Reflexive phrasals

[Araponga]

I have found several verbs that I cannot classify. They include a reflexive pronoun or the personal pronoun "it." How do I classify them? Some examples: "knock yourself out" "make yourself at home" don't "beat yourself up" "found himself lacking" "help yourself to the pudding" and "take it out on" "let it ride" "make it right". I am going to check your dictionary for some of them to see how you treat them. In the case of "it," I think most could be merely a matter of a direct object that I am replacing (He made the check out to John. He made it out to John.) but others, such as "I want to make it up to you" don't seem to have a good alternative to "it."

 

[BobK]

I have found several verbs that I cannot classify. They include a reflexive pronoun or the personal pronoun "it." How do I classify them? [/USome examples: "knock yourself out" "make yourself at home" don't "beat yourself up" "found himself lacking" "help yourself to the pudding" and "take it out on" "let it ride" "make it right". I am going to check your dictionary for some of them to see how you treat them. In the case of "it," I think most could be merely a matter of a direct object that I am replacing (He made the check out to John. He made it out to John.) but others, such as "I want to make it up to you" don't seem to have a good alternative to "it."

Not together! They really don't have much in common. When you've tried the dictionary, come back with any specific questions - I really don't know where to start! ;-)

b

 

[Raymott]

I have found several verbs that I cannot classify. They include a reflexive pronoun or the personal pronoun "it." How do I classify them? Some examples: "knock yourself out" "make yourself at home" don't "beat yourself up" "found himself lacking" "help yourself to the pudding" and "take it out on" "let it ride" "make it right". I am going to check your dictionary for some of them to see how you treat them. In the case of "it," I think most could be merely a matter of a direct object that I am replacing (He made the check out to John. He made it out to John.) but others, such as "I want to make it up to you" don't seem to have a good alternative to "it."

I think that most of your examples aren't problems. You simply leave the reflexive part out. A dictionary might use sb or sth (for somebody/something), as in
"knock sb out". If you knock John out, 'sb' is John. If you knock yourself out, 'sb' is you.
"Help yourself to the pudding" is only partly a verb. But "help yourself" seems to be a legitimate reflexive verb - but it's not phrasal.

The verbs with it: "take sth out on sb" You'll find them at the end of "take"; "make it up to' sb."; "let sth ride" you'll probably find under "ride", not "let" because 'ride' has more semantic force.