[Corpora-List] Phrasal verbs

Thu Mar 6 03:20:34 UTC 2003

In the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (based on the BNC),
the claim is made that "In fiction and conversation, phrasal verbs occur
almost 2,000 times per million words" (p. 408). This seems lower than one
would expect and would be evidence against the value of focusing on these
in TESOL, something that I would say happens quite a lot.

Does anybody have any data or reasons that would suggest more frequent use
of phrasal verbs, especially in conversation?

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Brett Reynolds
Sakuragaoka Girls' Jr. & Sr. High School
brett at staff.sakuragaoka.ac.jp
http://www.esl.sakuragaoka.ac.jp/teachers/br