Abstract

PHRASAL VERBS IN AGATHA CHRISTIE “THE ABC MURDERS”: A SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS

Sattar Obaid Habeeb, Asst.Prof.Nadya Khairy Muhammad Said

Volume: 10 Issue: 3 2020

Abstract:

Phrasal verb is one of the most important topics of English language because of the difficulty to understanding their forms and functions . The concept of ‘Phrasal Verbs’ refers to a group of verbs which consist of two or moreparts ,the first part is a lexical verb and the other one is called a particle (adverb or preposition) .It is necessary to say that phrasal verbs are problematic, the problems of meaning and grammar are represented in how to understand their use correctly . Thus most people who are interested in the studying of English use single-word verbs would avoid to use phrasal verbs in their speech and writing. The present study particularly attempts to shed light on the syntactic characteristics of English phrasal verbs in Agatha Christie’s novel which is entitled ‘The ABC Murders’(1936). In this study, phrasal verbs are classified into main types and subtypes according to their syntactic features. It also endeavors to focus on their forms. The study aims to survey and analyze the syntactic types of phrasal verbs that are employed in Agatha Christie’s ‘The ABC Murders’(1936).It also aims to examine the similarities and differences between the forms/types of phrasal verbs in this novel to consider their high / low frequencies. To achieve the aims of the present study , the adopted model of the analysis is basically Quirk et al(1985) which is believed to be related to the complexity of phrasal verbs and to the nature of the present study. With regard to the data analysis, the conclusions of this study obviously show that phrasal verbs are rarely used in the Christie’s novel under the analysis. Furthermore ,the conclusions have syntactically proved that ‘Transitive’ is the outstanding type of PVs comparing them to ‘Intransitive’ . ‘Inseparable Transitive’ is also the most dominant in this novel under analysis .

DOI: http://doi.org/10.37648/ijrssh.v10i03.021

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