Great responses Craig and Herb. But a follow up question for Craig. Martha's test for verb particles is whether they can be moved to the front of the sentence to form a question. "I looked up the chimney" can be transformed into "Up what did I look?" However, "He looked up a phone number" cannot be transformed into "*Up what did he look?" It has to be "What did he look up?" Craig's test is whether the word in question can be moved to the end of the sentence. "*I looked the chimney up" doesn't work, but "I looked the word up" does. So, by either test, "up" is a preposition in the chimney sentence, but it is a particle in the phone number sentence. Applying these tests to "I think about many things," I can say "About what do I think?" And I can't say, "I think many things about." By both tests, "about" doesn't seem to be a verb particle. So I am wondering . . . can a phrasal verb, in Craig's sense, be formed with a word that is not a verb particle? If so, what is "about"? Peter Adams On Oct 9, 2007, at 8:55 AM, Craig Hancock wrote: > Peter, > Great questions. I think "must" in "I think too much" is an > adverbial of extent. "Too" tends to qualify "much" by putting it > over the top. Same with "too tall", "too lazy", "too quietly" and > so on. > In "I think about many things," it's mostly a question of whether > "think about" is a phrasal verb. It tends to feel that way for me, > maybe because we use the two together so often. "What do you think > about?" "I think about many things." But I wouldn't argue with > anyone who feels it's an intransitive "think" followed by a > prepositional phrase. > Because I'm reading about construction grammar, I'm beginning to > see how often grammatical constructions are more "local" than > abstract. If /think /and /about/ or /too /and /much/ go together > often enough, they begin to feel like a single construction. "Think > about" gives us a way to express the content of our thoughts. "Too > much" helps us say when things have gone too far. So we use them > over and over. > I suspect you found that most direct objects for "think" are > whole clauses, not just noun phrases. "Evil thoughts" would be an > exception. The content of a mental process is generally a process > in its own right. "I think you are a wonderful teacher." They seem > to resist being passive. > > Craig > > > Peter Adams wrote: >> I asked my students to try to come up with sentences in which >> "think" is used as a transitive verb. Did they ever. >> >> After "I think evil thoughts" and "I think it will rain," both of >> which seem to qualify, they came up with several that are puzzling >> me: >> >> I think too much. >> >> Martha Kolln says "much" can be an indefinite pronoun, so perhaps >> it is a direct object, but what about "too"? Can a qualifier like >> "too" modify an indefinite pronoun? Martha says qualifiers (some >> call 'em intensifiers) can modify adjectives and adverbs. So is >> "much" an adverb? Of manner? Help? >> >> And what about this one: >> >> I think about many things. >> >> Martha suggests a prepositional phrase can function as a subject >> complement, as in "the fighter seems out of shape," but can it >> also function as a direct object? >> >> Aren't students wonderful? I told them I would post these to the >> list and report back with your responses. >> >> Peter Adams >> >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at: >> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >> and select "Join or leave the list" >> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> >> > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web > interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/