Multi-Word Verbs in the English Usage of Selected Undergraduate Students in Makurdi

Table of Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Multi-Word Verbs in Modern English Usage
• Methodology
• Discussion of Findings
• Conclusion, Implication and Recommendations
• References

Citation: Adaje, A.O. & Vereshe, I.A. (2024). Multi-Word Verbs in the English Usage of Selected Undergraduate Students in Makurdi. Dynamics in the 21st Century Hausa Prose Literature. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 3(1), 159-166. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2024.v03i01.018.

Multi-Word Verbs in the English Usage of Selected Undergraduate Students in Makurdi

Adaje, Ambrose Ochigbo

And

Ikyase Anastasia Vereshe

Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi

Abstract

The paper assesses the use of m ulti-word verbs in written English by students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. For its theoretical emphasis on forms and functions of grammatical items in communication, the structural grammar model description of features and meanings of English multi-word verbs provides the basis for assessment of the student’s use of the items; using the structural model, a proficiency test, tagged Uses of Multi-word verbs in English, is developed and administered to randomly selected forty-nine first-year Use of English students. The results, using frequency, percentage and mean for data analysis, show that the students are deficient in using multi-word verbs as they cannot provide the contextual synonyms for these multi-word verbs in the test items: come on, break down, go off, die away, get back, getting by, catch on, watch out, eat out, hang on (intransitive phrasal verbs); sort out, knock over, set off, blow up, put off, throw away, give away, take of, leave out ( transitive phrasal verbs); look for, look into, fall for, stand for, approve of, do without, bombard with, break into, come across, look after (prepositional verbs) ; catch up with, go on with, look forward to, watch out for, fix up with, put that down to, take out on, looked up to, fob off, comes down to (phrasal prepositional verbs). The study establishes that some undergraduates cannot use English multi-word verbs and therefore recommends teaching and drills on multi-multi-word verbs for effective use of English.

Keywords : multi-word verbs, meanings, undergraduate students, deficiencies

Introduction

Because of the centrality of the verb to meaningful communication in English, its usage in the written English of Nigerian undergraduates has attracted various research investigations which have unearthed their weak areas to include tense, subject-verb agreement, modals, phrasal verbs, verb conjugation, verb inflexion, verb phrase and others (Bodunde, H. A and Sotiloye, B. S (2013; Ojo, G.A. (2018)). However, multi-word verbs have not been given adequate attention in such research. Besides that, multi-word verbs, though a common feature of English, can be difficult for learners as the meanings cannot be worked out from the individual constituent words and there are special rules about the positions of objects with the verbs. The purpose of this study is to assess the student’s comprehension of the meanings of multi-word verbs in Standard English usage. To provide the grammatical basis for assessing the meanings of multi-word verbs in the students’ written English, the study explores the meanings of multi-word verbs as described in the structural grammar of modern English. (Thomson and Martinet, 1986; Greenbaum, 1996; Ansell, 2000; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002; Leech & Svartvik, 2002; Azar, 2003; Vince, 2003; Biber, Conrad & Leech, 2003; Carty & McCarthy, 2006; Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 2007; Foley & Hall, 2008; Swan, 2009)

Multi-Word Verbs in Modern English Usage

Multi-word verbs are generated from a verb plus an adverbial particle (grow out) and a prepositional particle (grow up). As with other verbs, multi-word verbs form tenses; they are also used in questions, negatives and in the passive voice.

1.   The excursion has not been put off

2.   Will they put off the holidays?

3.   The holiday has been put off

4.   That story was made up by the sacked employee

Nouns can be formed from multi-word verbs;

5.   The car broke down one hour after taking off.

6.   The breakdown happened one kilometre away from home

It is possible too to reverse the order of the verb and particle:

7.   The cholera first broke out in Abuja

8.   The first outbreak of the cholera was in Abuja

A multi-word verb with no exact synonym, is employed in both formal and informal contexts. However, when a multi-word verb has a single-verb equivalent meaning, the single-verb meaning is preferred in formal contexts while the multi-word verbs are employed in informal situations. Compare these pairs of sentences:

11a.The court sentences him to life imprisonment, with the recommendation that he is not released for a minimum period of twenty years.

11b. The court sentences you to life imprisonment with the recommendation that you not be left out for a minimum period of twenty years.

12a.The government have announced plans to abolish the disabled person’s vehicle allowance in the next budget.

12b. The government have announced plans to do away with the disabled person’s vehicle allowance.

Sentences 11a and 12a are preferred to the others in formal contexts. The verbs released and abolish are more suitable in the formal contexts than to let out and do away with.

Multi-word verbs are classified into four categories with different rules, namely, intransitive phrasal verbs, transient phrasal verbs, prepositional phrasal verbs and phrasal prepositional verbs, as illustrated in these sentences respectively.

9.      The plane took off this meaning

10.  She is thinking of putting the trip off

11.  How does Mary cope with all her kids

12.  They are looking forward to the holidays.

Intransitive phrasal verbs consist of a verb and an adverb; they have no direct object and cannot be made passive. They are used in imperatives:

13.  Getting by on my salary isn’t easy

14.  Rogers never really caught on in England

15.  Watch out: that floor’s not very solid

Common examples of intransitive phrasal verbs are break down (= stop working), catch on (= understand/become popular), come back (= return), come in, come on, fall out (= quarrel), fall through, fit in, get by (= manage/cope), get up, go away, go on (= continue), go out, grow up, look out, pass out (= faint), shut up, sit down, stand up, stay on (= remain), take off, turn up (= arrive), wake up, watch out.

Transitive phrasal verbs are made up of a verb with an adverb and have a direct object, which is either a pronoun or a noun. Examples include:

16.  The plane took off on time

17.  The man took off his coat

18.  You are not going to sort out your problems in a month

Common examples of transitive Phrasal verbs are act something (sth) out (= perform/demonstrate), bottle sth up (= not allow a feeling to show), bring sth in (= rear), bring sth up (= mention sth/introduce a topic), carry sth out (=perform/undertake), do sth up (= restore/redecorate), fill sth in/out (= complete in writing), find sth out (= discover), fix sth up (= arrange), give sth away (= reveal), give sth up (= stop), hold sth up (= delay) keep sth up (= maintain), leave sth/sb(somebody) out, let sth out (release), look sth up, make sth up (= invent), pay sb back, pick sth up (= collect), point sth out (= highlight/explain), pull sth/sb down (= demolish, demote), put sth away, put sth off (= postpone), put sth on, put sb up (= accommodate), run sb down (= criticize), set sth up (= establish/implement/organize), take sth over, take sth up, throw sth away, turn sth/sb down (= refuse), turn sth/sb out.

Prepositional verbs consist of a verb plus a preposition. The meaning created by the combination of verb and preposition is easily, but not always, deciphered. Prepositional verbs are transitive. Examples of prepositional verbs are italicized in the sentences below;

19.  She looked for her missing passport

20.  Would you like to look into the complaint?

21.  These are the principles which the party stand for

Common examples of prepositional verbs are call for sb, care for sb, come across sth (= encounter), cope with sth, deal with sth (= manage, handle), fall for sth (= be tricked), feel like sth, get at sb/sth, get over sth (= recover from), get through (= finish successfully), go into sth, go with sth (= match), lead to sth, look after sb/sth, look into sth (= investigate), look like sth (= resemble), look round sth (= visit, etc.), part with sth, pay for sth, rely on sth/sb, run into sb (= meet by chance), see to sth (= organize/manage), send for sb, stand for sth (= represent/mean/tolerate), stick to sth (= persevere/follow), take after sb, talk about sth, think about sth (control). The following prepositional verbs are usually used in the passive: be aimed at (= intended for), be applied to, be considered as, be derived from, be known as, be regarded as, be used as, be used in.

Phrasal prepositional verbs are formed by combining a verb with an adverb and preposition. The combination creates a new meaning which cannot usually be understood from the meanings of the component words; they are transitive and can be made passive. Examples of phrasal-prepositional verbs are italicized in the sentences below:

22.  All his workers looked up to her

23.  He was looked up to by all his workers

24.  We look forward to hearing from you

Common examples of phrasal-preposition verbs are back out of sth, break in on sth, catch up on sth/sb, catch up with sb, check up on sth/up, come across as sth (= appear to be), come down to sth (= be essential), come up with sth (= invent), cut down on sth (= reduce), do away with sth, drop in on sb, face up to sth (= confront), get away with sth, get back to sth (= return), get down to sth, get on with sth, get out of sth, give in to sth, go out for sth, go up to sb (= approach), keep away from sb/sth (= avoid), keep up with sb, look down on sb, look forward to sth (= anticipate), look out for sb/sth, look up to sb (= admire/respect), make away with sth, move on to sth, put up with sth/sb (= tolerate), run away with sb, run off with sth, stand up for sth (= defend), turn away from sth, walk out on sth/sb. The following phrasal-prepositional verbs are usually used in the passive: b e cut off from, be made up of, and be set out in. The above short survey of uses of common multi-word verbs provides theoretical linguistic standards for assessing the student’s comprehension or interpretations of the meanings of multi-word verbs in a standard of usage.

Methodology

The research design is expo-facto because it is suitable for this type of study that investigates the existing competence of educated users of English. It was conducted among first-year students of use of English course in English for Academic Purpose (EAP) at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, in the 2021/2022 academic session. All fresh students who enrolled for Communication in English II, a course in English for Academic Purposes, constituted the study population. The enrollees are usually divided into small lecture groups for effective instruction, learning and assessment of learning outcomes. The lead researcher teaches one of the lecture groups. Using a purposive sampling technique, the lead researcher’s lecture group was chosen; out of the group population, fifty students were randomly sampled to participate in the study as subjects. The research instrument, tagged Uses of Multi-word Verbs in English, was developed using a structural grammar description of features and meanings of English multi-word verbs. The instrument has forty sentence task items on multi-word verbs; it is made up of ten items each on intransitive phrasal verbs, transitive phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. The students were tasked to correctly interpret the meanings of the multi-word verbs used in the contexts of the forty sentences. The proficiency test research instrument was administered by the lead researcher to the students as a continuous assignment. Frequency count, percentage score and meaning rating were used to assess the student’s competence per item. An item in which the mean score of the entire students ranged from 0.0 to 0.4 epitomized inadequate knowledge of multi-word verbs while a mean score which fell within the range of 0.5 – 1.0 was considered as evidence of competence in the use of multi-word verbs.

Table 1: Assessment of EAP Students’ Comprehension of the Meanings of Multi-word Verbs in Standard English Usage

SN	Multi-word verbs	Test items on Multi-word verbs	Ratings of the Students Comprehension of Multi-word Verbs X % X
		Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
1	Getting by	Getting by on my salary isn’t easy!		15	30.6	0.30
2	Catch on	Rogers never really catch on in England		9	18.3	0.18
3	Watch out	Watch out ! That floor’s not very solid		17	34.6	0.34
4	Come on	Come on ! I can’t wait all day long		4	8.16	0.08
5	Break down	it’s was a disastrous day, because the coach broke down		0	0.00	0.00
6	Eats out	He buys all his own food and he very rarely eats out		9	18.3	0.18
7	Hang out	Hang on . Let write all this down		21	42.8	0.42
8	Went off	The radio alarm went off at the same time		3	6.12	0.06
9	Died away	I waited till the noise of the train died away then walked home		0	0.00	0.00
10	Get back	Oh, better get back to realty now I suppose Transitive Phrasal Verbs		4	8.16	0.08
11	Sort out	You are not going to sort out your problems in a month.		11	22.4	0.22
12	Knock	Careful, junior, don’t knock the over.		0	0.00	0.00
13	Set off	As soon as he moves, he’s going to set the alarm off .		2	49	0.04
14	Blow up	Robbers blew the bank vault up .		1	2.04	0.02
15	Put off	We decided to put the meeting off for a couple of weeks.		5	10.2	0.10
16	Sort out	As usual it will be left for me to sort everything out .		0	0.00	0.00
17	Throw away	But don’t throw away that for coat yet		1	2.04	0.02
18	Give away	He gave that car away		1	2.04	0.02
19	Take off	The plane took off on time		0	0.00	0.00
20	Leave out	Leave me out		6	12.2	0.12
		Prepositional phrase verbs
21	Look for	She looked for her missing passport		21	42.8	0.42
22	Look into	Would you mind looking into this complaint?		3	6.12	0.06
23	Fall for	We didn’t fall for his story.		16	32.6	0.32
24	Stand for	These are the principles which our party stands for		1	2.04	0.02
25	Approve of	I don’t approve of his views on war and military things		5	10.2	0.10
26	Do without	I couldn’t sell my phone. I just couldn’t do without it		0	0.00	0.00
27	Bombard	You don’t bombard them with mew stuff		2	4.08	0.04
28	Break into	Because loads of people break into cares, does that make it right?		1	2.04	0.02
29	Come across	You said you had already come across that sort of stuff in library		1	2.04	0.02
30	Look after	I managed to look after everybody for a day and half		6	32.6	0.12
31	Catch up with	I will catch up with you in a minute		1	2.04	0.02
		Phrasal Prepositional Verbs
32	Go on with	Let her go on with it		7	14.2	0.14
33	Looking forward to	I’m looking forward to the weekend		1	2.04	0.02
34	Out for	The cashiers were asked to watch out for forged bank notes		5	10	0.10
35	Fix up with	She’s going to try and fix me up with a bit of part-time work		1	2.04	0.02
36	Put down to	Do you put that down to luck or judgment?		5	10.2	0.10
37	Taking out on	He was just taking his frustration out on me, shouting at me and stuff		1	2.04	0.02
38	Looked up to	She was looked up to by her students		12	24.4	0.24
39	Fobbed off	She won’t be fobbed off this time		3	6.12	0.06
40	Comes down to	What it comes down to is either I get more money or I leave		1	2.04	0.02

 

The table clearly shows poor performance in all items, as all scores are less than the decision-criterion mean of 0.50; suggesting that the students cannot correctly decipher the meanings of these common forty multi-word verbs.

Discussion of Findings

The main finding is that the students are deficient in the use of English multi-word verbs. The essence of this English usage research is to ascertain the proficiency of EAP students in using multi-word verbs in meaningful formal communication. The research therefore subjected the students to interpreting the semantic imports of some selected intransitive phrasal, transitive phrasal, prepositional and phrasal-prepositional verbs in selected standard sentence contexts. Using the criterion percentage score of 50% and the mean score of 0.5%, the students demonstrate inadequate knowledge of the meanings of common intransitive phrasal, transitive phrasal, prepositional and phrasal-prepositional verbs in English usage. No mean score of 0.5 is obtained by the entire subjects in any of the forty multi-word test tasks.

Of the ten intransitive phrasal verbs test tasks, in particular, the students cannot decipher the contextual meanings of any one item. There is outright failure exhibited in interpreting the contextual meanings of come on, break down, go off, die away, get back, getting by, catch on, watch out, eat out, and hang on. A proof of the students’ wrong deductions of the meanings of the intransitive phrasal verbs are shown in the italicized responses appended to the task items which are reproduced below:

1.      Getting by on my salary isn’t easy! l eaving without

2.      Rogers never really caught on in England. lived

3.      Watch out! That floor’s not very solid. i mpatience.

4.      Come on! I can’t wait all day long. Oh my God .

5.      It’s was a disastrous day, because the coach broke down . was sick

6.      He buys all his own food and he very rarely eats out. doesn’t eat his food stuff

7.      Hang on. Let me write all this down. calm down

8.      The radio alarm went off at the same time. switch off

9.      I waited till the noise of the train died away then walked home. pass away

10.  Oh, better get back to reality now I suppose. said the truth

The suitable meanings of the intransitive phrasal verbs are written in italics at the end of the task items below:

1.      Getting by on my salary isn’t easy! managing .

2.      Rogers never really caught on in England. popular.

3.      Watch out! That floor’s not very solid. be careful or cautious.

4.      Come on! I can’t wait all day long. hurry up.

5.      It’s was a disastrous day, because the coach broke down. stopped working.

6.      He buys all his own food and he very rarely eats out. eat at restaurant.

7.      Hang on . Let me write all this down. wait

8.      The radio alarm went off at the same time. rang

9.      I waited till the noise of the train died away then walked home. become inaudible

10.  Oh, better get back to reality now I suppose. return

A second finding is that the students are deficient in communicating with common transitive phrasal verbs in English, as they lack knowledge of the meanings of some common transitive phrasal verbs which are used in English. The students cannot interprete the contextual meanings of multi-word verbs such as sort out, knock over, set off, blow up, put off, throw away, give away, take off and leave out as demonstrated by their wrong responses, which are attached to the task items below:

11.  You’re not going to sort out your problems in a month. find out.

12.  Careful, Junior, don’t knock that over! spill

13.  As soon as he moves, he’s going to set the alarm off. put off

14.  Robbers blew the bank vault up. spoil

15.  We decided to put the meeting off for a couple of weeks. On hold

16.  As usual it will be left for me to sort everything out. solve

17.  But don’t throw away that for coat yet. p ut away

18.  He gave that car away. sold out

19.  The plane took off on time. left on time.

20.  Leave me out. withhold me.

The suitable synonyms are italicized at the end of each test task below:

11.  You’re not going to sort out your problems in a month. solve

12.  Careful, Junior, don’t knock that over! make it fall

13. As soon as he moves, he’s going to set the alarm off cause to ring

14.   Robbers blew the bank vault up. e xploded

15.  We decided to put the meeting off for a couple of weeks. postpone

16.   As usual it will be left for me to sort everything out . organize

17.  But don’t throw away that for coat yet. dispose

18.  He gave that car away. take no money for

19.  The plane took off on time. became airborne.

20.  Leave me out. exclude

A third finding is that the EAP students are unable to use prepositional verbs in meaningful communication in English. They cannot use some common prepositional verbs such as look for, look into, fall for, stand for, approve of, do without, bombard with, break into, come across, and look after, Their responses at the end of each test item below affirms the conclusion:

21.  She looked for her missing passport. find

22.  Would you mind looking into this complaint? considering

23.  We didn’t fall for his story. feel

24.  These are the principles which our party stands for. responsible

25.  I don’t approve of his views on war and military things. a gree

26.  I couldn’t sell my phone. I just couldn’t do without it. leave without

27.  You don’t bombard them with new stuff. accumulate

28.  Because loads of people break into cars, does that make it right? damage

29.  You said you had already come across that sort of stuff in the library. r ead through

30.  I managed to look after everybody for a day and half. stand for

The appropriate synonyms of the prepositional verbs in items 21-30 are italicized at the end of the sentences below:

21.  She looked for her missing passport. searched

22.  Would you mind looking into this complaint? investigate

23.  We didn’t fall for his story. Deceived or tricked to believe or believe

24.  These are the principles which our party stands for . defend

25.  I don’t approve of his views on war and military things. agree

26.  I couldn’t sell my phone. I just couldn’t do without it. need or have to have

27.  You don’t bombard them with new stuff. give to much information .

28.  Because loads of people break into cars, does that make it right? enter by force.

29.  You said you had already come across that sort of stuff in the library. found

30.  I managed to look after everybody for a day and half. take care of

The fourth and final finding of the study is that the students have difficult using common phrasal-prepositional verbs like catch up with, go on with, look forward to, watch out for, fix up with, put that down to, take out on, looked up to, fob off and comes down to. Their responses at the end of the sentences below attest to the finding:

31.  I’ll catch up with you in a minute. see

32.  Let her go on with it. take

33.  I’m looking forward to the weekend. hoping

34.  The cashiers were asked to watch out for forged bank notes. search carefully

35.  She’s going to try and fix me up with a bit of part-time work. help

36.  Do you put that down to luck or judgment? take note of

37.   He was just taking his frustration out on me, shouting at me and stuff. releasing

38.  She was looked up to by her students. interesting

39.  She won’t be fobbed off this time. left

40.  What it comes down to is either I get more money or I leave. conclude

The correct meanings of the multi-word verbs for sentences 31-40 are given at the end of test items in the sentences below:

31.  I’ll catch up with you in a minute. r each or join.

32.  Let her go on with it. c ontinue doing.

33.  I’m looking forward to the weekend. a nticipate with pleasure.

34.  The cashiers were asked to watch out for forged bank notes. o bservant or aware

35.  She’s going to try and fix me up with a bit of part-time work. a rrange for me

36.  Do you put that down to luck or judgment? t hink the cause or reason for or attribute.

37.   He was just taking his frustration out on me, shouting at me and stuff. c ause to suffer.

38.  38. She was looked up to by her students. r espected or admired .

39.  She won’t be fobbed off this time. s topped from or hindered from.

40.  What it, comes down to, is either I get more money or I leave. ultimately implies

The analysis of the students’ responses to the task items justify the conclusion that the students lack knowledge of the meanings of common multi-word verbs and consequently their use in English. To use the multi-verbs acceptably in English, the students should firstly learn the meanings of the verbs; the EAP students in this study have proved that they are deficient in the use of English multi-word verbs.

Conclusion, Implication and Recommendations

The purpose of this study is to ascertain EAP students’ comprehension of the meanings of common multi-word verbs. This is premised on the fact that they can only use the verbs in English if they have learnt the semantic imports of the multi-word verbs. In this study, the students are tasked to provide the meanings of some multi-words selected from the four categories of English multi-word verbs, namely intransitive phrasal verbs, transitive phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs and phrasal prepositional verbs. The students’ interpretations of the meanings of common forty multi-word verbs show that their mental lexicon is deficient in common multi-word verbs and consequently, they cannot utilize them in communication. The students, collectively, cannot provide correct synonyms for these multi-word verbs: come on, break down, go off, die away and get back, getting by, catch on, watch out, eat out, and hang on (intransitive phrasal verbs); sort out, knock over, set off, blow up, put off, throw away, give away, take off and leave out ( transitive phrasal verbs); look for, look into, fall for, stand for, approve of, do without, bombard with, break into, come across, and look after (prepositional verbs) ; catch up with, go on with, look forward to, watch out for, fix up with, put that down to, take out on, looked up to, fob off and comes down to ( phrasal prepositional verbs).

The conclusion of the study is that some undergraduate students cannot use common multi-word verbs in English. Due to inadequate knowledge of the meanings of the verbs, the students are unable to provide the contextual meanings of forty multi-word verbs used in forty test sentences. The implication is that the students’ limited knowledge of multi-word verbs can incapacitate their use of the verbs in English. The study recommends that multi-word verbs should be included among the aspects of the English verb which are taught at the level of the use of English course for first-year university students. The students should be taught and given exercises on multi-word verbs. Also, undergraduates should engage in personal study of the forms and functions of basic grammatical items in English, including multi-word verbs, for effective use of English.

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