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Sparks will fly
We used to spark off a conflagration – now just we just spark it. Why?
Verbs that include a preposition (on, back, off, up) are called compound verbs. Americans are often accused of adding prepositions to verbs that don’t need them (“the American habit of tying an unnecessary preposition onto every verb” - George Orwell). Some verbs have acquired them, but far more have lost them: spark has lots its off, spur its on and buoy its up.
Have Americans decided to junk all prepositions? I know they’re scared of using a preposition to end a sentence with (sometimes it’s inelegant, but sometimes you have to). Losing the preposition may make for a neater look, but sometimes it changes the meaning. If you “cobble” something, are you cobbling it up (quickly constructing it out of spare parts) or cobbling it together (tying it together with odd bits of string, clothesline and elastic bands)? If the music is “cranked”, is it cranked up (volume to 11) or cranked out (of a wheezy barrel organ)?
It’s not just compound verbs that are changing – reflexive verbs are becoming unreflexive, transitive verbs are becoming intransitive or losing their objects, and passive verbs are becoming active.
Where will it all end (up)?
Verbs that have acquired prepositions
change up
beat out
beat up on
build out
change out (“We have changed out the management.”)
cancel on
change up “You want to change it up a bit.” Matthew Perry Observer July 22 07
chase down
choose up (sides in a game)
code up
cook off (“Shall I cook these off?” Ready Steady Cook)
evangelise to
fare out (“The following areas won't fare out too badly.” Weather forecast)
finish out
fink out
flunk out
free up
hate on
head up
hide out
infringe on (US)
join up with (for join with or join)
meet up with
meet with
munch on
nibble on
outside of
prevent from
prove out (It's always a surprise when your theory proves out like that. Discovery narration "The promise of the Internet was always one-to-one marketing, but nothing has ever proven it out. We're proving it out," Eagle said. CNET News.com)
prove up (“With a little corroboration we can prove up each case.”)
puff on (puffs on a cigar)
rat out
rest up
save out
seal off (“Shall I seal off these chicken fillets?” cookery TV)
sign off on (for sign off or even sign)
snaffle away
split out (“It was split out as a separate civil parish in 1866.” wiki)
stop from
swap out
tap in on
tend to (the wounded)
test out
Verbs that have lost their prepositions add (up) (It doesn’t add! The Dark Corner c. 1945)
appeal (against)
bail (out) (Her boyfriend recently bailed on her.)
block (from)
blot (out)
bolster (up)
bolt (from)
bolt (from)
boot (out)
bottom (out)
brew (up)
buckle (under)
build (up)
build (up)
buoy (up)
calm (down)
cancel (out) (If you just cancel, you break a date.)
cater (for) “contract ... to cater 55 Marine mess halls”
cave (in) (or, weirdly, “crater”)
check (in)
chicken (out) The film Marnie 1963: “You shouldn't have chickened.”
chill (out)
chuck (out)
clear (up) (clear the confusion)
clog (up)
cobble (together, up)
conjure (up)
cool (down)
crank (up) “The music is cranked.”
debate (with) “I have debated many graphologists...”
deprived (of)
disabused (of an idea)
eke (out)
escape (from) (Escape Alcatraz, Escape New York)
fit (in) (it fits with)
fizzle (out)
flail (around)
flare (up)
flash (up)
flash (up/at/past) “His idea flashed a year ago at Lord’s cricket ground...” flashed up? flashed past? flashed at him? freak (out)
gloss (over)
hang (out)
hang (up) my hat
hard put to (it)
hark (back)
intersect (with)
issue (with)
keep (on)
knock heads (together)
lag (behind) (if you lag something you wrap it in insulation)
larking (about)
lord (it) over
make (it) clear
map (out)
mill (around, about)
mull (over)
pare (down)
pass (away)
pep (up)
phase (in/out) “The proposal, thought to have been phased over many years...” Guardian July 13, 2004
play (off) one against the other
present (with)
protest (against, about)
provide (with)
provide (with, for)
pull (up) alongside
pumped (up)
rev (up)
round (up/down)
rub (up) the wrong way
settle (down/for less)
shoot (up)
shoot your mouth (off)
show (up)
shy (away) (never one to shy from the limelight)
sieze (up) (before the engine seizes on our first day's rummage)
sign (up)
skirt (around)
slag (off)
slow (down)
snuff (out)
sort (out)
spark (off)
spruce (up)
spur (on)
steamed (up) (If you’re steamed up, you’re like a steamship or steam engine ready to go; if you’re steamed, you’re like a Chinese dumpling)
stir (up) trouble, opinion, interest etc
stoke (up)
strike (up) friendship etc
substitute (for)
summon (up)
sweep (across)
swerve (past, around) Obituaries swerved the issue of his sexuality (Guardian caption May 08)
talk (up)
team (up)
top (off)
toss (out) (Judge tosses main charge in Stewart case.)
trail (behind)
turn (out)
usher (in) (you can also usher people out)
vie (for)
vote (for) (To vote your choice in our online poll...)
wait (on) tables
warm (up)
wash (out) (It was a wash.)
weigh (up)
wipe (out)
wrap (up)
Reflexive verbs that have become unreflexive
Sometimes it makes the sentence much neater. Why not lose the reflexive if the meaning’s obvious?
a Kansas town rebuilds (itself etc.) time.com
brace Texas braces for tropical storms
commit They also committed to deploy ... 200 civilian monitors divest Presbyterian church divesting of interests in Israel.
identify as
imprint It imprinted early on him.
manifest In order for his plans to manifest
overreach
pass off as Simnel passed off as the Earl of Warwick Times Jan 12 08 (He could have just “passed as”.)
prime Germany Primes for the "Most Unusual" Election in History (Web)
reconcile
re-establish While his grandfather Harry laboured to clear dykes of reeds and wild flowers to plant crops he will be watching a medieval landscape of fens re-establish. BBC online
unburden
Lost object
A transitive verb needs an object, and I don’t think a conjunction will do. I don’t like this construction (but I realise that it’s very common young people speak. They’ll grow out of it.)
I hate how they make you wait. (I hate the way they make you wait.)
The only safe way for outside experts to leave the firm is if there are trained staff to replace them. (A noun (way) can’t be equivalent to a conjunction (if).)
We should celebrate that London is a diverse city. (celebrate the fact that)
He toyed with going back to France. (He toyed with the idea of going back to France.)
I like that they have these unexpected twists in the melody. (I like the fact that… I like these unexpected twists… I like the way they have these unexpected twists…)
in keeping (with what?)
conducive (to what?)
boycott (X)
claw (its way)
dish (the dirt) (Used this way in The Women, 1938)
gain a new lease (of life)
gird (up your loins) General Frank girds for war in an unknown country.
have recourse (to justice, mercy etc.)
He has drawn wonderful performances – particularly XY... (You can’t just draw a performance – you have to draw it from somebody.)
recharge (batteries) The middle classes go there to recharge.
redress (the balance)
romp (home)
serve (him) well
spill (the beans)
vent (spleen)
walk (free)
Passive becomes active
Americans are terrified of the passive, but they just turn a passive verb into an active one, even if it isn’t really a verb, or needs to be reflexive. “Instead of being remade as” becomes “instead of remaking as”.
begins to read as (be read as)
he apprenticed at Disney studios, he apprenticed to his father (was apprenticed)
He faces a runoff against a rival, who placed second. (was placed)
he reconciled with
is playing out (is being played out)
It sold for $10. (It was sold.)
Part of that may also owe to diet. (be owing)
premiered (was premiered)
Since the Australian catapulted to stardom... (was catapulted)
That owes almost entirely to the courage and tireless work of Al Gore. (is owed)
The footage aired around the world. (was aired)
Their conversations percolate with menace (are percolated)
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Prepositions
