible for me to solve the original problem if I'm limited to these terms?
 

PaulMatthews

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Traditionally, We use five basic sentence structures (plus There be) to categorize every sentence. They are:
With this system, We only talk about object complements and subject complements, with no position for compliments of verbs. Then, is it possible for me to solve the original problem if I'm limited to these terms?

No.
 

IsaacZ

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I probably need to read a grammar book so as to catch up with what you have said about the difference between complements and adjuncts. Any suggestion?
 

IsaacZ

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So what's the function of the verb shot in, say, Alice shot Bob?

FYI:
predicate refers to a major constituent of sentence structure in a binary analysis in which all obligatory constituents other than the subject were considered together. It usually expresses actions, processes, and states that relate to the subject.
Predicator is suggested for verb or verbs included in a predicate.

Quoted from LINGUISTICS - A COURSE BOOK by Zhanglin Hu
 

jutfrank

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Thanks, but one more question, just to be clear.

Alice is guilty.

The adjective guilty is also a predicator, right? And also the preposition in in the following?:

The cat is on the mat.


 

PaulMatthews

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Thanks, but one more question, just to be clear.

Alice is guilty.

The adjective guilty is also a predicator, right? And also the preposition in in the following?:

The cat is on the mat.
No, the predicator is always a verb.

"Guilty" is 'predicative complement' of "be" in its ascriptive sense.

"On" is 'head' of the PP "on the mat".

Predicator, complement and head are all functions.
 

emsr2d2

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Welcome back after 7 years, IsaacZ! Have you been having fun?
 

jutfrank

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Must a predicate include a predicator? Do copular verbs count as predicators? Is is (in Alice is guilty) the predicator of which guilty is the predicative complement?
 
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