Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By
A thesis
presented to the
Doctor of Philosophy
February, 2008
DEDICATION
To my beloved kids: Jaafar, Ahmad and Ielaf
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I should like to express my sincere indebtedness to all those who, without their
generous assistance, this work would not exist. I should like in particular to thank my
chair supervisor Dr. Raymond Chakhachiro for his expert help, insightful comments,
this thesis, and my co-supervisor Dr Rosemary Suliman for going into a number of
issues of this study with me and bringing some great ideas to my attention.
interest and agreed to take part in the empirical part of the study. Their responses were
I also warmly thank my colleague Dr. Paul White for his proofreading of the thesis
I owe special dept of gratitude to my colleague Dr. Abbas Brashi for many hours of
invaluable discussions about my plan and proposal from the very beginning of my
candidature.
encouragement and patience throughout my long journey. They imparted me with the
most creative environment. Without them, it is true, I would not make it.
iv
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION
The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original
except as acknowledged in the text. I herby declare that I have not submitted this
material, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution.
………………………………………………..
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................xv
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ xx
2.4.1.2.1 Adverbs............................................................................................. 30
2.4.1.2.2 Prepositions....................................................................................... 33
2.6.1 Lentzner.................................................................................................. 71
2.6.3 Heliel...................................................................................................... 79
2.6.4 Alkhuli.................................................................................................... 82
2.6.5 Najiib...................................................................................................... 82
vii
2.8.2.7 NTC's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases
.......................................................................................................................131
viii
2.12 Conclusion..................................................................................................209
3.4.2.2 Macrolinguistics..................................................................................225
3.5 A linguistic contrastive analysis model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs
3.6 Conclusion....................................................................................................249
4.3 Participants...................................................................................................253
4. 4 Data collection.............................................................................................256
4.4.1 Instrument..............................................................................................256
TESTS ...................................................................................................................265
5.2.1 General overview of the results of the Arabic professional translators' group
...........................................................................................................................266
5.2.2 General overview of the results of the Arabic translation students' group ...269
5.4 Conclusion................................................................................................324
6.1 Conclusion....................................................................................................325
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................353
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................368
EQUIVALENTS ....................................................................................................393
TESTS ...................................................................................................................413
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
4.2 Text types used in the translation tests and the items representing each type…. 257
5.2 Average of the correct answers of the Arabic professional translators' group .. 267
group ………………………………………………………………….………….…268
5.5 Average of the correct answers of the Arabic translation students' group ...…...269
5.7 Ranking the categories and their subcategories – Arabic translation students'
group…………………………………………………………..…………….………270
5.12 Summary of the performance of the Arabic translation students' group .……..277
category …….………....……….….………....……….……..………....…………...289
group...….…..…..…..…..…..….…..…..…………………………...…..………...…321
5.30 Performance and stages of study of the Arabic translation students' group ..... 322
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 A model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic ………………….247
xvi
Elements of the transliteration system of Arabic used in this study are eclectically
selected from systems adopted by Lentzner (1977); Beaugrande et al. (1994); Hatim
Arabic consonants
ء hamza ?
أ ?alif a
ب baa? b
ت taa? t
ث thaa? th
ج jiim j
ح Haa? H
خ khaa? kh
د daal d
ذ dhal dh
ر raa? r
ز zaay z
س siin s
ش shiin sh
ص Saad S
ض Daad D
xvii
ط Taa? T
ظ Zaa? Z
ع 3ayn 3
غ ghayn gh
ف faa? f
ق qaaf q
ك kaaf k
ل laam l
م miim m
ن nuun n
haa? h
و waaw w
ي yaa? y
َ fatHa a
ِ kasra i
, Damma u
َا aa
و uu
ي ii
xviii
Arabic diphthongs
أي ay
أو aw
Other features
This system may not conform to some Arabic names occuring in this study, which
have their own previously establiehed transiliterations. For example: %&&'()*(+ ا,&-./
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS
c = complex idioms
L1 = First Language
L2 =Second Language
PV = Phrasal Verb
ABSTRACT
This study concerns itself with a linguistic contrastive analysis of one particular
characteristic of grammar and vocabulary in both English and Arabic languages. That
is, combinations of proper verbs with adverbial and/or prepositional particle(s), which
In addition, the thesis attempts to approve the fact that there are fundamental
similarities and dissimilarities between English and Arabic phrasal verbs. Such
The main hypothesis of the study is that there are wide ranges of difficulties posed to
Exploring such difficulties is the principle aim of the study. The other aim is to
A linguistic contrastive analysis model for the analysis and translation of idiomatic
English phrasal verbs into Arabic is devised in order to establish a yardstick by which
Translation tests are conducted to identify types of errors and translational pitfalls
handling the most problematic and challenging idiomatic English phrasal verbs.
The results revealed that there are in fact lots of difficulties encountered by Arabic
professional translators and Arabic translation students when dealing with the
phenomenon of idiomatic English phrasal verbs. The most important aspect of such
Overtly erroneous errors such as: literal translation, mistranslating, reducing idioms to
sense and breaching of the Arabic language system, along with covertly erroneous
errors, such as wrong Arabic collocation, shift of register, incorrect delivery of speech
acts, usage of paraphrasing and usage of Arabic colloquial and regional dialects, were
the major reasons behind the failure of delivering the appropriate functional-
pragmatic equivalents of the idiomatic English phrasal verbs listed in the translation
tests.
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Owing to their syntactic structures, idiomatic and non-idiomatic use and their complex
idioms, phrasal verbs (henceforth PVs) constitute one of the most difficult problems for
learners of the English language (Cowie & Mackin, 1993; Courtney, 1983; Taha, 1972;
Azzaro, 1992). They are, to use McArthur's (1975) words "a foreign learner's biggest
headache" (p. 6). At first glance they look deceptively easy to the non-native speaker,
but their significations can be fundamentally different from what one might expect
(Khalaili, 1979). English grammarians and linguists point out that to be fluent in
English you have to master using PVs ably. The type of PVs posing the learners with
particular difficulty are idiomatic English phrasal verbs (henceforth IEPVs) (Turton &
Manser, 1985).
In their Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs and their Idioms, McArthur and Atkins
a) A verb of this type may have a meaning which is simply the sum of its parts,
but may also have a meaning which bears little apparent relation to those parts.
b) The particle may indicate some kind of direction but may just as easily have a
meaning little related to direction.
c) The same particle can serve as a preposition or adverb and a student can easily
confuse these functions.
d) There are so many phrasal verbs in modern English (and the number is
constantly growing), they are so important in the spoken language, and they
have so many shades of meanings that the student may despair of ever
mastering this area of language. This situation has been aggravated by the lack
of a good description of the phrasal verb, and by a shortage of useful teaching
material (p. 5).
2
Yet, when it comes to translating IEPVs into Arabic, the problem far exceeds the four
points mentioned above due to the fact that there are tremendous dissimilarities in terms
Arabic.
and Arabic translation students encounter when translating IEPVs into Arabic.
The difficulties of English PVs (henceforth EPVs) were first noted by Samuel Johnson in
1755 in the preface to his Dictionary of English Language (McArthur, 1989) in which he
wrote:
What Johnson said about EPVs, McArthur (1989) indicates, "is still true, except that
nowadays they stand out more because there are even more of them about in the 20th than
in the 18th century" (p. 38), but Johnson had no name for the phenomenon, McArthur
elaborates, as there was no agreed academic name for it. Furthermore, McArthur (1989)
makes the point that by the 'composition' Johnson meant 'compound' which is widely used
however, has been given many names by grammarians, linguists, pedagogues and
lexicographers.
In his essay English Idioms, Logan Pearsall Smith has first used the name of ‘Phrasal
verbs’ in print in 1925, following a suggestion from Henry Bradley (Dixon, 1982; Sroka,
1972). The same term has been employed by Jowett (1951), Mitchell (1958), Fairclough
(1965, as cited in Lindner, 1983), Heaton (1965), Bolinger (1971), Quirk and Greenbaum
(1973), Palmer (1974), Khalaila (1976), Turton and Manster (1985), Cornell (1985),
Thomas and Martinet (1986), McArthur (1989), Side (1990), Constant (1991), Azzaro
(1992), Dixon (1982), Cowie (1993), Heleil (1994), Holes (1994), Jacob (1995), Berman
and Kirstein (1996) Lindstormberg (1998), Sinclair et al. (1998), Darwin and Gray
(1999), Sawyer (2000), Sansome (2000) and Trush (2001) among others (cf. Lindner,
Other names given to label the co-occurrence of verb with particle are 'Particle verbs'
(Aarts, 1989) and 'compound verbs' (Palmer, 1974) (cf. Dixon, 1982). But, Spears
(1993) considers the term 'phrasal verb' as a generic term and indicates that "verb +
Yet, the winning term is said to be the first one, that is, 'phrasal verb' which recently
quite commonly appears in English literature and linguistics works (McArthur, 1989;
Sroka, 1972).
4
Therefore, the term 'phrasal verb' being adopted in this study to refer to combinations of
verbs and particles owing to the fact that it has been widely used by the majority of
pedagogy.
Interestingly, 1965 was, according to Fraser (1974), a big year for EPVs, as four major
studies were published in that particular year by Fairclough, Fraser, Live, and Sroka.
The previous scholarly research into EPVs has been categorized by Azzaro (1992) into
three types depending upon the ways in which researchers approached the topic, being:
1. Some authors produced verb studies in which PVs were viewed as part of the
general English verbal system, without being given particular attention (cf. for
example Allen 1966; Kiparsky 1968: 30-37; Leech 1971; and Nehls 1978; 45-
62; etc.).
2. Others concentrated on the constituents of PVs without studying their
contextual behaviour: cf. for instance: Hills 1968 on the definition of EPVs'
constituent particles; Heaton 1969 and Wood 1975 on prepositions and their
idioms; Greenbaum 1970 on adjuncts; Bennet 1975 on spatial and temporal
uses of prepositions; and finally Fraser 1970 on idioms in a T-GG framework.
3. Other authors, on the other hand, tackled the study of EPVs proper. Kennedy
(1920) listed 900 verbal combinations, indicating their most productive
elements; Mitchell (1958) produced one of the cornerstones of all modern
studies on PVs […], together with Bolinger (1971); Fraser (1976) offers ample
details on the semantic and syntactic aspects of EPVs […]. The syntax of
EPVs is exhaustively discussed in Sroka (1972), Vestergaard (1977), De
Armond (1977), Dixon (1982) and also in Mathews (1984) and Radford
(1988) (pp. 40-41).
It is useful to mention here that in a paper entitled Phrasal verbs in English grammar
involving a verb and adverbial or prepositional element in a selection of 16th, 17th, and
18th century grammars" (p. 376). He primarily concentrates on "finding out how the
idea of taking phrasal verbs as single units developed in the early treatises, rather than
5
or to evaluate the issues in terms of what we today know about phrasal verbs" (p. 377).
Hiltunen (1983) indicates that the "terms 'phrasal verb' and 'prepositional verb' are
comparatively recent and were not used by the early grammarians, but the history of these
constructions in English may be traced to the earliest periods of the language" (p. 376).
He elaborates that "Old English was still fairly close to its Germanic ancestors with its
'separable prefixes', words that appeared joined to the verb or detached from it, depending
primarily on various syntactic factors" (p. 376). He goes on to say that "[…] even in the
Old English period a tendency towards the establishment of the structural variant where
the phrasal element follows the verb, may be clearly discerned. In the early Middle
English period this pattern is already the predominant one" (p. 376). And by "the
beginning of the nineteenth century […] English grammarians had a fair conception of
many of the properties of the phrasal verbs, as well as of problems confronting them in a
Furthermore, Hiltunen surveys the grammar of New English starting from Bullokar
(1586) who "distinguished adverbs and prepositions, recognizing the fact that some
prepositions may be used adverbially" (p. 377), through Wallis (1652) and Poole (1655)
who accidentally noted "some such constructions in translating Latin prefixed verbs into
English" (p. 378), to Maittaire (1712) who surprisingly commented "on the
involving prepositions and adverbs in greater detail than any of the other writers" (p.
upon phrasal verbs as single units. This process begins subconsciously, phrasal
verbs creeping into the texts as translations of Latin examples or as descriptive
characterizations of the meaning of various 'prepositions'. Some of the
semantically more striking combinations prompt a comment (often in a
footnote) from the writer, and in this way the phrasal verb gradually finds its
way into English grammar (p. 384).
the phrasal verb was slow in coming", claiming that the grammar itself was the main
reason "because seeing the combination of a verb and a 'particle' as a unit involved
transcending the traditional boundaries between the parts of speech, and realizing that
words from different categories may melt into one another and form a new unit together"
(p. 384).
The other reason, according to him, was the effect of "Latin grammar, together with a
normative attitude towards language [...] All that did not directly fit into the Latin model
was often felt to be inferior or incorrect, something that ought to be resisted both in
theory and practice" (p. 384). "But indirectly" Hiltunen elaborates "the Latin background
comparison for the English grammarians, and constantly reminding them how their own
Along these lines, McArthur (1989) maintains that EPVs "have been widespread since at
least the Middle Ages" (p. 39). He provides the following two "typical antique usages
with go":
(1) in Wyclif's Bible of 1388, 'Thei that gon down in to the see in schippes', and
(2) in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure of 1603, 'So long, that nineteene
Zodiacks have gone round' (p. 39).
Moving on to our modern time, the phenomenon of PVs has been the focus of many
scholarly studies. Works in the last decade or so include: Flower (2000); Sansome
7
(2000); Sawyer (2000); Heliel (2000); Kaminska (2001); Zeller (2001); Jackendoff
(2002); Campoy (2002); Heine (2002); Villavicencio & Copestake (2003); Armstrong
(2004); Dehe (2005), Rottet (2005), Crutchley (2007) and Gardner & Davies (2007).
In her article Plain English? A study of plain English vocabulary and international
audiences, Thrush (2001) narrates that "[i]n 1989, a China Airline flight, flying in zero
visibility, crashed into the side of a mountain shortly after takeoff. On the voice recorder,
the last words of the Chinese pilot to the co-pilot were "What does pull up mean?" (p.
289). This tragedy highlights the fact that the lack of a comprehension of IEPVs may lead
to catastrophes. Likewise, Palmer (1968) reports "the famous story of the foreigner in the
train who was told to look out. Instead of realizing that LOOK OUT was a phrasal verb
meaning TAKE CARE, he took it as a literal combination of LOOK+OUT and put his
head further out of the window with disastrous consequences" (p. 185) [Emphasis in
original].
The significance of IEPVs and the difficulty they pose to learners of English, translation
spoken and written English, they have not received enough attention from Arab
researchers. There has been no comprehensive research to date shedding light on how
IEPVs can be translated into Arabic or what sort of difficulties are encountered by Arabic
translators when handling them. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap by
investigating IEPVs, analyzing them, contrasting them with their Arabic counterparts,
8
highlighting the difficulties they constitute when translating them into Arabic and
The principal aim of this study is to explore the difficulties encountered by Arabic
professional translators and Arabic translation students when translating IEPVs into
arrived at from the empirical research conducted in the study. More specifically, this
conducted on the empirical data collected from both groups of the subjects by the
pedagogues.
The main hypothesis of the study, however, is that there is a wide range of difficulties
In order to achieve the set up goals of the study and to examine the established
hypothesis, two sets of research questions has been put forward. The first set was
intended to address the theoretical part of the thesis. The second set of research questions,
however, was meant to analyse the empirical data from pragmatic, semantic, syntactic
and stylistic perspectives. The research questions of the theoretical part of the study
being:
1) What is the notion of idioms and idiomaticity in both English and Arabic?
and Arabic?
their general and specialized dictionaries? And what are the gaps that need to be
7) To what extent the methods and materials employed by English and Arabic
pedagogues can help in solving the learning, teaching and translating difficulties
of IEPVs? And what are the gaps that need to be bridged in this difficult area of
pedagogy?
8) How has the phenomenon of IEPVs been dealt with in translation studies?
IEPVs?
2) To what extent the issue of complex idioms poses a difficulty for Arabic
them pop up on a regular basis. Such newly coined PVs are occasionally
emerging in both written and spoken modes of the English language where there
11
are no readily Arabic equivalents for them. Hence, how did the Arabic subjects
the two groups of Arabic subjects: The professional Arabic translators and
Arabic translation students? If so, what are the major areas in which their
competence varies?
In Chapter One a brief historical background of the notion of EPVs in previous studies is
provided. Then the study's justification, purpose, layout, and limitations are outlined.
Chapter Two comprehensively reviews the relevant literature of the concept of PVs and
its peculiarities. It begins with exploring the vital notion of idioms and idiomaticity in
both English and Arabic languages. It goes on to address the key issues of the study,
they are: the definition of PVs in English, the syntactic and semantic properties of PVs
Chapter Three constitutes a link between the theoretical part of the study (the literature
review) and the practical part of it (the experimental research). It establishes a theoretical
12
rationale for the empirical research by reviewing main and influential approaches of
an attempt to formulate a practical and scientific model for the analysis and translation of
Chapter Four presents the methodology utilized in this study to conduct the
Chapter Five comprises two distinct sections. The first section outlines a general
overview of the results of the translation tests conducted by the two groups involved in
the present study (Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students). The
second section concerns itself with analysing and discussing the subjects' performance in
Chapter Six concludes by summarizing the findings of the study and proposing
also draws on the contributions made in the present study and indicates a number of
This study will only concentrate on idiomatic EPVs and the difficulties they pose to
however, cover non-idiomatic type of EPVs, owing to the fact that they have
straightforward meanings, and do not cause Arabic professional translators and Arabic
translation students any difficulty in rendering them into Arabic. More regarding the
the forthcoming Chapter, but for the purpose of immediate clarification the following
examples illustrate the excluded non-idiomatic type of PVs where both components of
the construction (verb and particle) keep their individual lexical meanings:
Agree with, alert to, arrange for, arrive in, and assist with.
In addition, despite the fact that PVs are generally used in spoken English more than in
written English, the study will exclude the employment of colloquial Arabic as
of IEPVs. However, the study will have a considerable impact on interpreting for the
reason that translation and interpreting are two sides of one coin. I also assume that it will
lexicographers.
Lastly, given that the study is devoted to investigate the difficulties encountered by
Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students when translating IEPVs, it
will not cover the issue of recognition of such idiomatic expressions. It is assumed that
professional translators and translation students, the subjects of this study, must have the
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction
to address the first set of research questions. The crucial notion of idioms and
departure from which I will move on to address the key issues of the study, namely:
the definition of PVs in English, the syntactic and semantic properties of PVs in
English, PVs in Arabic, the derivation of PVs, PVs in English lexicography, PVs in
The primary purpose of this Chapter is to cast light on the main features of the
phenomenon of PVs in both English and Arabic, and to bring together what has been
theoretical ground upon which the following Chapters of the study can be established.
the notion of idioms and idiomaticity in both the English and the Arabic languages.
The aim here is to shed light on such a critical notion and to take it as a platform from
15
which one can move on to explore the characteristics of the idiomatic nature of PVs in
both languages.
broadly defined as "[a] fixed expression whose meaning is not guessable from the
meaning of its parts" (Trask, 2000, p. 67), or it is "[a]n expression which functions as
a single unit [where its] meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of the
individual elements" (Daud, Dollah, & Zubir, 2003, p. 100). Fraser (1976) considers
interpretation is independent of the formatives which compose it" (p. v). Idioms,
according to Bolinger (1975), are "groups of words with set meanings that cannot be
calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts" (as cited in Lattey, 1986,
p. 219). Further, Baker (1992) rightly points out that idioms "are frozen patterns of
language which allow little or no variation in form and […] often carry meanings
which cannot be deduced from their individual components" (p. 63). Thus, with
idioms a user cannot normally change the order of the words in them, delete a word
from them, replace a word with another, or change their grammatical structure unless
Therefore, Lattey (1986) points out that "as far as the form of idioms is concerned, we
have groups of words, and in terms of meanings, we can say that we are dealing with
new, not readily apparent meanings when we confront idioms" (p. 219).
16
Some of the fairly common examples include: let the cat out of the bag (meaning:
reveal a secret), buy a pig in a poke (meaning: commit oneself to a course of action
unfamiliar environment) and kick the bucket (meaning: die) (Trask, 2000).
"special, metaphorical, fixed phrases whose meanings and forms are not negotiable"
(p. 204).
Idioms, though, are considered as "vivid, verbal images which add life and verve to
speech and writing. Without them language would be very bland and unexciting"
(John & Smithback, 1991, preface). Hence, their importance in any language "cannot
be doubted [in view of the fact that their] ubiquity makes them anything but a
Further, idiomaticity is, as Ghazala (2003) puts it, the idioms' "most special
component [which constitutes] their metaphorical aspect" (p. 204), or "the heart of the
matter of any idiomatic expression" (p. 208), and "the gist of any idiomatic phrase"
(p. 209). Idiomaticity, in the words of Weinreich (1969), is "important for this reason,
17
if for no other, that there is so much of it in every language" (as cited in Fernando,
1996, p. 1). Lastly, it is, according to Palmer (1974) "a lexical feature [i.e.],
something to be dealt with in the lexicon or dictionary rather than the grammar" (p.
213).
Yet, understanding idioms and using them properly entails a degree of proficiency
which is hard for the non-native speaker of a given language to acquire (Turton &
Manser, 1985). Therefore, Wallace (1981) makes the point that "[w]hen it comes to
Great deals of attempts have been made by English scholars to classify idiomatic
expressions. As a result, they have been categorized in many different ways, being: 1)
portrayed' for instance, the idiom tell someone a tall tale would be categorized under
LIE; and 3) according to the 'image', that is, the picture drawn by the idiom, for
example, a category BODY PARTS would include she lost her head (Lattey, 1986).
It must be stressed here that idioms involve many aspects of English language. They
may occur in such forms as: slang, proverbs, allusions, similes, dead metaphors,
Further, Ghazala (2003) puts idioms into five main types, being:
What has to be confirmed at this stage is that PVs constitute an integral part of
English idiomatic expressions. They have been classified as one category of English
(1986) and Ghazala (2003) (e.g., Spears, 1987; Alexander, 1984: Urdang, 1979 as
In his book The Verb-Particle Combination in English, Fraser (1976) emphasizes that
"[p]ractically every grammarian of English has noted and commented about idioms in
general. More specifically, almost all have noted the regularity with which certain
PVs' elements sacrifice their individual meanings and by the act of combination
assume a new meaning, as, for example, bear out (meaning: corroborate), come by
(meaning: acquire), get at (meaning: reach), make out (meaning: understand), own up
(meaning: confess), and put out (meaning: extinguish) (Kennedy, 1967). It is quite
evident that in such idiomatic PVs, the meanings of the separate parts tell us little or
nothing about the meaning of the whole. For instance, one may be quite familiar with
the meanings of the items pick and up as individual words, but such familiarity does
not help in understanding the idiomatic meaning of the PV pick up in such sentence
as: Business is picking up (Turton & Manser, 1985). The idiomaticity of EPVs will be
exclusively tackled in the Arabic rhetoric (ن7&-(+ ا4&)E) by many ancient and modern
Arabic writers such as Al-jaaHiZ (died 255 A.H.) in his book 0--(F+ن وا7-(+( اrhetoric and
clarification) [my translation], Al-jurjaanii (died 471 A.H.) in his books 5&G2(+ار ا,&Hأ
(secrets of rhetoric) [my translation] and ز7&IEJ اK&LM( دIndications of the Miraculous)
[my translation], and Al-zamakhsharii (died 538 A.H.) in his books 5&&G2(+س ا7&&Hأ
(Foundation of Rhetoric) [my translation] and ف7ّN&'+( اThe Explorer) [my translation]
among others.
Bearing in mind that rhetoric (ن7-(+ ا4)E) being defined by Arabic linguists as "a science
by which the stating of a single meaning in different ways, with a clear indication to it
[the meaning] being known" [my translation] (Shakkour, 1992, p. 64). Yet, this
science falls into four rhetorical styles being: 1) ز ( اfigurative expression), which
means: Using a word in a meaning which is not its original one owing to a relation
(other than the similarity relation) between the two meanings with a presumption that
the original meaning is not intended (Sayyd Ahmad, 1993) [my translation]. To take
one example:
ء7FN&+ ا,&3OP( اThe winter [sic] poured down) (Shakkour, 1992) [my translation]. In this
example the original meaning of winter (ء7FN&+ )اis not intended. What is meant by
winter here is the rain due to the fact that the rain pours down only in winter in the
Arab land; 2) ( اsimile), which is, following Shakkour (1992, p. 65), "An
indication of sharing of one meaning by two things" [my translation]. For instance:
20
ل7&3I+ ا%&8 5&.I+7ن آ7&.(+ (Lebanon is like a paradise in beauty) [my translation]. In this
sentence Lebanon and paradise share one meaning, that is, the beauty (p. 65); 3)
رة ( أmetaphor), which means: Using a word in a meaning which is not its original
one owing to a similarity relation between the two meanings with a presumption that
the original meaning is not intended (Sayyd Ahmad, 1993) [my translation]. For
example:.ًا,&-./ ح7(U&3+ اSQ&R (The light smiled shining) (p. 125) [my translation]. In
this example the original meaning of light is not intended, it is rather borrowed here to
refer to a handsome person due to the similarity relation between the light and the
handsome person, i.e. shining; and 4) ( اantonomasia), which means: Any word
that expresses a meaning which can be perceived literally and metaphorically at the
same time (Shakkour, 1992) [my translation]. For example: 5WXY&(/ 0Y&Z [&1 (Hassan's
People in the Arab world use idiomatic expressions for two reasons, according to Abu
Interestingly, Abu Sa'ad (1987 as cited in Bataineh & Bataineh, 2002) outlines the
Along these lines, Awwad (1990) indicates that what is said about English idioms
regarding their semantic and syntactic restrictions also applies to Arabic idioms. He
gives the following example : 0-&.Z %&_n\ د7&E (he returned empty-handed) (literally: he
returned with the slippers of Hunain) where we cannot substitute K&`( وhe arrived) or
ر7&H (he walked) for د7&E (he returned) and keep the idiomaticity of the expression (p.
58).
Moreover, in his attempt to further compare English idioms with their Arabic
counterparts, Awwad (1990) makes the point that English idioms can be lexemic as in
(hammer and tong), phraseological as in (to fly off the handle) and proverbial as in
(don't wash your dirty linen in public). The lexemic idioms, however, can be verbal
(verb + particle) as in (break in), nominal as in (hot dog), adjectival as in (pepper and
salt), and adverbial as in (hammer and tong). By the same token, Arabic idioms can be
lexemic as in ر7&&P و4Q&&o (literally: fat and fire, meaning: completely opposites),
22
phraseological as in %&H را/ %&.-E p&)E (literally: on my eye / head, meaning: with
pleasure), and proverbial as in K&`&[رب و+ اp&)E ر7&H 0&/ (literally: he who walks on the
road will get there, meaning: he who takes the first step will eventually achieve his
aims). ,Like English Arabic lexemic idioms can be verbal, nominal, adjectival, and
adverbial (p. 58). Yet, "Arabic verbal lexemic idioms do not occur with particles" (p.
58). Therefore, the Arabic equivalent for (he broke into the house) is x-(+ ا4QFw اor K&yد
ةX&.E x&-(+( اmeaning: he entered the house by force) (p. 58). Hence "Arabic verbal
lexemic idioms are made up of either the verb alone or the verb followed by an
Al-ddoush (1996) put together more than 2000 Arabic idiomatic expressions collected
from a wide range of ancient and modern Arabic literature, representing all the
aspects of such a phenomenon in the Arabic language. This book will be reviewed in
more detail in section six of this Chapter when the issue of PVs in Arabic will be
attended to.
To sum up so far, five fruitful insights can be arrived at as to the notion of idioms and
idiomaticity in both Arabic and English languages, they are: 1) generally speaking,
both languages rely on idiomatic expressions in all aspects of their spoken and written
modes; 2) idiomatic expressions in both languages are of a special nature and subject
to syntactic and semantic restrictions; 3) they are, in both languages, rather culture-
specific and their meanings are far from the sum of the meanings of their individual
level on the part of non-native speakers to be able to understand and produce them
properly; and 5) unlike English which gives a clear prominence to IEPVs as one of
the most important types of idiomatic expressions, Arabic does not categorize them as
such. This is basically because they do not represent such a category in the Arabic
language. Therefore, since this study is devoted to translating IEPVs into Arabic,
more light will be shed, in the forthcoming sections, on this particular area in an
attempt to explore the gap that exists between the two languages which causes a great
English.
In the previous section the notion of idioms and idiomaticity in general was described.
The present section, however, focuses particularly on the ways by which English
There is no doubt that defining EPVs is a fairly difficult task as the phenomenon is
pedagogy and lexicography. Bolinger (1971) admittedly considers that "I do not
believe that a linguistic entity such as the phrasal verb can be confined within clear
bounds […] being or not being a phrasal verb is a matter of degree" (p. 6).
lexicographers and pedagogues will be outlined below. The aim is to highlight the
24
points they have in common, and to come up with a rather comprehensive definition
PVs are, following Live (1965), "a considerable group of basic verbs, each of which,
constituting one discontinuous verb" (p. 428). They are, in Heaton's words, "an
PV, according to Bolinger (1971), is "a lexical unit in the strict sense of a nonadditive
compound or derivative, one that has a set of meaning which is not the sum of the
meaning of its parts" (p. xxi). Sroka (1972) maintains that "[…] the verb and particle,
or the verb and a group of particles, are said to constitute in this case a kind of integral
functional unit" (p. 14). Furthermore, the phenomenon has been defined in the
Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs and their Idioms, by McArthur and Atkins
(1974) as "[…] combinations of simple, monosyllabic verbs (put, take, get, etc.) and
members of a set of particles (on, up, out, etc.)" (p. 5). Along these lines, McArthur
(1975) points out that "[a] phrasal verb is formed by combining a simple verb and one
of a number of particles. The result is called 'phrasal' because it looks like a phrase
rather than a single word. Although it looks like a phrase, it functions as a single
word. It is a unit" (p. 9). Similarly, in The Student's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs,
Turton and Manser (1985) define PV as a "verb which consists of two or three
separate parts: come in, run away, look forward to, etc. With an idiomatic phrasal
verb, the meanings of the separate parts tell us little or nothing about the meaning of
25
the whole" (p. iv). By the same token, Dixon (1991) defines PVs as "a combination of
verb plus preposition(s) that has a meaning not inferable from the individual meanings
What is more, in Making Sense of Phrasal Verbs, Shovel (1992) defines PV as:
[…] a compound verb formed by one of the following combinations: (1) verb
and adverb; or (2) verb and preposition; or (3) verb with both adverb and
preposition […] Simple combinations like sit down and stand up cause the
learner fewer problems. The difficulties being when the combination is
'Idiomatic': that is, when the meaning of combination as a whole (i.e. the
phrasal verb) is different from the meanings of its separate parts (p. 5).
Likewise, Close (1992) makes the point that such "constructions are formed by the
verb be or a simple verb expressing physical action – come, go; put, take; give, get;
do, make; let, keep; bring, send; stand, fall, sit; turn; break, […] - followed by a
Further, Cowie and Mackin (1993) indicate that "[t]he combination has to be
understood as one unit, meaning 'start suddenly or violently'. When a verb + particle
Crowley, Lynch, Siegel and Piau (1995), similarly observe that a PV is "a verb which
is made up of more than one element, usually including a verb and a PARTICLE, […]
The meaning of a phrasal verb is quite different from that of the sum of its parts"
In addition, Lindstormberg (1998) lists three criteria to define PVs, claiming that
ready definition criteria for phrasal verbs" (p. 23). However, in The Grammar
Dictionary, Stern (2000) defines PV as "a word cluster that consists of a verb + one or
two adverbial particles" (p. 142). Likewise, in Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Phrasal
Verbs, Sinclair et al. (1998) define PVs as "[…] combinations of verbs with adverbial
Another definition is given by Thrush (2001). He notes that a PV is "a verb and a
preposition (or two). The meaning is often idiomatic; that is, the meaning of the
phrasal verb cannot be derived by looking up the verb and the preposition separately
In a nutshell, the array of definitions outlined above have six points in common,
being: 1) an EPV is basically formed of two words: a simple, monosyllabic verb and
3) some PVs are formed of three words: a verb and both an adverb and a preposition;
4) semantically speaking, there are two types of PVs: literal (non-idiomatic) and
metaphorical (idiomatic). The meaning of PV, in the former, can be easily deduced
from the individual meanings of verb and particle. In the latter, however, the meaning
is not inferable and utterly different from the total sum of the meanings of the separate
parts; 5) a PV constitutes one lexical unit and functions as a single word of one unit of
unit of meaning in the sense that its meaning cannot be deduced from the total sum of
the meanings of its separate elements. IEPVs are exemplified in what follows:
To carry out, to carry on, to turn up, to turn on, to turn off, to come across, to come
over, to come out, to write up, to slow down, to speed up, to throw out, to throw up,
to help out, to knock off, to knock down, to sort out, to give up, to give in, to give
away, to get away with, to black out, to tip off, to account for, to point out, to water
down, to take off, to take in, to look for, to put up with, etc.
In this section I will closely look at the phenomenon of EPVs from the syntactic
categories, and word order. The key aim here is to draw a clear picture for such a
phenomenon that enables me, later on, to compare it with its Arabic counterpart so as
to pinpoint the underlying contrasts that present Arabic professional translators and
Arabic translation students with a great deal of challenge when handling IEPVs.
There are two points that need to be noted here; the first one is the types of verb that
can be phrasalised, and the second is the types of particle that may co-occur with
these verbs:
28
2.4.1.1 Verbs
McArthur and Atkins (1974) maintain that there are at least six types of verb that can
However, some grammarians, for instance Dixon (1991), list these types of verb
under different names, such as: "MOTION (e.g., bring, carry), REST (e.g., sit, stand),
AFFECT (e.g., cut, kick, scrape), GIVE (e.g., give, get, have), MAKING (e.g., make,
let), or the grammatical verbs be and do" (p. 275) [Emphasis in original].
It is quite important to mention here that Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik
(1985) make the point that there are "words which occur as verbs only when
combined with particles, [for example:] beaver in beaver away, egg in egg on, and
eke in eke out: she egged him on. *She egged (him)" (p. 1151 footnote) [Emphasis in
original].
Live (1965), also, indicates that there are some verbs "which never occur
independently, always being associated with some particles [e.g.,]: put, lay, set, step,
29
and others" (p. 432). Likewise, there are some "wedded pairs" where " the verb never
(or hardly ever) appears without its particular particle", such as: auction off, jot down,
tide over, cave in, dole out, balk at, cope with, trifle with, cater to, delve into, dote on
(p. 432).
Fraser (1976), on the other hand, emphasizes that "[s]tative verbs such as know, want,
see, hear, hop, resemble, etc. practically never combine with a particle. Hear out
He also points out that although there are some verbs that can form a PV "with almost
every particle" such as Get, there are "some verbs that may co-occur with only one
particle and no others [e.g.,] book up, chicken out, fizzle out, fog up, jack up, shack up,
sober up, pan out, [and] jot down" (p. 9) [My emphasis].
2.4.1.2 Particles
Particles in EPVs are of two kinds, namely: prepositional and adverbial indicating
It is interesting to note, in this respect, that most of the scholars who dealt with the
notion of PVs, start their studies by accounting for the distinction between the verb-
Bolinger, 1971; Fraser, 1976; Dixon, 1982; Kaluza, 1984; Close, 1992; Beate Hampe,
1997 to cite only a few). Cowie (1993) points out that "[t]he distinction between verb
verbs" (p. 38). Along these lines Sroka (1972) observes that "[t]he problem of the
distinction between the adverb and the preposition in English […] constitutes one of
the central problems connected with the 'phrasal verbs'" (p. 15).
Thus, let us first have a close look at the differences between the two types of
particles, i.e. adverbs and prepositions; to be able to perceive the role they play when
2.4.1.2.1 Adverbs
a) Our colleague from Paris merrily marks student essays in his path.
b) The teachers are extremely unimpressed by his efforts.
c) Our new professor works very hard (p. 42) [Emphasis in original].
They are, on the other hand, of three types: place, time and manner as illustrated in
However, the majority of adverbs used in EPVs, as indicated by Azzaro (1992), are
Moreover, Azzaro (1992) asserts that the only important exception to this rule being
on, as in:
He carried on telling the same old story (p. 42) [My emphasis].
31
Interestingly, McArthur (1989) lists the following 31 adverbial particles which are
Aback, about, ahead, along, apart, aside, around, away, back, backward(s),
beyond, by, down, downward(s), forth, forward(s), in, inward(s), off, on,
onward(s), out, outward(s), over, past, round, sideways, through, to and fro,
up, upward(s) (p. 40) [Emphasis in original].
Further, he nominates six particles of them as the commonest: "down, in, off, on, out,
Yet, Cowie and Mackin (1993) add to what is mentioned above the following 32
adverbial particles:
Aboard, above, abreast, abroad, across, adrift, after, aground, ahead, aloft,
alongside, aside, astray, before, behind, below, between, counter, downhill,
downstairs, home, indoors, in front, inside, near, on top, outside, overboard,
together, under, underground, upstairs, without (p. vii) [My emphasis].
In addition, McArthur (1989) makes the point that there are some words that may
function as adverbial particles such as: home, open and shut as in the following
By the same token, Bolinger (1971) gives the following two examples in which he
However, unlike other adverbs, adverbial particles, as Heaton (1965) sketches them,
are "best regarded as helping to form a new verb, for they change, or add to, the
meaning of the verb, however slightly. [Therefore] the particle is really an integral
32
part of the phrasal verb, separable often in word order but nevertheless constituting a
single unit" (p. 45). Moreover, Heaton (1965) limits the function of most adverbial
Further, Fraser (1976) indicates that "there are numerous verb-particle combinations
[PVs] in which the verb, when occurring alone, has a radically different
interpretation" (p. 8). He gives the following sentence pairs to exemplify such verbs:
Furthermore, Kennedy (1967) makes the point that in some cases "the object of the
[verb-adverb] combination is, or may be, of a very different character from that of the
What is more, there are some intransitive verbs which become transitive when
By contrast, there are a larger number of verbs which are ordinarily transitive become
intransitive when a particle is added (Fraser, 1976; Kennedy, 1967), for example:
Likewise, Heaton (1965) maintains that PVs "offer a convenient means of making
In his elaborating on this point, Kennedy (1967) maintains that "[i]n many of these,
intransitive in form only. So, for instance, black up and clean up imply "to black up or
2.4.1.2.2 Prepositions
entities, one being that represented by prepositional complement, the other by another
a nominal wh- clause, or a nominal ing clause" (p 657). They are of five types, as
34
Cowie and Mackin (1993) list the following 52 prepositions that are used to form
EPVs:
Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, ahead of, along, alongside,
among, around, as, as far as, astride, at, before, behind, below, beneath,
beside, between, beyond, by, down, for, from, in, in front of, inside, into, like,
near, of, off, on, onto, on top of, out of, outside, over, past, round, through, to,
toward(s), under, underneath, up, upon, with, within, without (p. vii) [My
emphasis].
However, despite the fact that adverbs and prepositions often share the same form,
they differ in that each of them has a different relationship to the rest of the sentence.
Adverbs are related only to the words that they modify, while prepositions connect
Fraser (1976), however, indicates that prepositions "are syntactically more closely
associated with the noun phrase which follows them than with the verb which
Similarly, Sroka (1972) makes the point that "the adverb is more closely connected
with the verb than the preposition is, and that the preposition is closely connected
Yet, there are many words used as either adverbs or prepositions. By comparing the
list of prepositional particles with the above list of adverbial particles one can come
Aboard, about, above, across, after, along, alongside, around, before, behind, below,
between, beyond, by, down, in inside, near, off, on outside, over, past, through, to,
It is worth mentioning that Bolinger (1971) introduces the term "Adpreps" to describe
such particles with dual functions, which "form the most typical phrasal verbs […
Such dual functions are illustrated in the following examples provided by Thomson
Nevertheless, Jackendoff (2002) maintains that unlike most English particles back and
Such a matching in form prompts Palmer (1974) to argue that "the term 'particle' has
been used in order not to distinguish […] between preposition and adverb [as] a
striking characteristic of many [of them] is that they can function as either" (p. 214).
He goes beyond that to say "[i]t might be plausible to argue that English does not, in
fact, have two words classes adverb and preposition, but a single class 'particle' or,
(p. 215). But, Azzaro (1992) declares that traditional grammarians "do distinguish
between adverb and preposition" (p. 43). Palmer (1968) indicates that "[w]hen there is
no noun at all following the verb we must, of course, have verb plus adverb, since by
definition a preposition will always be followed by a noun phrase" (p. 182). Thus, the
Morphologically speaking, Quirk et al. (1985) indicate that "[t]he words follow the
lexical verb in expressions like drink up, dispose of, and get away with are
categories, that of prepositions and that of spatial adverbs". Further they give them the
The fact that particles in EPVs are morphologically invariable has been ably
This fact carries two major implications, the first being that all inflections are
of the verb proper. Thus, you're pulling me on and he makes up lies are
expected whereas *you're put me oning and * he make ups lies are reserved for
children, ESL learners, and slips of tongue. The second implication is that
morphologically variable words do not serve as particles (p. 69).
Last but not least, Azzaro (1992) limits the differences between these two classes of
lexemes (i.e. adverbs and prepositions) to one main difference which "lies in the
intransitiveness of the former and transitiveness of the latter" (p. 41). Further, he
introduces the term "adverbial prepositions", claiming that "even though modern
grammarians believe that some prepositions can be transitive and intransitive, so that
Having known the difference between the classes of adverb and preposition, it is quite
essential here to cast a light on the major categories of verb + particle combinations.
particle as in:
5) The crossing was closed because militants were planning to tunnel under it
The three categories of verb + particle combinations are summarized in Table 2.1
below:
It is important to state here that scholars vary in which type of the above is a PV.
Some of them, like Quirk et al. (1985), consider the first type only as a PV, whereas
others, like Courtney (1983), consider the three types as PVs as far as they are
idiomatic. Such a question will be investigated in more details in the next section
Having generally known that, let us consider these three types of verb + particle
Quirk et al. (1985) recognize this type only as "phrasal verbs" (pp. 1150-1161). It is,
according to them, of two types, namely: Intransitive PVs and transitive PVs.
Intransitive PVs consist of a verb plus an adverbial particle. They do not require any
The adverbial particles in these PVs function like predication adjuncts, and usually
cannot be separated from their lexical verbs (Quirk et al., 1985). Registerwise, these
Moreover, Quirk et al. (1985) differentiate between this type of combinations and
what they call "FREE COMBINATIONS", saying that in the former "the meaning of
the combination manifestly cannot be predicted from the meanings of verb and
particle in isolation [but in the latter] the verb acts as a normal intransitive verb, and
the adverb has its own meaning" (p. 1152). They exemplified the former in: Give in
'surrender' and Catch on 'understand'. And they exemplified the latter in:
Transitive PVs consist of a verb plus an adverb particle plus a direct object. They
require a direct object to complete their meaning. This type of PVs exemplified by
The adverb particle in such PVs "can either precede or follow the direct object: They
turned on the light. They turned the light on" (Quirk et al., 1985, pp. 1153-1154)
[Emphasis in original].
Like any transitive verb, this type of PVs "can normally be turned into passive
without stylistic awkwardness [as in]: Aunt Ada brought up Roy. Roy was brought up
Additionally, Palmer (1968) indicates that "[v]erbs of this type [transitive PVs] are, of
course, very common especially with certain verbs like TAKE and PUT" [Emphasis
This type of a combination is called a 'prepositional verb'. Like the last one, it is of
two types as well, being: intransitive prepositional verbs, and transitive prepositional
verbs.
preposition […] precedes its complement" (Quirk et al., 1985, p. 1155). For example:
Quirk et al. (1985) indicate that "[t]he noun phrase following the preposition in such
(p. 1156) [Emphasis in original]. And the passive is commonly possible as in:
The picture was looked at by many people (Quirk et al., 1985, p. 1156) [Emphasis in
original].
"followed by two noun phrases, normally separated by the preposition: the former is
the direct object, the latter the prepositional object" (Quirk et al., 1985, p. 1158). For
example:
42
It is worth mentioning to say that some grammarians (like Close, 1992) do not
differentiate between the direct object and the prepositional object. Therefore, they
consider all constructions of prepositional verb (verb + preposition) are transitive, that
(Mitchell, 1958; Palmer, 1968; Quirk et al., 1985), in view of the fact that "they
contain, in addition to the lexical verb, both an adverb and a preposition as particles"
(Quirk et al., 1985 p. 1160). Palmer (1968) maintains that "[w]here there are two
elements following the verb, the first will always be an adverb, and the second a
preposition" (p. 183). Whereas, Kennedy (1967) calls them "double combinations" (p.
32) due to the fact that the whole phrase functions as a single verb, and can be
(Quirk et al., 1985, p. 1160). Like the previously mentioned combinations, they are of
prepositional verbs.
43
Quirk et al. (1985) make the point that "[t]he prepositional passive with such verbs is
not too common, and is liable to sound cumbersome" (p. 1160). However, they
indicate that sentences such as the following "are normal and acceptable" (p. 1160):
Table 2.2 below gives an outline of the abovementioned three types of combinations
prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs, and phrasal-prepositional verbs), saying that "I
have never found it useful to bear this terminology in mind when explaining meaning,
and so […] I use the term 'phrasal verb' to include all [the] three syntactic types" (p.
23).
As it has been previously outlined, EPVs, like other ordinary verbs, can be either
transitive or intransitive (McArthur, 1975). There are some verbs, however, that can
be used both as transitive and intransitive verbs (Sinclair et al. 1998; Jespersen, 1976).
Along these lines, Dixon (1991) points out that "[t]ransitivity is a much more fluid
matter in English. There are, it is true, a number of verbs that are strictly transitive
[…] and a few that are strictly intransitive […]. But many verbs in English may be
used either transitively or intransitively" (p. 267). Such PVs have been illustrated by
Similarly, Palmer (1968) observes that "[s]ome of the combinations may be used
example:
Further, Sinclair et al. (1998) indicate that some PVs can be ditransitive, that is, they
The girl handed him back his card (p. xiv) [My emphasis].
Where the adverb back comes between the indirect object, which is the pronoun
(him), and the direct object, which is the noun group (his card).
It is necessary to indicate, however, that transitive PVs fall into two major types:
separable and non-separable PVs, or split alteration and non-split alteration as they
were termed by Sawyer (1999), or fused and separable as were named by McArthur
and Atkins (1974). Such a distinction typically depends upon the position of the
particle in the sentence (Bolinger, 1971; Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973; Fraser, 1976;
Jacobs, 1995; Gries, 2002). Particles may "occur on either side of the direct object
noun phrase as one of its defining characteristics" (Fraser, 1976, p. 16). Therefore, in
Whereas, in non-separable PVs the particle precedes the object noun as in:
In other words, the former allows, and sometimes requires, "the particle to occur in a
slot that is not adjacent to its verb", but the latter does not allow such separation
(Jacobs, 1995, pp. 248-249). Normally, the particle, according to Quirk and
Greenbaum (1973), "tends to precede the object if the object is long or if the intention
There is a crucial point that needs to be made here. When the direct object of PV is a
pronoun (e.g., him, her, it, them, etc.) the PV must be separable as in:
I picked it up.
Lindner (1983) makes the point that "[t]he particle's position when the object is a
pronoun has been much commented on" (p. 5). Fraser (1976) emphasizes that "the
particle MUST move to the position following the direct object when the latter is a
pronoun; otherwise the particle movement is optional" (p. 16) [Emphasis in original].
Likewise, Chen (1986) indicates that "[i]f the direct object of the phrasal verb is a
Beate Hampe (1997) indicates that "[t]here is a general agreement in the literature
that, in principle, the two types of multi-word verbs [PVs and prepositional verbs] can
be separated from each other, although […] this distinction is not always completely
clearcut" (p. 204). He, further, gives two reasons for unclearcut:
Yet, Fraser (1976) argues that "[i]t is this property of being able to appear after the
Such a word order alteration has been termed as 'particle movement' (Fraser, 1976;
Chen, 1986), and 'particle placement' (Gries, 2002). It has been largely studied over
indicates, "there is still no account of particle placement that tries to explain why
speakers choose one construction over the other in a particular discourse situation" (p.
272). The available literature does not tell us "which of the two word orders is more
common or acceptable with which degree of idiomaticity of the verb phrase" (Gries,
2002, p. 277). However, Gries (2002) believes that construction in which the particle
48
is positioned after the direct object is "the natural choice for a speaker who intends to
communicate a state of affairs where the spatial meaning is prominent" (p. 277).
To conclude this section, the following syntactic features can be deduced from the
abovementioned literature, which would help sketch a syntactic prototype image for
2. There are a number of words that may function as verbs only when
combining with particles. On the other hand, there are a number of words,
3. Although there are some verbs that may co-occur with every particle, there
7. There are many words that may function as both adverbs and prepositions.
8. Adverb and preposition are identical in form, but they differ in function.
The former typically modifies the verb, while the latter connects what it
comes before them and what it comes after them in any given sentence.
49
upon the particle position whether it is before or after the direct object.
11. When the direct object is pronoun the particle must follow it.
In the following section this syntactic prototype image of EPVs will be completed by
As it has been already mentioned, the phenomenon of PVs is a contentious one and
there are numerous problems regarding their syntactic and semantic explanation. Such
problems, according to Beate Hampe (1997), take place due to the fact that:
This category [PVs] is not a homogeneous group with all its members showing
similar semantic and syntactic properties. Phrasal verbs are 'situated' at the
border of syntax, lexicology and morphology – i.e. particular constructions
possess to varying degrees some of the properties of free syntagms, of
phraseological units as well as derivative word formations (pp. 207-208).
In the present section I will be concerned with the semantic properties of EPVs. As in
the previous section, the aim here is to sketch a clear picture of the phenomenon of
EPVs that allows me to contrast it with its Arabic counterpart, to identify the gaps that
(verb + preposition), and "to narrow the class of PVs" (Azzaro, 1992, p. 44), scholars
have set out a number of criteria. Cowie (1993) considers that these criteria are related
to meaning rather than to grammar, whereas Dixon (1982) adopts the opposite view
and describes these criteria as "[a] number of explicit non-semantic criteria [which]
Substitutability by a single word (Live, 1965; Dixon, 1982; Cowie, 1993). For
instance: put off = postpone, look into = investigate, run away = escape, speed up =
simple verb" (p. 6), and was described as "[t]he most general of all" (p. 6). Bolinger's
label has been adopted by many researchers such as Azzaro (1992, p. 44),
Passivisation (Bolinger, 1971; Dixon, 1982; Azzaro, 1992; Darwin & Gray, 1999).
Nominalisation (Fraser, 1976; Lindner, 1983; Azzaro, 1992). This criterion has been
termed by Darwin and Gray (1999) "formation of action nominals" (p. 71). It was
proposed by Lees in 1963 (Bolinger, 1971; Darwin & Gray, 1999). Bolinger (1971)
indicates that "[i]f transitive, the combination should yield an action nominal" (p. 8).
51
For example, "from he brought up the fact, one derives his bringing up of the fact"
(Azzaro, 1992, p.45), or "object movement" (Darwin & Gray, 1999, p.72). As it has
been explained (see 2.4.3 above), it means that the particle, in transitive combination,
can either precede the noun object or follow it (Bolinger, 1971, p. 10). For example:
precede the particle (Bolinger, 1971; Lindner, 1983; Darwin & Gray, 1999). For
example:
Darwin & Gray, 1999, p. 73). This criterion also has been termed as "Insertion of
adverbial phrases" (Lindner, 1983, p. 12) and "adverb distribution" (Azzaro, 1992, p.
45). It means that Adverb cannot be placed between the verb and the particle, whether
the combination is transitive or intransitive, unless the latter is used in its literal
Stress (Mitchell, 1958; Fraser, 1976; Bolinger, 1971; Lindner, 1983; Darwin & Gray,
1999). A particle of EPV can be stressed or, to use Bolinger's (1971, pp. 13-14) term,
Definite noun phrases (Bolinger, 1971; Azzaro, 1992; Darwin & Gray, 1999). "[i]f
the combination is transitive, the particle can precede a simple definite noun phrase (a
proper name or the plus a common noun) without taking it as its object" (Bolinger,
Listing. (Bolinger, 1971, p. 17; Azzaro, 1992, p. 45; Darwin & Gray, 1999, p. 74).
This is not a criterion, it is rather a point suggested by Bolinger (1971) to define PVs.
He points out that "[p]hrasal verbs can be defined by simply listing them [the PVs]"
(p. 17). Nevertheless, he admits that the list of PVs will never be exhaustive for two
reasons. The first is that PVs are repeatedly being added to. The second is that they
Nevertheless, it is quite vital to point out that these criteria have been subjected to
many criticisms even by the same abovementioned scholars who list them, illustrate
them and elaborate on their practicality. Dixon (1982), for instance, indicates that
"there are no clear-cut CRITERIA for distinguishing phrasal verbs from literal verb-
9). Bolinger (1971) follows suit and criticizes the criteria "Replaceability" and
"Passiveness" (pp. 6-7). Lindner (1983) considers that "these criteria are best thought
53
This having been said, Trask (2000) neatly addresses the issue of differentiating EPVs
from prepositional verbs, or as he puts it "a sequence of a verb and a preposition" (pp.
101-102) by putting the differences in four points as follows, where call up is a PV,
1. The particle in a phrasal verb is stressed: They called up the teacher, but not
*They call on the teacher.
2. The particle of a phrasal verb can be moved to the end: They called the
teacher up, but not *They called the teacher on.
3. The simple verb of a phrasal verb may not be separated from its particle by
an adverb: *They called early up the teacher is not good, but The called early
on the teacher is fine.
4. The particle of a phrasal verb may not undergo PIED-PIPING1: *The
teacher up whom they called is no good, but The teacher on whom they called
is fine (pp. 101-102) [Emphasis in original].
Furthermore, Thomson and Martinet (1986) rationally maintain that one "need not to
try to decide whether the combination is verb + preposition or verb + adverb, but
In addition to classifying PVs on the ground of syntax, as it has been outlined in the
last section, English grammarians and linguists have classified them on the ground of
meaning, in view of the fact that they "vary in the extent to which the combination
preserves the individual meanings of verb and particle" (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1973,
1
PIED-PIPING means moving a preposition to the front of its clause and replace it before its object,
e.g., To whom were you speaking? With what did they hit it? (Trask, 2000, p. 102)
54
Due to the fact that meaning of PVs ranges from literal to idiomatic (Gries, 2002), and
their semantic types, as Chen (1986) puts it, "vary from the most literal to the most
Take it out.
2. Semi-idiomatic PVs, where one component of the construction retains its lexical
3. Idiomatic PVs, where both components of the construction are not transparent,
and the whole meaning of the idiomatic PV cannot be gained from the total sum
(cf. Quirk et al., 1985; Cowie, 1993; Heliel, 1994; Lindstormberg, 1998; Darwin &
Gray, 1999).
Idiomatic and non-idiomatic PVs have been given many names by different scholars.
McArthur (1975), for instance terms them "literal and figurative" (p. 36), while
By the same token, Dixon (1982) summarizes the variety of cases in which PVs may
occur, as follows:
In some cases the meaning of the phrasal verbs is similar to that of the
constituent simple verb, it being the preposition that is used in a non-norm
manner: thus eat up is plainly related to eat and slow down to slow, but in
these combinations up and down clearly do not refer to vertical displacement
away from or towards the centre of the earth […] In other cases the
preposition appears in its normal meaning but the verb takes on a non-central
sense, e.g., knock about/around (the world) […] Finally, the meaning of many
phrasal verbs does not relate directly to the normal meaning of either simple
verb or prepositions – examples include take off 'imitate' and put up with
'tolerate' (p. 1) [Emphasis in original].
these categories is "not always clear and the same combination may fall into more
than one category depending on the context in which it is used" (Swierzbin, 1996, p.
3). As a result, a close look at the available literature reveals that scholars have varied
their coverage. Some of them, (such as: Fraser, 1976; Dixon, 1982; Courtney, 1983;
Cowie, 1993), have limited their studies to the idiomatic type of PVs excluding the
other semantic categories. They observe that PVs are metaphorical/idiomatic. Dixon
(1982), for instance, prefers "to retain the term 'phrasal verb' for any combination of
verb and preposition(s) that does not have a literal meaning" (p. 2). Similarly, Cowie
(1993) emphasizes that he "follow[s] fairly common practice in applying the term
39). On the contrary, other scholars have widened the scope of their research to
include all the semantic categories, such as Lindstormberg (1998) who goes for the
above classification, claiming that it is the correct view since "some literal verb-plus-
particle combinations tend to be stored in memory much like single verbs"( p. 143).
Verb Particle Constructios, Lindner (1983) classifies the scholars who dealt with the
who concentrate on both idiomatic and literal combinations of verb + adverb, and
exclude the verb + preposition combinations, such as (all of the following scholars are
Bolinger (1971), Lipka (1972), Meyer (1971), Druisinga (1952), Wood (1955), Dogen
(1919), Draat (1921) and Lindner (1983); 2) Scholars who focus on both verb +
adverb combinations and "certain path" of verb + preposition combinations, such as:
Poutsma (1926), Taha (1964) and Jespersen (1961); 3) Scholars who "include the full
range of combinations", i.e. the literal and idiomatic types of both verb + adverb
combinations and verb + preposition combinations, such as: Kennedy (1967), Konish
(1958), Roberts (1958) and Sroka (1972); 4) Scholars who limit their studies to the
idiomatic type of the verb + adverb combinations, and exclude the verb + preposition
combinations, and the literal type of verb + adverb combinations, such as: Fraser
(1976) and Legum (1968); and 5) Scholars who cover verb + adverb combinations
and verb + preposition combinations "as long as both are idiomatic", such as: Jowtell
(1951), Potter (1965), Smith (1925), Live (1965) and Sweet (1955) (cf. Lindner, 1983,
pp. 2-4).
I have to make it clear here that for the purpose of this study I will adopt the view of
the scholars in number five above, (i.e. Jowtell, 1951; Potter, 1965; Smith, 1925;
Live, 1965; Sweet, 1955) and the view of Courtney (1983), Cowie (1993), and Cowie
and Mackin (1993) who consider PVs as combinations of a verb and an adverb, or a
verb and a preposition (or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition) as far as they
are idiomatic. Hence the idiomaticity will be my parameter in tracing such English
combinations and contrasting them with their Arabic counterparts. The reason for
such a focus is the fact that it is the idiomatic type of PVs which causes difficulties to
58
Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students, rather than the non-
Five below).
Dixon (1982) asserts that the non-literal PVs "have essentially the same syntax as
semantic" (p. 2). Therefore PVs "are idiosyncratic only at the semantic level; their
syntactic behaviour can be predicted from general grammatical statement and rules
that apply to all combinations of verb and preposition, both literal and non-literal" (p.
2).
It needs to be noted though that the combinations of idiomatic PVs are not freely
formed; there are, rather, several "collocational restrictions" governing them (Palmer,
1974). In other words, we cannot substitute the particles of PVs for their opposites,
viz. we can look after someone, but we cannot look before someone, and we can put
up with something, but we cannot put down with it (p. 212). By the same token, we
cannot substitute the verbs of PVs for their opposites, viz. we can say 'I helped him
out', but we cannot say 'I aided him out', and we can say 'He yielded up all his
property', but we cannot say 'He abandoned up all his property' (p. 226). Palmer
(1968) has argued that "[a]part from their semantic unity and the collocational
restrictions on the occurrence of verb and the particle, there is nothing that will
establish which are phrasal verbs and which are not" (p. 185).
In their Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs Cowie and Mackin (1993) provide two
tests to distinguish idiomatic from non-idiomatic PVs; both of the tests have to do
59
with meaning rather than with syntax. The first test being "to ask whether one word
can be substituted for the whole phrase", and the second being "to ask whether the
second word can be deleted". For example, to know whether the PVs fall out, as used
in I was pleased with the way things had fallen out, an idiom or not, you need to apply
one of the tests. In fact the answer of the first one is: yes, we can substitute fall out for
one word, that is, 'happen' or 'occur', and the answer of the second test is: no, we
cannot delete the second part of fall out, as its form is fixed and cannot be broken up,
categorization of reality in the speaker's mind" (p. 1). Hence, in addition to denoting
actions or states as "ordinary" verbs do, they specify their spatial, temporal or other
characteristics. The adverbial components impart PVs such ability to describe actions
or states more precisely, vividly and emotionally. "[b]y combining with these
function falls in two major types: 1) to pass on an additional aspective meaning to the
base verb, e.g., sit down; 2) to introduce a lexical modification to the verb's
fundamental semantics (p. 2). That is to say, PVs may have, according to McArthur
(1989):
(1) any of the meanings of the verb plus any of the meanings of the particle,
(2) any meanings that emerge from such a union for particular purposes in
particular contexts, and (3) the capacity to drift from 1 to 2 and back again, a
literal use carrying a figurative nuance and vice versa, especially in jokes (p.
40).
follows:
60
This phrasal verb is intransitive in 'They got up', transitive in 'Get them up',
means from lower to higher in 'He got the child up on to the wall', means from
far to near in 'One of the other runners got up to him and passed him', means
accumulate under pressure in 'The engine got up steam', organize or make in
'He can get up the plot of a new film in no time at all', and put on the special
clothes in 'They got themselves up as pirates' (p. 40) [Emphasis in original].
The particle up, on the other hand, has a variety of meanings when it combines with
verbs" or perfectives. PVs of this class are "extremely common expressions each
consist of a main verb plus up, down, out, off, or through (e.g., wash up, calm down,
chill out, cool off, think through)" (p. 23) [Emphasis in original]. Such perfective PVs
"all have to do with the notions of completeness or thoroughness" (p. 24). For
example:
The meanings of particles and the semantic contributions they make when combining
with verbs to produce PVs have been taken up by such researchers as Sinclair et al.
(1998) and Hannan (1998). They will be explored in more detail in the forthcoming
A few remarks need to be stated regarding the issue of polysemy, which means using
one PV in many different meanings. Some EPVs are said to be "highly polysemous"
use [and] it may well be polysemic in having more than one idiomatic use" (Cornell,
1985, p. 270).
the original metaphor; therefore non-native speakers may find these verbs
More detailed instances of this issue will be given in the forthcoming section of 'PVs
lexicographers (Taha, 1972; McArthur & Atkins, 1974; Kirkpatrick & Davidson,
1982).
62
Cohesion, according to him, "refers to the fact that certain verbs and a following
semantic units, where one unit refers to the verb and the other to the preposition" (p.
20). Along these lines, Bolinger (1971) makes the point that PVs "show some special
degree of cohesion that sets them apart from the more freely composable
constructions like to fall headlong, to live at home, or to leave tomorrow" (pp. 3-4).
In the main, the closeness of the verb and the particle in PVs has been outlined by
(corroborate), come by (acquire), get at (reach), hit it off (agree, be congenial), make
out (understand), own up (confess), put out (extinguish), stack up (fare), whack up
sacrificed their individual meanings and by the act of combination have assumed a
new meaning" (p. 9). While in such combinations as bake up (make a batch of),
blossom out (blossom in a showy manner), blot out (destroy), bottle up (enclose in a
bottle), button up (fasten with buttons), "the verb is modified in meaning by a certain
weakly adverbial function of the particle but does not entirely merge its verbal
personality in the combination [and the particle] loses much of its usual adverbial or
prepositional signification" (p. 9). Whereas in such combinations as brush off, brush
out, bubble over, burn down, cave in, fall down, flame up, hang up, leak out, rinse
out, and tack down "the usual value of verb and prepositional-adverb remain fairly
Further, Live (1965) provides evidence of the close cohesion of the verb and the
[…] the two elements function as one verb is further demonstrated by the fact
that the combination readily occurs in conjunctional parallel with a single
verb, having a common object or joint membership in a series (I sent for and
received the goods. He was never heard from nor seen again. He was adopted,
cared for, brought up, and educated by the couple) (pp. 428-429) [Emphasis
in original].
Live (1965) provides another evidence of the close cohesion of the components of
PVs being:
It is quite important to mention that EPVs differ according to the English dialects
& Copestake, 2003). This is particularly evident in the British and American dialects.
Palmer (1968) points out that "[a] rather interesting contrast across the Atlantic is the
use in Britain of FILL IN, and in America of FILL OUT. In Britain we fill in a form,
in America a form is filled out" (p. 187) [Emphasis in original]. McArthur (1989)
provides some more instances illustrating such a phenomenon. He indicates that the
English. The particle off of, which is typically regarded as standard in American
typically followed by of in the standard usage of England as in: They looked out of the
64
window, need not be in Scotland and North American English as in: They looked out
the window. There is also some difference in the use of the particles about and
(a)round as Britons prefer to use the former as in: running about, while the North
Americans prefer to use the latter instead as in: running around. The two dialects
differ as well in terms of hyphenating nouns derived from PVs, such as breakdown
Yet, Lindstormberg (1998) calls attention to the fact that such a difference is very
little and the vast majority of PVs have the same form and the same meaning in both
dialects. This seems, according to him, "to suggest that these meanings have derived
from common meanings of verbs and prepositions in non-idiomatic fashion" (p. 243).
Whereas Bolinger (1971) considers this phenomenon as one of the two reasons that
It should be noted in this connection that such differences in the English dialects
might become more serious when it comes to such sentences as knock me up which
America she may run the risk of being raped (Najiib, 2001, p. 37).
Incidentally, as we will see in section 2.8 of this Chapter, such an issue has been
for Learners of English (2001); Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs (1983); NTC's
65
Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases (1993) among
others.
Although EPVs are commonly used informally in everyday spoken English (McArthur,
1975; Kennedy, 1967; Cornell, 1985; Sinclair et al., 1998; Turton & Manser, 1985;
McArthur, 1989; Villavicencio & Copestake, 2003), they are quite often used formally in
a variety of English written texts (Cowie & Mackin, 1993; Swierzbin, 1996). Thus,
Goodale (1994) maintains that "[i]t is misconception that phrasal verbs are mostly used in
spoken language. They can be found in many styles of writing, including highly formal
government reports" (p. iv). To take only a two examples of using them formally:
(i) Eight Iraqis were killed and 23 wounded when fresh clashes broke out
between US forces and the militia (The Sydney Morning Herald, June 3,
(ii) Lexicographers need to have had some training in lexicography, if they are
(i) Let me get this straight - you had a job where you open fetes, cut ribbons,
sing the Anthem, drink champers, ride in the Rolls, get paid - and you stuffed
it up (Cartoon speech bubble, The Daily Telegraph, August 12, 2004, p. 41)
[My emphasis].
66
(ii) Greatly enfeebled by the strain of chronic scandal. The leader seems to be
(iii) Leave out the technical stuff because it will only confuse him (Cartoon
before they learn other kinds of verbs: Get up! Go away! Drink up your milk! Put
Kennedy (1967, p. 10) makes the point that "[…] correct usage [of PVs] is such an
intangible and varying thing that it is practically impossible to determine the social
status of each combination and usage" (p. 10). Some combinations, he elaborates,
would be accepted by all people such as ask for, bow down, cry out, go on, make off,
and point out, while "in some cases, very careful speakers might prefer to employ
single words of more highly specialized meaning, such as request, bow or keen,
combinations might be "justified by the technical or specialized use to which they are
generally put. So we can say call up by telephone, connect up with the assistance of
plumber or electrician, kick off at the beginning of a game, lay by corn at the last
Nonetheless, Heliel (1994) makes the point that "[a]s the changing attitudes of users
of English toward levels of usage become more flexible, the combinations which were
67
once labeled 'slang', 'informal', or 'colloquial' are now considered 'neutral' and thus
Furthermore, Turton and Manser (1985, p. viii) advise non-native speakers of English
to treat PVs with caution since many of them "could cause offence if used
[…] in many cases phrasal verbs and their synonyms have different range of
use, meaning, or collocation, so that a single-word synonym cannot be
substituted appropriately for a phrasal verb. Single-word synonyms are often
much more formal in style than phrasal verbs, so that they seem out of place in
many contexts, and students using them run the risk of sounding pompous or
just unnatural (p. iv).
Similarly, Side (1990) indicates that "direct equivalents of phrasal verbs do not always
exist.'I'm done in' would be used in a different social context from 'I'm exhausted'" (p.
145) [Emphasis in original]. And "show off is show off, not to impress another with
one's prowess by preforming difficult yet completely unnecessary feats" (Darwin &
Consequently, Cowie and Mackin (1993) make the point that PVs need to be
cautiously used not only in their correct grammatical patterns but also in their
Along these lines, Cornell (1985) indicates that quite a few of one-word or PV
equivalents can be deemed as alternatives for their PV. It all has to do with "the
lie in does not merely mean "to stay in bed", but "to stay in bed beyond
one's normal time for getting up".
put up with: unlike tolerate it cannot be used in a positive manner (to
tolerate other people's opinions is not the same as to put with other
people's opinions).
run down is never constructive (unlike criticize) (pp. 274-275) [Emphasis
in original].
Kennedy (1967, p. 41) observes that although the combination of a verb and a particle
"may not be figurative, it is often more expressive than the simple loan-word. Blow
out, for instance, tells the average person more of the method employed than does
extinguish".
As we will notice in section 2.8 of this Chapter, most of the English lexicographers
have included the register variations of PVs in their dictionaries (cf. Cambridge
(1993); Oxford Phrasal verbs Dictionary for Learners of English (2001); Longman
controversial one. The literature at hand shows that a great deal of disagreements have
been arisen amongst the scholars who tackled the phenomenon. Such disagreements
are manifested in their contradictory views regarding such issues as the set of criteria
of idiomaticity of each component of PVs. However, one can extract the following
idiomatic PVs.
2. The meaning of EPV ranges from the most literal to the most idiomatic.
69
3. Both the literal and the idiomatic types have the same syntactic
semantic properties.
4. Unlike the non-idiomatic type, the idiomatic type of PVs has the virtue of
6. The particle modifies, to a greater or lesser degree, the meaning of the verb
it combines with.
7. There is a close cohesion between the verb and the particle that makes
them fuse together and sacrifice their individual meanings to produce one
semantic unit.
8. One EPV may carry more than one meaning. In other words, its meaning
9. There are some varieties amongst English dialects with respect to using,
10. Even though EPVs are typically used in an informal English, they are quite
It goes without saying that such a complicated picture of intricate semantic properties
of IEPVs has a great deal of impact on the process of learning and understanding
Having known the syntactic and semantic properties of EPVs, in this section I will
move on to investigate whether the phenomenon of PVs exist in Arabic. And if so, do
they fit the previously established syntactic and semantic criteria of IEPVs?
It is worth noting, at the beginning, that Arab scholars who dealt with the
phenomenon of EPVs have given them various labels in Arabic. Heleil (2000), for
instance, calls them 5&ّ1ر7(*+ل ا7&*89( اliterally: phrasal verbs), and Daud et al. (2003)
name EPV %&)*8 |&-آ,} (literally: verbal compound), whereas Najiib (2001) considers
EPVs as one part of 5&)ّ1~3+ل ا7&*89( اliterally: tailed verbs) which consist in addition to
As far as the Arabic language is concerned, there exist many constructions in which
verbs are followed by prepositions such as: 0/ K•آ1 (to eat from), p+ إ,€.1 (to look at),
0&E & ّ[ثQF1 (to talk about), %&8 ,&ّ'_1 (to think of), p&)E ‚&ّ)*1 (to comment on), ب
ِ |&F'1 (to
write with) etc. These constructions are fairly common, frequent and widely used in
both written and spoken Arabic. However, unlike English grammarians, Arabic
grammarians do not group such constructions under a specific heading. Therefore, the
main question here is can we consider them as PVs? And to what extent do they meet
It is important to say that while there are some researchers (e.g., Kharama & Hajjaj
1989; Bataineh & Bataineh 2002) who have touched upon the issue of the existence of
PVs in Arabic without elaborating on their form and function criteria, there are, on the
71
other hand, quite a few who have given such an issue more attention and tried to
explore it in some more detail. In what follows, I will outline their contributions one
by one in order to sketch a clear picture of such constructions that will enable me to
2.6.1 Lentzner
The leading study in this regard was conducted by Lentzner (1977) in his doctoral
195). Given the importance of the profound insights considered in such a chapter, it
In his attempt to examine the relationships between verbs and prepositions in Arabic,
Lentzner claims, from the very beginning, that only the "true" Arabic prepositions
,&I+وف ا,&Z "are able to combine semantically with verb roots and to act as integral
prepositions such as 0&E ,0&/ ,p&+ إ,م2&+ ا,p&)E ,%&8 ,ء7&(+( اbaa?, fii, 3alaa, laam, ?ilaa, min,
3an) "which embody the most essential locative and directional notions" (p. 159).
Lentzner makes the point that such constructions in Arabic "exhibit characteristics
English" (p. 159). Further, he admits that it is difficult to compare such Arabic
structures with those in English mainly, due to the fact that unlike English
prepositions, Arabic prepositions always require an object of some sort and cannot
occur without one. This makes some testing procedures in English inapplicable to
72
Arabic. He also outlines the past efforts done by scholars, such as Wright, Cantarino,
Fleisch and others, at establishing systematicity between the classes of Arabic verbs
and the prepositions they combine with. He believes that such efforts were
idioms "have tried to group verbs and prepositions together on the basis of (rather
vague) semantic cohesion" (p. 160), for example [cited from Cantarino], because 0&/
means "the casual point of departure" it is used with "verbs meaning to sell and to
give in marriage" or that because p&)E means 'to be on, over' it is employed with verbs
meaning "to cover, to include" and "domination, power" (p. 160). These analyses in
Lentzner's view:
[…] while often intuitively valid, are nonetheless restricted by two facts: first,
such statements are only generalities and cannot account for all instances of
verb-preposition occurrence. Second, they are not precise enough to be able to
predict which preposition will be used where (pp. 160-161).
He, accordingly, excludes such semantic analyses, and devotes his study to provide
idioms" (p. 161). These idioms have been extracted from a corpus, which is Halim
Barakat's novel entitled ",&Q(+ اp&+ إ,L7&{+دة اX&E", and categorized by prepositions. He
starts with the locative prepositions: p&)E ,%&8 ,ء7&(+ اto consider their relations to verbs
they often combine with. He maintains that ء7&&(+ اand p&&)E "are by far the most
commonly used in conjunction with verbs" and ء7&(+" اis the most widely ranging
ء7(+( اbaa?)
In addition to its function "as an integral part of certain verb-preposition idioms" (p.
162), ء7(+" اcan act as a transitivizing particle which serves to convert intransitive verbs
of motion into transitive verbs of transport" (p. 162). Arabic grammarians refer to
such a function of ء7&&(+ اas 5&&1[*F+ء ا7&&\ (the transitivizing baa?) or K&&ƒ.+ء ا7&&\ (baa? of
there are some intransitive verbs which may use ء7&(+ اin construction with a noun
In both of the above cases, ء7(+" اserves the purpose of specifying those who took parts
Furthermore, there exist some verbs that do not occur without ء7&(+ اsuch as: ب
ِ 0&/† (to
ب
ِ (to trust), ب
ِ KU}( اto contact) etc. (pp. 170-171).
74
There are, however, some transitive verbs which use ء7&(+" اto mark noun phrases in
particular syntactic relations" (p. 171), but may occur without it in other contexts such
as: ب
ِ 4&)Z (to dream about), ب
ِ 4ّ)&H (to accept) and ب
ِ ]3&H (to hear about) (p. 171). Also,
there are some verbs which use ء7(+" اto mark the direct object, but […] can be directly
surround), ب
ِ ( \[أto begin), ب
ِ ‰
ّ Z( أto feel), ب
ِ p/( رto throw), ب
ِ ‚Q+ (to overtake), مŠF+إ
ب
ِ (to pledge) etc. (p. 171). There are other verbs, "which are passive in either form or
meaning" (p. 172), and use ء7&(+" اto mark an underlying agent or instrument" (p. 172),
etc. (p. 172). Finally, there are some verbs which involve two noun phrases, one of
which is marked by ء7&(+ اsuch as: ء7&(+ا+p&)E+ 4&'Z (to condemn someone to something),
ء7&(+ ا+ 4&Hا+ ّف,&E (to introduce someone to someone), ء7&(+ ا+ 4&H ا+ ]&.w( أto convince
someone of something), ء7(+ ا+ 4H ا+ [ّ /( أto provide someone with something), 4H ا+ ,/أ
%8 (fii)
Lentzner claims that the occurrence of %8 with verbs "is not common" (p. 173), and he
pinpoints four different cases in which verbs combine with %8: Firstly, "verbs that take
[%8] optionally; can be directly transitive" (p. 173), e.g., %8 K/( أto hope for). Secondly,
"verbs that take [%8] for one meaning, another preposition for other meaning" (p. 173),
e.g., %8 |G( رto desire). Thirdly, "verbs that require [%&8]" (p. 173) such as: %&8 4ه7&H (to
participate in) and %&8 ك,F&o( اto share). Lastly, "Intransitive verbs that use [%&8] in
construction with a noun phrase" (p. 173), e.g., %&8 ,&ّ'8 (to think of) and %&8 ,ّ 3F&H( اto
p)E (3alaa)
Lentzner observes that "[m]any intransitive verbs use [p&)E] in construction with a
noun phrase" (p. 175), such as: p&)E •&H( أto regret), p&)E p&'\ (to cry over/for), p&)E ف7&y
(to fear for), p&)E ,O&H (to watch over) in which p&)E "denotes a type of casual
relationship between the action depicted by the verb and the object of the preposition"
(p. 177), and embodies a concept of "FOR THE SAKE OF". The second function of
p&)E is illustrated in: p&)E ر7&ˆ (to rebel against), p&)E SQ&R (to laugh at), p&)E |^&G (to
become angry of), p&)E |&ّ)Ž} (to overcome) which have to do with actions or feelings
directed "AGAINST" someone or something. Thus, p)E has two meanings (i.e. 'for the
sake of' and 'against') which are considered as "two sides of one coin", and the
difference in these meanings "lies not in the preposition itself, but in the verb with
There are some verbs that require p&)E, such as: p&)E ,&ّˆ( أto influence), p&)E ص,&Z (to
p&)E K
ّ &W( أto look out upon), p&)E ,U&Fw( اto be limited to), p&)E 4&I( هto attack) etc. (pp.
180-181). Whereas there are some transitive verbs that "may occur with [p&)E]", such
as: p)E Šّ( رآto concentrate on), p&)E ‚ّ)E (to comment on), p&)E [&3FE( اto depend on) etc.
(p. 181). Finally, there are some verbs which involve two noun-phrases, one of which
is marked with p)E such as: p)E + 4H ا+ [E7H (to help someone to do something), + Kّ^8
p&)E + 4&H( اto prefer something to something), p&)E + 4&H ا+ p&)/( أto dictate something to
verbs. He makes the point that, like the locative prepositions, Arabic directional
prepositions ( 0&E ,0&/ ,p&+ إ,م2+ ) اcombine with verb roots to provide "lexical structures
with particular semantic content", however, they are less frequent than either ء7&(+ اor
م2+( اlaam)
combine with four types of verbs as follows: 1) Verbs which require it, such as: pŽ`أ
ل
ِ (to listen to), 2) "Transitive verbs that can optionally take it" (p. 183), such as: ]3FHا
ل
ِ (to listen to). 3) "Verbs of permitting, where [م2&+ ]اmarks the person(s) (or thing(s))
which use [م2&+ ]اin construction with a noun-phrase" (p.183), such as: ل
ِ ى,&„ (to
p+?( إilaa)
There are three types of verbs that may combine with p&+ إ: 1) verbs which require it,
to), p&+( }{)ّ&] إto look at), p&+&• إI+ (to resort to), p&+ إxU&P( أto listen to ) etc.; 2) transitive
verbs which use p&+ إoptionally with no change in meaning, such as: p&+] إ3F&H( اto listen
to), p&+ء إ7&H( أto harm), p&+ق إ7F&o( اto miss) and p&+ إ,&€P (to look at); and 3) intransitive
77
verbs which may use p&+ إin construction with a noun-phrase, such as: p&+&[ّث إQ} (to
notice). However, the function of p&+ إin most of the above instances is "essentially
directional", and the relationship between the verb and the object of p+ إcan be termed
0/ (min)
Similarly, there are three types of verbs that may combine with 0&/: 1) verbs which
require it, such as: 0&/ ’&ّ)n} (to get rid of), 0&/ ,n&H (to mock), 0&/ ب,&Fw( اto approach),
and 0&/ 4ƒF&P( اto take revenge on); 2) "[t]ransitive verbs which may take [0&/]", such as
0/ ( زادto increase), and 0/ Kّ)w (to reduce); and 3) "[i]ntransitive verbs which may take
[0&/] in construction with a noun-phrase", such as: 0&/ |&*} (to get tired of), 0&/ ف7&y (to
be afraid of), 0/ p'o (to complain about), 0/ SQR (to laugh at), 0&/ |^G (to get angry
0E (3an)
Likewise, 0&E may combine with three types of verbs: 1) verbs which require it, such
as: 0&&E p&&)ّn} (to abandon), 0&&E ,&&(ّE (to express), and 0&&E “&&n
ّ 3} (to produce); 2)
"[t]ransitive verbs which may take [0&E]", such as: 0&E •&Q\ (to search for), 0&E ب7&„( أto
answer), 0&E ]&8( داto defend), 0&E ب,&E( أto express), 0&E 0&)E( أto announce), and 0&E |&ّƒP
(to search for); and 3) "[i]ntransitive verbs which may use [0&E] in construction with a
noun-phrase", such as: 0E [*F\( اto move away), 0&E •&)Fy( اto differ from), 0&E K
ّ &w (to be
less than), 0&E ]&ّ.3} (to desist from), and 0&E •&ّwX} (to stop). With intransitive verbs, 0&E
78
has three kinds of functions: first, it embodies the semantic component "FROM" with
verbs of motion, as in: 7OL7w[&` أ0E 5(+7{+*[ت اF\( اthe student withdrew from her friends);
secondly, it functions "as a comparative predicate", as in: 7O}7ƒ1[&` 0&E 5&(+7{+ اx&_)Fy( اthe
student differed from her friends); and thirdly, it extends "the condition predicted by
the verb to an action in which the subject is involved" as in: 5&H[را+ ا0&E |+7{+ّ• اwX} (the
On the basis of the details outlined above, Lentzner (1977) labels every construction
idiomatic ones, and this sort of confusion, in my view, is due partly to his approach.
Lentzner approaches the point ably from the prepositions rather than the verbs
with certain types of verbs. In spite of giving the syntactic characteristics of the verbs,
he ignores the semantic features of them and their contribution when combined with
Arabic prepositions.
Some researchers, such as Abboud and McCarus (1968), have taken up the issue from
the verb standpoint. Abboud and McCarus (1968) observe that there exist two kinds
one being the construction of verb-preposition in which the verb changes its basic
meaning, for example, the meaning of the verb •&Q\ which basically means (to
discuss), becomes (to look for) when combining with the preposition 0&E. Likewise,
79
the verb [&3FE( اto authorize, to sanction) and the combination p&)E [&3FE( اto depend on).
constitutes a single unit of meaning "distinct from the verb alone or from other verb-
The second kind being construction of verb-preposition in which the verb retains its
basic meaning. For instance: the verb [E7H (to help someone) and the combination [E7H
2.6.3 Heliel
Another major contribution was made by Heliel (1994) in an article titled Verb-
Particle Combinations in English and Arabic: Problems for Arab Lexicographers and
Translators in which he approaches the issue from the transitivity 5&1[*F+ اstandpoint.
He starts with the traditional classification of verbs in the Arabic grammar where
they, like English verbs, can be transitive verbs 5&1[*F/ ل7&*8 أor intransitive verbs ل7&*8أ
5&/زM. The former verbs govern the accusative of a noun through themselves, they are
traditionally known as 7OY&_.\ 5&1[*F/ ل7&*8( أverbs which pass on to their objects through
themselves). The latter verbs govern a preposition with a noun in the genitive case
instead of accusative, they are traditionally known as ,„ ف,Q\ 51[*F/ ل7*8( أverbs which
pass on to their objects through a preposition). There are some verbs, however, that
may be used in both ways with different meanings, for instance the verb 7&E( دto call),
which can be used transitively, as in: 7E( دhe called him), or intransitively as in: ‘&+ 7Eد
Heliel, then, asks the same question arisen at the beginning of this section whether the
verb', or a different category" (p. 144). To answer this question, he gives the
following example: &[اءŽ+ى \*&[ اX&)Q+ ا0&E p.ŽF&H( اhe went without dessert after lunch).
Heliel asserts that the phrase &[اءŽ+( \*&[ اafter lunch) is a genuine prepositional phrase.
But he proposes two ways of bracketing the remainder, verb phrase plus prepositional
He comes to the conclusion that the phrase ىX)Q+ ا0E "is indeed one stable constituent,
and hence a prepositional phrase" (p. 145). Consequently, the combination of p.ŽF&Hا
0E (dispense with) along with similar combinations like: p)E ف,o( أsupervise), ب
ِ ˜&{\
object related to the verb via a preposition" (p. 145). From a semantic standpoint,
Heliel argues that the preposition is essential to the meaning of the verb and is
invariable, so that changing the preposition leads to the alteration of the meaning of
the entire combination, e.g., 5&31,I+ ا0&E •N( آexpose the crime) versus 5&(-ƒQ+ اp&)E •N&آ
81
(inspect the bag). In a similar manner, he elaborates that in the Arabic construction of
verb + preposition the verb often keeps most of its meaning and may be extended via
the preposition and perhaps the following noun, e.g., †ة,&3+ ا%&8 ,&€P (looked in the
mirror) versus 5-^&ƒ+ ا%&8 ,&€P (looked into the case). Prepositions, on the other hands,
with), 0&/ ب,&( هto escape from) etc. Yet both the preposition and the noun it governs
complete the meaning of the verb. This kind of link between the preposition and the
noun it governs and the verb is traditionally termed as ‚&ّ)*} (dependency) (p. 146).
Hunce, the verb is "a fair guide to the meaning of the combination" (p. 146). Heliel
explains that it is not difficult to understand the Arabic verb via the structure whether
it is used with or without a preposition, e.g., ‘ƒQ+ (to follow him) versus ‘\ ‚Q+ (to catch
up with him) (p. 146). This is mainly due to the fact that the verb in Arabic verb +
preposition constructions "is used in extended but rarely too idiomatic or unmotivated
ways" (p. 146), as in: ن7U&G9 اx+7/ (the branches swayed) [my translation] versus x&+7/
7Oƒ1[` p+ اx.(+( اthe girl tended towards her friend) [my translation] where the verb x+7/
is literal in the first sentence and extended in the second since it is associated with the
It is not unusual to see Arabic native speakers using Arabic prepositions wrongly.
centrality of the verb to whose meaning the preposition adds" (p. 146). He,
2.6.4 Alkhuli
In his book Comparative Linguistics: English and Arabic, Alkhuli (1999) maintains
that there is only one type of PV in Arabic, that is, prepositional verbs, e.g., p&)E ‰&)„
%&H,'+( اhe sat on the chair), ™-&Q3+ ا%&8 ,&Q\( أhe sailed through the ocean), ,&/9 ا%&8 ‚&ّwد
It is quite evident that the above examples used by Akhuli (1999) illustrate the
2.6.5 Najiib
Along these lines, Najiib (2001) confirms that PVs exist in the Arabic language (p.
Al-ddoush (1996) list around 2000 Arabic idiomatic expressions collected from a
linguistic studies, arts and history literature, and proverbs. The compilers do not
mention Arabic PVs (henceforth APVs) as such, but the vast majority of the listed
‘\7YZ %8 ~y( أTo take into his account) (p. 3) [My translation]
ر7(FEJ ا0-*\ ~y( أTo take into consideration) (p. 5) [My translation]
K€+ ا%8 ˜-*1 (To be away from people) (p. 143) [My translation]
ء7/ ,(o %8 ق,G (To fail in facing even the easiest problem) (p. 94) [My translation]
ب,o‘ و-)E ,[ه+ اK( أآIt is too old) (p. 15) [My translation]
ب7(H9 ا4O\ x*ّ{ƒ} (They got lost) (p. 33) [My translation]
0Y+ ا%8 0*W (to be old, to be advanced in years) (p. 80) [My translation]
What is so important about this book is the listing of a number of fixed and idiomatic
Arabic expressions in which verb and preposition fuse in one semantic unit to provide
a new idiomatic meaning different from their literal meanings. To cite just a few
instances:
2. 0&E ~&y( أp. 6) (To learn from, to study under, to borrow, to transmit, to narrate). For
example:
(A lot of contemporary scientists have adopted their thoughts from their predecessors)
[My translation]
ب2{+] ا-3„ لX`}‘ \*[ و,R7Q/ ء7ƒ+ إ%8 ذ7FH9~ اy( أp. 6)
(The professor started delivering his lecture after the arrival of all the students) [My
translation]
‰3N+وب ا,G pFZ ,I_+ ا0/ اب,N+م وا7*{+ ا0E 4L7U+ اSY31 (p.18)
(The fasting man refrains from having food and drink from dawn to dusk) [My
translation]
6. p)E |QYP( اp. 20) (To include or apply to). For example:
ء7.…FH دون ا0-.WاX3+] ا-3„ p)E [1[I+ار ا,ƒ+| اQYP( إp. 20)
(The new decision has applied to all citizens without exception) [My translation]
7. p+{] إƒP( اp. 21) (To devote oneself to, to dedicate oneself to). For example:
7O.ƒ} أpFZ 5-\,*+ ا5Ž)+ ا5H دراp+[ إ3Z{] أƒP( اp. 21)
(Ahmad devoted himself to study the Arabic language until he mastered it) [My
translation]
8. 0E ]{ƒP( اp. 21) (To quit, to give up, to stop). For example:
2
َ 1XW 7./ ز7O}ر71 ز0E x*{ƒP ا%F+ ا7OFƒ1[` [ت ه[ىƒF8( اp. 21)
(Huda has missed her friend who stoped visiting her for a long time) [My translation]
85
9. بp.\ (p. 27) (To consummate the marriage with). For example:
5-*/7I+ ا7OFH دراx)3 \*[ أن أآ،‘F„وŠ\ •([ اE p.\ (p. 27)
(Abdullah consummated the marriage with his wife when she completed her
10. %8 ,ّQ(} (p. 30) (To study thoroughly, to go deeply into, to be an authority or expert
4)*+ ا%8 وا,ّQ(F1 4+7/ ،‰1[رF+7\ 4~ه-/2F+ نXP•ذ1 M ء7/[ƒ+ن ا7( آp. 30)
(The ancestors did not allow their students to teach unless they are acquired through
11. ( }*)ّ‚ بp. 32) (To fall in love with, to be very fond of). For example:
(The young man fell in love with his cousin since childhood) [My translation]
12. p+ إp/( رp. 61) (To intend to, to aim at). For example:
01[)(+ ا0-\ 5)*F_3+ة اXI_+ ا5+ إزاp+‘ إQ1,U} %8 %H7/X)\[+ اp/( رp. 61)
(The diplomat intended, by his statement, to eliminate the fabricated gap between the
13. p)E ,OH (p. 66) (To look after, to take care of). For example:
س73Q+[ واI+ ا0/ ,-…'\ [)\ 717Eون رžo p)E ,OY1 ,-_Y+ اKŸ (p. 66)
(The ambassador kept looking after his fellow citizens' affairs with a lot of diligence
14. %8 ]ƒ1 (p. 144) (To consist of, to contain, to make up of). For example:
To sum up, I agree with Lentzner (1977) in his view that Arabic constructions of verb
believe that they are syntactically prepositional verbs but semantically PVs due to the
fact that they are idiomatic in nature. That is, each of which constitutes a single unit of
meaning which has nothing to do with the individual meanings of its components.
as verb–preposition idioms, owing to the fact that most of these constructions do not
satisfy the criteria of idioms set out by grammarians and linguists who define idioms
as "frozen patterns of language which allow little or no variation in form and […]
often carry meanings which cannot be deduced from their individual components"
(Baker, 1992, p. 63). I will apply the two tests, mentioned in the previous section,
constructions to see whether they are idioms or not. The first test is substituting the
whole phrase with one word. This begs the question: can we substitute a phrase like
p&)E [E7&H 'to help' with one word? The answer is: no, there is no one word for this
Arabic phrase, simply because it is made up of two lexical constituents each of which
has its own literal meaning, and the whole meaning of the phrase is so transparent that
it can be easily deduced from the total sum of the meanings of its components. The
second test is to delete the second word of the phrase. Again, can we delete the Arabic
preposition without changing the whole meaning of the phrase? The answer is: yes,
we can say [E7&H only to express the same meaning of the phrase 'to help'. Therefore,
I, also, disagree with Abboud and McCarus (1968) who divided these structures into
two types only, i.e. idiomatic and non- idiomatic. I believe that there is a third type in
between, that is, the semi-idiomatic type which is manifested in many Arabic verb +
preposition structures. To take just one example, p&)E [&3FE' اto depend on', which cannot
be substituted for one word. However, unlike the case of the previous example, the
preposition in this phrase cannot be deleted without changing the whole meaning, this is
owing to the fact that the verb [&3FE( اto authorize, to recognize) sacrifices its basic
meaning when combining with preposition, while the preposition retains its basic
meaning. For that reason this type of Arabic constructions, in my view, can be called
With regard to Heliel's claim that these sorts of Arabic combinations are syntactically
prepositional verbs but not PVs, I believe that he opted for such a view because he
deems that EPVs mean verb + adverb only, i.e. not verb + preposition nor verb +
preposition + adverb, which explains why he studies them under the name of verb-
constitute constructions more or less similar to IEPVs in that each of which forms one
unit of meaning, and exhibits strong semantic relationships between prepositions and
Consequently, in order to answer the question raised at the beginning of this section. I
strongly agree with the views of Lentzner (1977), Najiib (2001), Kharama and Hajjaj
(1989), Alkhuli (1999) and Bataineh and Bataineh (2002) that PVs do exist in the
however the Arabic language does not distinguish this phenomenon as such. It is quite
evident from the above literature that Arabic grammarians do not classify the Arabic
As for the criteria, not all APVs can fit the syntactic and semantic criteria of IEPVs.
They have rather different usage and criteria. Some of them may fit the criteria of
their English counterparts, but differ in their usage. The similarities and dissimilarities
1. Unlike IEPVs which are of three types (i.e., verb + adverb, verb +
preposition, and verb + adverb + preposition), APVs are of one type only,
them, can be used to form APVs, since adverbial particles are not used in
5. Like polysamic IEPVs, APVs may occur in more than one meaning in
different contexts.
89
carried by the verb in spite of the fact that the preposition modifies the
9. Like EPVs, Arabic literal and idiomatic PVs share the same syntactic
semantic properties.
11. Unlike EPVs which can occur without a syntactic object, APVs require a
12. As far as register variations are concerned, unlike EPVs which are less
contexts, APVs are far more formal and highly rhetorical. They are
the written mode and used only by educated people from a certain sector
that using them in an informal setting makes the speaker sound very odd
and unnatural.
90
The final point needs to be taken up here is the fact that Arabic makes "a sharp
distinction between written and spoken discourse" (Baker, 1992, p. 71). It "has two
varieties: a high written (formal) variety and a low spoken (mainly informal) variety"
into written form of Arabic, Arabic translators would run the risk of shifting the
One of the strategies suggested to Arabic translators to tackle such a dilemma is,
according to Al-Qinai (2000), "to reduce the gap by steering a middle course between
the formal style of the high variety and the informal language of Colloquial Arabic"
(p. 501). In other words, translators are best advised to use Modern Standard Arabic
which lies half-way between the highly formal classic Arabic and the highly informal
colloquial Arabic.
One of the major aims of this study is to pinpoint the difficulties encountered by
Arabic translators when dealing with the notion of IEPVs. The phenomenon of
derivation of PVs constitutes, to a certain extent, one aspect of such difficulties. In the
previous sections the syntactic and semantic properties of idiomatic PVs in both
English and Arabic were explored in detail. In this section I will be considering the
ways by which EPVs can be derived from adjectives and nouns and vice versa. Yet,
before proceeding in so doing, a brief account of the notion of derivation in both the
English and Arabic languages will be outlined. The aim here is to present the
The phenomenon of derivation in the English language has been of interest to a wide
range of grammarians, linguists and lexicographers (cf. Hurford & Heasley, 1983;
Crystal, 1997; Kaplan, 1995; Crowley, Lynch, Siegel & Piau, 1995; Trask, 2000). It
Derivation can be broadly defined as "[…] the process of forming new words
according to a (fairly) regular pattern on the basis of pre-existing words" (Hurford &
from other words by adding affixes, such as deriving the words national, international
and internationally from the word nation (Trask, 2000, p. 40). The vast majority of
English vocabulary emerges by the process of forming new lexemes from old ones -
1997, p. 128). The new derived words, however, are typically of different "part of
speech"; a good example would be the English "manner" adverbs which are formed
from adjectives by adding the suffix –ly to them, as in the adjective rapid and the
manner adverb rapidly. Another example is making nouns from verbs by adding the
suffix –ment to them as in the verb excite and the noun excitement (Kaplan, 1995, p.
27).
Furthermore, English, following Crystal (1997), "does not have affixes in large
numbers – only about 50 common prefixes, somewhat fewer common suffixes, and no
92
clear instances of infixes. But these limited resources are used in a complex and
1- Prefixes which are typically placed before the roots of words, such as: in-,
un-, de-, dis-, miss-, sub-, anti-, ex-, etc. (A more comprehensive list in
2- Suffixes which are usually placed after the roots of words, such as: -tion, -
ship, -ness, - able, -ese, -like, -let, -ess, -ism, etc. (Crystal, 1997).
It is worth noting that unlike prefixes which rarely alter the words class, suffixes do
not only modify the meaning of the word to which they are attached. but also, in many
cases, change the word's grammatical status, for instance, the suffix –ify turns the
noun beauty into the verb beautify, and the suffix –ing turns the concrete noun farm
into the abstract one farming (Crystal, 1997, 128). Another point needs to be
mentioned here is that English does not allow using more than one prefix at a time,
but, however, it does allow using two or more suffixes as in: person-al-ity and norm-
3- Infixes which occur within the roots of words. It is necessary to point out
though that, unlike many languages including Arabic which make a great use
words into which other forms have been inserted for the sake of swearing or
In their book The Design of Language, Crowley et al. (1995) approach the
derivational affixes. They consider that words with inflectional affixes such as expect,
expects, expected and expecting are mere different forms for one lexeme (expect),
expectation and expectative are considered five different words, even though they are
all related to the form expect morphologically. In other words, inflectional affixes do
not create new lexemes, but they rather create other shapes of the same lexemes,
while derivational affixes do create new lexemes from other ones. Further, the full set
of forms of any lexeme that are inflectionally related are usually referred to as the
paradigm for that lexeme. Hence, the forms expect, expects, expected and expecting
are considered to be the paradigm for expect. Derived forms, however, have their own
paradigm as well. Therefore, the forms expectation and expectations are considered to
follows:
changed, e.g., from verb to noun as in: teach – teacher, from adjective to
noun as in: red – redness, from adjective to verb as in: wide – widen, from
producing a word denoting a property when deriving redness from red, etc.
(pp. 206-207).
To be more precise, however, the process of derivation is not always involved in the
three abovementioned processes. There exist some cases in which derivation involves
two processes only, as in the case of 'zero derivation' where no morphological process
is involved, e.g., deriving cook (agent noun) from cook (transitive verb). This case
typically occurs when the same word is used in different part of speech. On the other
deriving larger from large where both words are adjectives, but have different forms
The notion of derivation in Arabic stems initially from the issue of inflection
the single root to a variety of patterns for intended meanings which cannot be
achieved without such patterns" (p. 61) [my translation]. Arabic scholars, however,
divide the verb morphologically into two types: defective ([&&/7„) and inflected
(ّف,U&F/). The defective verb is a verb that carries a meaning unrelated to time, hence
it is a frozen verb in the sense that it is confined to one particular pattern, e.g., ‰-&+ (it
95
other hand, is a verb that carries a meaning related to time; therefore it is capable to
appear in different patterns depending on the time in which the action takes place. The
inflected verb is of two types: fully inflected which can produce the three verb
patterns (past: %&R73+ا, present: رع7^&3+ اand imperative: ,&/9)ا. And partially inflected
which can produce only two verbs patterns, either past and present such as: د7&'1 – د7&آ
(to be on the brink of), S&oX1 – S&o( أوto be about to),الŠ17&/ ¡زال7&/ (still, yet), – ح,\7&/
Derivation (ق7ƒF&oM )اin Arabic, in its simplest definition, is an extraction of one word
from another provided that there is suitability (5(&H7./) between them in meaning and
structure but not in form (?ibin Jinnii died 392 A.H as cited in Hammaad, 1983, p.17;
Al-jurjaanii, 1986, p. 27). For example, from an infinitive such as: 5&\7F( آwriting) we
|&F'َ1 (he writes) from which, in turn, we can derive the imperative |&F( اآwrite).
Infinitive always constitutes the basic form from which all other derivative forms can
between the two words in letters and letters' order such as: ب
َ ,َ &َR (to hit)
2) The big derivation (,-('+ق ا7ƒFoM )اwhere suitability between the two words
is in form and function but not in letters' order such as: ~َ &َ(„
َ (to attract) and
~بI+( اattraction).
3) The biggest derivation (,&(آ9ق ا7ƒF&oM )اwhere suitability between the two
In his book 5&Ž)+&‘ اƒ8 (Philology), Waafii (1973, pp. 179-180) attempts to be more
general in outlining the notion of derivation, He argues that every triliteral root ( K&`أ
%&ˆ2ˆ) in Arabic correlates with a general meaning to which it has been assigned. Such
a general meaning can be captured in every word comprises the three sounds
occurring in the same order as the root from which the word has been generated. The
general meaning of 4&)*+( اknowledge), for instance, correlates with the sounds of its
triliteral root, i.e. 0-&*+( ا3ayn), م2&+( اlaam) and 4-&3+( اmiim), and it can be captured in
each word containing these three sounds occurring in the same order no matter what
sounds may be inserted before, after or through them. Hence, the general meaning of
teaches), 4&£)*َ Pُ (we teach), 4&¢)*َ }َ (he learnt), اX&3¢)*َ }َ (they learnt), 4ِ+7&E (scholar), مX&&)E
(sciences) etc. Waafii terms this sort of derivation as م7&&*+ق ا7ƒF&&oJ( اthe general
1- Derivation from the names of substances (ن7&-E9ء ا73&H)أ, such as: |¢& َ~ه/ (gilded)
2- Derivation of the synthetic infinitive (%E7.U&+[ر اU&3+ )اby adding to words ء7&1
|Y&.+( اrelative yaa?) along with ء7&F+( اtaa?) such as: 5&ّ-)ه7„ (state of ignorance)
from K&ه7„ (ignorant), 5&ّ-\X\ رor 5&ّ-هX+( إgodhood) from ربor ‘&+( إgod), 5&ّ-+X„ر
Interestingly, these two types of derivation were not widely used in ancient Arabic,
but owing to the real need of them in the last forty years or so to express a tremendous
number of philosophical and scientific facts, Academy of the Arabic language ( ]&3I/
Moving on to the issue of Arabic derivative forms, In his book ق7ƒF&oM ا5+7&H( رthe
message of derivation) [my translation], Al-sarraaj (died 316 A.H.) imposes two
conditions for derivation to be accepted: 1) The two words have to share the three root
letters of the trilateral verb (َK*َ 8َ ), and 2) The two words have to share a particular type
of meaning (p. 20). Arabic grammarians have agreed on using the trilateral verb as
paradigm, and call the first radical of it ء7_+( اfaa?), the second 0-*+( ا3ayn) and the third
The Arabic language plays with the trilateral root of the verb to make new words with
In what follows I will enumerate the major eight derivative forms (paradigms) in
Arabic. There exist some other forms, but they are very rare and only used in poetry
and archaic texts (cf. Wright, 1981; Al-bustaanii, 1963; Wightwick & Gaafar, 1998):
98
,َ Y
َ ( َآto break) ,َ Y
¢ ( َآto break in pieces).
radical, e.g., ‰
َ &َ)„
َ (the basic verb meaning: to sit down), ‰
َ +َ7&„ (to sit down
with someone) K
َ Fَ wَ (to kill), K
َ }َ 7w (to fight).
3- َ َ ?( َأaf3ala) which is formed by adding an ?alif before the first radical, e.g.,
‚
َ &َ{Pَ (the basic verb meaning: to articulate) ‚
َ &َ{P( أto make someone talk) ى,&„
4- َ َ َ (tafa33ala) which is coined by adding taa? on the front of the above first
form (َK*¢ 8َ ), e.g., ,َ آ¢ ( َذto remind someone) ,َ آ¢ ~َ }َ (to remember), ف
َ X¢ y
َ (to terrify)
ف
َ X¢ n
َ }َ (to be afraid).
ع
َ َد7y (to deceive) ع
َ َد7nَ} (to pretend to be deceived).
6- َ َ َ ?( إinfa3ala) which is coined by adding ?alif and nuun in front of the root
letters, e.g., ,َ Y
َ &َ( آto break something) ,َ Y
َ &َ'P( إto be broken), •
َ N
َ &َ( آto uncover)
•
َ N
َ 'َ P( إto be uncovered).
7- َ َ َ ?( إifta3ala) which is coined by adding ?alif with short vowel i in front of
something), ‰
َ 3َ +َ (to touch) ‰
َ 3َ Fَ +( إto seek for something).
8- ََ ?( إistaf3ala) which is coined by adding ?alif with short vowel i, siin
and taa? in front of the first letter and placing a sukuun over the first root
The point to be made here is that derivation is not confined to verbs only; nouns can
be derived from verbs as well. There are twelve kinds of nonverbal derived from
Arabic verb, and Arabic linguists have agreed to call them ت7ƒFN&3+( اthe derivatives).
They are: [رU3+( اinfinitive, verbal noun) ّة,&3+ ا4H( اnoun that expresses the doing of an
action once) عX.+ ا4H( اnoun of kind or manner) ن7'3+ ا4H( اnoun of place) ن7/Š+ ا4H( اnoun
of time) 5&+¤ ا4&H( اnoun of instrument) K&E7_+ ا4&H( اactive participle) لX&*_3+ ا4&H( اpassive
participle) 5Oّ(N
¢ &3+ ا5_U&+( اassimilate epithet) K-^&_F+ اK&*8( أcompetitive and superlative
It is important to stress that despite the complexity of the Arabic derivative forms,
they are of a great benefit for Arabic learners. For instance, one can guess the
meaning of any word if he recognizes the derivative form and knows another word
with the same root (p. 38). They are, on the other hand, not confined to the Arabic
language only; many of them occur in Hebrew and Aramaic (cf. Wright, 1981, pp. 31,
Forming PVs from other word classes is quite noticeable phenomenon in the English
language. This is mainly due to the productive nature of these kinds of verbs which
can be emerged at any time, in any situation and within any context throughout the
stretch of the English language. In this regard there are two points that need to be
taken up. Firstly, the sources from which EPVs are derived and, secondly, the ways
EPVs are derived from three sources, namely adjectives, nouns and Latinate verbs as
a) Adjectives which can take the suffix –en as in: "fresh, freshen, freshen up
and flat, flatten, flatten down" (McArthur, 1989, p. 40) [Emphasis in original]
b) Adjectives which cannot take the suffix –en as in: "calm, calm down and
c) Adjectives which can be both (with and without the suffix –en) as in:
"damp, dampen, dampen down and damp, damp down" (McArthur, 1989, p.
In this process "a phrasal verb containing a regular phrasal verb and a special noun is
telescoped into a new phrasal verb" (McArthur, 1989, p. 41) as in: wall in (close in
with a wall) and channel off (lead off by means of a channel) (McArthur, 1989, p. 41).
Other examples are: "button up, dish out, fog up, iron out, and sponge down"
(McArthur, 1989, p. 41) [Emphasis in original]. This process has been named by
Fraser (1976, pp. 22-24) as "noun verbalization" and the derived PV as "noun-particle
101
combination" where nouns may occur as verbs in combinations with such particles as
down, in, over, and out. He provides the following examples to illustrate the classes of
a) Nouns occur with the particle down: batten, blot, button, cement, clamp,
glue, nail, past, pin, rivet, screw, staple, tack, and tape as in: He glued down
b) Nouns occur with the particle in: box, fence, glass, pen, rope, screen, and
c) Nouns occur with the particle over: board, brick, cement, glass, mortar, and
d) Nouns occur with the particle out: chalk, crayon, ink paint, pen, and pencil
Fraser (1976) also indicates that the majority of the abovementioned nouns never
occur as verbs except in these combinations, therefore, the combinations "will have to
be listed in the lexicon as individual verbal elements apart from the listing of the
verbs and/or nouns with which they are associated" (p. 24).
In this process Latinate verbs of two and three syllables are attached to particles for
emphasis or completion to form PVs. McArthur (1989) cites the following examples:
"contract out, divide off/up, level off, measure off/out, select out, [and] separate
off/out" (p. 41) [Emphasis in original]. PVs from this type are still being widely used
102
even though their usage is avoided by some researchers and regarded as pleonastic
(McArthur, 1989).
Nouns are typically formed from PVs. Such derived nouns "are becoming
Moreover, they have been named by Cowie and Mackin (1993, p. xiii) as
Take-off is formed from take off (to leave the ground in an aircraft).
McArthur (1975, pp. 48-52) demonstrates that there are two patterns of formation in
this regard. He terms them as: the major pattern and the minor pattern of formation.
The first pattern being the commonest one for deriving nouns from PVs in which the
The first element of the noun is stressed in the spoken mode. And the noun formed is
either written as one word or with a hyphen in the written mode. This "stress shifting
rule" of generating nouns from PVs has been also mentioned by Bolinger (1971) who
considers PVs as "probably the most prolific source of new nouns in English" (p. xiii).
The second pattern of deriving nouns from PV is the minor one wherein nouns are
The noun here is derived from the PV by fronting (or prefixing) the particle. In
spoken mode stress should be placed on the first element of the derived noun, i.e. the
It is necessary to point out, however, that there exist some nouns derived from PVs on
both patterns (i.e. the major and minor patterns) Consider, for example, the following
Additionally, some of such nouns appear with the gerund form of the verb such as:
And some of them appear with the past participle form of the verb such as: left-over
It must be pointed out that each noun of the above pairs has its special use, for
instance the use of breakout differs from the use of outbreak in that the former usually
has something to do with people whereas the latter has something to do with diseases
2.7.4 Productivity
can be used freely to construct new instances" (Trask, 2000, p. 109). Or rather "[t]he
formation of new linguistic expressions based on the existing pattern of usage" (Daud
et al., 2003, p. 159). It is undeniable fact, however, that such a phenomenon is not
solely confined to the English language, it is rather a common factor among all
languages. Hence, the fact that the human language allows its users to communicate
in entirely productive way is considered one of the main features that differentiate the
fact no limit to the using of human language (Crowley et al., 1995). Therefore,
productivity in language means, following Crowley et al. (1995), "that once we have
learned a particular rule for combining two or more items together, we can combine
any like items in the same way to produce a novel utterance" (p. 262).
105
derivation and word-formation. Since, as it has been outlined above, affixes are of two
types, namely, inflectional and derivational, the former is said to be more productive
than the latter, in that they can be used more freely to invent new words. Hurford and
Heasley (1983) maintains that "[i]t is doubtful whether any derivational process is
actually completely productive, but some are very productive and others hardly
Consequently, the English language scholars have divided affixes, according to their
(Kaplan, 1995; Crowley et al., 1995; Trask, 2000). Yet, for the purpose of the study, I
will not go into the details of theses types of productivity as my focus is on the
It is not an exaggeration to say that thousands of IEPVs are being formed casually
when needed; they pop up on a regular basis with new special meanings (McArthur,
1975). They are undoubtedly "a highly productive category in English" (Heliel, 1994,
pp. 141-142), which "probably accounts for more new 'stereotypes' than any other
source" (Bolinger, 1971, p.xii). One when dealing with them, following Kennedy
(1967),
[…] is not dealing with a fixed category of English speech, but with a
changing, growing tendency in language which throws up over night, as
106
In his attempt to explore the mechanism of coining such "a floodgate of metaphor"
Bolinger (1971, p. xii) indicates that there is no need for the everyday inventor of a
PV to arrive at such elements as roots and affixes which have no reality for him. All
what he needs is a rough familiarity with other use of words like head and off to make
up of the PV head off , this is mainly due to the self-suggesting nature of this kind of
Unlike people from non English speaking backgrounds, English native speakers have
no difficulty obtaining this kind of "a rough familiarity with other use" of both
elements of PV. They "have an understanding, albeit unconscious, of the meaning and
use of particles that allows them to create, almost at will, new phrasal verbs" (Darwin
& Gray, 1999, p. 66). This highly productive nature of EPVs complicates the problem
of learning them by learners of English who already have a great deal of difficulties
It might be plausible to explore here one of the most controversial issues in this
connection, that is, the dilemma faced by lexicographers. There is no doubt that
people will keep generating newely coined PVs (along with other derived word
classes) unendingly. This will, in turn, make the task of capturing such new items by
lexicographers even harder. They would be as if they were, to use Hurford and
Heasley's (1983) words, "shooting at a moving target" (p. 205), because their
dictionaries will soon be out of date if they recorded only attested words "as new
words will have been coined and perhaps added to the everyday vocabulary of the
107
language" (p. 205). The question of lexicography will be investigated in more details
in the forthcoming sections. But what needs to be considered here is that such newely
coined, unrecorded, EPVs pose a great deal of challenge to Arabic translators as they,
in dealing with them, have to play the role of lexicographers, in addition to their basic
role, in tracing them, analysing them within their situational contexts, and providing
their appropriate Arabic equivalents. To give just a few examples of such newly
coined items: to sex up, to google around, to shop out, to party out, etc.
There is no dout that abovementioned Arabic derivative forms are "the major way in
which Arabic achieves its richness of vocabulary" (Wightwick & Gaafar, 1998, p.
38), and it is one of the most important mediums by which the Arabic language has
translation].
uncommon to hear Arabic speakers making up new verbs from existing roots for the
sake of creating jokes or being poetic (Hammaad, 1983, p. 39) [my translation].
Thus, it is not unusual to hear such new Arabic words as: 5&.َ.(َ+ (to apply the Lebanese
sample of a sectarian civil war to another country), as in: اق,&*+ ا5&..(+ (to put Iraq in a
sectarian civil war). And 5&َآ,/( أto copy the American style), as in: ك,/•&F1 K&„( ه&~ا رthis
man is copying the American style). Both words are derived by making use of the
What makes this issue so interesting is the fact that a wide range of Arabic speakers
nowadays, especially those who live in countries where English is the dominant
language, are constantly deriving new verbs from English words using the
• The verb ,َ N
َ &P أwhich is derived from the English verb (to insure) by
car).
• The verb ¥
َ .¢ &َ„ which is derived from the English verb (to change) by
• The verb K
َYَ &.َ آwhich is derived from the English verb (to cancel) by
appointment).
• The verb ¥
َY
¢ &َ/ which is derived from the English verb (to send a
a message).
In addition to derivation, the other way whereby the Arabic language maintains its
in producing new words, structures, and collocations with new semantic connotations.
To use Hammaad's (1983) examples: ن7&I._+( أذن اthe ear of the cup), %&H,'+ اK&„( رthe
leg of the chair), 5&„7„Š+&‚ ا.E (the neck of the bottle), ™N&3+ن ا7.&H( أthe teeth of the
Arab writers, poets and artists typically make use of such metaphorical expressions to
juice up their works or sometimes to avoid using taboo or being rude. They employ
the requirements of contexts or thoughts they want to express. In other words, they
impart new life to such words, and inject the language with new items that can be
Let me now turn to the issue of the productivity of PVs in Arabic. As has been
previously shown, the only type of PVs that exists in the Arabic language is that of a
verb + a preposition one, where the both elements of the construction are fused
together to form one semantic unit (see 2.6 above). Such constructions, however, have
their productive nature. The metaphorical usage of theses verbs and prepositions plays
an important role in their productivity. Let me consider this issue by means of some
(Literally: the war has stood on a leg, meaning, the war has erupted) [my translation]
(Literally: the war has exhibited its leg, meaning, the war has broken up) [my
translation]
‘1~„7P 0E ,N+أ\[ى ا
(Literally: the evil has shown his molars, meaning, the evil has been revealed) [my
translation].
To recaptulate the current section, having given a brief account of the derivational
mechanisms in both English and Arabic, one can come up with a number of frultful
110
insights, being: 1) both The English and Arabic languages derive new words by
adding affixes to the roots of basic verbs; 2) unlike English, Arabic can derive new
words by adding/omitting sounds and short vowels to/from the roots of the basic
verbs; 3) unlike Arabic, English does not make use of infixes; 4) both languages allow
for the derivation of nouns and adjectives from verbs; 5) unlike English, Arabic
(among other languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic) has a fixed set of derivative
forms by which new derived items can be created; 6) unlike Arabic, English relies, in
derivation only, on sets of prefixes and suffixes; 7) both languages, like any other
systems; and 8) while EPVs constitute a highly productive category, their Arabic
metaphorical expressions.
In this section attention will be paid to the ways by which English lexicologists have
treated the issue of PVs in their dictionaries. The aim is to explore the extent to which
such problematic items of the English language. The section will fall into two distinct
parts, the first will view the PVs in general English-English dictionaries, and the
second part will discuss the treatment of PVs in the specialized English-English
dictionaries.
111
dictionaries approach the question of PVs really merit a careful investigation. Yet, it
is beyond the scope of this thesis to trace the phenomenon in all English lexicography.
Therefore, three main authoritative dictionaries will be looked at, they are: Webster's
Third new International Dictionary (1993), The Oxford English Dictionary (1989),
and The Macquarie Dictionary (2001). The reason for selecting these three
dictionaries is due to the fact that they represent the major three dialects of English:
the first one is a dictionary of American English, the second is a dictionary of British
A close look at the three dictionaries at hand reveals that they do approach the issue of
PVs relatively well, but it also reveals that they are, by no means, comprehensive in
their coverage.
indicates that verb plus adverb combinations, which "function like one-word verbs in
every way except for having a separate suffix" (p. 4a), have been recognized and
assigned separate entries (p. 4a). This is, to some extent, true and evident throughout
the dictionary. The PV make up, for instance, is accorded a separate entry and given
nine meanings as a transitive verb, and five meanings as an intransitive verb followed
by the noun makeup, which is derived from it, and, in turn, given six meanings (p.
1364). Other examples include back up, which is given three meanings followed by
the noun derived from it, backup (p. 160), and put off, which is given four different
112
meanings followed by the noun derived from it, put-off (p. 1850). On the other hand,
some PVs are not accorded separate entries, such as the PV account for, which is
listed under the entry of the verb account (p. 13). Other examples include the PVs
bitch up (p. 222), egg on (p. 726), switch on, and switch off (p. 2313) which are
tackled under the verbs bitch, egg, and switch respectively. As for the coverage,
however, many PVs are not covered in this dictionary such as log on, log off, sign on,
Along these lines, The Oxford English Dictionary (1989) handles PVs in very much
the same manner where some of them are specified in separate entries such as back-
up, (vol. I, p. 870), bring about (vol. II, p. 555), bring forward (vol. II, p. 556), bitch
up (vol. II, p. 229), make-up (vol. LX, p. 249) and put up (vol. XII, p. 922). Others
listed under their root verbs such as account for (vol. I, p. 85), pop up (vol. XII, p.
395) and start up (vol. XVI, p. 815) while a number of PVs have been entirely
ignored such as bring along, bring together, dine in, chill out, and click on.
By the same token, The Macquarie Dictionary (2001) accords the majority of PVs
separate entries such as backup (p. 133), count down (p. 440), make up (p. 1156), pull
out (p. 1534), push up (p. 1540), put up (p. 1541), and shut down (p. 1748) etc. PVs,
in some cases, are tackled after the entries of their verbs as in account for (p. 12),
brighten up (p. 241), chill out (340), dine in (p. 536), switch on, and switch off (p.
1900) which are listed under the verbs account, brighten, chill, dine and switch in that
order. While such PVs as bring along, bring together, bitch up, sign in and sign off
devoted to PVs "are relative newcomers to the market". In this subsection they will be
taken up in a historical order, that is, the oldest will be treated first. The aim here is to
touch upon the points in common amongst them and the points in which they vary
from one to another. And, most importantly, to explore the gaps, if any, that need to
be bridged.
Compiled by Abdul Karim Taha, and first published by Kuwait University in 1972.
This book, to the best of my knowledge and research, is the first monolingual English-
in 1996.
The first part of this book (pp. 1-37) has been set out to investigate the structural and
syntactic properties of two-word verbs (PVs). The main focus has been to classify
them syntactically to transitive and intransitive verbs, and to account for their stress
pattern and word order, "and to point out the important signals which may be used to
the second part of the book (pp. 39-274), whereby PVs are listed alphabetically, each
of which is labeled either transitive or intransitive. Most of the intransitive PVs are
illustrated by one example each owing to the fact that they are non-separable, for
instance the PV burn down (to be destroyed by fire) is illustrated by the sentence The
house burned down (p. 67), and ride off (to depart by riding) by After saying good-by,
The transitive PVs, on the other hand, are illustrated by three sentences each due to
the fact that they are separable and may appear in three different word order patterns.
For example the PV act out (to perform) is exemplified in the following three
sentences: They acted out a play; They acted a play out; and They acted it out (p. 39).
And the PV leave out (to omit) is given the following examples: He left out several
answers; He left several answers out; and He left them out (p. 136).
It is worth mentioning to say that the meanings of polysemous PVs, which have more
than one meaning, have been attended to, for example the PV take out is given the
to extract; to remove from; 4) (in bridge) to bid higher than one's partner in another
As far as register variations are concerned, two labels have been provided throughout
the dictionary, colloquial and slang. For instance the PVs bash up (p. 45), break off (p.
63), and dream up (p. 95) are considered as colloquial, while beard down (p. 49), doll
up (p. 93), and zero in on (p. 274) are considered as slang, where no attempt has been
115
made to account for other variations such as formal, humours, literary etc. as it has
been the case in the other specialized dictionaries. No attempt has been made as well
to account for such crucial features as nouns and adjectives which are derived from
PVs, idioms in which PVs constitute fundamental parts, common words which
typically collocate with each PV, and English dialects other than the American dialect
Moreover, the dictionary is by no means comprehensive in that there are many PVs
which have been ignored such as bring along, bring together, juice up, do without,
bliss out, boot up, butt out, factor in, hack into, rock up, slag down, tough out, veg
Edited by Tom McArthur and Beryl Atkins, and first published by Collins Clear-type
Press in 1974.
The compilers believe that PVs "are more consistent in their behaviour and far more
teachable than is generally supposed" (p. 5). Therefore, this dictionary has been
who "have mastered the basic sentence patterns of the language and have an active
vocabulary of 3,000 words in plus" (p. 6). Such students have been advised to use the
116
Collins 'Patterns of English' series (p. 6). However, the Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
and their Idioms has some noticeable features, which I will now discuss.
In terms of the polysemy of PVs, unlike other scholars who argue that each sense of a
given PVs should be dealt with as a distinct verb, the compilers consider that
simple verb + particle and ranging through to the more opaque idioms" (p. 6). Such
verbs, they elaborate, "are unique blends of syntax, semantics and idiom, and are dealt
with […] as so many themes and variations" (p. 6). To take just one instance:
The PV fix up is given five different meanings each of which is illustrated by at least
one example as follows: the first meaning is (arrange) where fix up is intransitive, as
in: We've fixed up to go out tonight. They have fixed up to visit us next month. I fixed
up to go a broad for a holiday. I have fixed up for a plumber to come tomorrow. The
second meaning is (fit or put up) as in: The carpenter fixed up the wall cupboards.
The third is (arrange) where fix up is transitive as in: I'll try to fix something up that
suits everyone. Let's fix it all up now. The forth is (provide an opportunity or work
for) as in: Can you fix him up? They fixed me up with this job. The fifth is
(accommodate) as in: They fixed him up in a small hotel. Can you fix her up for the
As far as the coverage is concerned, the compilers admittedly indicate that "[n]o
claims are made to exhaustiveness either in the number of the verbs covered or in the
117
number of senses identified for any verb" (p. 6). Hence, the comparison with other
dictionaries reveals that many PVs have not been covered in this dictionary such as
bring along, bring together, drive through, trade in, chill out, juice up, and stand over
among others.
Some verbs are listed as 'special entries' and marked with asterisks. The compilers
justify such a distinction by claiming that "a large number of phrasal forms are simply
the grammatical operation of verbs of movement plus particle of direction" (pp. 6-7).
For example: "conduct + particle vt sep (convey by escort, with direction) [e.g.,] He
asked the guard to conduct us out. The receptionist conducted us in to meet the great
Further, in their attempt to account for every listed PV expansively, the compilers
provide four kinds of information in each entry about a given verb as follows:
(fused) PVs. For instance: "cash in vt sep (hand in for money) [e.g.,] She
needed money so she cashed in her shares. It's time to cash in those saving
bonds" (p. 41) [Emphasis in original] where vt stands for transitive and sep
stands for separable. Another example is "swear by vt fus (think highly of,
value) [e.g.,] He swears by the shop. I always swear by their products" (p.
2) The register variations of each PV are specified in order to show the field
Chem =chemistry; Cine =cinema; Fin =finance; Med =medicine; Mus =music,
3) A gloss is provided to each entry. McArthur and Atkins make the point that
"[t]he gloss for a particular entry is meant to be read together with the
illustrative sentences to show the area of meaning occupied by the verb" (p. 7).
Despite the fact that each gloss given to any PV in this dictionary is
match, because the verb may be unique in that sense" (p. 7), and in most cases
the Latinate verb equivalent does not carry "the same features of informality,
formality and vividness as the phrasal verb" (p. 7). As exemplified in the PV
book down in He booked us down for the next ship. This PV is glossed as (put
down in a book), which is not the perfect match, and given the Latinate verb
26).
4) One or more illustrative sentences. A random opening to page 142 shows two
distinct PVs, one (mark on), which is illustrated by one sentence, while the
Some PVs are given a reference to derived verbs, adjectives, nouns and idioms. For
instance, the PV be away, which has an idiomatic meaning, among other meanings, as
in: to be away with the fairies meaning to be slightly mad (p. 16). Similarly, the PV
In a nutshell, this dictionary has attracted a great deal of attention among researchers
and learners alike. Its list and classification of PVs are adopted to serve as the basis
for compiling four of the Collins bilingual dictionaries, namely: English to French,
only weakness it has is the coverage of PVs. The number of PVs covered in this
dictionary is far less than the actual number of them presented in other dictionaries,
let alone the productivity nature of this type of combinations which makes them quite
in 1982.
It is worth mentioning to say that this dictionary has been developed from the
it has been claimed by its editors, "[i]t will not only help them to understand phrasal
verbs but will give them the knowledge and confidence to use them" (p. ix).
Nevertheless, in compiling this dictionary, the editors, in my view, have relied heavily
Tom McArthur and Beryl Atkins (1974) in that they utilized very much the same
classification and label system (cf. pp. vi-x). With very few exceptions, however, the
dictionary has its own distinct features, which I will now discuss.
In the definitions given to the listed PVs, only the figurative sense of each PV is
provided, whereas the literal meaning is omitted. The editors justify such an omission
by claiming that it was "[f]or reasons of space" (p. ix), and they refer learners who
want to know more about the literal meaning to the Chambers Universal Learners'
Dictionary (p. ix). For example the literal meaning of the PV get across (to cross
something) is disregarded and only the figurative sense (to be or make something
And, "[f]or reasons of space and convenience" as well, some pairs of PVs, such as:
drain away and drain off (p. 27); nose about and nose around (p. 77) are dealt with
On the contrary, the dictionary comprises not only PVs (simple verbs followed by
prepositions + objects) such as: apply to in: apply force to a door; and build on in: I've
121
built all my hopes on this book being published, which are, by no means, regarded as
PVs, even though they are included "because it was felt that they would be useful for
It should be noted that the issue of polysemy of PVs is treated by numbering the
definitions of each PV "to avoid confusion" (p. vi), for instance the PV knock off has
six different meanings (p. 64), while pick up has nine meanings (pp. 81-82).
It is important to mention, however, that the register variations of the majority of the
listed PVs are indicated by means of labels such as: formal; inf. =informal; sl. =slang
etc. To take but one instance, the PV figure out is labeled as (inf) since it is typically
used in informal situations, as in: I just can't figure it out (to understand) (p. 34),
whereas the PV lie with is labeled formal since it is usually employed in formal
contexts as in: The decision lies with you (to be the responsibility of) (p. 69).
such as: vt =transitive; vi =intransitive; sep =separable; fus =fused (non-separable) etc.
What is novel, in this dictionary, are the separable transitive PVs (typically labeled vt
1) Transitive PVs, which are obligatory separated, have been labeled as vt oblig
2) Transitive PVs, which are usually separated, have been labeled as vt usually
3) Transitive PVs, which may be separated, have been labeled as vt sep as in keep
up (p. 62).
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1983.
Three types of PVs are included in this dictionary: 1) verb + adverb such as nail down
as in: We shall have to nail him down to his promise (to state his intention) (p. 397);
2) verb + preposition such as see over as in: may we see over the house/ I understand
that it is for sale (to visit and examine) (p. 543); and 3) verb + adverb + preposition
such as: shape up to as in: It will not be easy for you to change your whole way of
thinking, but I believe that you have the strength to shape up to it (to face it with
Since such combinations can be either idiomatic or non-idiomatic, the main focus of
the dictionary being on the former while the latter is not covered unless "the verbal
combination also has an idiomatic meaning, then both senses are included" (The
meanings and non-idiomatic ones, an asterix (*) is placed before each idiomatic
meaning.
Besides, idioms such as: let the cat out of the bag (to tell a secret) (p. 354), in which
Interestingly, there exist some combinations, which are by no means PVs, that are
included such as: lie low (verb + adjective) and kid oneself (verb + pronoun) (The
One of the most important features of this dictionary is listing the nouns and
adjectives which are derived from PVs. The compiler terms them as "Related words"
and places them at the end of the listed PVs, for instance the noun blackout and the
adjective blacked-out are mentioned with the PV black out from which they are
Equally important, the issue of polysemy is dealt with by giving a separate numbered
sense for each meaning. Hence, the majority of the senses are provided as follows:
1- Ordinary meanings
3- Fixed idioms in which the phrasal verb is used (The introductory section, not
numbered).
Such meanings are explained in simple English by using words from a list of 2000
illustrated by one or more examples taken from newspapers and books. The examples
are written in a way that they not only help the user to understand the expression but
also to give information on how it is typically used (The introductory section, not
numbered).
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As far as register variations of PVs are concerned, the compiler provides, in the
beginning of the book, a list of short forms used to indicate four types of notes: 1)
notes such as: AmE, AuE, CanE, and ScoE, to tell the user that the expression is
such as: law, mil, and naut, to tell the user that the expression is only used in
particular profession, i.e. law, military, and nautical (used about ships and sailors); 3)
notes such as: humor, and dergo to tell the user that the expression is used to show the
lack of respect); 4) notes such as: fml, infml, and sl, to tell the user about the "level of
use of the expression", i.e. whether it is formal, informal or slang (The introductory
Further, cross-references are employed to help the user find other expressions with
related meaning of the one at hand, for example: the PVs book in, book out, and check
out are listed after the definition and examples of the PV check in. (p. 74).
from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Such codes are listed and
explained at the front of the book. They consist of letters indicating the type of verb,
Last of all, this dictionary is regarded by Sjoholm (1995) as "the most complete one"
(p. 102). I totally agree with Sjoholm, since the comparison with other specialized
dictionaries reveals that the vast majority of PVs have been tackled in this dictionary.
Yet there exist some newly coined PVs which have not been covered, such as click
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on, chill out, sex up, and google around. Such a skipping can be justified by the
productive nature of PVs which makes it almost impossible to list them all in one
book.
Edited by Nigel D. Turton and Martin H. Manser, and first published by Macmillan in
1985.
Intermediate and advanced students who, according to the editors, "want an easy-to-
use reference book that deals with this area of the language" (p. iii), are the intended
users of this dictionary, which is basically a development of two books written by the
late F. T. Wood, namely English Verbal Idioms and English Prepositional Idioms,
which are both described by Turton and Manser as "highly successful" (p. iii).
In their introduction to the dictionary, the editors have made a clear distinction
between idiomatic and non-idiomatic PVs, and made the point that they will exclude
the latter types of PVs "which simply combine the meanings of their parts" (p. iv).
Instead, the emphasis will be on the former "whose meanings and use are especially
difficult for the student" (p. iii). Since, however, there is no clear cut distiniction
between the idiomatic and non-idiomatic PVs and "these are merely labels for the
opposite ends of a scale" (p. iv), they decided to take the comprehensibility as a
"guide for selection in these cases" (p. iv), in that they included only the type of PV
whose "meaning is not obvious from its parts" (p. iv). Yet they introduced two
126
exceptions to this rule: "verbs used only in technical or specialized fields are not
included, nor are verbs which are no longer in common use" (p. iv).
Furthermore, the style-markers Formal and Informal are used occasionally to indicate
the register variations of the listed PVs, where formal indicates that such a PV is used
in "formal written English" (p. viii), such as bear down on/upon (p. 5). While
express the speaker's anger or irritation" (p. viii), such as: barge in/into (p. 5). On the
other hand, students are advised to treat the latter with caution, "since many of these
Further, in their endeavour to present the grammatical behaviour of the listed PVs, the
editors have devised a notation system "that shows at a glance how each verb is used
in a sentence" (p. iii). It is a simple guide, providing students "with a clear visual
technical description" (p. iv). Two symbols are employed: "a filled circle and an
empty circle" (p. v). Each part of the PV is represented by a filled circle, and each
other word added by the user is represented by an empty circle. (p. v). For instance:
because there is no word that can be added after the PV went out, only two filled
circles are placed before it, representing its two parts, as in the sentence Suddenly all
the lights went out (p. iv), whereas three circles are placed before the PV burst into,
two of them are filled (representing the parts of the PV) and the third one is empty
(representing the added word) as in the sentence The trees burst into blossom (p. 20).
127
This dictionary, in my view, is far from being exhaustive in that the comparison with
other dictionaries indicates that many PVs, which have been covered by others, were
skipped by the editors of this dictionary such as: bitch up, bid up, brighten up, drive
through, chill out, juice up, factor in, slag off, type in, scan in, and scroll down among
others.
Edited by John Sinclair et al. and first published by Williams Collins Sons & Co Ltd
in 1989 and reprinted in 1990 (twice), 1991, 1993 (twice), 1994, 1995 (twice), 1996,
1997and 1998.
This dictionary contains more than 3000 combinations of verbs with adverbs or
prepositions, clarifying more than 5500 different meanings (p. v). Such combinations
are considered by the editors as "[…] the combinations which are in common use in
everyday modern English" (p. v). Further, they argue that they "[...] can make this
statement with confidence because the dictionary has been based on a detailed
part of The Bank of English" (p. v). In the foreword of the dictionary Sinclair et al.
list the 48 particles which are included along with the 38 verbs which "[…] are
especially problematic for students of English" (p. vi). All the combinations included
are made up of one verb from the first list and one or two particles from the second
list.
128
One important feature is that the types of combinations covered in this dictionary are
ranging from combinations with highly unpredictable meanings, such as: go off (to
explode), put off (to postpone), and turn down (to reject) to combinations with
reasonably predictable meanings, such as: spread out, link up, and slave away (p. v).
PVs are explained in "simple English". The explanations are designed in a way that
they tell the user about the meanings of PVs, as well as they show him/her how they
are typically used in terms of "what kinds of word collocate with it, what kind of thing
is usually mentioned as the subject or object of the verb, and what sort of sentence
the grammatical patterns of PVs. Such patterns "are mainly given in frequency order:
that is, the commonest pattern appears first" (p. xiii). The types of information given
in this extra column have something to do with the grammatical behaviour of PVs
Moreover, different meanings of PVs, which have more than one meaning, are
explained and "arranged in order of frequency, so that the commonest ones come
first" (p. viii), for example the PV shoot up is given the following three meanings
which are numbered in order of frequency: (1) to grow or increase very quickly; (2) to
move around in a place shooting a gun; and (3) to inject illegal drugs into oneself (pp.
330-331).
129
At the same time the register variations are clearly outlined throughout the dictionary.
and whether it is found in British or American English (p. viii). The PV yield up, for
instance, is labeled as "a formal expression" (p. 446), while sick up as "an informal
Since a lot of PVs have synonyms of single words, which are always much more
formal, synonyms and antonyms of PVs are mentioned right after the explanations
and examples. Other PVs may serve as synonyms or antonyms of the listed ones (p.
ix). For example, the verbs install, deposit, invest, and interject are given as more
formal synonyms for the PV put in, whereas the PVs pay in, chip in, and bring in are
given as synonyms which mean almost the same as put in (pp. 280-281).
Besides, nouns and adjectives which are derived from PVs are stated in the same
paragraph of the explanation of a given PV "[i]f they are closely linked with a
meaning of the phrasal verb […]. If there is not such a clear link, they appear in a
paragraph on their own" (p. ix). The noun offprint, for instance, is mentioned with the
PV print off to which it is closely related (p. 263). The noun turnover, on the other
hand, is specified in a separate paragraph away from its basic PV turn over (p. 423).
The most important feature, which makes this dictionary different from the others, is
the particle index provided at the end of it, where "the common meanings that
particles contribute to phrasal verb combinations" are explained, and PVs in which
such meanings may appear are listed (p. ix). In an attempt to account for the
productivity of PVs, the editors provide such an index maintaining that "phrasal verbs
130
are not just arbitrary combinations of verbs and particles. Instead, they fit into the
broad patterns of choice and selection in English" (p. 449). To take just one example,
the particle up is given the following twelve meanings each of which associated with
a group of PVs which share a given meaning: (1) movement and position; (2) increase
and intensification; (3) improvement and preparation; (4) fastening and restriction; (5)
approach; (6) disruption and damage; (7) completion and finishing; (8) rejection and
surrender; (9) happening and creation; (10) collection and togetherness; (11)
In spite of the fact that this index has only concentrated on the meanings contributed
by the particles to the PVs and utterly ignored the meanings contributed by the simple
verbs which constitute the first element of each PV and can also be used in a
phenomenon of productivity of PVs which make them hard to be traced and taken up.
comprehensive, since a lot of PVs have not been dealt with in it. Some of the omitted
PVs include: bid up, drive through, dine in, chill out, and juice up among others.
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This dictionary is intended for both the new-to-English users and for fluent speakers
(p. vii). It has been presented as "a dictionary of form and meaning, and not a
verb + particle are included, as well as both the idiomatic and non-idiomatic
There are 71 particles used throughout this dictionary some of which are prepositions,
and others are directional adverbs. The list of theses particles contains such words as
aboard, abroad, aground, alike, open, overbroad and still which are considered as
particles (p. xvi). On the other hand, there are 2796 verbs appearing in conjunction
with these particles, to form the 7634 combinations covered in this dictionary (p. vii).
One of its special features is the indication which is given to show whether the object
somebody. The compiler points out that such a kind of "information is vital to learners
(p. viii).
The other important feature is the optional elements which are provided in
parentheses to refer to "the extended forms of the verb phrases with the frequently
132
omitted parts" (p. ix). For instance the PV see ahead is followed by the phrase (of
someone or something) in parentheses to indicate that such elements are optional parts
Furthermore, some of the listed PVs are explained by more than one definition where
the "additional definitions are usually given to show slight differences in meaning or
interpretation" (p. xi). The PV float (up) on, for example, is explained by the
following two definitions "to drift as if on the surface of something; to drift along
given PV with boldface numerals. The following three meanings, for instance, are
provided for the PV bring down "1. to move something from a higher place to a lower
place […]. 2. to lower something, such as prices, profits, taxes, etc. […]. 3. to defeat
which are designed to "lead the user to the meaning and appropriate usage of each
expression" (p. viii). The following two examples, for instance, are provided to
illustrate the PV pull over: Betty pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the
traffic to thin; The police officer ordered her to pull over (p. 550).
Moreover, such labels as colloquial, formal, informal, jocular and slang are
introduced to indicate the register variations of the listed PVs. The PV conk off (to fall
133
asleep), for example, is labeled as slang (p. 151). While the PV itch for is labeled as
Besides, nouns and adjectives derived from PVs have been accounted for, for example
the PV burn out is followed by the adjective burn-out and the noun burnout which are
derived from it and they are illustrated by the following two examples: Send the
burned-out part back to the factory; One burnout after another! These cheap motors
Lastly, despite the fact that this dictionary comprises more than 12000 combinations
and is said to be "[t]he most comprehensive dictionary of its kind" (the back cover,
not numbered), it has, in fact, omitted a number of PVs such as: click on, dag out,
factor in, fang up, guck up, hack into, rock up, ramp up, scan in, sex up, and scroll
down among others; it may be, however, that some of theses PVs were coined after
Edited by A. P. Cowie and R. Mackin, and first published by Oxford University Press
in 1993.
This dictionary is, following its editors, a revised and updated edition. The first
etc." (p. 422). This edition, however, has made use of "a variety of contemporary
sources" (p. 422). Data from three new sources has been added: 1) the collection
134
made by the co-author of the Oxford Dictionary of English idioms (Isabel McCaig) in
the late 1970s and 1980s; 2) the quotations illustrating PVs which are held at Oxford
for the updating of the Oxford English Dictionary; and 3) a computerized corpus of 30
million words which covers the period 1989 to 1992 and compiled at OUP as well (p.
422).
The dictionary is chiefly intended for students of English as "a practical and teaching
aid" (p. 428). Such prospective users are directed to the best way of using the
whereby they are guided to where to find complex idioms, nominalized forms (nouns
derived from PVs), collocates of PVs, and synonyms (p. xi). Three sets of
complicated symbols are employed, one for grammar codes, the other for letters
introducing collocate lists, and the third for synonyms (pp. xvi-xvii).
From the very beginning of the dictionary, the areas of difficulty of PVs are
idioms (pp. x-xi). By complex idioms the editors mean using PVs as part of idiomatic
expressions such as: put back in put the clock back (p. x).
The nature of idiomaticity, on the other hand, is chiefly discussed to exhibit the
criteria "used in deciding what to include in a dictionary which has 'idiomatic' as part
of its title" (p. 426). A decision is made to include the items that constitute units of
form and meaning (only idioms or semi-idioms). Therefore, the following types of
1) Verb + particles (with no object following the verb) such as: (of a witness)
2) Verb + preposition (with no object following the verb) such as: come across
3) Verb + particle + preposition (with no object following the verb) such as: face
4) Verb + particle (with an object following the verb) such as: make (one's face)
5) Verb + preposition (with an object following the verb) such as: hold
(someone's past failings) against (him or her); put (someone) off (driving).
6) Verb + particle + preposition (with an object following the verb) such as:
(pp. 427-428).
Phrasal Verbs a special attention is paid to the issue of collocation, i.e. collocates of a
PV or "the words which, in the judgment of native speakers, normally and naturally
combine with it to form sentences" (p. 429). As knowing accurately which noun or
adjective can collocate with a given PV is considered one of the difficulties facing the
English learners (p. xv). For example: the PV carry out typically collocates with the
noun investigation to make the commonly used sentence to carry out an investigation.
On the contrary, the PV carry on always collocates with the noun conversation to
make the sentence to carry on a conversation, but not vice versa (p. xv).
136
It is useful to mention here that the PVs with different meanings are given numbered
entries under one shared headphrase as in the PV pick up which has five different
meanings (to take hold of and raise (sth); to collect (sth); to collect (sth) as wages; to
take (sb) on board; and to rescue (sb) from the sea) each of which is numerated under
Formal, informal, slang and taboo are the style labels given to the listed PVs
throughout the dictionary to indicate their register variations. Such labels, the editors
maintain, "reflect various factors in the situations in which they are normally used" (p.
Another noteworthy feature is that this dictionary relies mainly on the British English
as its entries "represent the usage of educated British speakers in the latter part of the
twentieth century" (p. xviii), and no attempt has been made by the editors to include
entries "which are solely, or largely, American" (p. xviii). However, there exist a few
entries marked (US) or (esp US) "which have a marginal status in British English" (p.
xviii) such as: run for, which is marked as (esp US), meaning "offer oneself as a
Finally, like the abovementioned dictionaries, this dictionary has skipped a number of
PVs such as: bid up, bliss out, boot up, butt out, chew out, chill out, click on, dine in,
137
drive through, fang in, guck up, hack into, pig out, rock in, scan in, juice up, sex up,
Edited by Michael McCarthy et al. and first published by Cambridge University Press
in 1997.
This dictionary contains more than 4500 PVs presented in a quite logical and
accessible manner. Further, it exhibits several unique features which make it far more
In their endeavour to make this dictionary "truly international" (p. viii), the editors
have provided coverage of the main three dialects of the English language (p. xiii),
regional labels:
1) British, placed after a PV which is only used in British English, such as:
It is evident that a great deal of information is presented with each PV "in a way
which is clear and helpful" (p. vii). Such information includes the inflection patterns
fashion which does not require the user to decipher complex codes" (p. vii). Thus, in
addition to the provision of the grammatical cases of each PV, such as whether it is a
object used with each PV is specified. The label sb (somebody) is placed after the PV
if its object is human, while the label sth/sb (something/somebody) is introduced if the
object is human or non-human, whereas the label swh (somewhere) is used if the
Interestingly, the editors are so comprehensive that they do not surpass such tiny
properties as: situations where PV is always used in the passive form, such as, be cut
out (p. 68). Or situations where PV is always used in the reflexive form, such as: fend
for (p. 95). And situations where PV is always used in continuous tenses, such as: die
Moving on to the issue of polysemy, the dictionary groups such different meanings
according to the syntactic patterns of the PV, as in: fill in which has three different
syntactic patterns, each of which carries a distinct meaning (p. 97). Each meaning of a
Corpus to show how it is "used in natural written and spoken English" (p. xi).
139
Besides, in order to make the definition of PVs easy to understand, they are "written
using words from a list of less than 2000 common words" (p. xi).
Most importantly, PVs occur as parts of fixed expressions (complex idioms) are also
clearly shown and well explained, such as: get along in getting along like a house on
Furthermore, nouns and adjectives that are derived from PVs are stated after the PV
from which they are derived, such as: the PV drop off and the noun drop-off (p. 83).
Moreover, as a teaching hint for learners of English, the PVs, which are considered to
be quite common and useful, are highlighted as in: let down; let off; and let out (pp.
172-173).
What is more, register variations of most of the listed PVs are indicated by employing
1) informal, placed after PVs which are typically "used with friends or family or
people you know in relaxed situations" (p.xiii) such as: stick up (p. 294) and
2) formal, placed after PVs which are typically "used in a serious or polite way"
(p. xiii), such as: issue from (p. 153) and join with (p. 155).
3) slang, placed after PVs which are typically "used in an informal or not very
polite way, often between members of a particular social group" (p. xiii), such
4) old-fashioned, placed after "phrasal verbs which are still used but sound old
fashioned" (p. xiii), such as: gad about/around (p. 109) and lay about (p. 168).
5) taboo, placed after "phrasal verbs which are likely to offend people and are
not used in formal situations" (p. xiii), such as: screw around (p. 254) and suck
6) humorous, placed after "phrasal verbs which are intended to make people
laugh" (p. xiii), such as: dragoon into (p. 79) and hark at (p. 139).
7) literary, placed after "phrasal verbs which are mainly used in literature" (p.
xiii), such as: thirst for (p. 313) and wheel around/round (p. 338).
The most valuable feature of this dictionary is the supplementary material attached to
it, where fifteen "theme panels" are provided in which "phrasal verbs shown in groups
according to their meaning" (p. vii). Such theme panels embrace the following topic
groups: Agreeing & Disagreeing; Computer; Crime; Emotions; Food & Drink; Giving
& Getting Information; Illness; Money; Reading, Writing & Studying; Relationships;
Speaking & conversation; Thinking & Considering; Travel; Weather; and Work (pp.
350-346). Each theme panel begins with a short text contains some PVs which are
commonly used in this particular field. Then, the contextual meanings of such PVs are
given. For example, the theme panel titled (Computer) starts with a short text in which
such PVs as switch on, log in, back up, and print out are used. Then, the contextual
meaning of each PV is individually provided. The meaning of switch on, for instance,
is given as "to turn on an electrical device by using a switch", while the meaning of
back up is "to make a copy of computer information so that you do not lose it" (p.
351).
141
along with its answer key, which really makes the dictionary "a unique resource
which can be used not only for reference purposes but also as a valuable classroom or
However, there exist some PVs which have been ignored in this dictionary such as:
knock off, bid up, click on, drive through, and dine in among others.
This dictionary has benefited, to a great degree, from all the previous dictionaries by
Like the Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, which devotes an index to
account for the meanings contributed by each particle, the Oxford Phrasal Verbs
Dictionary for Learners of English has a section at the end of it entitled "Guide to the
particles" (pp. 349-371) whereby the meanings of each particle occurred in the
dictionary are outlined. The purpose of attaching such a guide is to help learners learn
and understand the ways by which PVs are formed and to help them understand the
This dictionary, like the Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs (1997),
provides learners with a "study pages" section along with photocopiable exercises to
help them practice and become more familiar with PVs (pp. 182-183).
142
There are, on the other hand, more than 6000 British and American PVs covered in
using a definition vocabulary of less than 3000 words (the back cover, not numbered).
Further, the dictionary covers not only the idiomatic type of PVs, but also it includes
such types as: 1) "[v]erbs which are always followed by a particular particle", e.g. rely
on, crop up, and abide by; 2) "[v]erbs that are followed by a particle in a particular
meaning", e.g. nod off, grow up, and walk out; 3) "[v]erbs with a particle, where the
particle adds to, but does not change, the basic meaning of the verb", e.g. spread out,
fade away, and slave away; 4) "[v]erbs plus particles where each has their normal
dictionary. For instance, screw up your courage (forcing yourself to get enough
Moreover, nouns and adjectives which are derived from PVs are listed. The noun
overpass, for example, is listed with the PV pass over (p. 199), and the adjective plug-
in (as in: a plug-in kettle) is mentioned with the PV plug in (p. 210).
Like all the abovementioned dictionaries, the majority of PVs listed in this dictionary
are followed by labels indicating their register variations (formal, humorous, less
formal, literary, slang, etc.). For instance, the PV strike off is labeled as formal, while
subjects and objects typically collocate with them is ably accounted for.
In addition, synonyms and antonyms are stated with the vast majority of the listed
PVs. For instance, the PVs end up and finish up are given as synonyms for the PV
Finally, despite the large number of PVs covered in this dictionary, there are some of
them which have not been attended to such as: bid up, bliss out, dag out, rock up, and
All in all, there are many features in common among the abovementioned dictionaries
in terms of handling the phenomenon of PVs. Such similarity is not unusual, Holes
In many, perhaps most cultures, dictionary making has traditionally been seen
as an accretive activity: you take the work of a predecessor and simply add the
new words and meanings you have discovered without changing the old ones,
which are regarded as 'original' or 'basic' meanings even if they have long
since dropped out of use. This is the way lexicography developed in both
English and Arabic (p. 167).
common, being: 1) all of the dictionaries intended for English language learners, and
to be used as teaching aids. This is the reason behind the usage of simple and plain
English in defining PVs, and the employment of variety of symbols and labels in
verifying their register and grammatical patterns. Holes (1994) maintains that "[…]
144
the compilers' image of the typical user […] affects not only what they include and
how they put it in order but also how they format it with symbols, grammatical
terminology, pictures and so on" (pp. 161-162); 2) the register variations of PVs have
been accounted for unanimously, albeit mostly for the spoken mode; 3) grammatical
information has been presented for each PV; 4) a reference has been given to nouns
and adjectives derived from PVs in the majority of the dictionaries (An Analysis and
Verbs and the Student's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs are exceptions); and 5) the issue
of polysemy of PVs has been attended to in the all dictionaries (the Student's
the numbers of PVs covered in each dictionary. For instance the Collins COBUILD
Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs consists of 4500 PVs, the Oxford Phrasal Verbs
Dictionary for Learners of English comprises 6000 PVs, and the NTC's Dictionary of
Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases comprises 7634 PVs; 2) the issue
of collocation between PVs and the items typically appear with them have been
Phrasal Verbs, the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, and the Oxford Phrasal
whereby PV is part of fixed expressions and proverbs, has been accounted for only by
four dictionaries, they are: the Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, the Oxford
Verbs, and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English; 4) the issue
145
of synonyms and antonyms of PVs has only been tackled by the Collins COBUILD
Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of
Dictionary of Two-Word Verbs in English and the NTC's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases, whereas others have included American and
Australian English such as: the Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English; 6) the dictionaries
have differed in terms of what to cover. Some of them have devoted their books to the
and the Student's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Others have widened the scope of their
dictionaries to include the idiomatic and the semi-idiomatic types as in the Collins
COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
Others have included types which by no means considered as PVs as in the Time-
Chambers Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for
Learners of English; 7) the essential issue of productivity of PVs has been almost
totally overlooked. The only exception is the index provided by the Collins
COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, in which the editors have paid a considerable
attention to such a crucial issue and attempted to provide a plausible solution for it.
Such an endeavour has been replicated in the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for
Learners of English. Rooney (2004) points out that "[t]he most exciting challenge for
dictionary editors today is to keep up with the change in our language as new words
come in and linguistic norms and conventions change and develop in response to
technological and cultural innovation" (p xiii). Along these lines Leech (1974)
indicates that "dictionaries are open-ended, and continually being adapted to new
146
requirements by the addition of new lexical entries" (p. 202); 8) although the vast
majority of PVs have been tackled in all specialized dictionaries, there exist some PVs
which have been handled in some dictionaries and ignored in the others, such as bliss
out which has been covered only by the Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal
Verbs and the NTC's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal
Phrases, and factor in, hack into, and veg out which have been covered only by the
Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs
Dictionary for Learners of English; lastly, and most importantly 9) there is a number
of PVs which have not been covered by any of the abovementioned dictionaries. Such
as dag out, fang up, google around, guck up, ramp in, shoo in, scan in, sex up, and
slag down among others. Such PVs constitute a real dilemma for translators as well as
English learners.
Having said that, there exist a number of dictionaries which are not entirely devoted
for PVs, but, however, PVs constitute essential parts of them. Some of such
language, such as: English Verbal Idioms, by F. Wood (1964); English Prepositional
Others are mere long studies devoted to the topic of prepositions and adverbial
particles, such as: Prepositions and Adverbial Particles, by J. B. Heaton (1965); and
It needs to be mentioned though that some of theses dictionaries constituted the basis
upon which some PVs dictionaries have been compiled. For instance, Turton and
Manser (1985) the compilers of The Student's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs have
acknowledged that their dictionary "is a development of the highly successful English
Verbal Idioms and English Prepositional Idioms by the late F. T. Wood" (p. iii), and
the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs has been developed from the Oxford
It should be noted in this connection that there are a number of internet sites devoted
to the notion of PVs whereby some online dictionaries are included, to mention just a
few of them:
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/
http://www.eslcafe.com/pv/
http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslphrasal.html
http://valenciaenglish.netfirms.com/phrasals00.htm
http://www.english-zone.com/index.php
http://www.super-memory.com/sml/colls/pv.htm
In the present section I will deal with the ways by which English-Arabic dictionaries
have tackled the question of PVs. The aim here is to ascertain the extent to which
equivalents to such challenging items of the English language. The section will be of
148
two distinct parts, the first one will look at PVs in general English-Arabic
dictionaries, and the second part will examine the treatment of PVs in specialized
English-Arabic dictionaries.
looked at. They are: Al-Mawrid, Al-Mughni Al-Akbar, and The Oxford English-Arabic
2.9.1.1 Al-Mawrid
Compiled by Munir Ba'albaki, and first published in 1967 by Dar El Ilm Lilmalayin.
PVs are not specified in separate entries in this dictionary. They are rather casually
mentioned under their root verbs. The PV to iron out, for instance, is taken up under
its root verb iron (p. 481), and to use up under its basic verb use (p. 1019).
Nouns and adjectives derived from PVs, however, are accorded separate entries. Good
examples include the adjective cast-off (p. 158) and the noun close-up (p. 186).
have been utterly ignored. To mention just a few instances: bitch up, bring along,
bring together, brighten up, bump up, cast aside, chill out, do without, egg on, factor
Moreover, a number of the listed PVs are highly polysemous. Such PVs are not given
Arabic equivalents for all their meanings. Most of them, though, are glossed by one or
two meanings only. For example, the PV balled up is glossed only as ّشXN&&/
(confused) (p. 85) whereas it has some other meanings as: "to change things so that
Verbs, 1997, p. 7), "to make a ball of (a substance) […] to spoil (something)"
(Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, 1983, p. 15). The PV fly at is glossed as 4„7O1
•&.*\ (to attack violently) (p. 358), while it has another two meanings which are: "to
(cause to) travel by air (a certain height, cost, etc.)" (Longman Dictionary of Phrasal
Verbs, 1983, p. 199), "to suddenly speak to someone very angrily" (Cambridge
In the preface of this dictionary, Karmi points out that idiomatic usage of the
headwords, if they have any, listed in sub-entries under them. PVs, he elaborates "are
also listed after the main verb headword, together with the idiomatic usages" (p. xi).
Therefore, we find the PV to use up under the verb use (p. 1563), and under the verb
run we find the PVs to run about, to run across, to run against, to run away, to run
down, to run into, to run on, to run out, to run over, to run through, etc. (pp. 1185-
1186).
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On the other hand, adjectives and nouns derived from PVs are given main and
separate entries such as the adjective worn-out (p. 1657), and the noun work-out (p.
1655).
PVs in more detail than Al-Mawrid in terms of the number of the listed PVs and the
examples provided to illustrate them in contexts. Yet it is, in comparison with the
There are, for instance, many PVs which have been utterly skipped, such as: zoom in,
zoom out, win away, mock up, rock up, tough out, print out and chew out among
others.
This dictionary has been described by Holes (1994) as "[…] the most commonly used
work" (p. 163). However, like in the previously mentioned two dictionaries, PVs are
not accorded separate entries in it. They are rather listed beneath their root verbs. The
PV bring up, for instance, is listed under its root verb bring (p. 157), and the PVs look
away, look back, look for, look over, and look through are listed under their basic verb
On the other hand, nouns and adjectives derived from PVs are specified in separate
entries such as the noun pull-out (p. 1004), and the adjective lock-up (p. 715).
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This dictionary, like the others, is by no means comprehensive in its coverage of PVs.
Thus, many of them are skipped, such as: bid up, dine in, juice up, pig out, and scan
in among others.
dictionaries dedicated to PVs are much lower than their counterparts of English-
English dictionaries of PVs. There are, to the best of my knowledge and research,
only two bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries of PVs. In this subsection they will be
accounted for in historical order. The aim here is to explore the ways by which the
compare such ways with the ways by which the compilers of the abovementioned
In so doing, one can pinpoint the gaps in bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries of PVs
This book seems to be the first one of its kind, i.e. it is the first bilingual English-
Arabic dictionary which is entirely devoted to deal with the question of EPVs.
152
It must be pointed out that the book is intended for students in the Arabic-speaking
world (p. 5). It aims, according to its compiler, "to illustrate the different meanings in
context of a practical and representative selection of the most useful and widely used
phrasal verbs – both in spoken and written English" (p. 5). Therefore, it is divided into
forty-four sections, each of which is devoted to one particular basic verb. Under each
one of such verbs "the numerous combinations it can make with different prepositions
or particles" (p. 5) are listed. The section devoted to the basic verb catch, for instance,
contains the following combinations: catch on, catch out, and catch up (p. 33).
PV back up, for example, is defined as "give support to" (p. 11), and wear off as
"disappear; pass away" (p. 163). In addition, each definition is followed by two
examples "to fix the context" (p. 5). For instance, the PV hold with (to approve of; to
agree with) is given the following two examples: "We don’t hold with Communism
and all that it stands for. Do you hold with smoking in cinemas?" (p. 80).
Moreover, each listed PV is "translated into the appropriate Arabic equivalent" (p. 5).
For example, the Arabic equivalents 4َ &O8 ،َ& ّ[مƒ} ،َK/7Eare given to the PVs: do by (p. 45),
get along (with) (p. 54), and make out (p. 104) respectively.
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In addition, the polysemic PVs have been accounted for. The PV knock up, for
instance, is given the following three meanings: 1) rouse; awaken ¦&ƒ1 أ، pّQ&`, 2)
prepare quickly 5E,Y\ [Eأ, 3) exhaust S&OP أ، ‚&( أرهp. 87). Whereas the PV pass away is
given the following two meanings: 1) die ‘&(QP p^&w ، ت7&/, 2) disappear; vanish ، زال
Another noticeable feature is the exercises provided at the end of each section and
their key which is attached at the back of the dictionary. The purpose of providing
such exercises, as the compiler puts it, is to "give student and teacher extra material to
practise the correct and appropriate usage of these phrases" (p. 5).
academically rigorous" (p. 5). Hence, the forty four basic verbs, covered in this book,
and the PVs produced by combining them with some particles or/and prepositions are
by no means exhaustive. Scores of PVs have been disregarded by skipping their basic
verbs. By skipping the verb fly, for example, such PVs as fly across, fly away, fly off,
fly out, fly over, and fly up, which are produced by combining it with some particles
or/and prepositions, are omitted as a result. And by dropping the basic verb zoom,
such PVs as zoom across, zoom along, zoom in, zoom off, zoom out, zoom over, and
Despite the fact that this dictionary has much in common with the previously
to the listed PVs, some crucial information has not been given. No attempt has been
made, for instance, to indicate the register variations of a given PV, and no attempt
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has been made to account for nouns and adjectives derived from PVs, or the types of
words which typically collocate with them, or to give such information as synonyms
and antonyms of PVs and the complex idioms and fixed expressions in which PVs
Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs and their Idioms compiled by McArthur and
Atkins (1974).
In his endeavour to provide Arabic equivalents to the listed PVs, Heleil adopts the
work of McArthur and Atkins (1974) entirely from A to Z. That is, the list of PVs,
their definitions, glosses, classification, examples, and the special labels used to
account for the grammatical terms, the field and the style are also replicated. The only
change made by Heleil to the original dictionary, other than providing the Arabic
equivalents, is the division of the dictionary into 26 sections according to the English
alphabet.
It should be remembered that the original Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs and
their Idioms has been the source of not only Heleil, but also many other
point out that "[t]he list of verbs and the classification adopted [in their dictionary]
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have also served as the basis for entering phrasal verbs and their translation
Heleil, however, indicates, in the preface of the book, that his work is intended for
Arabic translators, claiming that it is a new of its kind in that it contains, in addition to
the monolingual English-English dictionary where the PVs are glossed in the source
language, the English-Arabic part which can help Arabic translators express the PVs
in the target language (Arabic). Heleil maintains that in so doing he creates a new
on: 1) providing the Arabic translator with the English text as it has been put by the
compilers of the dictionary; 2) providing the Arabic translator with an Arabic text
which can help him in translating the PVs by knowing their contextual equivalents
and their collocations; 3) providing the Arabic translator with a number of synonyms
to convey the shades of meaning; 4) Adding vowel signs to the Arabic text to help the
translator (Arabic native speaker or otherwise) read it correctly; 5) treating the PVs
which have never been tackled by bilingual Arabic-English dictionaries, or have been
partially translated by giving some of their meanings and ignoring the others; 6)
providing the collocations of some PVs which their collocations are not clearly stated
in the English text; 7) providing the Arabic equivalent which expresses the meaning
of a given EPV, and not necessarily constitutes the same grammatical class of it. Such
an equivalent may range between one word and an expression consists of more than
In translating the listed PVs, Heleil does not translate into Arabic the information
given in the English text. Hence, no attempt has been made by him to tell the Arabic
regard, to providing only the English text. The Arabic equivalent [ء7w[&`9 زار]ا, for
Moreover, the majority of the illustrative examples given in the English text are not
square brackets, with a word or some words which typically collocate with it. Most of
such collocations provided by Heleil are mentioned in the English examples. The PV
wet through, for example, is illustrated in the English text by the following two
examples: The rain has wet us through; He's wet through. And translated into Arabic
as: 7&/73} 7&.))\ [,&{3+ ]اwhere the word (rain) typically collocates with wet through (p.
305).
Heleil sets up his own Arabic preface at the beginning of the book, and disregards the
introduction of the original dictionary where valuable information is included such as:
defining the phenomenon of PVs, classifying them, identifying the reasons behind the
difficulties posed by them, indicating their register variations, and outlining the
special features of the dictionary (cf. McArthur & Atkins, 1974, pp. 5-9). Such
ignorance has prevented the Arabic readership from understanding some special
features of the English text. A number of PVs, for instance, are listed as 'special
entries' in the English text and marked with asterisks. The compilers justify such a
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distinction by claiming that "a large number of phrasal forms are simply the
Heleil, on the other hand, does not explain to the Arabic readership in his preface
With regard to coverage, the compilers of the original dictionary have made no claim
to be exhaustive, neither in the number of the listed PVs nor in the number of senses
given to each one of them (McArthur & Atkins, 1974). Therefore the previous
comparison between this dictionary and other specialized dictionaries has revealed
that many PVs have not been covered. As a result, Arabic translators, for whom the
York Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Their Idioms has been compiled, will be
not been covered by English-Arabic dictionaries of PVs such as the one at hand.
To sum up, the comparison between bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries of PVs and
similarities and dissimilarities between them, being: First, the former is far less than
the latter in both quantity and quality, i.e. in terms of the number of the covered PVs
and the information given to gloss, classify, and illustrate them. Second, like English-
English dictionaries of PVs English- Arabic dictionaries of PVs are designed to meet
the needs of students and learners of English. Third, like English-English dictionaries
Phrasal Verbs in Arabic disregards fundamental information such as: the register
variations of PVs, derivation of nouns and adjectives from PVs, types of words
typically collocate with them, synonyms and antonyms of PVs and the complex
idioms and fixed expressions in which PVs constitute integral parts. Finally, like
of PVs which have been skipped over, leaving the translators and learners of English
with no choice but to work them out individually and create Arabic equivalents for
In the present section the question of teaching idiomatic English phrasal verbs to Arab
students will be investigated to identify the extent to which the methods and materials
employed by teachers can help in solving the learning, teaching and translating
difficulties. Yet, before going into this, the methods and materials used in teaching
phrasal verbs to learners of English in general will be explored. The aim is to compare
such methods and materials with those employed by Arab researchers in order to
highlight the gaps that need to be bridged in this difficult area of pedagogy.
A great deal of English literature has been devoted to account for the question of
language. This stems from the fact that PVs, especially the idiomatic type of them,
constitute difficulty not only for learners of English but also for teachers, curriculum
designers and material writers in the fields of ESL and EFL alike. Heaton (1968)
makes the point that "[i]t has long been felt that this wide subject constitutes one of
the major areas of difficulty for students learning English as a second or foreign
language" (The preface, not numbered). Further, Cornell (1985), indicates that PVs
investigated.
In an article entitled Teaching English Phrasal Verbs, McArthur (1971) maintains that
PVs must be taught as units, and as the equivalent of single verbs (p. 71). Further, he
points out that the following points should be taken into account when planning a
Moreover, McArthur (1971) proposes five specimen exercises which "are not
intended to be exhaustive [but to] serve as an introduction to the phrasal verb" (p. 72).
prospective student is asked to make similar changes in the sentences. Exercise 1 is "a
specimen of how to approach freely varying phrasal verb" (p. 72); exercise 2 is a
"specimen of how problems arise with this type of verb when the object of the verb is
a pronoun" (p. 73); exercise 3 is a "specimen of how phrasal verbs may be exchanged
for single verbs" (p. 73); exercise 4 is a "specimen of how single verbs may be
McArthur (1971), however, admits that such specimen exercises "do not pursue the
matter as far as it should be taken [since they] ignore the considerable problem of how
a learner can begin to know which phrasal verbs can be divided and which cannot be
Such a problem, however, has been ably taken up by Tom McArthur himself in his
workbook Using Phrasal Verbs (1975), which is the fourth in the Collins' series of
Patterns of English. The material of this workbook, according to McArthur, "has been
developed out of linguistic research undertaken for Collins Bilingual Dictionaries" (p.
8), whereas its "teaching material has been developed in 1970 and 1971 English
Further, the book is intended for intermediate and advanced learners of English who
are advised to study it in conjunction with the Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs
This book deserves a special attention as it makes a valuable contribution to this field
English vocabulary and word-formation" (p. 6). It guides the learners through its eight
comprehensive in covering the main syntactic and semantic features of PVs presented
illustrative diagrams.
In his book Phrasal Verbs in Conversation, Mortimer (1979) approaches the topic
from a quite unique perspective by putting together 432 conversations, each of which
is devoted to one separate meaning of one particular IEPV. One of the most important
phrasal verbs in such a way that these meanings will be remembered" (p. iii).
more the conversations are used and discussed […], the more effectively will they fix
in the mind of the student the meaning and use of the particular verbs on which they
focus" (p. iv). Students are also advised to memorize the dialogue so as to give them,
later on, "an opportunity to 'free' the language in the dialogue and to use it in a
consonant, normalized situation arising from his own experience" (p. v).
162
Moreover, Mortimer (1979) gives drills after the conversations, each of which "quotes
from the conversation [it follows] one or two lines involving the use of the phrasal
verb that is featured" (p. v). He recommends that "[t]hese lines should be drilled first
in chorus, then in groups and then in pairs, for pronunciation practice, and to fix the
What is more, the book is associated with three tapes as "an extensive source of
listening and pronunciation practice" (p. vii), on which 124 selected dialogues are
recorded. Unlike the ways of other tapes recorded for teaching purposes, the
conversations in these tapes are spoken in normal speed with suitable hesitations,
repetitions and interruptions to get "a considerable gain in naturalness" (p. vii).
In his article Realistic goal in teaching and learning phrasal verbs, Cornell (1985)
working through a collection of phrasal verbs" (p. 276). He, further, proposes the
1. Idiomaticity. Is the meaning of the phrasal verb easily deducible from its
constituent parts? (In the case of polysemic combinations each meaning would
of course have to be considered separately)
2. Replaceability. Is there a one-word or already familiar phrasal verb equivalent
which the learner can readily use instead? Can the meaning of the phrasal verb
be easily and naturally paraphrased in already familiar words?
3. Restrictions. Is the phrasal verb subject to severe collocational restrictions
which would have to be learnt? Are there particular grammatical constraints
which have to be observed?
4. Frequency (and usefulness). Is the phrasal verb commonly used? (p. 276)
[Emphasis in original].
163
Cornell considers the last criterion (frequency) as the "overriding" one, and "presents
the greatest difficulties". This is mainly due to the fact that, unlike other aspect of the
English language, there is a shortage of frequency counts for EPVs. The perfect
solution to meet such a shortage is "a computer intelligent enough to scan a corpus
and recognize phrasal groupings and assign meanings to them" (p. 277). But such an
adequately intelligent computer has not been developed yet, therefore "the best
and see what frequency rating is assigned on average to each phrasal verb or phrasal
Cornell points out that the core of PVs has to be of two lists, one for active mastery,
and the other for passive recognition. The former needs to receive "the extra practice
and attention necessary" (p. 276), it comprises the commonly used PVs such as: hung
up, put off, put up with, and show off, while the latter contains "phrasal verbs with
complicated restrictions" such as: drink up, go off, hold with, and shape up (pp. 276-
279).
Moreover, Cornell, in this article, ably addresses some didactic problems that PVs
raise. Due to the fact that there exist large quantities of PVs are used in everyday
spoken and written English, he makes the quantitative problem his starting point.
Cornell indicates that such a large number of PVs learners encounter constitutes a real
problem. In his attempt to water such a problem down, he confines it to the fully
idiomatic PVs, in the sense that the non-idiomatic PVs (which constitute the majority)
aggregates the problem, however, is the phenomenon of polysemy in that "[i]t is not
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only the case that a particular verb + particle combination may be polysemic in having
having more than one idiomatic use" (p. 270). Hence, Cornell raises the question of
"How many idiomatic phrasal verbs does an advanced learner know on average?" (p.
271). To answer this question he refers to the research he conducted in 1980 in which
he tested a group of his German ESL students "to establish their active knowledge of
selected idiomatic phrasal verbs" (p. 271) [Emphasis in original]. The result showed
"a widespread ignorance" of the 60 PVs tested. He concludes that "the learning of
phrasal verbs at school and university is generally not very successful" (p. 273). The
reason behind that, according to him, is the "limited contact with phrasal verbs", and
exposing students "to such a bookish form of the language" (p. 273).
The other didactic problem Cornell outlines is the interference between L1 and L2 (in
his case German and English) where PVs sound "illogical" for learners. As an
example, he cites: "why should one be laid up with illness when one is lying down?"
(p. 274).
He then investigates some of the semantic and collocational problems learners face
when dealing with PVs such as: the question of one-word equivalent. It is obvious
that some PVs have one-word equivalents, e.g., pull up which corresponds to stop,
and put up with to tolerate. Whereas other PVs have no such equivalents, they rather
have PVs equivalents, e.g., make up for which corresponds to compensate for, and put
in for to apply for. Or, otherwise, they have to be paraphrased (p. 274).
165
alternatives for their PVs. Such a problem is related to "the degree of synonymity"
since "synonymy is generally recognized as being a very relative concept" (p. 274).
lie in does not merely mean "to stay in bed", but "to stay in bed beyond
one's normal time for getting up".
put up with: unlike tolerate it cannot be used in a positive manner (to
tolerate other people's opinions is not the same as to put with other
people's opinions) (p. 274) [Emphasis in original].
Finally, Cornell outlines the grammatical problems caused by the following syntactic
In his paper Phrasal verbs: sorting them out, Side (1990) argues that the difficulties
PVs create for learners "are sometimes increased by the way in which phrasal verbs
are presented in course books or by teachers telling students that they will just have to
learn them by heart, thereby implying that there is no system" (p. 144). Thus, he
begins his article with criticizing the traditional treatment of PVs in course books in
which PVs are grouped according to the verb along with a definition and an example
for each one. Students, however, are advised to match the phrasal verb with its
definition and to learn them by heart (p. 144). Unfortunately, students in such cases,
166
stick to the Latinate definition given to them, and ignore the Anglo-Saxon PVs since
students' own language, and seems to make more sense" (p. 145). Another bad aspect
of the traditional approach is the random way by which teachers teach particles, Side
Such ways of treatment, according to Side, aggregate the students' negative attitude
towards PVs, who already dislike the issue of PVs for such reasons as their
etc. What is more, the traditional approaches make the students see PVs as random
combinations of verbs and particles, which is completely incorrect. PVs are not so
random. There is, rather, a system behind forming them and a close look at the
function of particles shows the patterns underlying their combining with verbs (Side,
1990).
Newly coined PVs, according to Side, are not invented randomly. They are rather
"formed by analogy with existing phrasal verbs" (p. 146), and "it is possible to isolate
The particle, for Side, is "integral to the meaning of the phrasal verb and in some
cases carries more weight of meaning than the verb" (p. 146). That is, the
In his attempt to pinpoint patterns underlying PVs, he takes up three particles (off, out,
and up) to illustrate how the system of forming PVs by these particles works. He, for
instance, gives the particle off five lexical meanings (indicating distance in time or
examples, to make the point that "[m]ost phrasal verbs with off fit into this pattern" (p.
148):
Some of PVs are ambiguous in nature. But, however, they could be understood by
analogy with other PVs from the same pattern, e. g., the PV ease off in: You should
ease off a bit "could be by analogy with taking one's foot off a car accelerator" (p.
148), and took off in: his business really took off "could be by analogy with an
What has to be noted here is that not all PVs with the particle off can fit easily in this
pattern. Some of them make Side (1990) admittedly declare that "[p]ersonally, I can
find no convincing place for these within the overall definition" (p. 148). Such
Moreover, not all particles are as straightforward as off. The particle out is a good
example where one cannot formulate a single overall meaning for it (p. 148).
In his endeavour to find out more patterns, Side quite often refers to his own
experience. For example, in outlining the highly idiomatic meaning of cough up, he
narrates a real story relating an incident that happened to him when he was a child: "if
I choked on my food, my father would thump me on the back and cheerfully cry
'Cough it up, it may be half a dollar!' "(p. 150). And, in explaining the PV hung up in:
She hung up (to put the phone down) Side indicates that it "at first seems strange until
one remembers what old fashioned telephones looked like" (p. 150). Consequently,
Side concludes that the traditional approach is inadequate "either in that it fails to
create learnable patterns, or in that it creates patterns of the wrong kind" (p. 150).
In his textbook Phrasal Verbs in Context, Dainty (1991) claims that "a new method
for learning phrasal verbs" (p. 5) is offered. The book is in three parts. The first part
contains "a specially written cartoon story in which 325 common phrasal verbs are
introduced in a tale of adventure, love, money, crime, honour and blue Rolls Royce"
(p. 5). Such a cartoon story is of fifteen chapters each of which is ended up with some
The second part of the book, on the other hand, is devoted to "an extended blank-
The third part is dedicated to the answers of the exercises along with a list of the 325
PVs used in the cartoon story. This textbook is associated with a tape on which the
Interestingly, Dainty (1991) claims that if the learner memorizes part of the story by
heart and does the follow-up exercises, the 325 PVs can become a part of his
everyday language as he develops "a more natural and more instinctive command of
In his book Making Sense of Phrasal Verbs, Shovel (1992) implements the
book, IEPVs are accounted for in chunks, that is, each unit "introduces and practises
six separate phrasal verbs" (p. 4). Each PV is exhibited through one or two lively
to focus the learner's attention and help him or her make an informed guess at the
meaning of the phrasal verb" (p. 4). To take only one example, in explaining the PV
take after, a cartoon picture with a man standing next to his son, who looks exactly as
This book, which is intended to increase the confidence of the students of English as a
self-study, for pairwork, for conventional class or group teaching, and as a reference
In addition, the presented PVs are listed alphabetically at the back of the book in a
dictionary-like reference section where each one of them is given the following:
Surprisingly, unlike other scholars, Shovel (1992) avoids the employment of the
grammatical classifications of PVs, claiming that "such classifications are often more
complicated and difficult than the phrasal verbs are used to teach" (p. 4).
Lastly, each unit is ended up with a practice section where a variety of exercises are
included. Such exercises "are very controlled to begin with and then gradually lead to
free-production" (p. 4). Students are advised to study the PVs introduced in the unit
In his workbook Collins COBUID Phrasal Verbs Workbook (which accompanies the
points out that "[t]hough the workbook can be used on its own, more benefit will be
gained by working closely with the Dictionary" (p. iv). He approaches the practice
"through the individual particles, as featured in the Particles Index of the Dictionary"
(p. iv).
Goodale (1994), also, makes it clear that owing to the fact that adverbial PVs are
almost always the most important type and the most difficult for learners of English to
understand, "prepositional phrasal verbs are not included in this workbook" (p. iv).
Hence, the adverbial particles only are accounted for in alphabetical order throughout
the ten units of the book. Each unit has an introduction in which the important
meanings of a given particle are provided along with a list of the PVs to be taken up
in the sections of that unit. Every section is devoted to one category of meaning.
Given that most PVs are polysemic and have "as many as 20 different meanings", it is
quite normal to see a phrasal verb appears in many different sections (p. iv).
Further, there is a section attached to each unit called "Other Meanings" which
includes PVs "which are too common to be excluded, but which do not clearly fit into
any particular category of meaning" (p. iv). As an example, the particle over is given
(Considering and Communicating, as in: look over, put over, talk over, and think over,
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and Changing and Transferring, as in: change over, hand over, take over, and win
over), and a third section which is assigned to other meanings, which include: get over
with, pass over, run over, and smooth over (p. 87).
Berman and Kirstein (1996) design the whole book as chunks of dialogues between
Berman and Kirstein (1996) consider that the quickest way for learning PVs is "to
practice them by families" (p. xi), as long as "it is a psychological axiom that
learning related material is much easier than learning unrelated material" (p. xii)
[Emphasis in original]. They, as a result, suggest two families in which PVs may be
grouped: family A where PVs are listed alphabetically according to the verbs they
begin with, e.g., get about, get across, get around, get back, get on, get out, etc., and
family B where PVs are listed according to the particles, e.g., back out, get out, give
out, learn out, pass out, throw out, etc. (p. xii). Berman and Kirstein (1996) make the
point that "[f]amily A is more familiar arrangement-dictionary style […and] fine for
the purpose of reference" (p. xii). However, "[f]amily B makes far more sense as a
learning strategy" (p. xii). Therefore, they opt for treating PVs in this book by
particle, claiming that it is "much more likely to find similarities of meaning […]
among verb phrases [PVs] having the same particle than among verb phrases
In his paper Particles and gravity: phrasal verbs with 'Up' and 'Down' Hannan (1998)
outlined and applied by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their studies Metaphors
we live by (1985), Women, fire and dangerous things: what categories tell us about
the mind (1987), and The body in the mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination
Hannan (1998) attempts to explain how these two particles "have the uses they have",
The essential idea of this approach, as he puts it, is that "the meanings of our language
[English], and indeed our structure of thought, are built up from regular patterns of
bodily experience, extended into the other realms which we inhabit such as the
emotional, mental and social" (p. 22). Such an extension, he elaborates, "is principally
metaphorical, and what is preserved from the original physical pattern is the structure,
or relationship between the elements, or some important association, and not the
specific content" (p. 22). To illustrate this idea, Hannan (1998) provides two examples
as "standard examples of metaphors" (p. 22): The line of people snaked around the
corner, and The dawn of a new era. Where the line, in the first example, "does not
have scales or a forked tongue, but the winding form of the snake" (p. 22), and, in the
second example, "there is no literal sun or light, but a noticeable beginning, perhaps
Moving on to the particles up and down, Hannan (1998) makes the point that by the
combinations, but also the literal meanings of them, as part of his thesis is that "there
to the metaphorical meanings" (p. 22). Hence, he deals with the literal meanings of up
and down as basic and central meanings for their metaphorical extension. Therefore,
he begins with the literal meanings of these particles in such PVs as go up, come up,
climb up, stand up, move up, go down, come down, climb down, sit/lie down, fall
down etc. where up and down literally "refer to our experience of gravity" (p. 23). He,
then, moves on to take up the graduation of the meanings of these two particles from
exemplified by our experience when we add objects to a pile the level of that pile goes
up, while when we take away objects its level goes down. Such an experience "leads
us to associate more with up, and less with down [and such an] association is extended
less' ", as in: turn up, and turn down (the volume / heat) (p. 23); 2) Size: This
metaphor is stemmed from the fact that physical size of anything around us reflects its
power, in that big size means strong and powerful whereas small size means the
contrary. Such an experience leads to associate up with big and powerful, and down
with small and weak, as in: "bring up (children), [and] bring down (cause someone's
fall from power / respect; lower the tone or moral level of a conversation, etc." (p.
24); 3) Body posture: This point is built up on the fact that "[o]ur physical posture is
obviously related to our activities and to our mental emotional state" (p. 24). In the
sense that "[w]hen we are standing and moving around, we are active [while] when
we are lying down we are inactive, and sometimes passive […] So there is a natural
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association between 'up' and 'active' and 'down' and 'inactive' " (p. 25), as in: wake up,
get up, start up, open up, calm down, settle down, shut down, break down, etc. (p. 25).
Body posture, on the other hand, is related to our mental and emotional state where an
erect and open posture reflects bright, lively and cheerful states of mind, while a
bowed or slumped posture reflects dull, tired and sad states of mind. This fact makes
us to associate up with happiness etc., and down with sad etc., as in: cheer up, be up,
feel up, be down, feel down, let down, etc. (p. 25); 4) Perspective: Owing to the fact
that close objects seem bigger, in the human vision, than far ones, and when they
move closer they appear to go up in the visual field, one can associate up with
nearness, and down with distance, as in: come up, and go down (p. 26); and 5)
External environment: This point is stemmed from the fact that the "ground is home
[of human], and high places are less frequented and inherently dangerous" (p. 26).
Consequently, "[…] 'down' is associated with what is familiar, real, easily reached or
touched, known, and 'up' with the contrary" (p. 26), as in: bring up, come up with,
Hannan (1998) concludes "that usually literal meanings are basic and central, and that
central meaning" (p. 26). And he introduces some implications for teaching of PVs,
they include: 1) despite the fact that the systems of meaning accounted for in this
approach are not 100% logical, they are "comprehensible in terms of human
experience, generalisable, and often universal" (p. 26). The approach, as a result, is
use and collocations which simply says 'These are the common usages, Learn them' "
(p. 26); 2) lack of logic and sense of PVs in the eyes of students make them "respond
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to phrasal verbs with various degrees of pain" (p. 27). Therefore, proving to students
"that there is a human logic, based on experiences which they can recognise, gives
them confidence that it is feasible to learn these things, and open doors to useful
physical experiences makes the process of explaining PVs easier. For instance, to
explain come up and go down, the teacher may move towards students closer and
closer till they move their heads up to see him, and so on. The advantage of this
process is that "relatively abstract concepts are grounded in direct sensory experience
and so stick better" (p. 27); 4) it does not matter how to sequence PVs in a syllabus -
"same verb, various particles; same particle, various verbs; random verbs in context"
(p. 27) - what really matters is that "literal or near-literal meanings are generally
presented earlier than metaphorical ones" (p. 27); and, finally, that 5) all the patterns
outlined in this approach can be grasped easily; "[t]his can lay the foundation for a
Classification, Darwin and Gray (1999) assert that "[i]n research and pedagogy,
approaches to the phrasal verb have been, and still are, rather arbitrary" (p. 66). The
reason for such an arbitrariness, according to them, is "[…] the understanding of the
phrasal verb, by both students and instructors, has not progressed as far as it might
have if a more systematic approach had been used" (p. 66). They, therefore, have
In their attempt to clarify the problem of the lack of progress in understanding of PVs,
Darwin and Gray (1999) attribute the problem to the following three reasons: 1) the
definitions provided for PVs by researchers produce conflicting results, and lead to
confusion for both students and instructors; 2) the frequency of the commonest and
more needed PVs has not been determined. As a result instructors, curriculum
designers, and researchers are left with no choice but to use their intuition, which may
or may not be correct; and 3) the method of grouping PVs according to the verb.
Although such a method may help learners understand the idiomatic nature of PVs, "it
Further, they point out that in order to avoid ambiguity in classification procedure of
PVs "linguists must agree upon a definition, thereby requiring them to begin from the
same point" (p. 67). Consequently, they adopt the definition produced by Quirk et al.
(1985) as the standard whereby "[a] phrasal verb consists of a verb proper and a
They criticize the nine traditional tests proposed by Bolinger (1971), (previously
outlined in section 2.5.1 of this Chapter) maintaining that they admit noteworthy
exceptions which cause "a problematic lack of agreement among those who study
phrasal verbs as to exactly which verb + particle combinations are or are not included
in the category" (p. 75). Such a disagreement "can seriously impair the learning of
combinations in a grammatical paradigm" (p. 75). Hence, they confirm the real need
for a more systematic classification that can "promote greater agreement among the
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experts and better presentation of verb + particle combinations to the ESL learner" (p.
75).
Darwin and Gray's alternative approach is "to take the opposite stance" (p. 75). That is
to say, instead of "excluding a verb + particle combination from the phrasal verb
category until it is proven to belong, linguists should consider all verb + particle
combinations to be potential phrasal verbs until they can be proven otherwise" (pp.
75-76). In doing so, they explain, two advantages that can be accomplished: 1) a
Moreover, in their attempt to clarify their new approach, Darwin and Gray (1999) set
out seven tests focusing on semantics, phonology and syntax. In addition, they
indicate that there is no need to apply all these tests to all combinations; one test is
2. Where questions, e.g., He ran up the rally. Where? Up the rally [Not PV]
I looked up the address. Where did you look? *Up the address. [PV]
3. Fronting, e.g., He made up a story. *Up he made a story. *Up a story he made
4. Verb insertion, e.g., He pulled on the lever, but it was stuck. He pulled and
5. Adverb insertion, e.g., * The mine caved quickly and forcefully in. [PV]
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They crept slowly and silently down the hall. [Not PV]
I hid / behind the door. [Not PV] (pp. 77-81) [Emphasis in original] [My
bracketing].
Interestingly, in their response to some critiques rose by some scholars (which will be
outlined later in this section), Darwin and Gray (2000) elaborate in more detail on
their approach. They warrant their choice of Quirk et al's definition by claiming that it
phrasal verbs" (165), and expect that such a definition "would lead to agreement about
verb" (p. 165) in order to establish a list of PVs that ESL learners are more likely to
encounter. The definition consists of two parts: grammatical part where the verb +
particle combination functions as a simple verb; and lexical part where the
combination of verb + particle functions as "a single lexical item with a meaning
significantly different from that carried outside the combination" (p. 166). For
unity of the combination). Thus, the definition of Quirk et al, according to Darwin and
Gray (2000) "defines only an ideal, a phrasal-verb prototype" (p. 166) where a PV has
Darwin and Gray limit their list to only those "prototypical phrasal verbs" (p. 166).
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Their new method is to exclude any combination that exhibits any negative feature [-
G] or [- L]. Any test of the seven tests proposed by them would be enough to
Thus, the lists of PVs built up by utilizing this method overlook many combinations,
which exhibit the abovementioned negative features. Darwin and Gray (2000) justify
such an omission by claiming that it reduces the "conflict between definition and
Using freshman humanities textbooks as their corpus, Darwin and Gray utilize their
PVs.
Nevertheless, Darwin and Gray's method has been heavily criticized by Joan Sawyer
(2000) and Ron Sheen (2000), who both agree with them on the question of choosing
the most frequent PVs list to be taught to ESL learners. However, they both reject the
method of teaching PVs proposed by Darwin and Gray, and instead each one has
In her reply to the article of Darwin and Gray (1999), Sawyer (2000) denies the ruling
out of the semantically transparent constructions and the concentration only on the
semantically opaque ones (those which function as single units). She considers that
scholars should open the membership of the class of PVs to include all types of
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semantically opaque ones, can "lead students to understand the surface structure of
the combinations" (p. 152). This in turn can reduce "avoidance of these combinations
on the part of students and gives teachers a simple functioning of the semantically less
By adopting Fraser's (1976) view, Sawyer indicates that all PVs have a verb and a
adverb or real particle (the element that forms a unit with the verb), as illustrated in
Sawyer believes that knowing the type of the particle "not only helps predict which
combinations might be easily taught but also suggests the order in which they might
best be presented to students" (p. 155). The "[a]nalysis of their different function
offers teachers one way of considering which ones to teach and suggest a step-by-step
process for doing so" (p. 157). Therefore, she outlines her method of teaching PVs,
according to the particle type, in the form of three steps, which are outlined below.
production of this group". In addition, ruling them out "from the class of phrasal verbs
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leaves only the combinations that include adverbs and real particles requiring specific
Step 2: Teach Verb-Adverb Combinations. Sawyer notes that the student knows
transparent and its elements retain their original meanings. Besides, like the case of
"they begin working on less transparent types, they no longer need to be concerned
this step, Sawyer refers to her work Verb-adverb and verb-particle constructions:
Teaching and acquisition (1999) in which she studies child language acquisition and
demonstrates that real particles have at least three common functions: 1) telicity or
completiveness, as an example, the particle up in: eat up and drink up whereby the
object "is consumed completely". Teachers are advised to teach each one of these real
particles by offering a number "of verbs with which the real particle has the telic
reading" to encourage the students "to see a pattern that they can use to decode new
combinations encountered" (p. 156); 2) real particles which do not add much
semantically to the verb, such as: clean up, lock up, wash up, act out, sort out, and
start out. Teachers as well are advised to "demonstrate each real particle that works
this way with a set of verbs to which it adds little semantically" and the students also
"would see that these are not isolated cases but show a pattern" (p. 156); and 3)
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idiomatic combinations which are "the most difficult to organize into groups for
For example, give up, think up, and wear out (p. 156).
Sawyer (2000) concludes that "[t]he fact that real particles can be clustered into
groups by function […] makes teaching more efficient" (p. 157). Such a method "may
help students learn patterns for decoding new combinations and increasing their
In his reply to the article of Darwin and Gray (1999), Sheen (2000) admits that they
"make a valuable contribution to teaching phrasal verbs […] in pointing out the
emphasisng the need to base such a selection on authentic frequency of use" (p. 160).
He considers "[s]uch a selection would result in a bank from which one might choose
a restricted list for active use and much longer one for passive" (p. 164).
Sheen, on the other hand, criticizes the approach of Darwin and Gray (1999), claiming
that it addresses the complexities of PVs without touching upon the major question:
"[w]hat is the best way to achieve familiarity with and fluency in the use of PVs,
which is the absolute essential to a mastery of English?" (p. 161). In his attempt to
address such an issue, Sheen proposes his method which is called "explicit-plus or
to enabling students to analyse PVs both syntactically and semantically?" (p. 161),
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approach […] which would teach the word-order problems with transitive PVs and
Reporting on his own experience as a teacher at university level, Sheen claims that he
in which he devoted a great deal of time and effort to teaching syntactic and semantic
students to use PVs outside. He then, conducted some written and oral tests. The
results yielded a success in written proficiency, but such a success did not apply to
On the contrary, when Sheen decided to adopt the explicit-minus approach in which
he spent most of the time on oral activities, the results of oral proficiency were far
better. Such an empirical experience has convinced Sheen to argue for the explicit-
minus approach, which "allowed the students to reach a standard nearer to that of
concludes that "teachers need to devote time and effort to activities encouraging
frequent and spontaneous use of PVs and not to the sort of analyses involved in
In her paper Applying lexical research to the teaching of phrasal verbs, Sansome
(2000) summarizes the insights obtained from research conducted in the Lexical
Research Unit, Leeds University 1980-1984. The research has taken up a large sub-
group of PVs, that is, combinations of verbs with collocates in which the latter
changes the meaning of the former "in a systematic way by subordinating it to a new
preposition; and prepositional phrases, but also adjectives and nouns (p. 61). The
He tricked her into taking her medicine. Trick into means: "to get someone to
She tricked him out of a fortune. Trick out of means: "to get something out of
Sansome (2000) maintains that the issue of 'meaning-changing collocates' has been
outlined in the works of linguists who dealt with the phenomenon of PVs such as
Bolinger (1971) and Fraser (1976), but it has not been described systematically. In the
sense, both Bolinger and Fraser have approached the issue from a syntactic viewpoint
Concentrating on analysing the meanings of PVs grouped into only one major
subsection of the semantic area CONTACT, that is, PHYSICAL CONTACT, the
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research yields insights into the pattern underlying PVs belong to this subsection.
Sansome, however, believes that such an insight has practical applications in the field
of EFL teaching. She herself, as an EFL teacher, has conducted a comprehension test
out "to what extent foreign learners of intermediate level and above have absorbed the
comprehension problems" (pp. 61-62). The result showed that students have not
acquired the pattern underlying the tested combinations. This matter "has implications
not only for comprehension but also production; if students are not aware of any
underlying pattern, they are unlikely to be able to use verb combinations except in
cases where they have learnt the whole phrase" (p. 63).
In his practice book Phrasal Verbs Organiser, Flower (2000) makes a noticeable
contribution to the field of teaching PVs. Unlike other scholars who prefer to treat
PVs either by particle or by verb, Flower treats more than 700 PVs in three different
ways, i.e. by particle, by verb, and by topic. He rightly makes the point that "[t]he
more different ways you meet these verbs, the more you will learn" (p. 3). In treating
PVs by topic, for instance, he groups them according to the field they are commonly
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used in. In the section of "Technology and Computing", for example, he accounts for
such PVs as cut out, filter out, wire up, print out, back up etc. (p. 89). While in the
section of "Sport and Leisure" he takes up such PVs as worm up, ease up, play off,
Moreover, Flower (2000) provides, other than the mini-dictionary of the used PVs, a
"Test Yourself" section (pp. 108-112), where five tests are set up to give the learners
an opportunity to examine themselves in what they have studied throughout the book.
In addition, he establishes a "Your Personal List" (pp. 135-144) section, where nine
well-organized blank tables are given to allow students to add their own PVs, or PVs
speakers of English, one can come up with a number of insights, being: 1) pedagogues
vary in what to teach as PVs to foreign students. Scholars like Hannan (1998), Sawyer
(2000), and Sansome (2000) strongly believe that all types of verb-particle
have to be taught. They are driven by the reason that the former constitutes the central
and the basis upon which the meaning of the latter can be grasped and understood.
Other scholars, on the other hand, like Darwin and Gray (1999) consider that only the
pedagogues, also, vary in how to teach EPVs to non-native learners of English. Such
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scholars as Side (1990), Hannan (1998), Sawyer (2000), and Sansome (2000) are
totally convinced that PVs have to be taught by knowing the patterns underlying
them, in order to pinpoint the system and the logic by which they work. Others
believe that PVs are random combinations of verb and particles and they have to be
constitutes a debatable point. Such scholars as Side (1990), Goodale (1994), Berman
and Kirstein (1996), Darwin and Gray (1999), Sawyer (2000) and Sansome (2000) are
quite persuaded that PVs must be dealt with by particles. On the contrary, others
prefer to tackle them by verbs. Interestingly, Flower (2000) believes that they have to
Cornell (1985), Darwin and Gray (1999) and Sheen (2000) call for frequency counts
of the EPVs, just like other aspects of the English language, to determine the most
common and needed ones, and in turn to avoid designing pedagogical tools according
to pedagogues' intuitions; 5) despite the fact that most of the specialized dictionaries
(1975) and Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Workbook (1994), which are produced
in conjunction with the Dictionary of Phrasal verbs and their Idioms, and the Collins
researchers agree on the necessity of teaching PVs in context owing to the fact that
presenting them in contexts enhances their learnability far much more than presenting
In short, the undeniable fact, in my view, is that PVs are not random combinations of
verbs and particles. There is, it is true, a pattern underlying each one of them. Though
As a result of the growing interest in the English language all over the world, and in
business, transport, science and technology, teaching EFL has been boosted in the
majority of the Arab countries (Kharma & Hajjaj, 1989, p. 1). The Arab learner of
English spends approximately six to eight years learning the language "at a rate
ranging from four to eight 45-minute periods per week" (p. 1). In theory, this amount
of learning English should enable him/her to use the language perfectly. But,
unfortunately, this is not the case (pp. 1-2). Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) attribute such a
failure to a number of reasons, they include: 1) the majority of teachers are Arab
teachers of English. Their experience as trainees and teachers of the English language
little, if any, genuine use of the language as a means of communication" (p. 2); 2) the
exposure of the Arab learners to the English language is "limited and lacks continuity
exposure to natural language" (p. 2); 3) the Arab learners' motivation of learning the
English language is very little in comparison with their motivation for acquiring a first
language (p. 2); 4) the Arab learners' attitude to EFL is a negative one, i.e. it is for
190
them "a 'school subject' rather than a means of communication" (p. 2); 5) the very low
pass mark indicates that "learners can proceed to further learning of the language
without having first mastered fully what they ought to have mastered in, say, a given
school year" (p. 2) and 6) the English language is taught to the Arab learner "years
after he [she] has already started learning formally, and acquiring informally, his [her]
mother tongue" (p. 2). In Addition, Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) introduce what they
call it the "idealisation of teaching materials" as a critical factor that leads to the
The drill and practice exercises [utilized] are even more 'idealised' in the sense
that they do not represent communicative situations but exemplifications of
language structures. The result is that when learners have to use language at a
level higher than the sentence they fail to do so correctly, whether the task at
hand is composition writing or an extended monologue or dialogue (p. 8).
Arab students "who have been through a government school education" in three
points as follows:
In their book Errors in English among Arabic Speakers: Analysis and Remedy,
Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) investigate the kinds of difficulties Arab learners typically
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encounter in studying English as a foreign language. The book is intended for "those
who will be or who are already engaged in teaching English to Arab students" (p. 1).
Thus, Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) attempt to "identify and organise those problems that
face Arab learners of English and to provide teachers with a description of them and
Given that the question of EPVs constitutes one of such problems Arab learners
usually face, Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) assign a small section to briefly describe them
and suggest ways of teaching them to Arab students. They determine two main factors
However, it is quite obvious, from the literature reviewed above, that the sources of
difficulty of EPVs to non-native speakers of English by far exceed the two sources
given by Kharma and Hajjaj. In fact, most, if not all, of the didactic problems of PVs
Moreover, Kharma and Hajjaj (1989) propose two suggestions for teaching EPVs to
Arab learners:
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The teacher must make his [her] own list of those phrasal verbs that occur in
the textbooks, in oral discussions, dialogues, home-reading material, etc.
which the students have special difficulty with, and to try to deal with them in
different ways. For the teacher who is a non-native speaker of English and
who wants to ascertain the meaning and use of some of those phrasal verbs,
the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is a good source, whilst
Courtney's Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs is a recent and very
comprehensive treatment of such verb (p. 72).
These suggestions are, in my view, neither practical nor recent in the sense that, as for
the first one, by advising the teachers to make their own list of PVs, Kharma and
Hajjaj give them a permission to rely on their own intuition in determining which PVs
may cause difficulty. Their intuition, it is true, may or may not be correct. Such an
pedagogues (cf. Cornell, 1985; Darwin & Gray, 1999) who proposed, instead, a 'core'
As for the second suggestion, the two dictionaries recommended by Kharma and
Hajjaj are no longer the best and the most comprehensive ones. There are, as
previously outlined (see 2.8.2 above), many dictionaries of PVs now available which
Surprisingly, Arabic books which are set up to teach Arab students the essence of the
English grammar and vocabulary have utterly overlooked, or slightly touched upon
the question of EPVs. To take just two examples, Taahir Al-bayyatii (1982) in his
book What Pupils Need in English, which is intended for beginners and advanced
Arab students of English, has totally ignored the issue of PVs in spite of its vital
importance to meet the needs of his intended readership. Other example is Ahmed
Mamdouh Al-Saghir's book English for all levels (1993) where PVs are assigned an
undersized section called "The Most Essential Phrasal Verbs" (pp. 324-329) in which
193
neither the syntactic nor the semantic nor the pragmatic properties of EPVs are
accounted for. It is rather a mere unrelated list of verbs followed by particles arranged
knowledge and research, is Hind El-Nagar's book Phrasal Verbs (1998), which is
intended for Arab students at the intermediate level, and for those who prepare for the
Arab learners of English in the best possible way, El-Nagar (1998) replicates the work
done by Malcolm Goodale (1994) and the method utilized by him in the previously
Hence, she sequences PVs, like him, by particles arranged in alphabetical order. Like
him as well, she organizes her workbook, in ten units. In the first nine units she takes
up the following particles one by one (away, back, down, in, off, on, out, over, and
up). She assigns the tenth unit to "other particles". Each unit deals with one specific
particle and subdivided into sections each of which is assigned to a particular category
Arabic. Unit five, for instance, is devoted to the particle off (0&E &[ًا-*\) and divided into
four sections. The first section is assigned for the first category of meaning of the
particle off, which is "Leaving and beginning K-Z,+([ء وا+"ا, the second is for "Rejecting
194
and Preventing ].3+“ وا8,+"ا, the third is for "Stopping and canceling ء7Ž+Jّ• واwXF+ "اand
the fourth is for the "Other meanings ى,yن أ7*/" (pp. 49-54). Each section contains the
PVs of a given category of meaning. For example, the third section of the particle off
embraces the PVs break off (•&wXF1) and call off (%&Ž)1). Each of which is followed by
a- Let's break off for ten minutes. ‚L7w د,NE [ة3+ 5Zا,)+ •wXF.+ ¡أ
b- He broke off and didn't start again. 7ً -P7ˆ ([أ1 4+• وwX} [ƒ+ ¡ب
c- She has broken off the engagement. 5({n+ اxnY8 [ƒ+ ¡ج
d- They have broken off the negotiations. ت7ˆد7Q3+ا اX_w[ أوƒ+ ¡د
(pp. 53-54) [Emphasis in original].
As far as the exercises are concerned, unlike Goodale (1994) who provides a variety
of exercises, El-Nagar (1998) offers only one type of exercises, that is fill-in-the-
blank type, where a number of sentences are listed each of which has a gap needs to
Another drawback is, unlike Goodale who utilizes authentic example sentences taken
from COBUILD database, El-Nagar makes up most of her examples in such a way
that they sound unreal or, to use Kharma and Hajjaj's word, "idealised" which are far
He just kept on hitting the boy although I told him to stop (p. 60) [Emphasis
in original].
Even if you fail in the examination again you must try to keep on until you
pass (p. 60) [Emphasis in original].
The coat should keep out the cold (p. 71) [Emphasis in original].
Nothing will be done until someone have [sic] the courage to speak out (p.
77) [Emphasis in original].
Time move [sic] on slowly (p. 61) [Emphasis in original].
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Furthermore, there exist a number of translational pitfalls. For instance: The garden is
coming on nicely is translated as: K&-3„ &[ّمƒ} %&8 5&ƒ1[Q+( إن اThe garden is in progressing
nicely) (p. 61), and I was surprised at how well you all get on is literally mistranslated
as: 5&(-W 4'F&w2E % ه4 آ0/ 7N[ه./ x.[ آƒ+ (I was surprised at how good your relationship is)
(p. 63), while I must brush up my French before I go to Paris is translated as: \&[ أنM
%F-YP,8 0E ر7(Ž+_“ اP( أI must dust off my French) (p. 135).
Having known all these facts, one can conclude that the methods of teaching EPVs to
Arab learners is, to a great extent, inadequate in comparison with the methods of
rich pedagogical materials and utilizing old fashioned teaching methods are the main
two reasons behind such inadequacy. For this problem to be solved two things need to
be done: first, owing to the fact that the phenomenon of PVs constitutes one of the
most important features of English grammar and vocabulary, and to the fact that
learning, using and mastering the language, they must be included as an integral part
of the learning and training process, and of the interpreting and translating courses
developers need to make use of up-to-date teaching methods of EPVs (some of which
are mentioned above) to provide Arab learners of English, interpreters and translators
materials that can help them overcome the difficulties EPVs cause, and in turn
This section will be devoted to address the essential issue of how the phenomenon of
IEPVs has been dealt with in translation studies, and, most importantly, how it has
Given that the phenomenon of PVs is regarded as one type of the English idiomatic
expressions, and constitutes an integral part of many idioms, proverbs and fixed
The available relevant literature, in this regard, can be categorized into two distinct
types: studies dedicated to translating EPVs into other languages; and studies devoted
to translating English idioms as a whole into other languages. In what follows the two
In his paper On the Semantic of Certain English Phrasal Verbs and Their Rendering
into Spanish, Bernstein (1974) looks at some EPVs from their semantic standpoint.
literal translation into Spanish" (p. 59), he attempts to highlight the idea of "how
diverse the translations into Spanish may be when a phrasal verb family has many
members" (p. 59). Bernstein (1974) divides PVs into families according to their
proper verbs. He takes up two families as specimens, they are: 'come' plus
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prepositions family, and 'get' plus prepositions family along with the Spanish
translation of each meaning of the combinations listed under each family. The
diversity of translation of such IEPVs into Spanish made him to indicate that "[t]here
is no overlap between Spanish and English" (p. 61). However, he suggests a "simpler
means" for translating the listed EPVs into Spanish. Such a means is applicable only
to certain cases where "Spanish families of compound verbs with an invariant root
Due to the fact that Spanish and English languages share "a considerable etymological
debt to Latin" (p. 62), Bernstein (1974) claims that "it will often be convenient to
Yet, the parallel pair of families of EPVs and Spanish cognates is not available in
EPVs families where numerous members are included, as in the 'get' plus prepositions
He concludes, however, that English and Spanish "do share a common SAE [Standard
Average European] characteristic" (p. 64), where "a vast array of actions and relations
to basic verbs" (p. 64). Also, a number of Latin prepositions "passed down to Spanish
through Vulgar Latin […such prepositions] form a productive sub-class that can
generate new verbs or create new verbal meanings by being prefixed to basic verbs
much as English […] may do with its phrases" (p. 64). Like English, he adds, which
"can multiply its verbal lexicon to suit needs as they arise" (p. 65), Spanish can do the
translators may encounter when dealing with the phenomenon of EPVs. These
problems occur as a result of the differences between English and Arabic with regard
envisage the effect of the particle on the meaning of the verb in an English idiomatic
combination. Whereas, unlike English, The Arabic verb is "a fair guide to the
combinations are employed idiomatically with certain particles, "which makes their
meanings unstable and indistinct" (p. 147); 3) some verbs, such as 'get', can combine
with almost every particle. Others, such as 'make' and 'do' "are more selective but still
quite versatile" (p. 147). Many combinations, such as 'pig out = overeat' are
they may sound natural to native speakers but strange to non-native speakers" (p.
itself would have a radically separate interpretation" (p. 147) as in: the audience
cracked up at every joke versus the vendor cracked the coconut with a machete (p.
combinations, which "may be wider and more idiomatic or even opaque in English
than in Arabic" (p. 147). Write off, for instance, has the following different meanings:
to send off a letter, to clear from the records, to judge to be a failure, and to reject as
beyond repair (p. 147); 6) English verb-particle combinations "in which a normally
intransitive verb takes a direct object puzzle the Arabic translator, who finds nothing
similar in Arabic" (p. 147) as in: the students laughed versus the students laughed off
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their failing grades (p. 147); 7) some English verb-particle combinations are
definite and its metaphorical motivation has faded, leaving it stylistically and
emotionally neutral, e.g. 'pull out' (military), 'blast off' (aerospace), 'lock down'
(computer science)" (p. 148); hence, the extent to which a register may affect the
meanings assigned to EPVs need to be assessed (p. 148); 8) some intransitive English
verb-particle combinations "may be hard to understand without further clues from the
text" (p. 148). For example, I don't know how the story got about, the opposition was
digging in, and they are still hanging around (p. 148); 9) while many English verb-
particle combinations can be employed both intransitively and transitively keeping the
same meaning, as in: they help out at the church sale, and they helped us out, some of
them can be employed both intransitively and transitively but in different meanings as
in: the engine cut out, and I cut out some photographs from magazines (p. 148); 10)
whether the object is a person or a thing" (p. 148). For instance: take someone in, and
take something in (p. 148); 11) the verb + particle, in three-word combinations of
prepositional PVs, "may be much harder to render than the preposition" (p. 148) as in:
problem) (p. 148); 12) the Arabic equivalents of English verb-particle combinations
vary according to their collocations with other words (p. 148). The Arabic equivalent
of the PV break off, for instance, is ]&{w if the following word is (negotiations),
whereas it is §Y&8 if the following word is (an engagement), and the Arabic equivalent
of the PV bring about is &[ثZ أwhen the following word is (a change), while it is ‚&)y
when the following word is (an opportunity) (p. 148); 13) the figurative combinations
of verb + particle are "hard to translate when they are culture-bound" (p. 149). For
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example, the literal use of lagged behind in the tired boy lagged behind the group,
versus the figurative use of it in prices are rising sharply while incomes are lagging
Heliel (1994), however, concludes that "Arab[ic] translators are likely to encounter
further says that such problems "should be treated in bilingual dictionaries and
translator training programmes [… and we] must work to develop both our linguistic
approaches for describing them and our strategies for teaching them" (p. 149). This is
In the same manner, in his article Some Ways of Translating English Phrasal Verbs
into Russian, Yatskovich (1999) casts a light on "the essence of some semantic
correspondences in the English and Russian verbal systems" (p. 1). Since EPVs are
particle), and the latter element gives the whole combination the "ability to describe
actions or states more precisely, vividly and emotionally" (p. 1), he concentrates on
the semantic functions of the English adverbial particles in comparison with Russian
verbal prefixes, claiming that "[i]n addition to their function that is analogous to that
their semantic functions, also indicating various qualities of actions and states" (p. 2).
Such an overlap, according to him, influences the process of translating EPVs into
Russian in the sense that "[…] the meaning of the English adverbial component of the
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phrasal verb is mostly conveyed by using the Russian prefix that reflects the character
Yatskovich (1999), on the other hand, admits that "it seems almost impossible to
(p. 2). One of such debatable problems, he elaborates, is the polysemic nature of
EPVs, which has to be always kept in the mind of translator when dealing with EPVs.
English and Russian verbal systems can be quite a powerful tool in the translator's
spite of latest developments in the field of translation theory and application (Awwad,
1990). The difficulty of translating idioms, particularly from English into Arabic, has
been, to a certain degree, overlooked in translation studies. The vast majority of the
relevant literature has been limited to lexicology and applied linguistics, concentrating
on the translation of metaphor and metaphorical language, "[b]ut idioms as they are
traditionally known and classified have been yet to receive the due attention"
(Ghazala, 2003, p. 203). Consequently, "[…] the translation of English idioms into
Arabic has not been adequately investigated, which has resulted in a gap in the field
IEPVs, however, have been amongst the types of English idioms investigated by a
IEPVs as one type of English idioms in his paper Equivalence and Translatability of
English and Arabic Idioms. He attributes the difficulty of translating English idioms
to two main reasons: 1) misinterpreting the intention of the original writer or speaker.
The Arabic expression ب7&(+• اF&8, for instance, has literal and idiomatic/metaphorical
meanings. Therefore it is translated into English literally as (he opened the door),
cultural differences. For example, in English if someone dies they say (he kicked the
bucket), while in Arabic they say 5&P7/9 ا4ّ)&H (he handed over/delivered what he was
entrusted with, which is a reference to the soul leaving the body) (p. 59).
translatability of idioms. Such a framework is based on the fact that an idiom may fall
into one of the following four categories of correspondence between English and
Arabic idioms:
The first category is illustrated by the IEPVs turn in and turn down, which are
translated by Awwad (1990) as: مX.)+ / اش,_)+ •وي1 (to go to bed / to sleep) and “8,&1 (to
refuse) respectively (p. 65). Translating this category of idioms, however, requires not
Language] linguistic system but also a deep understanding and awareness of the SL
The second category, on the other hand, is illustrated by the English idioms to hold
the reins, and he was the scape-goat, which are translated into Arabic as م7&/Š\ SY&31
رX&/9( اto hold the reins of the things), and _&[اء+ن آ&(˜ ا7&( آhe was the ram of the
sacrifice) in that order (p. 62). What's more, translating this kind of idioms requires
"the translator to pay special attention to the areas of difference in expression between
With regard to the third category, the translator "must either find the right idiom in
TL, or render a translation of the meaning of the idiom as best as he can" (p. 61). It is
exemplified by the IEPV trade in, which is translated as “17ƒ1 (to exchange something
As far as the fourth category is concerned, where both expressions and functions
correspond, the resulting translation is typically correct and idiomatic in both SL and
TL provided that "the translator is a native speaker of one language and has native-
like competence in the other" (p. 59). This category is illustrated by the following
English idioms where PVs are included: turn over a new leaf, and to hold out the olive
branch, which are translated by Awwad (1990) into Arabic as: [ة1[„ 5Q_` ([أ1 (to start a
new page), and نXF1Š+ ا0UG ]8,1 (to raise the branch of the olive tree) (p. 60).
Along the same lines, Baker (1992), in her attempt to account for the difficulties
translators encounter when translating idioms and fixed expressions, utilizes IEPVs,
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difficulties. She uses, for instance, the IEPV go out with (to have a romantic or sexual
relationship with someone) and the IEPV take for in take someone for a ride (to
deceive or cheat someone in someway) to clarify the point that how misleading the
idioms can be when they carry both literal and idiomatic meanings and "seem
transparent because they offer a reasonable literal interpretation and their idiomatic
meanings are not necessarily signaled in the surrounding text" (p. 66). Such idioms,
according to Baker, can be easily manipulated by speakers and writers. This may
confuse a translator who is not familiar with such idioms and may make him/her
"easily accept the literal interpretation and miss the play on idiom" (p. 66).
Baker (1992), however, lists four difficulties involved in translating idioms and fixed
expressions as follows;
Moreover, Baker (1992) provides the following strategies for translating idioms:
In the light of the above difficulties and the strategies proposed to deal with them,
Ruba Bataineh and Rula Bataineh (2002), in their article The difficulties Jordanian
idioms into Arabic, investigate the problems graduate students of translation at two
sentences each of which contains an idiom" (p. 33). Bataineh and Bataineh (2002),
however, take IEPVs into their account when they set up their test sentences.
Therefore, in their attempt to examine the translatability of IEPVs along with the
other types of idiomatic English expressions, they incorporated seven sentences, each
of which contains an IEPV. Four of them were from the verb + particle category of
EPVs (act up, let out, do without, and lay up), while the other three were from the
verb + particle + preposition category (be in for, get up to, and add up to).
Bataineh and Bataineh (2002) come up with the following findings with regard to the
the PVs from the first category, whereas 56.7% of them were able to correctly
translate the PVs of the second category (p. 75). Despite the fact that PVs have come
at the end of the list of "Degree of Problematicity of Idiom Types" (pp. 75-76), which
is arranged in descending order, Bataineh and Bataineh (2002) outline the strategies
used by the subjects in translating these PVs. The subjects made use of four strategies
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when translating PVs of the first category: paraphrase, literal translation, not
translating the sentences, and omission, while they made use of only the first three
strategies when translating PVs of the second category (pp. 66-68). Using these
of the examined subjects. Bataineh and Bataineh (2002) summarize the problems of
translating English idiomatic expressions that arise from the subjects' translations in
1. the loss of some shades of meaning when omitting an idiom from the
sentence;
2. misunderstanding the meaning of the sentence through the incorrect
rendition of the idiom;
3. disrupting the coherence of a text when omitting or incorrectly translating
the idiom; and
4. unintelligibility through the use of literal translation (p. 77).
Aesthetic and Connotative Conditions, Ghazala (2003) identifies evasion and invasion
as the main two translation procedures of idiomaticity. By the former he means "the
elimination of the idiomaticity of the SL idiom when translating it into the TL with no
compensation of any kind" (p. 209), while by the latter he means "a translator's
deliberate use in the TL of an idiom that matches, if not supersedes, the original" (p.
217). Ghazala (2003) argues that both procedures are valid "on the right occasion for
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the right reason(s)" (p. 209). Nonetheless, he goes strongly for invasion procedure "as
more creative, convincing and faithful procedure than the former [evasion] which is at
(p. 209).
Ghazala (2003) comes across the issue of translating EPVs, as an essential type of
English idiomatic expressions, into Arabic in his attempt to justify the adoption of the
on the second reason (zero language equivalence in TL), Ghazala indicates that
"[t]here are many English idioms, including the majority of phrasal verbs, that have
no idiomatic equivalence in Arabic" (p. 211). In this case the Arabic translator is not
still, "[…] he has to provide a satisfactory version of sense, with idiomaticity dropped
unwillingly, in which case a considerable amount of loss will take place with a little
Furthermore, Ghazala (2003) makes the point that although IEPVs have no
straightforward Arabic equivalents, "they all can be translated comfortably into their
precise literal sense, provided the translator understands them properly in their
English contexts before translating them into Arabic" (p. 213). He further emphasizes
that they should not be confused with prepositional verbs which, owing to the fact that
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their verbs retain their common meanings, "can be understood and translated literally
Ghazala (2003) concludes that the complexity of EPVs, which stems from the fact
that there are thousands of them, with tens of thousands of their different meanings in
existence, "may naturally make the task of translation extremely difficult so that a
To sum up, the phenomenon of IEPVs has been the focus of a number of translation
studies. The treatment of such a phenomenon has varied considerably from one
researcher to another depending upon the standpoint from which it has been
accounted for. Yet, one can infer a number of insights: firstly, translating IEPVs into
languages where there are a number of correspondences between them and the
English language, such as Spanish and Russian, being a task achieved relatively
negotiating the idiomatic meaning of EPVs and, in turn, in finding the appropriate
equivalents to them. Secondly, translating IEPVs into Arabic, however, where there
difficulties have constituted the basis upon which Arab researchers warrant the
translating them into Arabic. Such strategies, as it will be manifested from the results
of this study, are not theoretically based and lack of a systematic approach that may
help tackle the difficulties encountered when translating IEPVs into Arabic. Last but
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not least, I am strongly in favour of the fact (as confirmed by Awwad, 1999; Bataineh
& Bataineh, 2002; Ghazala, 2003) that the question of translating English idioms into
Arabic has not been comprehensively taken up. More insightful efforts are needed to
describe the difficulties encountered by Arabic translators when dealing with such a
2.12 Conclusion
This Chapter was entirely devoted to address the first set of the research questions
outlined in the previous Chapter (see 1.3 above). The main purpose was to extensively
scrutinize the key points of the phenomenon of idiomatic PVs in both the English and
Arabic languages, and to highlight scholarly works which have previously been done
investigate the main question of this study - that is, the difficulties Arabic professional
translators and Arabic translation students encounter when translating IEPVs into
Arabic.
The enormous bulk of information outlined throughout the Chapter revealed that the
fields. It has been insightfully dealt with from a variety of perspectives. Grammarians,
ambiguity, high productivity, and the amount of challenge IEPVs constitute to a non-
native speaker necessitate a deep and careful investigation. Therefore, they devoted a
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great deal of their scholarly efforts accounting for their syntactic features, semantic
properties, and other related peculiarities to agree upon some and disagree upon
others.
In the next Chapter a theoretical rationale for the experimental part of this study will
be established and a practical model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into
CHAPTER THREE
LINGUISTIC CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
3.1 Introduction
As has been previously mentioned, the principal aim of this study is to investigate the
when tackling the phenomenon of IEPVs, and to propose some recommendations based
In the last Chapter an ample and exhaustive literature review of the notion of PVs and its
peculiarities was provided in both the English and Arabic languages. This Chapter
constitutes a link between the theoretical part of the study (the literature review) and the
topic, so as to formulate a practical and scientific model for the analysis and translation of
Contrastive analysis basically means "a linguistic study of two languages aiming to
identify differences between them in general selected areas" (Hoey & Houghton, 2001, p.
46). Or, as James (1980) puts it, "a linguistic enterprise aimed at producing inverted (i.e.
212
contrastive not comparative) two valued typologies […], founded on the assumption that
The discipline of contrastive analysis, following Hoey & Houghton (2001), is more or
less a modern one. It was developed in the United States of America during and after
World War Two, "in the context of second and foreign language teaching" (p. 46). It
became quite popular in Europe throughout the 1970s, when "several large contrastive
projects were set up, contrasting English with, for example, Polish and Finish among
Fisiak (1981) indicates that since the forties the task of comparing two languages or more
to determine the differences and similarities between them has been termed contrastive
In his book Contrastive Analysis, Carl James (1980) characterises contrastive analysis as
a form of interlingual study, and, as such, "has much in common with the study of
bilingualism" (p. 8). Further, modern contrastive analysis, according to him, "starts with
Hoey & Houghton (2001, p. 47) address the issue of the relevance of contrastive analysis
to translation. They argue that "[a]t a practical level, it [contrastive analysis] is probably
most useful in pointing out areas where direct translation of a term or phrase will not
convey accurately in the second language the intended meaning of the first" (p. 47). In
213
addition, contrastive analysis, at a global level, "leads the translator to look at broader
issues such as whether the structure of the discourse for a given text-type is the same in
Furthermore, Hoey & Houghton (2001) indicate that there is a bidirectional relationship
between contrastive analysis and translation in that the latter may provide the data for the
translation" (p. 49). They exemplify the first relationship in the works of Gleason (1965),
Krzeszowski (1990), and James (1980), and illustrate the second relationship in the works
of Nida (1964), Beekman and Callow (1974), Yebra (1982), Enkvist (1978) and Baker
(1992).
Following Catford (1965) and James (1980), Chakhachiro (1997) indicates that
contrastive analysis
Chesterman (1998), however, argues that although translation theory and contrastive
developments in one field are overlooked in the other, and that both would benefit from
each other's insights" (p. 6). Moreover, he indicates that "[b]oth translation theorists and
contrastivists have expanded their focus of attention towards each other, and some
scholars have openly sought to establish conceptual bridges between the two disciplines"
(pp. 27-28).
214
Hoey and Houghton (2001, p. 47) consider that a number of theoretical and practical
problems do occur in the course of application of contrastive analysis. Such problems are
sociocultural factors, and taking into account of extratextual and intertextual factors" (p.
47).
It is common knowledge that there are a variety of contrastive analysis models proposed
and applied to translation studies. The origin of the methodological diversity, according to
equivalence.
Along these lines and in order to determine the linguistic contrastive analysis model
best relevant to the topic at hand, I am going to conduct a short review on the main and
influential approaches of contrastive analysis. The aim here is to provide a clear picture
Mason (2001) sketches the stands of thinking that influenced the perspective of
translation in three main stands: 1) the functionalist views of the British tradition in
theory. The first stand, Mason points out, is represented by the works of Firth, Catford,
Gregory, Halliday and others. The second was "developed originally by Dell Hymes in
response to Chomskyan view of language competence" (p. 29). The third is represented
by the works of Karl Buhler and Reiss and Vermeer (p. 29).
the linguistic theories from which models of translation may be derived – the functional
standpoint that concerns the relationship among the writer, the text and the real world –
and the neo-Cartesian standpoint that is concerned with mental processes" (p. 158).
More about such stands of thinking and linguists standpoints is outlined in what
follows.
Evaluation, House (2001) reports on the main three approaches to translation quality
Approaches). House (2001) makes the point that "translation is essentially an operation
[therefore] one can distinguish at least three different views of meaning, each of which
proceeding to present her own approach, House (2001) elaborates briefly on each of the
abovementioned approaches, rejecting, as a result, the first two of them and going
strongly for the third. Her argument, for and against, was driven by the following facts:
1) the "Mentalists Views" are very much subjective and intuitive and their "relativising
inappropriate for the evaluation business of making argued statements about when, how
and why a translation is good" (p. 244); 2) the "Behavioristic Views", which are
associated with Nida's (1964) pioneering work", cannot be postulated as criteria for
translation evaluation since by no means the views can be measured (p. 244); 3) the
that "[...] any translation is simultaneously bound to its source text and to the
presuppositions and conditions governing its reception in the new environment", while
this theory gives rise to the purpose "Skopos" of a translation as a yardstick in the
Translation Studies", as well, fail to provide criteria for judging merits and weaknesses.
As how can one judge "whether one text is a translation and another one not? And what
are the criteria for judging merits and weaknesses of a given 'translation text'?" (p. 246);
217
the plausible wondering of "how one can ever differentiate between a translation and
any other text that may result from a textual operation which can no longer claim to be a
translation relationship with an original text" (p. 246); and 6) the "Linguistically-
oriented Approaches", which date back to the pioneering works of Catford (1965)2,
Reiss (1971)3, Wilss (1974)4 among others, and the scope of which has been widened
by such scholars as Baker (1992), Doherty (1993)5, Hatim and Mason (1997), Hickey
(1998)6 and others, are the most promising approaches, since they "take the relationship
between source and translation text seriously". The most promising ones are those
"which explicitly take account of the interconnectedness of context and text because the
inextricable link between language and the real world is both definitive in meaning and
which she developed more than 30 years ago and revised in 1981 and 1997. The model
is
"related to the preservation of 'meaning' across two different languages and cultures" (p.
2
Cited in House (2001)
3
Cited in House (2001)
4
Cited in House (2001)
5
Cited in House (2001)
6
Cited in House (2001)
218
247). Moreover, she asserts that the concept of functional-pragmatic equivalence has
been accepted in contrastive linguistics for a long time and it is "the type of equivalence
which is most appropriate for describing relations between original and translation. And
it is this type of equivalence which is used in the functional pragmatic model suggested
As for register, or "context of situation", House (2001) indicates that the broad notion of
"context of situation" has been broken down "into manageable parts, i.e., particular
'Mode' and 'Tenor'" (p. 248) [Emphasis in original]. Where field "captures social
and popular" (p. 248). Whereas tenor "refers to the nature of the participants, the
addresser and the addressees, and the relationship between them in terms of social
power and social distance, as well as degree of emotional charge" (p. 248). In addition,
tenor "captures 'social attitude', i.e., different styles (formal, consultative and informal)"
(p. 247). Mode "refers to both the channel – spoken or written […], and the degree to
which potential or real participation is allowed for between writer and reader" (p. 248).
'Text' and 'context of situation', House (2001) explaines "should not be viewed as
separate entities, rather the context of situation in which the text unfolds is encapsulated
in the text through a systematic relationship between the social environment on the one
hand and the functional organization of language on the other" (p. 248).
219
Moreover, the category of genre, which "enables one to refer any single textual
exemplar to the class of texts with which it shares a common purpose", is useful for the
process of analysis and evaluation because "although Register (Field, Tenor, Mode)
descriptions are useful for accessing the relationship between text and context, they are
2001, p. 248). That is, "[w]hile register captures the connection between texts and their
'microcontext', Genre connects texts with the 'macrocontext' of the linguistic and
Such a model, as it has been previously stated, is a revised version of House's model
proposed in her doctoral dissertation (1977) titled A Model for Translation Quality
Assessment. Given the importance of this model in both theory and practice of
'meaning' across two different languages" (p. 25). Hence, she asserts that the concept of
textual aspect. The semantic aspect of meaning is the referential one, which "consists of
symbols to their referents in some possible world" (p. 25). This aspect of meaning is,
for House (1977), "(a) most readily accessible, and for which (b) equivalence in
translation can most easily be seen to be present or absent" (p. 26). The pragmatic
units and the user(s) of these units in a given communicative situation" (House, 1977, p.
220
27). It is this distinction which underlies the theory of speech acts introduced by Austin
(1962) and Searle (1969) where pragmatic meaning is "referred to as the illocutionary
force that an utterance is said to have, i.e. the particular use of an expression on a
As for the third aspect of meaning, textual aspect, House (1977) indicates that since
account for the textual meaning, such as: occurrences of pro-forms, substitutions, co-
references, ellipses and anaphora, have to be kept equivalent in translation (pp. 28-29).
With the above three aspects of meaning in mind, House (1977) asserts that "an
first requirement for semantic-pragmatic equivalence we posit that the translation text
have a function equivalent to that of its source text" (p. 30) [Emphasis in original].
In order to sharpen her own notion of function, House (1977) reviews different views of
the function of language proposed by such scholars as Ogden and Richards (1946)7,
Karl Buhler (1965)8, Jakobson (1960)9 and Halliday (1970 a, 1970 b, 1971, 1973)10.
Having done this, she adopts Halliday's terms of function, i.e. ideational and
interpersonal, to refer to the traditional dichotomy of the two types of functions. The
first term, ideational function, refers to the referential functional component, or content-
oriented function, where, following Halliday, "language expresses content: the speaker's
vision of the external world as well as the experience of the internal world of his own
consciousness" (House, 1977, p. 34). The second term, interpersonal function, refers to
7
Cited in House (1977)
8
Cited in House (1977)
9
Cited in House (1977)
10
Cited in House (1977)
221
conveying the speaker's relationship with interlocutor(s), and for expressing social roles
34).
House (1977) uses these two types of function for choosing and grouping her sample
texts and "for labeling the two components of the textual function discovered in the
individual texts" (p. 37). Under the ideational function category she groups the
following texts: scientific text, commercial text, journalistic article and tourist
information booklet, while under the interpersonal function category she groups the
following texts: religious sermon, political speech, moral anecdote and comedy
dialogue.
Function of a text, as defined by House (1977), is "the application […] or use which the
text has in the particular context of a situation. [Therefore,] in order to characterize the
function of a text precisely, we must analyze the text in detail" (p. 37).
In her endeavour to provide "explicit practical guidelines for a coherent analysis and
evaluation of a translation", House (1977) developed this model as an eclectic one "for
source and translation texts, and making objective statement about the relative match of
the two texts" (p. 2). The model is essentially based on such pragmatic theories of
language use as speech act theory, functional and contextual views of language, and text
linguistics confederations (p. 3). The basic requirement for equivalence of a given
source text and its translation text, according to House (1977), is that the latter "should
222
have a function – consisting of two functional components, the ideational and the
[Translation Text] should employ equivalent pragmatic means for achieving that
In order to determine the function of a text, House adapts the model of Crystal and
Davy (1969)11 "situational constraints", and breaks down the notion of situation into
eight manageable elements, calling them "situational dimensions". Such dimensions are
parameters: Geographical Origin, Social Class and Time; and 2) dimension of language
Relationship, Social Attitude and Province. House establishes some linguistic correlates
She, as well, employs the distinctions between different combinations of spoken and
written modes suggested by Gregory (1967)12. In such a distinction, the written mode
not necessarily to be spoken. The last category has a subcategory which is "to be read as
House's method of operation of the model starts with depicting a textual profile for
characterise its function. The resultant textual profile of source text is taken as a
yardstick against which translation text is measured to depict its own textual profile.
11
Cited in House (1977)
12
Cited in House (1977)
223
The two resultant textual profiles, source text and its translation text profiles, which
characterise their function, are compared to explore the matches and mismatches
between them, and to provide a statement of the relative match of the ideational and
interpersonal function.
Further, House (1977) makes a distinction between two types of mismatches or errors,
"covertly erroneous errors" and "overtly erroneous errors". By the former she means the
dimensional mismatches, i.e. the mismatch of any one of the situational dimensions,
and by the latter she means the non-dimensional mismatches which comprise "both
It is quite useful, however, to end this subsection with the following remark made by
It is plausible to declare here that there are many relevant elements in this model to the
situation (situational dimensions), and speech acts. Relevant to my study, as well, is the
distinction made by House (1977, pp. 56-57) between the two types of errors, namely:
In his book Contrastive analysis, James (1980) distinguishes between two approaches
which was adopted by a great deal of modern 20th century linguists and contrastivists,
aims at "the description of the linguistic code, without making reference to the uses to
which the code is put, or how messages carried by this code are modified by the context
in which they occur" (p. 27). The latter, however, which has been attracting an
interpretation" (p. 27). These two approaches have been ably outlined in length by
James (1980) as to how to make use of them to execute contrastive analysis. His
3.4.2.1 Microlinguistics
This approach, also named by James as 'code–oriented', can be conducted on the three
levels of language, i.e. phonology, lexis, and grammar, by employing the two principal
The main concern of linguists using this approach is the formal system of language,
which has been given different labels by different scholars. Saussure calls it 'langue',
linguistics' (p. 98). Language, in the view of such linguists, is "self–contained calculus,
a mechanism for the production of sentences" (p. 98). Yet, this view of language "has
logic, which are likewise concerned with abstract formal system" (p. 98). Moreover,
225
such linguists claim that in order to obtain the code underlying a language one has to
complicating factors (p. 98). Such a disregarding process has been called by James,
following Lyons (1972)13, the "idealisation of data", which in turn can be conducted in
three distinct ways: 1) Regularisation, where such thing as false starts, hesitations,
backtracking, mixed constructions and others, which occur in spontaneous speech, have
to be "regularised out of the data for linguistic analysis" (p. 98). James quoted
conditions as memory limitations, distraction, shift of attention and interest" (p. 89); 2)
Standardisation, which is of two senses: "the selection of the Standard dialect for
description" and "the homogeneity of the data: since the task of linguistic description
would be complicated by having to cope with data taken from speakers with mixture of
regional or social backgrounds, informants are selected who speak the same, standard,
variety" (p. 99); and 3) Decontextualisation, which in turn can be done by two ways:
"either by [a sentence] being removed from the company of the sentences that precede
or follow it in a text (its context), or by being separated off from the real–world
3.4.2.2 Macrolinguistics
James (1980) indicates that this approach "represents a relatively new departure in 'pure'
and Applied Linguistics, and offers considerable scope for new work in CA
[Contrastive Analysis]" (p. 61). Unlike the goal of microlinguistics, which is "to specify
the universal and particular properties of human languages" (p. 100), the goal of
13
Cited in James (1980)
14
Cited in James (1980)
226
(Yngve, 1975 as cited in James, 1980, p. 100). Hence, "[a]ttention has shifted from the
constraints are "socio–cultural variables that in part determine the form of successful
particular speech event" (p. 100). They are: 1) Setting, i.e. time and place of speech; 2)
Participant, i.e. addressor, speaker, addressee and audience; 3) Purpose, i.e. persuasion,
command, advice, greeting, or even phatic communion; 4) Key, i.e. tone, manner or
spirit in which a speech act may be carried out; 5) Content, i.e. the topic; and 6)
Channel, i.e. speech and writing. James put the six variables in this simple formula:
"who says what to whom, where and when, how and why" [Emphasis in original] (pp.
100-101).
Such a broadening of scope, according to James, is "aimed at, both 'vertically' in terms
102). There are two ways by which such a broadening scope is achieved: 1) Text
analysis, which focuses "on the formal level and addresses the question of how
227
sentences are organized into larger, suprasentential units or texts; 2) Discourse analysis,
which is "the functional one, and looks at the ways in which people put language to
use" (p. 102) [Emphasis in original]. Text analysis, James elaborates, "starts with
linguistic forms and asks in which contexts they are appropriate", while discourse
analysis starts “with the outer frame of situations and working inwards to find the
formal linguistic correlates to the situational variables" (p. 102). Moreover, James links
this distinction to that sketched by Widdowson (1978)15 between usage and use, where
the former is related to form and the later to function (p. 102). Therefore, formal
devices such as: grammatical, lexical or intonational, which "signal the exact nature of
Perspective", which means that such successive sentences must be informative, i.e.
presenting 'new' information, and relevant, i.e. associating this 'new' information with
the 'given' one (p. 109). In addition, James (1980) suggests three approaches by which
Discourse analysis, on the other hand, has very much to do with functionality of
language. It addresses the issue of use rather than usage or form in order to answer such
questions as: "what is the speaker (or writer) hoping to achieve? And what does he in
In his attempt to account for the area of discourse analysis comprehensively, James
(1980) sheds light on it from different perspectives. He ably outlines the crucial notions
15
Cited in James (1980)
228
linguistics. In so doing, James draws on Austin's (1962)16 Speech Acts Theory, Grice's
"highly theoretical and offers few practical examples for translation" (p. 104), it is,
however, an ambitious one "for translation problems that arise in any natural language
text type, particularly those texts that are ambiguous or have double meanings" (p. 104).
more relevant to the issue of analysing and translating IEPVs into Arabic. This is
mainly due the fact that syntactic and lexical properties of IEPVs (their codes) by
themselves, as presented in the previous Chapter (see 2.4 above), are not enough to
account for their functional meaning and, in turn, determine their Arabic functional-
Before proceeding to set up a linguistic contrastive analysis model for the analysis and
translation of IEPVs into Arabic, it is quite significant to consider the crucial and
16
Cited in James (1980)
17
Cited in James (1980)
18
Cited in James (1980)
19
Cited in James (1980)
229
3.4.3 Equivalence
controversial one" (Kenny, 2001, p. 77). Theorists differ, Kenny (2001) elaborates, to a
great extent, as to how to approach the question of equivalence, in that some of them
(such as: Catford, 1965; Nida & Taber, 1969; Toury, 1980; Pym, 1992a 1995; Koller,
1995)20 "defined translation in terms of equivalence relations" (p. 77). Whereas others
(such as: Snell-Hornby, 1988; Gentzler, 1993)21 "reject the theoretical notion of
(p. 77). Other theorists (such as: Baker, 1992) "steer a middle course" and use
equivalence as "a useful category for describing translations" (Kenny, 2001, p. 77).
Moreover, House (2001, p. 247) points out that "[o]ver and above its role as a concept
quality". And translation for her is "[…] viewed as the recontextualization of a text in L1
Equivalence has been defined as "the relationship between a source text (ST) and a target
text (TT) that allows the TT to be considered as a translation of the ST in the first place"
argues, has traditionally emerged from the notion of 'similarity' and gained "a wide
variety of interpretations in these two fields" (p. 16). In his attempt to examine such
20
Cited in Kenny (2001)
21
Cited in Kenny (2001)
230
interpretations, on the one hand, and assess the extent to which they may overlap on the
other, he explores the concept of equivalence in both translation theory and contrastive
equivalence in translation theory, namely: the equative view, the taxonomic view, and the
Following Kelly (1979)22 and Rener (1989)23, he considers the equative view as the oldest
As for the second approach, i.e. the taxonomic view, Chesterman (1998) explores the
taxonomies of Nida (1964), Catford (1965) and Koller (1979) to illustrate the crux of this
approach, which is "equivalence is not a unitary concept but consists of several types.
kinds of texts. […] the concept of equivalence is argued to be context-sensitive" (p. 21).
equivalence is of two distinct types: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. "[t]he
binary division here is between the form-and-meaning of a message on the one hand, and
the effect of a message on the other" (p. 21). Translators are urged by Nida to "give a
higher priority to dynamic equivalence, so that the target text would have the same effect
on its readers as the source text did on the original readers" (p. 21). Further, by
22
Cited in Chesterrman (1998)
23
Cited in Chesterrman (1998)
231
emphasizing the factor of naturalness in the target text, Chesterman (1998) elaborates,
them; semiotically, this meant a shift towards pragmatics, towards users and interpreters
of signs" (p. 21). Or, as Hatim and Mason (1990) put it, "Nida shifts attention away from
sterile debate of free versus literal towards the effects of different translation strategies"
(p. 7).
Catford's taxonomy of equivalence, on the other hand, is far much different. It is framed
by Chesterman (1998) as follows: "[w]e have three potential kinds of equivalence: formal
impossible; and situational equivalence, which is the basis for translation" (p. 22). Hatim
(2001) makes the point that "Equivalence [in Catford's taxonomy] is taken to be the base
on which source language (SL) textual material is replaced by target language (TL)
Yet, Chesterman (1998) criticizes the abovemantioned taxonomic approach, claiming that
dynamic/pragmatic equivalence of effect "it is not clear whether 'effect' can be defined and
232
measured at all, let alone how this might be done; nor is it clear whether we can determine
the recipients on whom some effect might be measured; or what the relation should be
between actual effect and another's intended effect; and so on" (p. 23) [Emphasis in
original].
Along these lines, Fawcett (2001) criticizes the theory of dynamic equivalence introduced
focusing the translation process on the target-text receiver, who differs from the source-text
receiver in language, culture, world knowledge and text expectations in the same way that a
northern blue collar worker differs from a southern stockbroker compatriot" (p. 121).
Moving on to the third approach, i.e. the relativist view, Chesterman (1998) indicates that
the idea of identity assumption have been rejected altogether along with the concept of
Snell-Hornby (1988), for instance, equivalence is no more than an illusion" (p. 24).
with the fact that there is a similarity between Krzeszowski's kinds of equivalence and
those of translation theory, and both fields (contrastive analysis and translation theory)
"are talking about the same phenomena in different words" (p. 37).
24
Cited in Chesterrman (1998)
233
is an exception, often […] impossible" (p. 57). Such a conclusion echoes that of Ivir
(1996) who considers equivalence as a "relative and not absolute, […] it emerges from
the context of situation as defined by the interplay of (many different factors) and has no
algorithm for the conversion of linguistic units of L1 into linguistic units of L2". (Ivir,
by House (1977, 1981, 1997 and 2001), which has very much in common with Nida's
(1964) dynamic equivalence and Koller's (1979) fourth type of equivalence, i.e. pragmatic
equivalence.
This theory was initially developed in the late 1960s by a number of researchers of the
Paris School who were studying "conference interpreting in real situations, with
neuropsychology and linguistics, the Paris School scholars concentrate on the process
linguistic or verbal meaning – and the nature of ambiguities" (Salama-Carr, 2001, pp.
scholar of the Paris School. Other scholars, however, include M. Lederer, F. Herbulot,
where the former means "what the writer or speaker intends to say or mean" (Salama-
Carr, 2001, p. 113), while the later means "what is actually said or written" (Salama-
Carr, 2001, p. 113). Having said that, the full understanding of sense "depends on the
which the confrontation between text and cognitive structures does not lead to the
structures in this respect include both cognitive baggage and cognitive context, i.e. "real
word knowledge, […] and the knowledge acquired through the specific and immediate
Ambiguity, according to this theory, means "a direct result of lack of relevant cognitive
25
Cited in Salama-Carr (2001)
235
A more detailed version of this approach was developed by the Canadian scholar Jean
Delsile (1980, 1988 and 1993)26, who "focuses on the intellectual process involved in
translation, the cognitive process of interlingual transfer, and stresses of the non-verbal
Carr, 2001, p. 113). The first stage of translation, according to Delsile, "requires
decoding the source-text linguistic signs with reference to the language system […] and
which it is embedded" (Salama-Carr, 2001, p. 113). Whereas the second stage "involves
reverbalizing the concepts of the source utterance by means of the signifiers of another
language" (Salama-Carr, 2001, p. 113). While the third stage of translation "can be
qualitative analysis of selected solutions and equivalents. Its purpose is to confirm the
What makes this theory so relevant to the topic of translating IEPVs into Arabic is the
fact that it is the 'non-verbal sense', not the mere linguistic meaning, of any given IEPV
Targeting the 'non-verbal sense' will be considered as a key factor when analysing the
data, which will be collected from the subjects of this study to assess the quality of their
translation. This is driven by the fact that the abovementioned polysemous nature of
IEPVs along with their informal use in every day English renders their linguistic
26
Cited in Salama-Carr (2001)
236
meaning redundant. Non-verbal sense is, then, deemed appropriate for the discussion of
complex expressions.
translators have to appreciate what a given speaker/writer intends to say rather than
In analysing the data of this study, targeting the mere linguistic meaning by subjects
This theory was first introduced by Austin (1962) in his book How to do Things with
Words and developed by Searle (1969) in his book Speech Acts: An Essay in the
Philosophy of Language. Austin (1975) defines speech acts as "[…] the total situation in
which the utterance is issued" (p. 52). He distinguishes between two types of utterances,
namely: constative and performative utterances. The constative utterances are statements
that may be judged true or false (p. 3), while the performative utterances, on the contrary,
cannot be judged true or false (pp. 4-7). He recapitulates that most utterances are
performative in nature, that is, "[…] the issuing of the utterances is the performing of an
action – it is not normally thought of as just saying something" (pp. 6-7), hence, "[…] in
saying something, we do something" (p. 91). In addition, Austin characterises three acts
of statements: 1) locutionary acts, which denote the act of doing something in the "full
237
normal sense" (p. 94). In other words, it is "roughly equivalent to uttering a certain
sentence with a certain sense and reference, which again is roughly equivalent to
‘meaning´ in the traditional sense" (p. 109); 2) illocutionary acts, which signify "[…]
warning, undertaking, & c., i.e. utterances which have a certain (conventional) force" (p.
109); and 3) perlocutionary acts, which indicates "what we bring about or achieve by
saying something, such as convincing, persuading, deterring, and even, say, surprising or
Further, Hatim (2001) defines speech acts as "the acts we perform when, for example, we
make a complaint or a request, apologize or pay someone a compliment" (p. 179). Speech
acts, on the other hand, vary as to frequency from one culture to another, yet the
"common ones will include ask, refuse, praise, describe, excuse, [and] explain while rarer
ones are commiserate, condemn, [and] blaspheme" (James, 1980, p. 119) [Emphasis in
original].
Following Searle, Bell (1991) indicates that speech acts consist of two parts, being:
(a) Propositional content: the conceptual content; the nucleus; what the act is
about; what is referred to; the ideational macrofunction realized as a
preposition; the literal meaning (also locutionary act/meaning); the semantic
sense of the act.
(b) Illocutionary force: the communicative value the speaker intends the act to
have; the function it is intended to serve; the intentionality of the text.
Mirroring this there is, inevitably, the value the hearer puts on the act; the
perlocutionary force; part of the acceptability of the text (p. 174) [Emphasis in
original].
Thus, "a speech act is a combination of three simultaneous acts: a locutionary act,
which is the utterance itself, an illocutionary act, which is the communicative act, the
238
intended meaning behind the utterance, and the perlocutionary act, which is the reaction
Speech acts theory "was developed primarily for the analysis of spoken language"
(Fawcett, 2001, p. 124), and then became "the central focus of pragmatic analysis"
(Hale, 1996, p. 62). Hatim (2001) indicates that "[t]he pragmatic analysis of speech acts
sees all utterances in terms of the dual functions of 'stating' and 'doing things', of having
a meaning and a force" (p. 179). Along these lines, Austin's (1962) three aspects of
from the propositional content, i.e. the semantic information that an utterance contains"
(p. 27) [Emphasis in original]. Such grammatical features as word order, mood of the
verb, stress, intonation, or the presence of performative verbs, may often indicate the
illocutionary force of an utterance. Yet "[i]n actual speech situation, it is, however, the
context which makes unambiguously clear what the illocutionary force of an utterance
importance for translation, since it is concerned with instances of acts of speech (House,
In effect, translation operates not with sentences but with utterances, i.e. units
of discourse characterized by their use-value in communication. In translation,
it is always necessary to aim at equivalence of pragmatic meaning, if
necessary at the expense of semantic equivalence. Pragmatic meaning thus
overrides semantic meaning. We may therefore consider a translation to be
239
Hence, translating an utterance literally means matching the locutionary act only, but not
The notion of speech acts is, to a great extent, relevant to the issue of translating IEPVs
into Arabic. The relevance of the notion is threefold: 1) the common use of IEPVs is
more prevalent in spoken English, which entails employing them in many different kinds
of speech acts. The fact remains, however, that written and spoken forms of IEPVs have
illocutionary/pragmatic meanings when IEPVs are translated into Arabic would result in
providing unintended meanings of given utterances; and 3) Bearing in mind that many
IEPVs are polysemous in nature, in that they may occur in many different meanings
according to the contexts in which they are used (see 2.5.2 and 2.8.2 above).
It may well be useful to say, at this point, that the notion of 'conversational maxims',
also known as the 'co-operative principles', is quite pertinent to the theory of speech acts
These maxims were first proposed by Grice (1967) (James 1980, p. 128; Bell 1991, p.
What makes these maxims so important and different from, say, grammatical rules,
according to James (1980), is that speakers almost always flout them and intend hearers
to notice flouts and draw conclusions. Thus, "[w]hen hearers notice these infringements
they continue to assume that the speaker is making infringements for a good reason.
[Emphasis in original]. Hence, the concept of implicature, Fawcett (2001) writes, "is
based on the assumption that conversation is guided by a set of principles such as: be
polite, do not say more or less than you have to, and so on. When one of the principles
Fawcett (2001), should constitute part of the translator's competence since "[…]
different languages will apply the principles in different ways in different situations" (p.
124).
relevant to the topic at hand is that they assist in the reception of idiomaticity of IEPVs.
Such a notion will be considered when the responses of the subjects of the study will be
according to their stylistic, idiomatic, cultural and linguistic norm. IEPVs have double
words, they have direct and indirect meanings. Violation of maxims is about
given EPV if they are to achieve its functional-pragmatic equivalence. To take only one
example, the IEPV to sex up violates two maxims, namely, the maxim of quantity, as
the speaker/writer is not making their contribution as informative as required, and the
maxim of relevance. Hence this newly coined IEPV, which emerged in the 1990s in the
context of the war on Iraq and political corruption, implies a journalistic criticism
Iraq. Therefore, delivering its literal/direct meaning in translation will not convey the
the translator as a social being and considers his/her competence as a receiver and
Hymes (1971) defines the communicative competence as: "the knowledge and ability
discourse – which are not only (and not necessarily) grammatical but … socially
Such a knowledge has been divided by Johnson and Whitlock (1987) into five distinct
kinds, namely: "target language (TL) knowledge; text-type knowledge; source language
(SL) knowledge; subject area ('real-world') knowledge; and contrastive knowledge" (p.
Bell (1991, p. 36) adds to the above "the decoding skills of reading and encoding skills
of writing". Further, Bell (1991) makes the point that translators must know three
things:
(a) how propositions are structured (semantic knowledge), (b) how clauses can
be synthesized to carry propositional content and analysed to retrieve the
content embedded in them (syntactic knowledge), and (c) how the clause can
be realized as information-bearing text and the text decomposed into the
clause (pragmatic knowledge). Lack of knowledge or control in any of the
three cases would mean that the translator could not translate (pp. 36-37).
On the other hand, Canale (1983 as cited in Mason, 2001, p. 31) proposes four-part
The first one means "knowledge of the rules of the code, including vocabulary and
entails, in the translator's case "passive command of one and active command of
another language system, in the sense of possessing the knowledge and skill required
to understand and express accurately the literal meaning of utterances" (Mason, 2001,
p. 31). The second classification means "knowledge of and ability to produce and
cohesive and coherent text in different genres and discourses" (Mason, 2001, p. 31)
(cf. Bell, 1991; Hatim & Mason, 1990). Whereas the strategic competence means "the
Bell (1991) asserts that "the translator must possess linguistic competence in both
original].
243
Using such proposals about translator competence has constituted the foundation
stone upon which Bell (1991) developed his model of translation (Campbell, 1998, p.
4).
addressed. In spite of the fact that the textual product is the core and the key feature of
Along these lines, translation competence as it has been characterised by Bell (1991)
"is variable from individual to individual and is, in principle at least, measurable
Having outlined the major influential approaches of contrastive analysis along with
analysis model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic.
The aim of proposing the model is driven by three reasons: 1) to furnish a theoretical
foundation and set the ground for what is to follow; 2) to establish criteria upon which
the forthcoming translation tests can be devised; and 3) to create a yardstick by which
the quality of the translation of the subjects can be analysed, compared, measured and
evaluated.
Given the fact that "[…] models are complementary and often overlap and conflict"
(Hermans, 2001, p. 155), and the fact that any linguistic model has to be built on
existing models and theories (Chakhachiro, 1997, p. 113), in what follows, I will
and theories highlighting elements and parameters which are relevant to my topic.
To begin with, it is plausible to announce that there is, for the best of my knowledge
and research, no linguistic model that has been proposed so far for the analysis and
translation of IEPVs into Arabic. Given this, I am trying to devise a generic approach
in order to uncover those notions that may be used as a model for analysing and
analysis and also into the translation of IEPVs into Arabic, and in turn to look into a
model that can be used for both. Yet, it is quite important to indicate here that due to
the fact that IEPVs, as it has been proven in Chapter Two, are highly productive in
245
nature and a tremendous number of them have been already established and stated in
I strongly agree with Fawcett (2001) on his claim that "[w]ord and phrase level
taxonomies, even where they are context-sensitive, are inadequate for dealing with all
the problems faced by translators" (p. 123). Hence, the scope of analysis has been
broadened by such researchers as Hatim and Mason (1990, 1997), Bell (1991) and
Baker (1992) to comprise "the TEXT LINGUISTICS level of register analysis (tenor,
and PRAGMATIC analysis (speech acts, Gricean principles, language and text
Discourse analysis, according to Hatim (2001), has been used in different ways to
indicate that it means different things to different people since it was first introduced
by Zelling Harris in 1952. But "the study of language beyond the level of the sentence
may in fact be just about the only thing that unites a broad array of disparate
approaches" (p. 67). Campbell (1998), however, indicates that text linguistics,
discourse analysis and the study of genre are, in fact, all the same in the sense that
With this point in mind, my model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into
Arabic will draw on the following pertinent and relevant parameters: context of
situation/register (field, mode and tenor); speech acts (locutionary and illocutionary
As a result of the above review of models and notions, one can come up with a
conclusion that most of the relevant parameters and pertinent elements to the topic at
hand are covered in House's A model for Translation Quality Assessment (1977, 1981,
1997, and 2001). House's model is quite comprehensive in the sense that it brings
together the most appropriate notions to my topic, i.e. macrolinguistics (text and
pragmatics, overtly erroneous errors, covertly erroneous errors, and above all the
Therefore, the model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic will be
mainly based on House's model, but it will also draw on the theory of communicative
Functional-
pragmatic
equivalence
Covertly/overtly
erroneous errors
Translation
communicative
competence
Figure 3.1 A model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic
My main concern in this model is to see whether or not the Arabic functional-pragmatic
in a certain type of contextual situation, will be scrutinized from two perspectives. Such
situation/register (mode, field and tenor) and speech acts (locutionary, illocutionary and
perlocutionary acts). As far as the first parameter (register) is concerned, IEPVs cannot
be understood, analysed and translated without taking into account their context of
situation or, to use House's term, situational dimensions. The issue of formality and
248
informality of IEPVs constitutes the cornerstone in this regard. As has been previously
pointed out in Chapter Two, IEPVs are mainly used informally in everyday spoken
English. But they also appear in formal documents and used formally in such contexts
as politics, academic, religion, legal, and literature (see 2.5.5 above). Therefore, such
register variations need to be kept in check when translating IEPVs into Arabic.
With regard to the second parameter (speech acts), as it has been outlined above (see
3.4.4), the polysemous nature of IEPVs and their typical use in everyday spoken
equivalents.
by House (1977, 1981, 1997 and 2001), mismatches or errors made by the subjects of
the study will be divided into two types: overtly and covertly erroneous errors. Such a
process of division will help not only in pinpointing the reasons behind the translational
competence from their performance, so as to highlight the areas in which they have a
shortage of knowledge and/or skill. Furthermore, I believe that, in order to deliver the
attention to these two types of errors in order to avoid them. While covertly erroneous
errors are typically caused by the dimensional mismatches, i.e. the failure to take such
parameters as mode, field, tenor and illocutionary act into consideration when
translating IEPVs into Arabic, the idiomaticity of EPVs plays a significant role in
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making the overtly erroneous errors. Such an idiomatic nature makes it hard for
Finally, with regard to the last component of the model, i.e. translation communicative
will exploit this component as a final goal to compare the inputs of the subjects of the
study (Arabic professional translators and Arab students of translation). As it has been
diagrammatically placed in the above model, all the relevant parameters have to be
taken into account when examining the translation communicative competence of the
subject, since all of such parameters have something to do with the translator's
knowledge, ability and awareness in that missing or ignoring any parameter would
mean a given subject has no, or a shortage of, theoretical/practical knowledge, and
3.6 Conclusion
This Chapter was primarily intended to serve as a link between the previous theoretical
part of the thesis and the forthcoming practical part of it. In order to establish a theoretical
ground for the empirical research, a review of the main and influential approaches of
contrastive analysis was conducted. Then a scientific and workable model for analysis
and translation of IEPVs into Arabic was devised. The model is designed to be used as a
yardstick against which the adequacy and inadequacy of the translation of the subjects of
experimental part of the study. The next Chapter, however, will be devoted to the research
methodology of the study, where such points as research questions, research design, and
CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction
As it has been previously mentioned, the primary objective of this study is to investigate
recommendations based on the results of the study. In the present Chapter the
elaborating on the research design, participants, data collection and data analysis.
The previous theoretical part of the thesis was dedicated to answer the following
significant questions:
1) What is the notion of idioms and idiomaticity in both English and Arabic?
4) What are the similarities and dissimilarities between idiomatic PVs in English
and Arabic?
their general and specialized dictionaries? And what are the gaps that need to be
7) To what extent the methods and materials employed by English and Arabic
pedagogues can help in solving the learning, teaching and translating difficulties
of IEPVs? And what are the gaps that need to be bridged in this difficult area of
pedagogy?
8) How has the phenomenon of IEPVs been dealt with in translation studies?
In the following practical part of this study, however, translation tests were carried out to
pinpoint the translational errors made by Arabic professional translators and Arabic
translation students, and to identify the types of difficulties they encountered when
The translation tests were designed to address the following pertinent pragmatic, semantic
IEPVs?
2) To what extent does the issue of complex idioms pose a difficulty for
them pop up on a regular basis. Such newly coined PVs are occasionally
emerging in both written and spoken modes of the English language where there
are no readily Arabic equivalents for them. Hence, how did the Arabic subjects
the two groups of Arabic subjects: The professional Arabic translators and
Arabic translation students? If so, what are the major areas in which their
competence varies?
4.3 Participants
The translation tests were distributed to two groups of participants, namely: Arabic
Twelve Arabic professional translators responded to the translation tests. For the sake of
confidentiality, the participants were given code numbers (P1, P2, P3, etc.) to refer to
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them throughout the study. Six (50%) of the professional subjects were females while the
other six (50%) were males. The professional subjects were aged between 33 and 67
years, and their period of living in Australia varied between 4 months and 36 years. Ten
Authority for Translators and Interpreters) level three, while the other two (16.6%) had
their accreditations from overseas (one from Iraq and the other one from Morocco). All
professional subjects (100%) participated in this study use Arabic as a language spoken at
home. All of them (100%) have academic qualifications in translation and/or interpreting,
two (16.6%) have BAs in translation and interpreting, two (16.6%) have Graduate
Diplomas in translation and interpreting, five (41.6%) have MAs in translation and
interpreting, one (8.3%) has an MA in translation and linguistics and two (16.6%) have
experience in the field of translation. Table 4.1 below outlines their experience:
From the above Table and the academic qualifications details previously sketched out one
can say that Arabic professional translators participated in the study have the relevant
academic qualifications along with good translation practical experience. All of them are
well qualified, accredited, and have actively worked in the field of translation for at least
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four years. In other words, they have the required theoretical knowledge and practical
Twelve Arabic translation students in the College of Arts, School of Humanities and
Languages at the University of Western Sydney responded to the translation tests. Half of
them (50%) were undergraduate students doing the BA in translation and interpreting
programs (two (16.6%) in year one, two (16.6%) in year two and two (16.6%) in year
three). The other half (50%) of the Arabic translation students were postgraduate students.
Two (16.6%) of them were doing Graduate diploma in translation and interpreting, two
(16.6%) were doing MA in translation and interpreting and two (16.6%) were doing PhD
Six (50%) of the Arabic translation students subjects were females while the other six
The Arabic translation students were aged between 19 and 40 years, and their period of
living in Australia varied between 7 months and 17 years. Most of the Arabic translation
students (91.6%) that participated in this study use Arabic as a language spoken at home.
One (8.3%) subject only mixes Arabic with Turkish at home. All of the postgraduate
students (50%) have academic qualifications. Two (16.6%) have MA in translation and
interpreting. One (8.3%) has MA in applied linguistics, two (16.6%) have BA of Arts,
For the sake of confidentiality participants were given code numbers (S1, S2, S3, etc.) to
The aim of targeting Arabic translation students is to experiment their knowledge and
ability of translating IEPVs into Arabic from their performance by analysing their
responses to the translation tests, and to compare such knowledge and ability with the
professional translators' knowledge and ability. Such a comparison will enable the present
researcher to explore the level of translation communicative competence each group has.
It will also cast light on types of difficulties encountered by each group when handling
translators, lexicographers and pedagogues based on the results of the empirical research.
4. 4 Data collection
4.4.1 Instrument
In order to achieve the principal objectives of this thesis, and to address the crucial
research questions outlined above, translation tests of one hundred items were designed as
A variety of text types has been exploited in these translation tests. The purpose was to
challenge the subjects' abilities in terms of appreciating the register variations and
illocutionary acts when translating IEPVs into Arabic. Short contextual information was
given between square brackets after each item (see Appendix 1). The text types used in
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the translation tests along with the items represent each text type are outlined in the
following Table:
Table 4.2 Text types used in the translation tests and the items representing each type
As it can be noticed in the above Table, the data of the translation tests were taken from
many resources, they include: news articles, editorials, ads, court verdicts and judgments,
news satellite channels, internet web sites, textbooks, brochures, official letters,
Due to the complexity of the topic at hand, and for the sake of reliability and validity of
the empirical instrument, the items of the translation tests were grouped in a way that they
covered all the syntactic and semantic categories of IEPVs to see how each category is
dealt with by each groups of the subject. The categories are: complex idioms, syntactic
forms (verb + adverb, verb + preposition, and verb + adverb + preposition), derivational
forms (adjectives with suffix –en, adjectives without suffix –en, PVs derived from nouns
and nouns derived from PVs) and productive (newly coined) PVs. The categories and
subcategories of IEPVs covered in the translation tests and the items representing each
Since the study is all about translation not interpreting, I advised my subjects to adhere to
acceptable written Arabic and avoid delivering colloquial equivalents for IEPVs itemised
As for Arabic professional translators, a list of their names, addresses and contact details
was made by referring to the translators' directory on the website of NAATI (National
Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters). Initial phone contacts, then,
were made with them to brief them of the main aims of the study and to invite them to
take part in it. The contacted professionals were reassured that their names would not
appear in the study as they would be given code numbers for the sake of confidentiality.
They were also reassured that the information collected from them would be safely stored
at the University of Western Sydney. Such information would not be used by anyone
260
except the investigator and it will be destroyed after five years. In addition, they were
informed that they have the right to withdraw from the test at any time without having to
Interest and willingness were expressed by twelve Arabic professional translators. Copies
of the translation tests were posted to the interested subjects along with postage paid and
With regard to Arabic translation students, subjects from the first group (undergraduate
students) were the researcher's students undertaking the Arabic Advanced Language and
Grammar Unit at the University of Western Sydney. They were approached directly by
the researcher in their class, given a brief account of the study and its main objectives and
invited to participate in it. All their questions were clearly answered. Interest and
willingness were expressed by six of them. Copies of the translation tests were handed to
the interested students along with postage paid and self-addressed envelopes to return the
answered/unanswered materials.
Subjects from the second group (postgraduate students) were the chair supervisor's
translation and interpreting or translation and linguistics programs. The researcher with
the help of the chair supervisor arranged a visit to their class. A quick presentation was
given to highlight the main idea of the study and its primary goals. Interest and
willingness were expressed by four of them. Copies of the translation tests were
distributed to the interested postgraduate students along with postage paid and self-
The other two subjects (PhD students) were the researcher's close friends. They were
approached directly by the researcher, given a brief account of the study and its main
aims and invited to take part in it. All their questions were manifestly answered. Interest
and willingness were expressed by both of them. Copies of the translation tests were
handed out along with postage paid and self-addressed envelopes to return the
answered/unanswered materials.
As was done with the Arabic professional translators, Arabic translation students were
reassured that they would be given code numbers for the sake of confidentiality so that
their names would not appear in the study. The information collected from them would be
safely stored at the University of Western Sydney and would not be used by anyone
except the researcher, who will destroy it after five years. They also were informed that
they have the right to withdraw from the test at any time without having to give the
In order to address the abovementioned research questions, the analysis and translation
model devised in Chapter Three (see 3.5 above) was utilised so as to produce my
To ensure the validity and reliability of my suggested translations, the supervisory panel
of the thesis, who are specialists in the fields of translation, the Arabic language and
linguistics, have carefully checked them and gave me the appropriate feedback as to the
probability of the translations, based on the model discussed and adopted in Chapter
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Three. However, allowance will be given for other possibilities of acceptable translations
Such a model-based translation has been used as a yardstick to measure, analyse and
discuss the answers of the subjects participated in the study. Accordingly, the answers
were categorized as correct and incorrect answers. The incorrect ones (translational
errors) were divided into two types, namely: "overtly erroneous errors" and "covertly
erroneous errors". On the other hand, the correct answers were divided into two types,
being: "very good" and "satisfactory" answers. By "very good" I mean the correct
answers that meet all the criteria previously set up to achieve functional-pragmatic
which may be semantically understood yet they have less currency. In other words, I set
up a model-based scale to determine the level of correctness of each answer. On the one
hand I have "very good" answers, which are current and extremely acceptable
translations of the listed IEPVs, and on the other hand I have "satisfactory" answers,
which are still acceptable and used but not as current as the previous ones. Illustrative
Satisfactory answers also include answers which have been reduced to sense, and, as a
result, lost the required features of the idiomatic expressions. That is, they delivered
meanings but they stopped short from delivering the crucial factor of idiomaticity.
Examples and discussion of such answers will be given in the next Chapter (see
5.3.6.1.3 below).
I have to make a disclaimer here that I also classified as "satisfactory" the answers that
have delivered the correct translation of the listed IEPVs but contained some
grammatical, spelling and even semantic mistakes in the surrounding words i.e. in the
part of the sentence that does not contain the PV. Thus, I accepted them as correct
answers on the basis of the possibility as discussing spelling, grammatical and semantic
mistakes of the surrounding words is not my concern in this study. Examples of such
It is worth mentioning that when a given subject provided more than one answer, I have
endeavoured to choose the correct and the most appropriate one in my data analysis.
competence (knowledge and ability) introduced by Hymes (1971) and improved by such
scholars as Bell (1991) and Campbell (1998). The aim of such a statement is to compare
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the competence of the two groups judged by their performance (their answers) so as to
highlight the areas in which they have a shortage of knowledge and/or ability. This
Finally, taking up the issue of translating IEPVs into Arabic from many perspectives
required me to deal with the data in a qualitative rather than in a quantitative manner. A
In the next Chapter, the results of the translation tests will be collected, classified,
analysed, interpreted and carefully compared against the parameters set up above to
explore the types of difficulties encountered by the Arabic subjects when tackling the
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE TRANSLATION
TESTS
5.1 Introduction
This Chapter is of two distinct sections. The first section is devoted to present a general
overview of the results of the translation tests conducted by the two groups contributed in
the present study: the Arabic professional translators' group and the Arabic translation
students' group.
The second section of this Chapter, however, concerns itself with analysing and
discussing the subjects' performance in light of the second set of the research questions
The results of the translation tests of the two groups involved will be generally presented
in this section. As has been mentioned, the translation tests conducted by the two groups
participated in this study was designed to address the abovementioned seven research
questions. For the tests to be more reliable and valid, the questions were set up in a way
that they covered all the syntactic and semantic categories of EPVs, namely: complex
idioms (henceforth c), syntactic forms (henceforth s), derivational forms (henceforth d)
and productive (newly coined) EPVs (henceforth p). The syntactic forms (s) are of three
subcategories, being: verb + adverb (henceforth sva), verb + preposition (henceforth svp)
266
and verb + adverb + preposition (henceforth svap). The derivational forms (d), in
addition, are of four subcategories, they are: adjectives with suffix –en (henceforth den),
adjectives without suffix –en (henceforth de), PVs derived from nouns (henceforth dpn)
and nouns derived from PVs (henceforth dnp). The categories of IEPVs covered in the
The general overview of results of the translation tests of the two groups involved is
presented below.
Table 5.2 below summarizes the average of the correct answers (i.e. both the very good
and the satisfactory answers) of the Arabic professional translators' group. For full details
see Appendix 4.
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As it is outlined in the above Table, the results of the translation tests showed that the
total average of the correct answers of the Arabic professional translators' group (58%)
was low, which clearly indicates the fact that the IEPVs listed in the translation tests
posed great deal of difficulties to this group of the subjects in that they failed to score a
In order to measure the amount of variation within the answers of participants, standard
deviation statistics have been carried out. Such a means of statistic casts more light on the
subjects' behavior and it will be a quite useful tool in elaborating on the translation
Table 5.3 below summarizes the standard deviation of the Arabic professional translators'
Interestingly, the results of the Arabic professional translators' group showed that the
total standard deviation (0.275812) demonstrates that the amount of variation within the
answers of the subjects of this group was a bit high or at least higher than that of the
Since the principal aim of this study is to investigate the difficulties encountered by
Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students when tackling the
category of the IEPVs poses the Arabic professional translators and the Arabic
translation students participated in the study. In order to do so, I ranked the items
Appendix 5). The aim of conducting such a statistical method is not only to measure the
level of difficulty each category of the tests poses but also to investigate the reasons
behind such difficulties. And, eventually, this method aims to better falicitate
Table 5.4 below outlines the ranking of the categories and subcategories according to
the averages of the correct answers of the Arabic professional translators' group:
Table 5.5 below summarizes the average of the correct answers (i.e. both the very good
and the satisfactory answers) of the Arabic translation students' group. For full details see
Appendix 4.
The results of the translation tests outlined in the above Table showed that the total
average of the correct answers of the Arabic translation students' group (48%) was also
low.
Apart from the average of the correct answers, the statistics of standard deviation of the
Arabic translation students' group are presented in Table 5.3 below. For full details see
Appendix 4.
As it can be observed from the Table above, the amount of variation within the answers
of the subjects of this group was rather low, which demonstrates that they were more
consistent in their answers than the Arabic professional translators' group (see Table 5.3
above).
Table 5.7 below sketches the ranking of the categories and subcategories according to
the averages of the correct answers of the Arabic translation students' group:
Before proceeding to the next section, it is quite fruitful to draw a conclusion here in
terms of the difficulties categories of IEPVs posed to the whole group of subjects
involved in this study (i.e. both the Arabic professional translators' group and the Arabic
Table 5.8 below summarizes the differences of the averages of the correct answers (the
From the abovementioned overview of the results and the differences of the averages of
the correct answers outlined in the Table above one can come up with the following
general findings:
1. Despite the differences between the two groups, the overall performance of the
subjects in general was poor. Such a poor performance demonstrates the fact that the
IEPVs listed in the translation tests posed a great deal of difficulty to both groups of
the subjects.
2. The overall performance of the Arabic professional translators' group, who scored an
average of 58%, is better than that of the Arabic translation students' group, who
scored an average of 48%, with a difference of 10% between the two groups (Table
5.8).
3. The (p) category constituted the most difficult category for both groups (Table 5.8).
4. The (c) category constituted the second hardest category for both groups (Table 5.8).
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5. The (s) category constitutes the easiest category for the Arabic translation students'
group, while the (d) category represents the easiest category for the Arabic
difficulty each category posed, the results revealed that the Arabic professional
translators' group performed much better in all of the categories and most of the
7. With the categories that are easier (s and d), the Arabic professional translators' group
performed much better than the Arabic translation students' group, while in the
categories that are more difficult (p and c) there was no major difference. This seems
their performance only in the more teachable and learnable (s and d) categories, but
not in (p and c) categories where the sense of stylistic competence is required (Table
5.8).
8. The ranking of the subcategories of the (s) and (d) categories, according to their levels
of the difficulty, was not the same for the two groups of the study (Table 5.8).
9. Unlike the Arabic professional translators' group, who found the subcategory (dpn)
the most difficult subcategory of the (d) category (58.33%), the results of the Arabic
translation students' group showed that the subcategory (dnp) was the hardest
10. The (de) subcategory constituted the easiest subcategory of the (d) category for both
groups involved. However, the Arabic professional translators' group, who scored an
average of 75%, did much better than the Arabic professional translators' group, who
scored an average of 58.33%, with a difference of 16.67% between the two groups
(Table 5.8).
11. While the (den) subcategory constituted the second easiest for the two groups, the
much better than the Arabic translation students' group, who scored an average of
56.66%, with a difference of 15% between the two groups (Table 5.8).
12. Surprisingly, with the (sva) subcategory, the Arabic translation students' group, who
scored an average of 60%, performed slightly better than the Arabic professional
13. With the (svap) subcategory the Arabic professional translators' group, who scored an
average of 72.91%, performed much better than the Arabic translation students' group
who scored an average of 49.47%, with a difference of 23.44% between the two
14. The results showed that there were more variations within the answers of Arabic
professional translators' group than that of the Arabic translation students' group with
a difference of 0.031602 between the two groups in the standard derivations (see
15. With the (p) category the Arabic professional translators were more consistent in their
answers. Their standard deviations were lower than those of the Arabic translation
students with a difference of -0.01872 between the two groups (see Table 5.9 below).
16. With the (s) category there was no major difference between the two groups in terms
of the standard deviations. The difference was only 0.022395 between the two groups
17. With (c) and (d) categories the Arabic translation students were more consistent in
their answers than the Arabic professional translators, where the latter had higher
standard deviations than the former. With (c) category the difference was 0.048591,
and with (d) category the difference was 0.044124 (see Table 5.9 below).
Having given a general overview of the results of the translation tests, it is time now to
explore critical features of such results. In this section I will investigate the performance
of each group of the subjects in relation to the seven research question outlined above.
The aim here is to approach the data collected from the participants from several
IEPVs?
I will start with the performance of the Arabic professional translators' group. Table
5.10 below summarizes the performance of this group. For full details of the raw data
see Appendix 3.
As it has been indicated above, the results of the Arabic professional translators' group
showed that the total average of the correct answers (i.e. both the very good and the
satisfactory answers) of this group was 58% (see Table 5.2 above). Given the fact that
only the answers that labeled as "very good" are considered the perfect functional-
276
pragmatic equivalents of the listed IEPVs, the total average of the answers of the Arabic
good answers) was 43.35%. Such answers represented the right matches of the listed
IEPVs according to the criteria set up in the model devised in Chapter Three (see 3.5
above). The other answers, however, were either satisfactory (15.39%) which are not an
ideal translation, overtly erroneous errors (33%), covertly erroneous errors (8%), or
The results of Arabic translation students' group, on the other hand, showed that they
IEPVs. The highest percentage was 50% scored by subject number four (S4) and the
lowest percentage was 9% scored by subject number one (S1) (see Table 5.12 below.
As previously outlined, the total average of the correct answers of the Arabic
translation students' group was 48% (see Table 5.4 above). Yet, the total average of the
answer of the Arabic translation students' group that achieved the functional-pragmatic
equivalents (very good answers) was only 32%. Such answers characterized the right
matches of the listed IEPVs in line with the criteria set up in the model devised in
Chapter Three (see 3.5 above). The other answers, however, were either satisfactory
(16%), overtly erroneous errors (40%), covertly erroneous errors (6%) or unanswered
Table 5.15 below summarizes the differences of the average of the unanswered items of
both groups:
From the facts outlined in the Tables above, one can deduce that the overall
demanding for both groups who have scored low percentages of very good answers.
(32%) with a difference of 11.35 between the two groups (Table 5.14). In addition, the
Arabic professional translators answered the vast majority of the translation tests in that
the total average of their unanswered questions was pretty low (0.58%), while the
Arabic translation students left 69 (6%) items unanswered, with a difference of -5.42%
Moreover, the Arabic professional translators' group made less overtly erroneous errors
(the total average was 33%. See Table 5.11 above) than the Arabic translation students
(the total average was 40%. See Table 5.13 above) with a difference of -7% between the
two groups. The former group, however, made slightly more covertly erroneous errors
(the total average was 8%. See Table 5.11 above) than the later group (the total average
was 6%. See Table 5.13 above) with a difference of 2% between the two groups. Such a
minor difference in the total average of the covertly erroneous errors can be justified by
the major difference in the total average of the unanswered items stated above. That is,
280
if we take the major difference in the total average of the unanswered items into our
consideration, the 2% difference of the average of the covertly erroneous errors will not
mean that the Arabic professional translators are less competent than the Arabic
translation students. They are in fact, to use Campbell's (1998) terms, risk takers, while
Finally, the differences between the two groups in terms of achieving the functional-
pragmatic equivalents are not significant and this probably means that the training and
experience the professionals gained did not assist much in translating IEPVs into
Arabic. Given the difference between them and the students who presumably lack that
To what extent does the issue of complex idioms pose a difficulty for Arabic
It is well known that tackling English idioms in general cause translators a great deal of
difficulties. Therefore, it is an inescapable fact that dealing with complex idioms, where
IEPVs constitute integral parts of such expressions, involves more difficulties due to the
doubly complex nature of such idioms. The question of complex idioms has been
Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of
The results of the present study revealed that complex idioms (c) category (represented
by items 1-25 of the translation tests) pose a large amount of difficulty to both Arabic
professional translators' group and Arabic translation students' group. This category
constituted the second hardest one for both groups (see Tables 5.4 and 5.7 above). The
scored by the Arabic professional translators' group was 34%, while that scored by the
Arabic translation students' was 19%, with a difference of 15% between the two groups
13 c 8.33% 0% 8.33%
14 c 41.66% 8.33% 33.33%
15 c 16.66% 25% -8.34%
16 c 16.66% 16.66% 0%
17 c 33.33% 8.33% 25.00%
18 c 75% 25% 50%
19 c 16.66% 25% -8.34%
20 c 58.33% 16.66% 41.67%
21 c 25% 33.33% -8.33%
22 c 25% 41.66% -16.66%
23 c 58.33% 0% 58.33%
24 c 25% 16.66% 8.34%
25 c 16.66% 25% -8.34%
Table 5.16 Differences in achieving functional-pragmatic equivalents of the Complex idioms
category
It must be pointed out that the items of this category, as it can be observed from the
above Table, varied in terms of their difficulties. Item one, for instance, constituted the
most difficult one for the subjects surveyed where no one was able to achieve its
functional-pragmatic equivalent. While item eight of this category was relatively easy
as ten (83.33%) of the twelve Arabic professional translators and six (50%) of the
Arabic translation students surveyed were able to answer it perfectly (see Table 5.16
above).
In spite of the fact that the performance of the Arabic professional translators' group in
general was slightly better than that of the Arabic translation students, there were six
items in which the performance of the latter was better than that of the former. And
there were two items in which the performance of both groups was equal (see table 5.16
above). This entails a haphazard strategy by both groups to dealing with IEPVs and
In addition, the Arabic professional translators' group abandoned only one item of the (c)
category, leaving it unanswered (the total average of the unanswered items was 0%),
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whereas the Arabic translation students left six items unanswered where the total average
of the unanswered items was 2% with a difference of -2% between the two groups (see
Lastly, the Arabic professional translators performed much better than the Arabic
translation students with regard to the (c) category with a difference of 15% between the
As has been previously mentioned (see 2.4.2 above) IEPVs are of three syntactic forms,
The results of the Arabic professional translators surveyed in this study showed that the
average of the correct answers (both the very good and the satisfactory answers) of the
items containing IEPVs of the verb + adverb form (sva) was 59.44%, while the average of
correct answers of the items containing IEPVs of the verb + preposition form (svp) was
33.33%. And the average of correct answers of the items containing IEPVs of the verb +
adverb + preposition form (svap) was 72.91%. Such percentages obviously indicate that
for the Arabic professional translators surveyed the (svp) form constitutes the most
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difficult grammatical form, followed by the (sva) form and (svap) form (see Tables 5.2
On the other hand, the results of Arabic translation students surveyed showed that the
average of the correct answers of the (sva) form was 60%, while the average of correct
answers of the (svp) form was 27.77% and the average of correct answers of the (svap)
form was 49. 47%. Therefore, for the Arabic translation students' group, the (svp) form
constitutes the most difficult grammatical form followed by the (svap) form and (sva)
equivalents (the very good answers) of the syntactic forms (s) category:
The Table above indicates the following: firstly, even though the (s) category, as a whole,
constituted the easiest category for both groups (see Table 5.14 above), the subjects
encountered considerable difficulties when tackling the items containing such forms
judging from the low averages of the functional-pragmatic equivalents achieved (see
subcategories was relatively large in the (svp) and (svap) subcategories, whilst it was
Thirdly, the (svp) subcategory represented the most difficult one for both groups followed
by the (svap) subcategory, which constituted the second hardest one and the (sva)
Fourthly, the Arabic professional translators' group left only one item of the (s) category
unanswered (the total average of the unanswered was 0%), whereas the Arabic translation
students left nineteen items unanswered, where the total average of the unanswered was
5% with a difference of -5% between the two groups (see Table 5.15 above).
Finally, overall, the Arabic professional translators perform better than the Arabic
translation students with regard to this category with a difference of 10% between the two
The phenomenon of derivation in general and derivation of IEPVs in particular has been
exclusively accounted for in Chapter Two (see 2.7.3 above). In this subsection the
The results of the Arabic professional translators' group revealed that the average of the
correct answers (i.e. both the very good and the satisfactory answers) of the items
containing IEPVs derived from adjectives with suffix –en (den) was 71.66%. The
average of the correct answers of the items containing IEPVs derived from adjectives
without suffix -en (de) was 75%. The average of the correct answers of the items
containing IEPVs derived from nouns (dpn) was 58.33%. The average of the correct
answers of the items containing nouns derived from IEPVs (dnp) was 64.39%. Such
percentages indicate that for the Arabic professional translators surveyed the (dpn) form
constituted the most difficult derivational form, followed by the (dnp) from, (den) form
On the other hand, the results of the Arabic translation students surveyed revealed that
the average of the correct answers of the (den) was 56.66%. The average of the correct
answers of the (de) was 52%. The average of the (dpn) was 51.66%. The average of the
correct answers of the (dnp) was 46.97%. Such percentages indicate that for the Arabic
translation students surveyed the (dnp) form constituted the most difficult derivational
form, followed by the (dpn) form, (den) form and (de) form.
each group in respect to this category, Table 5.18 below summarizes the differences in
The results revealed that the (dpn) subcategory represented the most difficult one for both
the Arabic professional translators (with the average of 36.66%) and the Arabic
translation students (with the average of 32.50%) with the difference of 4.17% between
the two groups (see Table 5.18 above). Whereas the two groups differ in terms of the
easiest subcategory as it was the (den) for the Arabic professional translators 58% and the
(de) for the Arabic translation students 38% (see Table 5.18 above).
However, in spite of the previously stated fact that this category posed less difficulty than
(p) and (c) categories for both groups (see Table 5.14 above), it does not mean that it
caused no problems for the subjects surveyed. They seem to have encountered a great
deal of difficulties when translating the items containing the derivational forms of IEPVs
and this is particularly evident from the low averages of the functional-pragmatic
equivalents achieved (see Table 5.18 above). The main reason behind such difficulties, in
my view, is the differences in derivational mechanisms between the English and Arabic
languages (see Chapter Two, section 2.7 above) which made the derivational forms of
As for the unanswered items, the Arabic professional translators' group left only two
items of the (d) category unanswered (the total average of the unanswered was 1%),
whereas the Arabic translation students left sixteen items unanswered, where the total
average of the unanswered was 7% with a difference of -6% between the two groups
The Arabic professional translators clearly perform better than the Arabic translation
students concerning this category with a difference of 11.83% between the two groups
Many of them pop up on a regular basis. Such newly coined EPVs are
language where there are no readily Arabic equivalents for them. Hence, how
The items of this category (number 91-100 in the translation tests. See Appendix 1)
were carefully selected to insure that they were not listed in any of the published
The results of this study revealed that the (p) category poses a great deal of difficulty to
both the Arabic professional translators' group and Arabic translation students' group. The
category constituted the most difficult category for both groups (see Tables 5.8 and 5.14
above). The results of the Arabic professional translators showed that the average of
correct answers (i.e. both very good and satisfactory answers) of this category was
32.50%. And the results of the Arabic translation students revealed that the average of the
correct answers was 24.61%. With a difference of 8.33% between the two groups (see
of this category scored by the Arabic professional translators' group was 19.17%, while
that scored by the Arabic translation students was 12%, with a difference of 7.17%
It is crucial to indicate that the items of this category varied as to their difficulties. Items
97, 98 and 100, for instance, constituted the most difficult items for the subjects
equivalents. While item 95 of this category was more or less easier as six (50%) of the
twelve Arabic professional translators and six (50%) of the Arabic translation students
The Arabic professional translators' group left only two items of the (p) category
unanswered (the total average of the unanswered items was 1.67%), whereas the Arabic
translation students left eighteen items unanswered, where the total average of the
unanswered items was 15% with a difference of -13.33% between the two groups (Table
5.15 above).
Moreover, despite the fact that the performance of the Arabic professional translators'
group in general was rather better than that of the Arabic translation students with
regards to this category with a difference of 7.17% between the two groups, the
There are two reasons behind such a poor performance of the subjects. Firstly, the
previously mentioned fact (see Chapter Two, section 2.8 above) that the productive
nature of IEPVs makes it harder for lexicographers to have them listed into their
dictionaries. As a result, even the specialized dictionaries are far from being
comprehensive enough in their coverage of such verbs. The gaps left in coverage result
in missing a number of newly coined EPVs, leaving translators with no choice but to
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work them out individually and intuitively in an attempt to create Arabic functional-
Another reason, secondly, is the ineffective and old-fashioned teaching methods and
materials employed by Arab pedagogues in teaching IEPVs. In other words, there are
no practical teaching methods and materials that may assist the Arabic translators and
coined IEPVs. As has been argued in Chapter Two, EPVs are not random combinations
of verbs and particles. There are, however, patterns underlying them. Pedagogues such
as Side (1990), Hannan (1998), Sawyer (2000), and Sansome (2000) are totally
persuaded that EPVs have to be taught by knowing the patterns underlying them so as
to pinpoint the system and the logic by which they work. Arab pedagogues, regrettably,
still believe that EPVs are random combinations of verbs and particles, which must be
memorized by heart (see 2.10.2 above). As a result, they did not try to investigate the
patterns underling EPVs to provide Arabic translators and Arab learners of English with
reliable pedagogical materials and a systematic approach that can help overcome the
In this subsection the data collected from both groups of the subjects will be closely
looked into from one particular perspective, namely: the types of translational errors
made by them. The aim here is to address the following research question:
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As has been earlier pointed out in Chapter Three (see 3.5 above), the model I devised
for analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic contains the parameter of
1997 and 2001). Accordingly, the mismatches or errors made by the two groups of the
subjects of the study were divided into two types: overtly erroneous errors and covertly
erroneous errors. Such a process of division well helped not only in determining the
reasons behind the translational pitfalls made by the subjects surveyed but also in
(see 5.3.7 below). Moreover, I strongly believe that translators have to take these two
types of errors into consideration in order to avoid them when tackling the phenomenon
of IEPVs.
More details on the overtly erroneous errors and covertly erroneous errors made by both
the Arabic professional translators and the Arabic translation students are detailed
below.
As presented in Tables 5.11 and 5.13 above, the total average of the overtly erroneous
errors made by the Arabic professional translators was 33% and that made by the
Arabic translation students was 40% with a difference of -7% between the two groups.
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The idiomaticity of EPVs constitutes the main reason behind the overtly erroneous
errors made by the subjects involved. Such an idiomatic nature played a significant role
in hindering the subjects from obtaining the denotative meanings of the listed IEPVs.
The overtly erroneous errors made by the Arabic professional translators and the Arabic
word translation of a text which "does not produce the appropriate sense" (p. 285).
IEPVs, as argued in Chapter Two (see 2.5.2 above) carry two types of meanings,
nature (especially the examples utilized in the translation tests given to the subjects of this
study) makes them non-transparent and hard to be understood from their separate parts.
That is, their communicative meanings are utterly different from the total sum of the
meanings of their individual components. Some of the Arabic professional translators and
the Arabic translation students surveyed in this study perceived the listed IEPVs literally
and dealt with the two parts of the combination separately, rather than appreciating their
Illustrative examples of this type of translational errors from the two groups are presented
below:
In the first example (item 58) in the Table above, the IEPV look up was wrongly
literally translated as p)E9 اp+ إ,€.}. Similarly, in the second example (item 84) the IEPV
take in was translated as %&8 ~&y•1 where both the verb and the particle were literally
In some examples, however, the first components of the listed IEPVs (the verb) were
literally translated, while the second components (the adverb and/or the preposition)
were overlooked. The verb brightened in the third example (item 47), for instance, was
the same way, the first part of the IEPV sex up in the last example (item 93) was
literally translated as ]/7&I1 and the particle up was disregarded. The same is applicable
to the rest of the examples presented in that Table where either the two components of
the IEPVs were taken literally or only the first one while the other one left untranslated.
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There are several apparent reasons for such distorted translations. Firstly, interference
of the L1 of the subjects (Arabic) with the L2 (English). That is to say, the syntactic
structure of IEPVs is totally odd for the Arabic subjects who are all Arabic native
speakers. As it has been explained in Chapter Two (see 2.6 above), unlike English,
Arabic does not allow proper verbs to collocate with adverbs. And the only type of PVs
in Arabic is that of verb + preposition structure. Therefore, the subjects considered the
literal meaning of the second parts of the listed IEPVs and either translated them as
Secondly, the deceptive appearance of EPVs in general, Khalaili (1979) writes that they
"look deceptively easy to the foreigners at first sight, but their meanings can be
radically different from what one might expect" (p. 5). Such a deceptive appearance
may tempt translators to provide rushed literal translations without carefully taking into
Thirdly, great deals of IEPVs are not covered by bilingual English-Arabic general and
even specialized dictionaries. This is particularly due to the productive nature of IEPVs
which makes them hard to be captured and listed in dictionaries. This point implies that
the subjects understood or suspected the existence of the IEPVs, but failed to find the
appropriate resources that explain these verbs or provide Arabic equivalents, which
Finally, the decotextualization way of dealing with the IEPVs covered in dictionaries,
dictionaries but also in the textbooks devoted to teach EPVs to Arab students (see
Chapter Two, section 2.10.2 above) which are, to some extent, to blame for producing
literal translations for IEPVs. Side (1990) makes the point that PVs ought to be learned
"contextualization" and elaborates that "single examples [of EPVs] should never be
establish their context within the language, to show they are meaningfully idiomatic
researchers (see 2.10 above) advocate the necessity of teaching PVs in context as
presenting them in contexts enhances greatly their learnability and considered far better
Along these lines, Newmark (1988) attributes producing a literal translation to two
reasons, being: interference "if the TL [target language] is not the translator's language
5.3.6.1.2 Mistranslating
Most IEPVs are polysemic, i.e. they have more than one meaning (see 2.5.2 above). To
use the words of McArthur and Atkins (1974), "they have so many shades of meanings"
(p. 5). Some of the Arabic professional translators surveyed in this study were not able
to appreciate such a polysemic nature of the IEPVs listed in the translation tests when
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rendering them into Arabic. Examples of this type of translational errors from the two
In the abovementioned examples the IEPVs were mistranslated and their functional-
pragmatic equivalents were mismatched. In the first example (item 17) ‘P7Y&87.1 was the
incorrect translation for the idiomatic expression breathing down his neck because such
a translation did not deliver the complete meaning of this expression, while 5Y87./ ‘P7Y87.1
[ة1[&o is the correct one for it has the root echoing ‚&){3+ل اX&*_3+ اwhich not only covered
the required part of the meaning but also gives an air of idiomaticity to the Arabic
equivalent. The same argument applies to the second example (item 9) where ,I^&F/ 7Pأ
K3*+ ا0/ was not the right mach of I'm fed up to my back teeth with work as semantically
and pragmatically there is something missing in this translation, that is, the sense of
exaggeration of the boredom. The Arabic fixed expression K-'+ ا%\ •_W can be considered
the correct translation where both the denotative meaning and the idiomaticity flavor
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are delivered. The same argument is applicable to the rest of the examples outlined in
that Table.
The reasons behind producing such mistaken translations are threefold: First, as
mentioned above, the polysemic nature of the IEPVs makes it difficult for the subjects
to choose the appropriate meaning from the variety of shades of meanings given to each
PV. In order to determine the accurate sense, a translator has to appreciate the
Second, what makes the task of choosing the appropriate meaning more difficult is the
fact that IEPVs are very much confusing in their structure. That is, one proper verb can
collocate with a number of particles to form a range of PVs with many different
meanings. On the other hand, one particle may co-occur with a number of proper verbs
Third, the treatment of the phenomenon of PVs in general and specialized dictionaries
is insufficient. That is to say, in their dealing with PVs, lexicographers either bypass a
great deal of them or provide inadequate definitions for the listed ones (see Chapter
This occurred when the subjects may have understood the functional meaning of a
given IEPV in the source language (English) but did not deliver it correctly,
stylistically, into the target language (Arabic). They instead produced a translation in
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which the denotative meaning is captured but at the expense of the idiomaticity of the
given EPV. Such a type of translational pitfalls was manifested in the subjects' answers
to the complex idioms (c) category. Given the double complexity of these items, their
Arabic equivalents have to be of an idiomatic nature. That is, they have to be translated
by employing APVs, proverbs or fixed expressions, which may require a bit of research
and thinking. Consequently, if there is a one to one Arabic idiom and the translator did
not use it, this means that s/he lacks adequate competence to deal with these kinds of
complex idioms.
be precise, they are correct as far as they deliver the denotative meanings of the IEPVs.
The reason behind mentioning them here, however, is the fact that the subjects
committing this kind of pitfall have failed to provide the perfect translation (functional-
pitfall in order to raise translators' awareness of maintaining both meaning and style
Illustrative examples of this type of translational pitfalls are listed in the following
Table:
The translation given to the first example (item 3) in the above Table has the denotative
meaning of the complex idiom at hand, but it lacks the idiomaticity required to achieve
subject has to resort to the Arabic one-to-one equivalent of the item, which is رب7ƒE [-*1
In the second example (item 11) the Arabic fixed expressions ام,&'+ور ا,&/ 7O. \&~ه,&31 or
5&8Š+ ا%&8 ش,W97& آseem to be the perfect functional-pragmatic equivalents, which deliver
not only the denotative meaning of the expression but also the idiomatic flavor of it. In
addition, the currency of such equivalents and the frequency of their usage in both
written and spoken Arabic meet our criterion of the middle ground between the classic
and the colloquial Arabic. Such a criterion, as it has been previously explained in
Chapter Two (see 2.6 above), is very much required in translating IEPVs due to the fact
that they are commonly used in spoken and informal written English. The same
argument is valid to the rest of the examples listed in the above Table.
House (1977) indicates that overtly erroneous errors mean the non-dimensional
elements and breaches of the target language system" (p. 245). Having covered the
mismatches of the denotative meanings of the IEPVs listed in the translation tests, it is
time to move on to the second kind of the overtly erroneous errors, i.e. the breaches of
The data collected from the subjects involved in the present study revealed that some of
them have, to a great extent, breached the Arabic language system by producing
Examples of this type of translational errors from the two groups are presented in the
following Table:
The first example in the above Table (item 8) illustrates a grammatically incorrect
translation. The sentence with the past continuous tense he was falling for her was
mistakenly translated into Arabic by a sentence of future tense 7O\ ‚ّ)*F-H ‘()w ن
¢ ( أliterally:
that his heart will be attached to her). In the second example (item 18), the Arabic
translation provided is incorrect because the wrong usage of the Arabic preposition.
Arabic native speakers would more likely use ‘\اX` p+[ ُ إ-*ُ1 .
The third example (item 2) illustrates a morphologically incorrect translation, where the
The rest of the examples (items 64 and 96) exemplify the wrong usage of the Arabic
verbs. The verb اX8,&o أin example 64 was used mistakenly because it delivers the wrong
meaning, which is to monitor, oversee, supervise etc, the correct Arabic verb which can
302
be used in such a context is p&)E اX8ر7&o or p&)E اX'&o( أوmeaning: they are about to). The
same argument applies to S)Oُ/ 7P أin example 96 which has to be SO.ُ/ 7P أ.
The total average of the covertly erroneous errors made by the Arabic professional
translators was 8% (see Table 5.11 above), whereas the total average of the covertly
erroneous errors made by the Arabic translation students was 6% with a difference of
(2%) between the two groups in favour of students (see Table 5.13 above).
Covertly erroneous errors are typically caused by the dimensional mismatches, i.e. the
failure to take such parameters as field, mode, tenor and illocutionary act into
consideration when translating IEPVs into Arabic. The covertly erroneous errors of the
Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students surveyed in this study
In his study Arabic Collocations: Implications for Translation, Brashi (2005) elaborates
Brashi (2005), represent patterns of meaning, whereas the last four categories represent
the range of frequency. What is concerned us here are the unacceptable Arabic
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collocations, which are illustrated by Baker (1992) in the Arabic translation نXP7&ƒ+ ا,Y&آ
(literally: to break the law) provided to the English collocation break the law, as
opposed to the common Arabic collocation نXP7&ƒ+• ا+7&y (literally: to contradict the law)
As it has been pointed out (see 5.3.6.1.3 above), the subjects may have understood the
short from delivering them correctly into the target language (Arabic).
Some IEPVs can be translated into Arabic by APVs, Arabic collocations, Arabic fixed
expressions, Arabic idioms, Arabic proverbs etc. The data collected revealed that most of
the very good answers (at the functional-pragmatic equivalents level) were based on
Yet, translating IEPVs by IAPVs (one to one) was quite rare in the data collected. To give
illustrative examples, the IEPV to calm him down (item 52) was perfectly translated into
Arabic by one of the subjects as ‘&.E •&_y أ, and the IEPV put away a big piece of meat
The main reason for the rarity of employing IAPVs when translating IEPVs is the fact
previously arrived at in Chapter Two (see 2.6 above), which is that APVs, unlike EPVs
which are typically used orally and colloquially by everyone in everyday contexts, are far
more formal and habitually used in a high register contexts due to their highly rhetorical
nature, which confines their use to educated people from a certain sector of society and
education.
304
Examples of translations of IEPVs by wrong Arabic collocations from the two groups are
presented below:
first example (item 73), the IEPV to use up sugar was translated into Arabic as ك2OFHM
,'Y&+( اliterally: to consume sugar) which is wrong due to the fact that consuming sugar
could take place in a house or anywhere else other than by the human body. The correct
Arabic expression which can be used as a translation to this IEPV in such a context is
In the second example (item 98), the IEPV dag out was erroneously translated into
Arabic as ح,&3+&~ر واO+ ا%&8 (literally: in prattle and joyfulness) these two words do not
collocate in the Arabic language. Arabic native speakers would more likely say ح,&_+ا
ح,&3+( واhappiness and joyfulness). Therefore ح,&31ح و,&_1 (to be happy and in joy) should
be used in this instance which is a derivative from the common Arabic collocation ح,_+ا
In the third example (item 33), the IEPV shopping around was inaccurately translated
into Arabic as “(&.+&[وس ا1 (literally: to step on pulse) Arabic native speakers do not say
It was manifestly explained in Chapter Two that IEPVs are typically employed in
different kinds of discourses (see 2.5.5 above). It was also explained that albeit they are
often used formally in a variety of English written texts, their common use is informal in
unacceptable register shift which may result in distortion of the intended meaning by
In order to challenge the subjects' abilities in terms of appreciating the register variations
when rendering IEPVs into Arabic, an array of text types was used in the translation tests,
and short contextual information was provided between square brackets following each
The collected data showed that in producing their Arabic translations to the listed IEPVs a
number of the subjects surveyed were fully aware of, and did consider the register
variations in terms of field, mode and tenor in which the listed IEPVs were used, whereas
others have not considered the text type when providing their Arabic translations. They,
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instead, delivered translations in which the given register was either shifted from informal
Examples of IEPVs translated by incorrect register shift from the two groups are listed in
The Arabic equivalents given to the IEPV My eyes popped out in the first example
above (item 7) were x) \ ذهxN \ دُهxƒ*ُ` (I was shocked / surprised / astonished) wherein
the register shift from informal to formal is evident. The situational context in which
this IEPV was used was an informal everyday conversation between friends, while the
Arabic equivalents provided were highly formal Arabic expressions. Such a high
formality of the Arabic equivalents is manifested in the usage of the passive voice
which cannot be used in any informal everyday Arabic friendly conversation as it is less
common in Arabic than it is in English (El-Yassin, 1996; Wightwich & Gaafar, 1998).
The same argument is valid for the second and third examples above (items 68 and 100)
where highly formal Arabic expressions of a passive voice were given as equivalents to
Apart from employing the passive voice, making use of high formal Arabic collocations
and producing them as equivalents for informally used IEPVs is also deemed as an
colloquially used IEPVs He flared up, I've cleaned up and I'm shopped out respectively.
The main reason behind this kind of loss of register, as it has been argued in Chapter
Two, is the sharp distinction in the Arabic language between written and spoken
discourse (Baker, 1992), where two varieties (formal high written variety and informal
translating such everyday colloquial expressions as IEPVs into formal written Arabic,
written expressions. The best strategy suggested to Arabic translators to tackle such a
problem is reducing the gap between the informal/colloquial Arabic and the formal/high
written Arabic by steering a middle course between them (Al-Qinai, 2000). Hence,
Arabic translators are best advised to employ Modern Standard Arabic which lays half-
way between highly formal classic Arabic and highly informal colloquial Arabic.
Another reason for performing such a translational error by the Arabic subjects is the
fact that unlike the majority of English lexicographers who have included fundamental
(1993); Oxford Phrasal verbs Dictionary for Learners of English (2001); Longman
such essential information when dealing with the phenomenon of EPVs and confine
themselves to providing either literal or intuitive idealised Arabic equivalents for them
(for illustrative examples see Chapter Two, sections 2.8 and 2.9 above).
I regarded "speech acts" as the second parameter of the model for the analysis and
translation of IEPVs into Arabic devised in Chapter Three. I also outlined that the
polysemic nature of IEPVs and their common use in everyday spoken English
In the translation tests in this study, a number of Arabic professional translators and
Arabic translation students have failed to deliver the appropriate illocutionary meaning of
these verbs. Such a failure was as a result of misunderstanding the speech acts performed
in the utterances in which IEPVs were used. Since speech acts denote "[…] the total
situation in which the utterance is issued" (Austin, 1975, p. 52), such a misunderstanding
was due to not taking into account the "real-world situational factors" which are,
meaning" (p. 29). Along these lines Hatim and Mason (1997) assert that "[i]n any attempt
will have to be made about texts, their users and the context in which they occur" (p. 14).
of [any given] SL [Source Language] utterance which goes far beyond the propositional
Illustrative examples of this kind of translational pitfalls are presented in Table 5.26
below:
With regard to the first example in the Table above, most of the subjects involved in
utterance (see Appendix 3). The Arabic translation of this utterance presented in the
Table above (S+~& آ‰-&+ أ5&-P7ˆ ة,&/ S&+ ذp&+د إX*P 0+) (literally: we will not return to that matter
again, are we?) is a striking example. In order to correctly translate such an utterance,
one has to embed it in its real-world context. This type of English structure (i.e. a
series of yes/no questions typically to discredit them (Hale, 2002 & 2004). The context
meaning such as the one in the above poor translation, and the performed speech act has
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could be:5&-P7ˆ ة,&/ عX&RX3)+ دX*.&H 7&.P أ%&+ K&ƒ} M (literally: don’t say to me that we are going
In the second example in the Table above (item 94), The Arabic translation produced
was also pragmatically incorrect. The situational context whereby this utterance took
is evident from the context that, due to the social distance between the two participants
of the conversation, a speech act of order was performed. The Arabic translation
presented above has failed to spell out such a speech act. In order to achieve the Arabic
It is quite essential to indicate here that most of the examples of translational errors
categorized as (literal translation) (see 5.3.6.1.1 above) can well fit into the current type
of error, since providing the literal meanings of IEPVs not only delivers their distorted
denotative meanings but also mismatches the speech acts performed in the utterances in
which such PVs are embedded. Hale (1996) maintains that "[w]hen we translate an
utterance literally, we may be matching the locutionary act only, but not the other two
[illocutionary and perlocutionary acts]" (p. 63). The last three examples in the above
Table (items 4, 6 and 91) can be taken as illustrating instances whereby the subjects
produced literal translations of the utterances and failed not only in delivering their
locutionary act but also the speech acts of regret, complaint and exhaustion performed in
Apart from the polysemic nature of IEPVs and their common informality, the major
reason behind making this type of translational errors, in my view, is that Arabic
textbooks on learning and translating EPVs are typically intuitive and not theoretically
dictionaries to understand the pragmatic meaning of IEPVs and then to make up their
paraphrasing strategy is a very common strategy and widely utilized by translators as one
of the attested strategies for dealing with the problem of non-equivalence (cf. Baker,
1992; Bataineh & Bataineh, 2002; Ghazala, 2003). However, this strategy has its
restrictive usage, especially in the case of translating IEPVs into Arabic, which have
Examples of this type of translational errors from the two groups are presented in Table
5.27 below:
In their endeavour to translate the IEPVs at hand, the subjects glossed them in Arabic
In item 38 in the Table above, the noun derived from PV cave-in was rendered as K\[أ آ
pE&[اF1 ء%&o (literally: everything started collapsing) where there is a one-word Arabic
Similarly, in item 43, the expression contains a noun derived from a PV a cooling-off
period which means a period to consider, was translated into Arabic as ,&ّ-Ž1 %'+ p{*ُ} [ة/
%3&H رK'N\ ‘\ م7-ƒ+ اK(w ,/97\ ,'_1 ‘ أو1’ رأnN+( اliterally: a period of time given to someone
in order to change his mind or think about the matter before carrying it out officially).
Such a long gloss is an obvious covertly erroneous error because it distorts the style of
the target language by employing a long sentence to express the meaning of one
expression. Suggested alternatives for such an expression are 5&)O/ \ ,&-'_} ة,&F8 \ ل7&O/ة إ,&F8
Likewise, in item 60 the IEPV took up with was translated into Arabic as x&„,y وx&8ّ,*}
]&/ (literally: she was introduced to and went out with) where there is a one-word
Arabic equivalent for it, which is:ت,&o7E (took him as a boyfriend). The same argument
is valid for the rest of the examples presented in Table 5.27 above.
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As it has been argued above (see shift of register 5.3.6.2.2 above), given the sharp
distinction between the two varieties of the Arabic language (formal high classical
written variety and informal low spoken variety), Arabic translators need to seek the
middle ground Arabic style by utilizing Modern Standard Arabic when tackling the
Despite the following note made at the beginning of the translation tests distributed to the
subjects: "Since the study is about translation only, please confine your answers to
Modern Standard Arabic and avoid colloquial equivalents for the idiomatic English
phrasal verbs itemized in the translation tests" (see Appendix 1), the data collected
revealed that a number of the subjects resorted to informal colloquial Arabic and regional
dialects when dealing with the listed IEPVs. Illustrative examples of this type of
translational error from the two groups are presented in Table 5.28 below:
66 to take it out on me %
¢ 8 Sƒ)y ˜_}
84 to take in old ladies ŠL7I*+ اp)E SQ^1
92 Funk up 5RX3+ اp)E S-)y
100 we were slagged down 7PءŠO}إ
77 and make up اXR,F}M ذا73+
91 I'm partied out ي,W7y x1,H
46 Handout 5/Š)/
78 Hard to figure out رواŠQُ1 `*| أن
Table 5.28 Examples of usage of Arabic colloquial and regional dialects (for suggested Arabic
functional-pragmatic equivalents see Appendix 2)
In items 19 and 20, the high informal Arabic expressions 7-P[&+ ا,ّY&( آliterally: broke the
world into pieces) and S&H رأ,ّY&'-H (literally: he'll break your head into pieces) were
given as Arabic equivalents to the IEPVs brought the house down and he'll come down
on you like a ton of bricks respectively. Despite the fact that such translations have
delivered the denotative and the communicative meanings of the English expressions at
hand, and they may well be used by interpreters who typically rely on the spoken mode,
they cannot, however be given as written Arabic translations due to the readers'
expectations.
The same argument is applicable to most of the examples presented in the above Table
(items 24, 25, 30, 31, 66, 84, 100 and 77).
In addition, in items 91, 46 and 78, the Arabic regional dialect expressions ي,W7&y x1,&H
(I have had enough – Iraqi colloquial), 5/Š)/ (A printed material – Moroccan colloquial)
and رواŠ&Qُ1 ( `&*| أنhard to be guessed - Iraqi colloquial) were given as equivalents to
the IEPVs I'm partied out, Handout and Hard to figure out in that order. Again, even
though such Arabic translations have delivered the denotative and the communicative
meanings of the English expressions concerned, and they may well be used by
interpreters in the spoken mode, they cannot be provided as written Arabic translations
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due to the fact that such Arabic expressions are both not lexicalized and not current in
that putting them in writing would also be considered odd and unacceptable by the
Arabic readership. Confining their usage to one Arabic country also makes them
In the preceding sections I overviewed the results of the translation tests and discussed
the translation errors made by the two groups involved in the study. In this section I will
two groups of Arabic subjects: The professional Arabic translators and Arabic
translation students? If so, what are the major areas in which their competence
varies?
A statement will be made here to account for the level of competence of each group based
Chapter Three (see 3.4.5 above). The aim of such a statement is to compare the
(their answers) in an attempt to pinpoint the areas in which they have a shortage of
In the model I devised for analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic (see 3.5 above),
as a final stage to compare the inputs of the subjects of the study. Translation
As has been explained in Chapter Three (see 3.5 above), all the parameters of the model
competence of the subjects, in view of the fact that all of such parameters relate to the
translators' knowledge and ability. Yet, paying no attention to any parameter would
mean a given subject has no, or a lack of, theoretical and/or practical knowledge.
It is quite evident from the above overview and discussion of the results of the
translation tests, that despite the differences between the two groups of the subjects
involved in this study, the overall performance of the subjects in general was poor,
which demonstrates the fact that the IEPVs listed in the translation tests posed
substantial difficulty to both groups of the subjects. This confirms the point argued in
Chapter Two (see 2.11 above), where I pointed out that due to the fact that the Arabic
language has few syntactic, semantic and pragmatic correspondences with the English
language in terms of the phenomenon of idiomatic PVs, the task of translating IEPVs
into Arabic is far more challenging and subject to a great deal of difficulties than
Yet, the two groups vary in their level of translation communicative competence. Such
a variation is manifested in the fact that the overall performance of the Arabic
professional translators' group is better than that of the Arabic translation students'
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group with a difference of 10% between the two groups in the average of the correct
answers, i.e. both the very good and the satisfactory answers (see Table 5.8 above) and
11.35% in the average of achieving functional-pragmatic equivalents that is, the very
good answers only (see Table 5.14 above). With this fact in mind, the differences
(which is the main concern of this study) are not distinct, which means that the years of
experience of the Arabic professional translators did not make a major difference when
translating IEPVs into Arabic. There were some items in which the performance of the
Arabic translation students' group was even better than that of the Arabic professional
translators' group. There were also other items in which the performance of both groups
Bearing that in mind, all the Arabic professional translators who participated in this
addition, they all have a good translation experience ranging from four to forty nine
years (see 4.3.1 above). They presumably have the required theoretical knowledge and
practical experience. On the other hand, the Arabic translation students involved in this
study have not, as yet, acquired such theoretical knowledge and practical experience
The variation in the level of translation communicative competence between the two
groups is also manifested in the fact that the Arabic professional translators answered
the vast majority of items of the translation tests, in that the total average of their
unanswered questions was very low (0.58%), while the Arabic translation students left
69 (6%) items unanswered, with a difference of -5.42% between the two groups (see
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Table 5.15 above). Such a result demonstrates the fact that the Arabic professional
translators were more competent and have more sense of encouragement to take
initiative and risk-taking than the Arabic translation students, who opted for skipping
between the two groups is observable from the fact that the Arabic professional
translators made less overtly erroneous errors than the Arabic translation students with a
difference of -7% between the two groups (see Tables 5.11 and 5.13 above). Such a
difference in performance indicates that the Arabic professional translators have been
more competent to the extent that they have avoided (more than the Arabic translation
students) being so close to the literal meanings of the listed idiomatic IEPVs, kept away
from being confused with their polysemic nature, and have not breached the Arabic
The Arabic professional translators, however, made more covertly erroneous errors than
the Arabic translation students with a difference of 2% between the two groups (see
Tables 5.11 and 5.13above). As has been argued before (see 5.3.1.1 above), such a
minor difference does not mean that the Arabic professional translators are less
competent than the Arabic translation students. On the contrary, taking the major
difference in the total average of the unanswered items into account confirms the
abovementioned claim that the Arabic translation students were in fact more prudent,
In addition, the results showed that there were more variations within the answers of
Arabic professional translators' group than that of the Arabic translation students' group
with a difference of 0.031602 between the two groups in the standard deviations (see
Table 5.9 above). Such a difference in the standard deviations confirms, again, the
abovementioned claim that the Arabic professional translators were freer and have more
sense of risk-taking than the Arabic translation students. The years of practical
experience and the higher level of academic qualifications the Arabic professional
of achieving the Arabic functional-pragmatic equivalents between the two groups, both
groups have experienced the same level of difficulties, as the results showed that the (p)
category represented the most difficult one for both groups with the difference of 7.17%
in favour of the professionals. The (c) category constituted the second hardest one for
both groups with the difference of 15%. The (d) category was the third hardest with a
difference of 11.58%. And the easiest category was the (s) category with the difference
of 10% between the two groups (see Table 5.14 above). It is quite obvious that the
Even though the (d) and (s) categories, as a whole, constituted the easiest categories for
both groups (see Table 5.14 above), this does not mean that the derivational and
grammatical forms of IEPVs posed no problems to the subjects surveyed. The low
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The difference in the average of the correct answers (i.e. both the very good and the
satisfactory answers) of the categories that are easier (s and d) was rather large, whereas
there was no such difference in the categories considered difficult (p and c). This entails
performance only in the categories which are more teachable and learnable (s and d
categories), but such training and experience did not improve their performance in the
categories where the sense of stylistic competence is required (p and c categories) (see
Translating IEPVs, like translating any other kinds of idiomatic expressions, requires a
high level of competence not only in the source language (English) but also in the target
Having said that, in spite of the fact that both groups of the subjects involved in this
study have encountered the same problems as manifested in the types of translational
errors they made, the results of the present study reveal that the inadequate competence
of some subjects in correctly understanding the listed IEPVs caused them to make
"source text errors". Good examples of such kind of errors are found in the
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speech acts.
Other subjects did understand the listed IEPVs but they failed to put them in correct
Arabic, resulting in "target text errors". Good examples of this kind of error are found in
system, wrong Arabic collocation, paraphrasing and employing Arabic colloquial and
regional dialects.
Before bringing this section to the end it seems appropriate here to compare the
among themselves to see whether the years of experience, in the case of professionals,
and the stages of study, in the case of students, can make any difference as to translation
communicative competence of IEPVs. Table 5.29 below sketches the performance and
Interestingly, figures in the above Table reveal that the years of experience do not have
much effect on the performance of the professionals involved in this study. To take only
professionals with four and six years of experience were the best among their
colleagues. They performed a great deal better even than the professionals of fifteen and
forty nine years of experience. Turning our attention to the errors made by the subjects
of this group, the professional with fifteen years of experience made more overtly
erroneous errors than the professional with six years of experience. And the
professional with forty-nine years of experience made more covertly erroneous errors
than the professional with four years of experience. It seems that the reason behind such
differences in the performance, regardless the years of experience, is the lack of any
kind of theoretical fundamentals and systematic approach that can help these
Table 5.30 below sketches the performance and the stages of study of the Arabic
By the same token, figures in the above Table show that the stages of study do not have
much impact on the performance of the students participated in this study. To take only
year two students were the best among their colleagues. They performed much better
even than the postgraduate students. As for the errors made by the subjects of this
group, MA Students made much more overtly erroneous errors than year two students,
and a PhD student made more covertly erroneous errors than the year one student. Such
results tell us that there is an acute problem at all levels of study. There are two main
fundamentals and systematic approach that can help in dealing with this type of
idiomatic construction. Second, and more important, the inadequacy of the teaching
process, i.e. the lack of any teaching methodology for teachers that can provide students
with solid background knowledge to enable them to understand the syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic properties of this type of problematic verbs, and in turn to translate them
correctly into Arabic. Moreover, the question of recruiting students in the programs of
translating needs to be addressed here. Nida (2001) makes the point that "In fact,
relatively few students entering programs in translating have the necessary language
competence to begin translating. This is not the students' fault, but the fault of the
All in all, the translation communicative competence of both groups, according to the
findings of the present study, was rather inadequate. Their knowledge of syntactic,
semantic and pragmatic characteristics of IEPVs was deficient, and their ability in
understanding them and translating them into Arabic was limited. However, the Arabic
translation students seem to have an acute need to build up their knowledge of the
syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of IEPVs in order to increase their own skills
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and ability in appreciating the metaphoric and polysemic nature of IEPVs, and in seeking
situational factors" in which they are employed in order to achieve their Arabic
functional-pragmatic equivalents.
5.4 Conclusion
In this Chapter the results of the translation tests given to the subjects participated in
A general overview of results of the translation tests of the two groups involved in this
study was first provided to present the average of their correct answers (i.e. both the very
good and the satisfactory answers). In the second section of this Chapter, the results of the
translation tests of the two groups were analysed and discussed in light of the seven
A number of crucial findings were arrived at. Such findings highlighted the types of
when translating IEPVs into Arabic. The next Chapter will recapitulate these findings and
propose some recommendations for both groups as well as for lexicographers and
pedagogues.
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CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Conclusion
The major objective of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by Arabic
professional translators and Arabic translation students when translating IEPVs into
Arabic. The other objective was to suggest a number of recommendations for Arabic
variety of findings arrived at from the empirical research conducted in the study.
The main hypothesis of the study was that there is a wide range of difficulties posed to
Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students when translating IEPVs
into Arabic.
There were two sets of research questions put forward in this study. The first set was
presented to address the theoretical part of the thesis. The second set of research
questions, however, was presented to analyse the data collected from pragmatic, semantic
This study started with an introductory Chapter where a historical background of the
notion of EPVs was provided followed by the justification, the purpose, the hypothesis,
Chapter Two was dedicated to address the first set of the research questions. The Chapter
demonstrated that IEPV is a combination of two or three items (verb + adverb, verb +
preposition, and verb + adverb + preposition) which functions as a single unit of meaning
in that its meaning cannot be figured out from the total sum of the meanings of its
separate components. The syntactic properties of such combinations include such features
as: the basic verbs which can be phrasalised are mostly monosyllabic, and the particles
that typically combine with them are either adverbial or prepositional. Many of such
particles are of dual functions, i.e., they can be both adverbs and prepositions due to the
fact that they are identical in form but different in function. The abovementioned three
The semantic properties comprise the following features: they are of three types, namely,
literal, semi-idiomatic, and idiomatic PVs, in that their meanings range from the most
literal to the most idiomatic. The idiomatic type can be substituted by one word synonym.
Furthermore, the particle plays an important role in modifying the meaning of the verb it
combines with, in the sense that they fuse together and sacrifice their basic meanings to
produce a new one semantic unit. Finally, IEPVs have the characteristic of polysemy, in
that any given idiomatic PV may occur in as many as ten, or more, different meanings
Unlike the English language, which imparts a clear prominence to the phenomenon of
idiomatic PVs as one of the most essential features of English grammar and vocabulary,
the Arabic language does not classify similar structures. Arabic has one structure which
is, more or less, similar to IEPVs, that is, verb + preposition structure. Following a
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number of researchers (Lentzner, 1977; Najiib, 2001; Kharama & Hajjaj, 1989; Alkhuli,
1999; and Bataineh & Bataineh, 2002), I considered the idiomatic type of such
constructions as idiomatic Arabic PVs due to the fact that the basic components of the
structure sacrifice their original meanings and merge together to form a single unit of new
meaning which has nothing to do with the meanings of the individual parts. However, not
all Arabic verb + preposition constructions are idiomatic, nor do all of them fit the
syntactic and semantic criteria of IEPVs. There are, in fact, several dissimilarities
between them in terms of syntactic and semantic properties, functionality, register and
The review also addressed the issue of derivation of EPVs and the differences in
derivational mechanisms between the English and Arabic languages. Although both
IEPVs have the ability to be far more productive than their Arabic counterparts, which
can only be productive when used as integral parts of metaphorical and fixed expressions.
This is mainly because IEPVs are dominantly colloquial, hence are more easily produced
of PVs are inferior in quality and quantity than the monolingual English-English
dictionaries of PVs. While there are more than ten monolingual English-English
dictionaries devoted to the phenomenon of EPVs, there are, to the best of my knowledge
and research, no more than two bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries dedicated to such a
phenomenon.
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well as register, derivation, and productivity of each listed PV, the bilingual English-
Arabic dictionaries of PVs paid no attention to most of such crucial information, leaving
Arabic translators and Arab learners of English with no choice but to find the meaning of
idiomatic PVs in English then to improvise on their Arabic equivalents, which may or
proposed for teaching them have been investigated. Pedagogues varied in what to teach as
PVs and how to teach them. Some pedagogues believe that all types of EPVs (i.e.,
since the former constitutes the basic by which the latter can be understood. Others, on
the other hand, consider that only the idiomatic/semantically opaque type of PVs has to
Likewise, they disagree upon how to teach EPVs to non-native speakers of English. Some
of them believe that they have to be taught by knowing the patterns underlying them, in
order to identify the system and logic by which they work. Others, however, consider
EPVs as random combinations of verbs and particles, and they have to be memorized by
heart.
By the same token, pedagogues differ in the question of how to sequence EPVs in
textbooks. Some are quite convinced that they must be dealt with by particles, while some
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conducting frequency counts of EPVs to determine the most common and needed ones in
Moreover, most pedagogues agree upon the issue of teaching EPVs in context rather than
as unrelated elements, due to the fact that such a manner enhances and facilitates their
learnbility.
Moreover, Chapter Two dealt with the issue of randomness of EPVs. There is very strong
evidence that EPVs are not random combinations. It was clearly demonstrated that there
is, in fact, a pattern underlying each one of them (see 2.10 above).
The comparison between the methods of teaching IEPVs utilized by Arab pedagogues
with those used by non-Arab pedagogues revealed that the methods of teaching IEPVs to
Arab learners of English is, to a great extent, inadequate. The two main reasons behind
such an inadequacy are the lack of rich pedagogical materials and the utilization of old-
Furthermore, the question of how the phenomenon of IEPVs has been dealt with in
translation studies was, also, explored in Chapter Two. It was quite evident that unlike the
cases of such languages as Spanish and Russian, which have many correspondences
between them and the English language in terms of PVs (see 2.11.1 above), the Arabic
language which has few syntactic and semantic correspondences with English, hence the
task of translating IEPVs is far more challenging and subject to a great deal of difficulties.
330
Such difficulties prompted some Arab researchers to tentatively suggest the employment
of such strategies as evasion, omitting and paraphrasing IEPVs when translating them
into Arabic. According to my study, these strategies are proven to be haphazard and
cannot be replicated because they have no place in assessing, perceiving and producing
Chapter Two highlighted as well the fact that the question of translating English idioms in
general and IEPVs in particular into Arabic has not been adequately attended to in
translation studies. Scholarly efforts are needed to account for the challenges and
difficulties such expressions pose to Arabic translators. The literature review showed that
more practical approaches, as well, need to be established, tested and applied. That is
precisely what this study has accomplished by focusing on IEPVs, the most important
A link between the theoretical part of the study (the literature review) and the practical
part of it (the experimental research) was established in Chapter Three in which I set up a
such approaches to my topic in an attempt to devise a practical and scientific model for
the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic. Four most appropriate parameters were
is, as sketched by her (2001, p. 247), "the preservation of 'meaning' across two different
languages and cultures"; context of situation/register (field, mode and tenor), Austin's
(1962) speech acts (locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts), House's (1977)
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competence.
The research methodology employed in this study to conduct the experimental research
was outlined in Chapter Four where the research design, participants, data collection
The results of the translation tests carried out by the two groups involved in the present
study were presented, analysed, interpreted and discussed in Chapter Five, where a
general overview of the results of the translation tests was given first followed by ample
analyses and discussion of the subjects' performance in light of the second set of the
research questions.
The results analysed and discussed supported the hypothesis outlined in the introductory
Chapter of this thesis and demonstrated that there were wide ranges of difficulties
1. Despite the differences between the two groups of subjects, both of them have
encountered a great deal of difficulties when translating IEPVs into Arabic. This is
quite evident from the overall performance of the subjects, which was poor, and from
hard that both groups have scored low percentages of (very good) answers. This
confirms the fact that since the Arabic language has a small number of syntactic,
idiomatic PVs, the task of translating such verbs into Arabic is far more challenging
and more difficult than the task of translating them into other languages such as
Spanish and Russian, where many correspondences between them and the English
language exist.
2. The newly coined IEPVs, (p) category, where there are no readily Arabic equivalents
for them, constituted the most difficult one for both groups. I attributed that to the two
these and listing them in dictionaries. Consequently, there have been many gaps
with no choice but to intuitively work them out one by one in order to produce
ii) The lack of effective teaching methods and materials which may help make
Arabic translators and translation students capable enough to deal with such
newly coined IEPVs. Unlike other pedagogues who suggested valuable methods
of teaching IEPVs based on the fact that these verbs are not mere random
combinations of verbs and particles and there are patterns underlying them,
Arab pedagogues nonetheless seem resigned to the fact that EPVs are random
combinations and for learners to master them they have to memorize them by
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heart. Accordingly, there are no reliable Arabic pedagogical materials that can
3. The complex idioms, (c) category, constituted the second hardest category for both
groups. I attributed that to the double complexity nature of such idioms, which
requires a high level of competence on the part of translators, in both source and
target languages.
4. The derivative IEPVs, (d) category, were less difficult than categories (p) and (c) for
both groups. However, they caused a great deal of difficulties to the subjects and this
between English and Arabic languages that make the derivational forms of IEPVs
5. The items containing IEPVs that are derived from nouns, (dpn) subcategory,
represented the most difficult subcategory of the (d) category for both groups.
6. The syntactic forms of IEPVs, (s) category, constituted the easiest one for both
attempting the items containing such forms. Such difficulties were quite evident from
7. The (svp) subcategory represented the most difficult subcategory of the (s) category
8. The (svap) subcategory constituted the second hardest subcategory for both groups.
9. The easiest subcategory of the (s) category was the (sva) subcategory.
10. There were two types of translational errors made by Arabic professional translators
and Arabic translation students: the overtly erroneous errors and covertly erroneous
errors. The results of both groups showed that the overtly erroneous errors
11. The Arabic professional translators made less overtly erroneous errors than the Arabic
translation students.
12. The overtly erroneous errors were mainly attributed to the idiomaticity of EPVs. This
played a significant role in hindering the subjects from obtaining the denotative
13. The overtly erroneous errors made by the subjects were of four types, namely: literal
translation, mistranslating, reducing the idioms to sense and breaching of the Arabic
language system.
14. Literal translation was manifested in the tendency of a number of the subjects to
perceive the listed IEPVs literally and deal with the two parts of the combination
at each combination as one semantic unit. I attributed committing such type of errors
the fact that the syntactic structure of IEPVs is quite odd for the Arabic
subjects. Unlike English, Arabic does not allow proper verbs to collocate with
adverbs. The only type of PVs in Arabic is that of verb + preposition structure
(see 2.6 above). Consequently, the subjects perceived the second parts of the
listed PVs literally and either translated them as prepositions or ignored them.
ii) The deceptive appearance of EPVs in general may catch the attention of
iii) Due to the productive nature of IEPVs which makes them hard to be captured
and listed in dictionaries, great deals of IEPVs are not covered by general and
iv) The decotextualization phenomenon in dealing with the IEPVs not only in
for IEPVs.
15. Mistranslating was apparent from the failure of a number of the subjects to
appreciate the polysemic nature of the listed IEPVs. I attributed producing such
i) The variety of shades of meanings given to each PV due to the polysemic nature
of the IEPVs which makes it hard for the subjects to choose the appropriate
meaning.
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ii) The fact that the combinations of IEPVs are quite confusing makes the task of
choosing the appropriate meaning more difficult. That is, one proper verb can
collocate with a number of particles to form a range of PVs with many different
meanings, and one particle may co-occur with a number of proper verbs to form
iii) The inadequate treatment of the phenomenon of PVs in general and specialized
16. Reducing the idioms to sense was noticeable when a number of the subjects seemed
to understand the functional meaning of the listed IEPVs in English but did not
deliver it correctly into Arabic. Instead, they produced a translation in which the
denotative meaning was achieved but at the expense of the idiomaticity of the given
EPVs. Such type of translational pitfalls was manifested in the subjects' answers of
the items of the complex idioms, (c) category, which have to be translated by Arabic
Arabic fixed expressions etc. given the double complexity nature of such complex
idioms.
17. Breaching of the Arabic language system was manifested in the tendency of a
translations to the listed IEPVs. This is mainly owing to the lack of the required
linguistic competence.
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18. The Arabic professional translators made more covertly erroneous errors than the
19. The covertly erroneous errors made by the Arabic subjects were of five types,
acts, usage of paraphrasing and usage of Arabic colloquial and regional dialects.
20. Wrong Arabic collocation error was evident when a number of subjects seemed to
21. Some of the Arabic subjects surveyed in this study rightly made use of such
Arabic idioms and Arabic proverbs when translating the listed IEPVs into Arabic,
22. The data collected revealed that most of the very good answers (functional-
pragmatic equivalents) were based on finding the right Arabic collocation (see
Appendix 2).
23. Translating IEPVs by its Arabic counterpart (IAPVs) was quite a rare phenomenon
in the data collected. I attributed such a rarity to the fact that Arabic PVs are more
formal than their English counterparts and, due to their highly rhetorical nature,
24. Shift of register was apparent in the failure of a number of subjects to consider
voice and vice versa, which resulted in distortion of the intended meanings by
conveying the wrong messages. Those types of errors were attributed to the
i) When providing their Arabic translations, the Arabic subjects did not consider
ii) The sharp distinction that exists in the Arabic language between written and
spoken discourse, where two varieties (formal high written variety and
iii) Arabic lexicographers, unlike the majority of the English lexicographers, did
25. Incorrect delivery of speech acts was manifested in the failure of a number of the
subjects to understand the speech acts performed in the utterances in which IEPVs
were used. I attributed committing such a type of errors to the following four reasons:
ii) The polysemous nature of IEPVs and their typically informal use in everyday
spoken English.
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26. Usage of paraphrasing was noticeable in the tendency of a number of subjects to gloss
the listed IEPVs by employing long Arabic sentences instead of providing their
27. The usage of Arabic colloquial and regional dialects was apparent in the failure of a
number of the subjects, despite the note I made at the beginning of the translation tests
utilizing Modern Standard Arabic when tackling the phenomenon of IEPVs. They
functional-pragmatic equivalents.
28. Despite the fact that translations by employing Arabic colloquial and regional dialects
may deliver the denotative and the communicative meanings of the IEPVs, and they
translations as they are not lexicalized and not current and putting them in writing
sounds unacceptable.
29. The comparison between the two groups demonstrated the fact that the translation
a lack of ability in understanding them and translating them into Arabic. The
differences between the two groups regarding the main concern of this study i.e.
the impression that the years of training and experience the Arabic professional
translators have did not help much in translating IEPVs into Arabic.
30. The comparison of the performance of professionals among themselves and the
revealed that neither the years of experience, in the case of professionals, nor the
stages of study, in the case of students, made any difference with regard to translation
other regardless of the years of experience and the stages of study. Such a result was
Nonetheless the Arabic professional translators were more competent and have more
sense of encouragement to take initiative and risk-taking, while the Arabic translation
students deem to require increased awareness of the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic
properties of IEPVs to boost their own ability in comprehending the idiomatic and
pragmatic equivalents.
6.2 Recommendations
In light of the abovementioned findings, and owing to the diversity of the reasons to
which each piece of finding was attributed, the following pertinent recommendations
can be proposed:
• When translating IEPVs into Arabic, Arabic translators ought to resist the
each PV separately. They have to look at each PV as one single, discrete unit of
• Arabic translators should not adhere to the direct semantic meaning of IEPVs
however, have to take into account the situational context in which such verbs are
recognizing the type of the text in which a given PV is embedded to grasp the
particular field (cf. Heliel 1994). After that, they have to precisely consider the
parameters of 'mode' and 'tenor' to determine the medium by which the utterance
is delivered and the social distance of the interlocutors so as to convey the same
mismatches between the English and the Arabic languages in this regard. Indeed
the speech acts performed in given utterances where IEPVs are used.
• Arabic translators should not reduce IEPVs to sense when translating them into
Arabic. That is, the idiomatic nature has to be kept equivalent. This can typically
• When translating IEPVs into Arabic, Arabic translators need to seek the middle
ground Arabic style by adhering to Modern Standard Arabic and avoiding the
amongst researchers in the field of translation theory (cf. Baker, 1992; Bataineh &
recommended for Arabic translators to typically opt for it when rendering IEPVs
into Arabic, as the findings of the present study demonstrated that resortring to
such an alternative would be very much at the expense of the idiomatic nature of
IEPVs, which has to be kept equivalent in order to achieve the appropriate Arabic
functional-pragmatic equivalence.
• Given the fact that bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries of PVs are far less in
both quantity and quality than the specialized English-English dictionaries of PVs
(see 2.9 above), Arabic translators are best recommended to consult specialized
the situational usage of a given IEPV, then they need to consult the specialized
an Arabic equivalent is not found, Arabic translators are best advised to take the
parameters of the model devised in this study into their consideration when
Arabic Lexicographers are recommended to take the following crucial points into
• First and foremost, there is a real need for more specialized bilingual English-
to the phenomenon of EPVs, while there are more than ten monolingual English-
dictionaries is far below; both in quality and quantity the latter type (see Chapter
Two above).
general bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries, in the same way they are provided
in the monolingual English-English dictionaries, and list each one of them as one
entity rather than under the verb (first component) or the particle (second
compiling dictionaries to bridge the quantitative and qualitative gaps that exist in
their available dictionaries. This can only be done by accounting for such key
order to do so, they are best advised to follow the Collins COBUILD Dictionary
and the Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English in this respect
and assign separate appendices for exploring the English particles (prepositions
and adverbs) and the shades of meanings they impart when collocating with
proper verbs to form PVs. By doing so, Arabic lexicographers would provide their
readership with a sort of systematic approach to understand the way the IEPVs
work and the logic behind their collocations and, in turn, enable them to make an
informed decision rather than an arbitrary guessing when faced by newly coined
PVs.
• Another way of keeping up with the productive nature of IEPVs, and best
including any IEPV that pops up among English native speakers. This can be done
National Corpus, COBUILD The Bank of English and English Language Corpora
to cite only a few), or even by observing the English language used in the mass
media. Cowie (1993) makes the point that "[a] new edition of a dictionary has not
only to include phrasal verbs and meanings which have entered the language since
the first edition was published but must also take account of new sources of
and Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Workbook (1994), which are produced in
346
conjunction with the Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and their Idioms, and the
Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs respectively (see 2.8 & 2.10
with their dictionaries. I believe that dictionary compilers are, more than any one
It is undeniable fact that types of methods and materials utilized in teaching IEPVs to
Arabic students play a significant role not only in learning and perceiving them but
also in using and producing the right equivalents for them in Arabic. Along these lines
[…] to alleviate the difficulties phrasal verbs present, ESL teachers and material
writers need to approach the problematic areas of phrasal-verb pedagogy
systematically, developing and presenting material in a manner that avoids
unnecessary confusion and loss of time for both student and instructor (p. 66).
Hence, Arabic pedagogues are recommended to pay a great deal of attention to the
performance of both groups that were survyed was the rule rather than the
exception, IEPVs must have a prominent place in the overall learning and training
347
process, and they have to be included as an integral part of the interpreting and
• The findings of the present study revealed that the newly coined IEPVs, (p)
category were the most difficult for both groups involved. In order to enhance the
pedagogues should develop such patterns and present them in a systematic way so
as to provide good pedagogical materials that can help overcome the difficulties
caused by EPVs and, most importantly, to equip the learners with a learning
experience that can assist them in this life-long learning profession. English
pedagogues suggest that the patterns underlying EPVs have to be taught explicitly
so as to shortcut the learning process and make it more efficient (Sansome, 2000;
Sawyer, 2000; Side, 1990). McArthur and Atkins (1974) rightly believe that PVs
"are more consistent in their behaviour and far more teachable than is generally
• Arabic pedagogues are best encouraged to spend more time and effort on teaching
the doubled idiomatic nature of the complex idioms, (c) category, which
according to the findings of this study constituted the second hardest category for
both groups.
348
• When teaching IEPVs to Arabic students, Arabic pedagogues need to put more
especially the IEPVs derived from nouns, (dpn) subcategory, and the IEPVs of
showed that they were the most difficult subcategories of (d) and (s) categories
respectively.
establishing a logic and sense of IEPVs when teaching them to Arabic students.
Hannan (1998) indicates that proving to students "that there is a human logic,
based on experiences which they can recognise, gives them confidence that it is
feasible to learn these things, and open doors to useful methods of vocabulary
interpreters with rich pedagogical materials that can help them overcome the
developers need to consider and make use of the up-to-date teaching methods of
IEPVs (some of which are mentioned in Chapter Two above) and keep away from
the ineffective and fruitless old-fashioned methods in which IEPVs are deemed as
random and haphazard combinations of verbs and particles and there is no way for
learning them according to their particles rather than their proper verbs. Arabic
pedagogues are best advised to follow suit, since it is the particles, more than the
verbs, which carry the main portion of the function of these combinations (see
2.10 above).
• Arabic pedagogues are required to keep in mind the previously stated point made
by McArthur (1971) in which he maintains that PVs must be taught as units, and
as the equivalent of single verbs. Prompting Arabic learners of English with such
a crucial principle would keep them away from tracing the literal meanings of
these constructions by taking each component of them on its own. IEPVs are
• In order to avoid the intuitive decisions of material developers when choosing the
suggests to assemble a "core" of EPVs to determine and choose the most frequent
• Arabic pedagogues should consider the point raised by Side (1990) in which he
asserts that due to the analogous nature of EPVs "single examples should never be
unrelated words, thus, connections always have to "be made in order to establish
their context within the language, to show they are meaningfully idiomatic rather
• When teaching IEPVs to Arabic learners of English, Arabic translators and Arabic
comprehensive enough corpora, and avoid what is called by Kharma and Hajjaj
would do more harm than good and deepen the negative attitude of Arabic
• Arabic students, Arabic translators and Arabic interpreters are best encouraged to
make their own list of IEPVs according to the particle in their vocabulary
The contributions made by this study to the knowledge base of linguistics and
disciplined approach for the analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic. The model
move on to enhance their strategies of dealing with this phenomenon; 4) it is the first
of its kind to carry out a large scale experimental research into translating IEPVs into
Arabic. The considerable number of the items of the translation tests (100 questions)
and the enormous number of answers obtained (2400 answers) provided the study
with a reliable amount of data and enabled the present researcher to confidently
generalize the essential findings arrived at; 5) the study has the virtue of targeting not
only the professional translators but also the translation students and the virtue of
participants; 6) the study contributes to reconciling the theory and the practice as to
translating IEPVs into Arabic, by providing vital insights on the theoretical gaps that
difficulties of translating IEPVs into Arabic, for lexicographers to close the existing
gaps and for pedagogues to modify their methods and materials and make them more
This dissertation mainly concentrated on translating IEPVs into Arabic. In spite of its
difficulties they cause to Arabic professional translators and Arabic translation students,
it was limited to one language pair. It will be interesting to replicate and extend this
study to other language combinations. The workable model devised in this study for the
analysis and translation of IEPVs into Arabic can easily be employed in conducting
more parallel studies to analyse IEPVs and translate them into other languages.
Since IEPVs are typically used in everyday spoken English more than in formal written
English, they are more likely to pose a great deal of difficulties to interpreters when
rendering them to Arabic. It would also be important to replicate or extend this study to
investigate the difficulties encountered by Arabic (or any other language) interpreters
It goes without saying that the real need for a comprehensive, up-to-date, and
much wanted dictionary can well be compiled in the light of the findings and
avoid the existing critical drawbacks if they are to achieve the objective of satisfying their
end users, that is, the learners of English and Arabic, as well as the English-Arabic
translators.
353
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NEWSPAPERS
WEB SITES
http://a4esl.org/q/j/ck/fb-phrasalverbs.html
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/PHRASALS/Pv1.htm
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/PHRASALS/Pv1b.htm
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/PHRASALS/Pv1c.htm
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/PHRASALS/Pv1d.htm
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz4.html
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz5.html
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz6.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslphrasal.html
http://valenciaenglish.netfirms.com/phrasals00.htm
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~billw/nlpdict.html#phrasalverb
http://www.english-zone.com/index.php
http://www.eslcafe.com/pv/
http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz%20center/the%20big%20let%20down%202.htm
http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz/get.htm
http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-twow.html
http://www.super-memory.com/sml/colls/pv.htm
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/
368
APPENDICES
369
APPENDIX 1
TRANSLATION TESTS
Your are invited to participate in a research project conducted by Ali Yunis Aldahesh,
translators and Arabic translation students when translating idiomatic English phrasal
combination constitutes one unit of meaning, which is totally different from the
great deal of difficulty to English learners in general, and to Arabic translators and
If you agree to participate, you will be given a translation test of one hundred English
sentences. You are required to translate into Arabic the underlined phrases only. The
test will take approximately one hour. If you decide not to participate, please return
For the sake of confidentiality, the participants will be given code numbers to
replace their names, so that their real names will not appear in our records.
Western Sydney. Only the researcher, Ali Yunis Aldahesh, will be permitted to use
the information. The information, however, will be destroyed after five years.
As a participant in this research, you may withdraw from the test at any time without
Your participation is greatly appreciated. You will receive a letter from the School of
Note:
This study has been approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics
Committee. If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this research, you
may contact the Ethics Committee through the Research Ethics Officers (tel.: 02 47 360883). Any
issues you raise will be treated in confidence and investigated fully, and you will be informed of the
outcome.
Yours sincerely,
Phone: 0402964764
Email: alialdahesh@hotmail.com
371
Consent Form
about the research, and any questions I have asked have been answered to my
in this research, knowing that I can withdraw at any time. I understand that the
information I provide will not be identified as coming from me in any way and that
the information I provide will be part of Ali Yunis Alahesh's thesis. I have been given
Note:
This study has been approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics
Committee. If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this research, you
may contact the Ethics Committee through the Research Ethics Officers (tel.: 02 47 360883). Any
issues you raise will be treated in confidence and investigated fully, and you will be informed of the
outcome.
372
Part One
Please fill in the following form:
• Name (optional):
• Gender:
Male ( )
Female ( )
• Age (optional):
• Qualification:
• Professional Translator:
• Translation Student:
Undergraduate ( )
Year one ( )
Year two ( )
Year three ( )
Postgraduate ( )
Graduate Diploma ( )
M.A ( )
PhD ( )
373
Part two:
Translation Tests
Note:
Since the study is about translation only, please confine your answers to Modern
Standard Arabic and avoid colloquial equivalents for the idiomatic English phrasal
1. Don't keep talking about that letter. I know I shouldn't do it, but there's no need to
….………………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………………
2. Father wasn't supposed to know about his birthday surprise – now you've let the cat
….………………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………………
3. The 'Daily Mirror' says nobody can put back the clock and get rid of decimal
….………………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………………
374
4. When I realized that her husband was listening to what I was saying to her, I could
….………………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………………
5. Mary thinks too highly of herself. Someone should cut her down to size.
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Slow down this instant, Percy! You're going to drive me around the bend!
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
7. My eyes popped out when I saw Miriam. I hadn't seen her in years. She has aged a
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
8. The first time Max saw Edna he knew he was falling for her.
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
9. I've been working for the last eight hours and now I'm fed up to my back teeth with
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
375
10. When we gave Dorris a gift she got so carried away she began to cry. [Fiction
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
11. Poor Penelope. Mathematics has never been one of her favourite subjects. She
simply isn't able to comprehend it. She often complains that most of what her teacher
says goes over her head. [Fiction novel - Conversation between parents]
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
12. I'll have to pull up my socks if I'm going to finish my work today.
….……………….………………………………………………………………………
….……….………………………………………………………………………………
13. I played when I should have studied. Now I'm stewing in my own juice trying to
…...…...…………………………………………………………………………………
….....….…………………………………………………………………………………
14. She used to be so gentle but since being appointed supervisor Mrs. Wilson has
never stopped throwing her weight around in our office. [Fiction novel - Conversation
between fellow-workers]
…...….…….……………………………………………………………………………
…..….………..…………………………………………………………………………
376
15. George has been planning the exhibition for months but, because of the
workman's strike, the whole thing has fallen about his ears. [Article on an Art
exhibition]
…...…...…………………………………………………………………………………
…..………………………………………………………………………………………
16. If you think that I was responsible, then you are barking up the wrong tree: I am
…...…...…………………………………………………………………………………
…….….…………………………………………………………………………………
17. Tom is top of the class, but there are two other students breathing down his neck.
[Parent-teacher interview]
…...….…..………………………………………………………………………………
…..………………………………………………………………………………………
18. He is not at all a practical person: perhaps having to earn his living will bring him
…...….…….……………………………………………………………………………
…..….…..………………………………………………………………………………
19. The young singer's performance brought the house down: the applause lasted for
…...….…….……………………………………………………………………………
…..…...…………………………………………………………………………………
20. If Mr. Brown finds out that you have been leaving the office early, he'll come
down on you like a ton of bricks. [Fiction novel - Conversation between fellow-
workers]
…...….………….………………………………………………………………………
…..….…..………………………………………………………………………………
377
21. He said he would have the whole house decorated by Christmas, but he fell down
…...…...…………………………………………………………………………………
…….….…………………………………………………………………………………
22. We had a few minutes of polite conversation, but then he got down to brass tacks,
and asked me what salary I would want if I worked for him. [Fiction novel - Recount
on a job interview]
…...….…………….……………………………………………………………………
…..….…………..………………………………………………………………………
23. John has an idea for a new tennis club, but I don't know if it will ever get off the
…...….……….…………………………………………………………………………
……….…………………………………………………………………………………
24. Bill must have got up on the wrong side of the bed today: he has been very nasty
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…..….….………………………………………………………………………………
25. Mr. Brown keeps interfering with my work: I'm going to his office now to have it
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…..….………….………………………………………………………………………..
26. Jason is striving for his best. I expect he'll clock up quite a few successes in the
…...….………………………………………………………………………………….
…..………………………………………………………………………………………
378
27. I used to wolf my food down so quickly that I didn't have time to enjoy it.
…...….…………..………………………………………………………………………
…...….………..…………………………………………………………………………
28. Why are the children all dolled up? Is someone important coming?
…..….…….….…………………………………………………………………………
…...….…….……………………………………………………………………………
29. I was accustomed to the old train schedule. The new one has balled me up.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…..…...…..……………………………………………………………………………...
30. You can't skirt round the matter, you'll have to give the workers a satisfactory
…...…..…………………………………………………………………………………
…..…...…………………………………………………………………………………
31. I'm shocked at Joseph's attitude. Did you notice the way he bossed his wife
…...…...…………………………………………………………………………………
…..………………………………………………………………………………………
32. Don't bother asking Dean for support. He won't cotton on, he's too involved with
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…..…..…………………………………………………………………………………..
379
33. He was shopping around to see what support he could get for his proposals.
[Biography]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
34. I know you are so upset about that matter. Don’t bottle it up, speak out.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
The erratic behaviour of Uranus this week is likely to bring out the impish, impulsive
and unpredictable side of Aquarius. It's quite okay to walk on the wild side as long as
you recognise the limits beyond which it would be crazy to go. Don't let anyone egg
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
36. Now, stop worrying about those exams. You've revised well, so relax. It's going to
….…………...…………………………………………………………………………..
….……….………...…………………………………………………………………….
37. If you launch a sales campaign now, when there's so little money about, it'll be a
.….……………………………………………...………………………………………
….…..…….…………………………………………………..…………………………
380
38. I've been so worried about you. Where were you during the cave-in? Everyone has
been looking for you. [Fiction novel - Conversation between a father and his son]
….…………………………………………...…………………………………………
….……….………………………………..……………………………………………
US troops earlier drove through the centre of the holy city and used loud speakers to
….…………..…………………….……………………………………………………
….……….……………………………..………………………………………………
40. My sister always had new clothes, while I had to make do with her cast-offs.
[Diary entry]
….……………...………………………………………………………………………
….………………………...……………………………………………………………
41. I want to propose a vote of thanks to Sergeant Wilson for an excellent mock-up of
….……….……………..………………………………………………………………
….……….………………………..……………………………………………………
The United States would withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of 2005 under a
new draft of a resolution before the United Nations Security Council. [News headline]
….………..………….…………………………………………………………………
…….……….…………………………………...………………………………………
381
43. I bought a house last week, and I requested three weeks as a cooling-off period.
[Question in a chat-room]
……….…………………………………...……………………………………………
……….…………………………………...……………………………………………
44. I went to the shop to buy some groceries. I found a sign on the display window
saying " The shop is closed due to the black out ". [Notice on a closed shop]
….……….…………………………………….………………………………………
….…………………………...…………………………………………………………
…..….……….…………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
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47. The party brightened up when the pop group arrived. It would have been so boring
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
48. You've had a long day today. Would you like to freshen up? The bathroom is
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
382
49. Don't put your prices too high or you'll frighten the customers off. [Advice from a
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
50. Two smart, attractive, well-educated young law graduates, Sally and Edith, were
competing for a prestigious job. As part of the job interview, each was asked why she
wanted the job. Edith answered that she wanted to work for a firm with a reputation of
being concerned with truth and justice. When it was her turn, Sally simply opened her
purse, took out a rather thin wallet and laid it on the senior partner's desk. "I want to
fatten it up as fast as possible," she said. Sally got the job. [Joke]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
51. Jasmine cried out to her husband: Why fasten on me? It's not my fault.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
52. I tried to calm him down after the bad news, but his emotions got the better of
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
53. They have just warmed up the same old plan, because it has always been
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
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383
54. My hopes of a better job damped down after six years' waiting. [Diary entry]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
55. Harry thinks he is unique, but in fact he is just warming over ideas he's heard from
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
56. The craftsman fined the wood down very gently. His boss told him to smoothen it
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
….……….……..………………………………………………………………………
57. It will not be easy for you to change your whole way of thinking, but I believe that
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
58. Sandra knows that she can trust her parents and count on them to make her proud.
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….………………………………………………………………………………………
59. Michael is a well mannered young man. You shouldn’t look down on him just
….………………………………………………………………………………………
….……………….…………...…………………………………………………………
384
60. I've never been able to come at Isabella since she took up with Tim.
….…………...…………………………………………………………………………
….……………...………………………………………………………………………
61. A popular question among Christians at this time of year is 'what are you giving
….…………...…………………………………………………………………………
….…………….…..……………………………………………………………………
62. Bill and William became very successful in their political life since they made
political figures]
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
63. Commencing with my very first speech as Chief Justice, on the day of my
swearing in, through several dozen other addresses and over two hundred speeches on
rule of law. Many of you have had to put up with this more than once. You should
brace yourselves.
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….………………….…………………………………………………………………
385
64. The police are confident that the gang who carried out the robbery will be caught.
The Guardian therefore, has this headline: 'Net closes in on £50m robbers'.
[News headline]
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….…………………………………………………………………………………….
65. Robin is going all out to pass his final examination. He really wants to get his
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….…………………………………………………………………………………….
66. Vickie: Jack, can you do the dishes tonight? I'm very tired.
Jack: Can't we just put them in the dish-washer? I've had a very bad day, too! I just
Vickie: Hey! Just because you had a bad day today doesn't give you permission to
take it out on me! [Fiction novel - Conversation between a wife and husband]
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….……….……………………………………………………………………………
67. I have a tight schedule tomorrow. Can you fill in for me at the meeting?
..….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….……………………………………………………………………………………
68. Priscilla: Rich, can you come downstairs for a minute right now?
Richard: I'm sorry I can't. I'm tied up with something urgent at the moment.
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………………
386
69. The death penalty has been done away with in many European countries. However,
it's still being carried out in many other countries. [Article on death penalty]
...….………….…………………………………………………………………………
..….…………..…………………………………………………………………………
70. Judy: you look like you're fuming. What's going on?
Andy: The boss is being unreasonable! He flared up at me, making a mountain out of
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..….………………….…………………………………………………………………
71. I hear you're always getting into trouble. Keep out of what doesn't concern you.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
72. If you want to get ahead in this world, you've to work, work and work.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
73. Kids have gone overweight from eating too much McDonalds. They need regular
table magazine]
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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387
74. Sarah: I've managed to learn typing on the computer, but I still haven't got the
hang of it.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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75. They finally realized that there is an urgent need for the health promotion
program. They will have a special meeting to work it out. [News report]
………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………
76. Accused: I wasn't at that market last night, and I don't know the person you are
talking about.
Prosecutor: We are not going into that again, are we? [A cross examination in court]
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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77. You are making a big fuss out of nothing. Why don't you two kiss and make up?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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78. Men are like computers: Hard to figure out and never have enough memory.
[Joke]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
….……….……..………………………………………………………………...………
388
79. Mr. Crutcher is working in a Starbucks coffee shop. He says that he is now a
reformed character. He says he's not back to his old tricks and uses a nice phrase 'I've
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
...….……………………………………………………………………………………..
..….………………………………………………………………………………………
81. My neighbour had a bad car accident yesterday. After the accident he blacked out
...….……………………………………………………………………………………
..…..……………………………………………………………………………………
82. Five or six years ago I'd put away a big piece of meat most evenings. Now I just
eat a bit of chicken or fish. [An advertisement for a weight loss product]
...….………………..……………………………………………………………………
..…………………………………………………………………………………………
83. I was busy paying lots of bills this morning, and I ran into my wife at the post
..….……………………………………………………………………………………...
..….………………………………………………………………….…………………..
389
84. The salesman finds it easy to take in old ladies and persuade them to give him
...….……………………………………………………………………………………..
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85. I had a bad pain in my stomach last night. It was severe to begin with, but it soon
...….……………………………………………………………………………………..
..….……………………………………………………………………………………...
86. I must warn you that anything you may say will be taken down and used in court as
...….……………………………………………………………………………………..
..….…………………..………………………………………………………………….
87. You may not like our flowers, but they will grow on you in the end.
...….……………………………………………………………………………………..
..….………………………….…………………………………………………………..
88. One woman says that her boss is horrible and he stresses her out. She says that she
deals with the stress by chanting. Another woman says her partner stresses her out
because he doesn't tidy up. And she copes with it by having a relaxing bath!
[Article on stress]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…..….……………………………………………………………………………….…
390
89. It's spring break in Florida and students are chilling out at the beach and partying
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
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90. One day, I went over to my Uncle Tony's house and didn't get a chance to do my
Maths homework. The teacher told me off for not doing it the day after.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…..….……………………………………………………………………………….…..
Adam: I've had enough, I'm partied out. [Fiction novel - Conversation between
friends]
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…..….………………………………………………………………………………….
92. Funk up your mobile with cool screen savers [An internet advertisement for
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…..….…………………………………………………………………………………
Mark Latham's credibility as opposition leader faced its gravest test last night after
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
391
Maria: Yes. I'll have some salad, roast beef, and mashed potatoes.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…...….……………………………………………………………………………………
Jack: I googled around for three hours to get the site on which it was published.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…...….……………………………………………………………………………………
96. I've spent four hours doing my late night shopping. I'm really shopped out.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………..
…...….……………………………………………………………………………………
97. How about we get the students of floral art from the Tech to fang up a few
arrangements using roses and jasmine? [Fiction novel – Conversation between school
teachers]
…..….…………………………………………………………………………………
…..….…………………………………………………………………………………
392
98. When I mentioned it, they all looked at me strangely and said 'What are we going to
do?' and I said we're going to talk, tell secrets, dance, dag out.
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
…...….…………………………………………………………………………………
99. Human beings run into trouble when arterial walls guck up with cholesterol and
…...….………………………………….………………………………………………
…..….……………………………….………………………………………………….
100. We had built up this cult following while being an independent band, but as soon
[Diary entry]
…...….…………………………….……………………………………………………
…..….……………………………………..……………………………………………
393
APPENDIX 2
SUGGESTED ARABIC FUNCTIONAL-PRAGMATIC
EQUIVALENTS
IEPVs Suggested Arabic functional-
pragmatic equivalents
1 Don't keep talking about that letter. I 7O\ 7ً3L دا%P,ّ-*} ن9 داعM
2 Father wasn't supposed to know about ,Y+ اx_N \ آ,Y+ اxQ^8 \ ,Y+ اx-N8[ أƒ+
3 The 'Daily Mirror' says nobody can راءX+ اp+ ا5E7Y+رب ا7ƒE [-*1
4 When I realized that her husband was x-.3} \ ‘F)w 73\ X_} أن أK(w %P7Y+ ]َ {
ِ wُ X+ x-.3}
[Diary entry]
5 Mary thinks too highly of herself. %&&&8 7O*^&&&1 \ %&&&ƒ-ƒQ+ ا7&&&O3IZ 7&&&O1,1 \ 7&&&O3IQ1
Someone should cut her down to size. 7[رهw ف,*} 7O)*I1 \ %ƒ-ƒQ+ ا7O3IZ
classmates]
6 Slow down this instant, Percy! You're %..IFH \ %\اX` ,ّ-{FH \ %\اX` [ƒ8•H
friends]
8 The first time Max saw Edna he knew %&&8 ]&&w \ و7&&O/ا,G ,-&&H&&] أw \ و7Oآ7(&&o %&&8 ‚&&)E
husband]
9 I've been working for the last eight p&&&+ إK)Y&&&F1 K&&&)3+ \ اK&&&3*+ ا0&&&/ &&&•مH 7&&&31 أx3—&&&H
hours and now I'm fed up to my back x&&))/ \ K&&3*+&&‚ ا-W&&[ أE أ4&&+ \ K&&3*+ ا0&&/ %&&Zرو
teeth with work. 4&+ \ K&3*+ ا0&/ K&-'+ ا%&\ •&_W \ K&3*+ ا0&/ 517Ž)+
[Fiction novel - Conversation between [1[N&&+ اK&&)3+7\ x(&&` \ أK&3*+ اp&&)E ,(&&` %&&+ [&*1
10 When we gave Dorris a gift she got so ء7'(+7\ xNO„ أ7OP[ أZ p+ًا ا,-…ت آ,ˆ•}
11 Poor Penelope. Mathematics has never \ ام,&'+ور ا,&/ 7O. \&~ه,&31 \ 5&8Š+ ا%8 ش,W97آ
been one of her favourite subjects. She 7Oى ادراآXFY/ قX8 \ ‘3O8 7O-)E |*U1
parents]
395
12 I'll have to pull up my socks if I'm %)E \ %*H و%8 7/ K آK3E[ي \ أE7H 0E ,ّ3oأ
fellow-workers]
13 I played when I should have studied. \ %&)3E ¥L7&FP K&ّ3Q}&[اي \ أ1 ‘&F)*8 7&/ 5I-FP %.„أ
classmates]
14 She used to be so gentle but since \ %ه7&.+ ا,&/¤ ا7OP•ّف وآ,UF+ ا0E • ا\[اwXF} 4+
being appointed supervisor Mrs. \ ٍ 7&(F\ 7O(U&./ ل73*F&H ا0&E\ ,('F\ ف,UF+ ا0E
fellow-workers]
15 George has been planning the [ىH \ ح71,+ أدراج اx({{‘ ذهy
an Art exhibition]
16 If you think that I was responsible, ‹{n/ xP•8 ل \ اذنXƒ} 7/ %*} M xP•8 اذن
neighbours]
396
17 Tom is top of the class, but there are \ ًة,&o7(/ ‘&_)y \ 7ً /73} ,ˆ ا%8 0-(+7W ك7. ه0'+و
two other students breathing down his اXFY/ 0/ ن7(1,w \ اXFY/ p+ ا2U1 دان أن7'1
18 He is not at all a practical person: \ ]&&&wاX+ أرض اp&&&+[ ا-*-&&&H\ ‘&&&3IZ p&&&+[ إ-*-&&&H
perhaps having to earn his living will ً 7-)3E ‘)*I-H \ 7-*w*)‘ واI-H
19 The young singer's performance ]&&F/ب \ أ,&&{+ة اXN&&P 0&&/ ‘\اX&&` رX&&O3I+&&[ اƒ8أ
brought the house down: the applause |&&&O+ب \ أ7&&&IEJ ا5&&&17G ل7&&&P \ 5&&&17Ž)+ رX&&&O3I+ا
review - article]
20 If Mr. Brown finds out that you have \ §-\X&} 7&3ّ1 أSnً\X-&H \ S-)E ‘(^G م7„ |U-H
been leaving the office early, he'll ةXYw K'\ 7ً _-.*} S-)E ل7O.-H
between fellow-workers]
21 He said he would have the whole S+ز ذ7IP ا%8 KN8 ‘.'+ \ وS+ ذ%8 ‚_y‘ أ.'+و
22 We had a few minutes of polite 5&&{ƒ.+ اp&&+ق ا,&&{}\ عX&&RX3+ `&&)| ا%&&8 K&&yد
conversation, but then he got down to [I+ ا%8 ع \ \[أXRX3+ ا%8 5/7O+ا
interview]
23 John has an idea for a new tennis club, \ •I.F&&H ة,&&'_+ اx&&P7 إذا آ7&&3-8 ف,&&E أM %&&..'+و
but I don't know if it will ever get off ~-_.F+ اŠّ-Z Ky[FH \ رX.+ى ا,FH
24 Bill must have got up on the wrong (&[و أن1\ مX-+ا ه~ا ا,'*F/ K-\ اجŠ/ نX'1 \[ أنM
workers]
25 Mr. Brown keeps interfering with my وف,&&Q+ اp&&)E ط7&&ƒ.+&&] اR9 \ ‘&&*/ ,&&/9 ا4Y&&Z9
work: I'm going to his office now to 7O\7UP %8 رX/9] اR9 \ ‘*/
workers]
26 Jason is striving for his best. I expect ز,Q-&&&&H \ &&&&[ة1[E ت7&&&&Z7IP ‚ƒQ-&&&&H ‘&&&&P&&&&] أwX}أ
27 I used to wolf my food down so K&ّدت أن أأآX&*} \ 5E,Y&\ %/7*W 4OF+[ت أن أFEا
28 Why are the children all dolled up? Is \ ف؟7&8 زp&+ن إX&( ذاه4OP•&ن وآXƒP•&F/ ل7_W9 ا4+
29 I was accustomed to the old train %P,¢-Z \ %.'\[ أرw [1[I+ر ا7{ƒ+„[ول ا
between commuters]
30 You can't skirt round the matter, you'll عXRX3+| ا.IF}M \ ,/9 ا0/ ّب,OF} M
31 I'm shocked at Joseph's attitude. Did ‘؟F„ زوp)E 7O\ ,ّ/•F1 %F+ ا5ƒ1,{+ اx€ZM Kه
you notice the way he bossed his wife ™ّ)YF\ ‘F„] زو/ K/7*F1 •-/ x€ZM Kه
33 He was shopping around to see what ]){FY&&&1 \ الX&&&Z9ّ&&&[ اƒ_F1 \ رX&&&/9ّى ا,&&QF1 ن7&&&آ
[Biography]
34 I know you are so upset about that 7ً F( آ4آ7_ \ آXF('}M \ 4'\X)w %8 ,/9ا اX3F'} M
yourself. [Horoscope]
daughter]
37 If you launch a sales campaign now, xwX)+ 5*-^/ نX'FH \ 7*1 ذر2N8 5)3Q+ اKN_FH
38 I've been so worried about you. Where ر؟7-OPMء ا7.ˆ أx. آ01أ
39 Najaf is at the heart of a political |&)w %&8 \ 5-H7-Y+ ا5_`7*+ ا0-E %8 •I.+ ا,(F*}
40 My sister always had new clothes, 7OY&&\2/ ر}&&[اء7\ %&&_F أن أآ%&&)E |&&I1 ن7&& آ7&&3.-\
41 I want to propose a vote of thanks to ‘*.` ~ي+ز ا7F33+رب ا7ƒ+ ا4ّYI/ |(Y\
Announcement at a meeting]
42 Revised UN draft sets pullout date. &&[ةQF3+ ا4&&/9ار ا,&&w دةXY&&/ &[ّدQ} \ 0ّ-& *} \ ]^&&}
The United States would withdraw its 5&+ّ[*3+دة اXY&3+’ ا.&} \ ب7QYPª+ 7n1ر7} 5+[*3+ا
troops from Iraq by the end of 2005 ب7QYPM§ ا1ر7} p)E [ةQF3+ ا4/9ار ا,ƒ+
43 I bought a house last week, and I اء,N+ ا0E [ولE 5)O/ \ ,-'_} ة,F8 \ ل7O/ة إ,F8
44 I went to the shop to buy some %L7\,O'+ر ا7-F+ع ا7{ƒP(| اY\ ‚)Ž/ KQ3+ا
[Notice on a shop].
47 The party brightened up when the pop 5)_Q+ ا%8 ة7-Q+ اx\د
48 You've had a long day today. Would |&G,} K&م؟ \ ه73QF&HM7\ SY_P ˜*.} د أنX} Kه
you like to freshen up? The bathroom ل7Y&&&&&&FGMش؟ ا7&&&&&&*FPM واSW7N&&&&&&P [&&&&&&1[I} %&&&&&&8
49 Don't put your prices too high or you'll 0L7\Š+ اS./ ,_-H Mوإ
50 Two smart, attractive, well-educated &[ أن1 \ أر0&'31 7&/ ع,&H•\ دXƒ.+7\ 7«ه/[ أن أ1أر
young law graduates, Sally and Edith, p&&&FZ 7&&&«ه/&&[ أن أ1 \ أر0&&&'31 7&&/ ع,&&&H•\ %&&.FGأ
51 Jasmine cried out to her husband: %/X+ 0E •؟ آ%)E مX)+ذا }^] ا73+
52 I tried to calm him down after the bad ‘.E •ّ_y\‘ \ أ7UE أ0/ أن أه[ّئx+و7Z
between neighbours]
53 They have just warmed up the same اX&-Z&[ أƒ+ \ 5&31[ƒ+ ا5&{n+ ا‰_.&\ K3*+دوا ا7E[ أƒ+
54 My hopes of a better job damped p&)E لXU&Q+ ا%8 %+7/† \ }([ّدتx(y \ x+ء7^}
down after six years' waiting. ح71,+ أدراج ا%+7/† x( \ ذهK^8 أK3E
[Diary entry]
55 Harry thinks he is unique, but in fact ر7&&'89 ا‰(&&Fƒ1 \ دد,&&1 \ [&&-*1 \ ,&&FI1 \ ر,&&'1 ‘&&Pا
he is just warming over ideas he's ,-GM 01,y¤ ا0/ 7O*3H %F+ا
workers]
403
56 The craftsman fined the wood down |Nn+] اP7U+ ا4ّ*P \ د,\ \ Kƒ`
townsfolk]
57 It will not be easy for you to change 4-3U} و5E7IN\ ,/9ا„‘ اX} أن
58 Sandra knows that she can trust her 7O1[&&+ وا,&&F(*} \ p&&)E9 ا7&&O)…/ 7&&3L دا7&&3 ه7&&[اه+وا
parents. [Biography]
friends]
60 I've never been able to come at \ 4-&&&} ]&&&/ 5&&&w2E x&&&/7w \ أ7ً ƒ1[&&&` 4-&&&} &&&~تn}ا
Isabella since she took up with Tim. 4-F\ x{(} \ ار4-} ت,o7E
classmates]
61 A popular question among Christians م؟7-U+ة ا,F8 ل2y نX*.F3-H ء%o أي0E
figures]
63 Commencing with my very first \ ,&/9 ه&~ا اK&ّ3QF1 أن4'.&/ ,&-…'+ اp)E 4ّFQ} [wو
speech as Chief Justice, on the day of ,/9 ه~ا اp)E ,(U1 أن
64 The police are confident that the gang ﻴﻀﻴﻕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺴﺎﺭﻗﻲ ﺍﻝﺨﻤﺴﺔ ﻤﻼﻴﻴﻥ ﺠﻴﻨﻴﻪ ﺍﻝﺨﻨﺎﻕ
this headline: 'Net closes in on £50m ﺃﻭﺸﻜﺕ ﺃﻥ ﺘﻁﺒﻕ ﻋﻠـﻰ \ ﺒـﺩﺃ ﺍﻝﻌـﺩ ﺍﻝﺘﻨـﺎﺯﻝﻲ
65 Robin is going all out to pass his final \ %L7&&O.+&&‘ اP7QF/ ا%&&8 ح7&&I.)+ ‘*&&H وK&&3*1 0&&\رو
examination. He really wants to get ‘E7{FY/ %87/ K3*1 \ [ةO„ رى7Uw (~ل1
relax.
67 I have a tight schedule tomorrow. Can بX.} ع؟ أن73F„M ا%8 %)Q/ KQ} أنSP7'/7\ Kه
fellow-workers]
68 Priscilla: Rich, can you come •)/ ,/•\ لXŽN/ ن¤ ا7Pأ
69 The death penalty has been done away [امEJ ا5\XƒE ء7Ž+ ا4} [ƒ+
fellow-workers]
teacher to a student]
72 If you want to get ahead in this world, 4} \ إذا أرد4+7*+ ه~ا ا%8 4'P•o X)*1 أن4F—o إذا
you've to work, work and work. 7ً/[w اX^3} \ أن7ً /[w ,-Y+ا
to their children]
hang of it.
76 Accused: I wasn't at that market last [1 أرM \ 5-P7ˆ ة,/ عXRX3)+ دX*.H 7.P أ%+ Kƒ} M
night, and I don't know the person you ى,yة أ,/ عXRX3+ ا‰_} p+د إX*P أن
77 You are making a big fuss out of 7O1ر7I/ p+ ا7-3+[ا ا-*}؟\ و7Q+7UF}و
between classmates]
78 Men are like computers: Hard to 0&&&&/ \ 4OF8,&&&&*/ |*U&&&&} \ 4&&&&O3O8 |*U&&&&+ ا0&&&&/
408
memory. [Joke]
79 Mr. Crutcher is working in a 7آX)&H S)H \ \[أت ا5.-N3+ت ا78,UF+ ا0E x_wX}
Starbucks coffee shop. He says that he 5Q_&&&` x&&&1XW \ ء7^&&&-\ 5Q_&&&` \ \&&&[أت7\~&&&O/
[News report]
80 This is a nice tune and I think it'll catch 7O+73*F&&H] ا-N&&-H \ 5E,Y&&\ ,OFN&&FH 7&&OP7\ [&&ƒFEا
81 My neighbour had a bad car accident %EX+ ا0E ب7G \ %EX+[ اƒ8 \ ‘-)E %3Gأ
82 Five or six years ago I'd put away a 4Q)+ ا0/ ة,-( آ5*{w p)E %}† \ 4OF+ أx.آ
product]
83 I was busy paying lots of bills this 58[U+7\ %F„ زوx)\7w \ %F„ زوx8د7`
doctor]
[Police interview]
87 You may not like our flowers, but they نX'F&H \ ف7&{3+ ا5&17OP %8 S\7IEل ا7.FH 7O.'+و
will grow on you in the end. [A note %&8 S&+ وق,F&H \ ف7&{3+ ا517OP %8 S\7IE™ اQ/
88 One woman says that her boss is ‘&P9 \7&O_ّ)n1 %&F+ اp&RX_)+ \ |&-},F+7\ ‘&/7-w *[م+
horrible and he stresses her out. She ,O€3\ 4FO1 M \ يXRX8 ‘P9 \ 4ّ€./ ,-G
[Article on stress]
89 It's spring break in Florida and \ ‹W7N&+ اp&)E نX&Z,31 \‹W7N+ اp)E نXy,FY1
students are chilling out at the beach \ 4OY&&&_P أ0&&&E نX&&&Zو,1 \ 5&&&Zا,)+ 7ً& &Fwن وX^& &ƒ1
and partying late into the night. 5Zا,+ ا0/ ™Yƒ\ نX3*.1
410
[News report]
90 One day, I went over to my Uncle \ [ّةN&&&&\ &&&&[رّس3+ ا%&&&&.(ّP[ّة \ أN&&&&\ 4&&&&ّ)*3+ ا%&&&&.ّn\و
91 Chris: you want to come out tonight? ت2_Z %.-_'1 \ ,OY+ ا%Pّ[ \ ه,OY+ ا%.'OPأ
between friends]
92 Funk up your mobile with cool screen ]&&&/ 7ً -&&&o73} ,&&&… أآS&&&_}7 هK&&&*„& &[ّث \ اZ \ 0&&&ّ1ز
93 Latham sexed up Iraq brief. \ K-)^&&&F+ض ا,&&&Ž+ %&&&wا,*+)&&&• ا3+ك ا,&&&(_1 4…&&&1M
94 Waitress: Are you ready to order now? ًء7„)• ر3+ ا0/ %))ّw \ S)^8 0/ •-_y •)/
Conversation at a restaurant]
95 Bill: Where did you get this article ت7E7H ث2ˆ [ة3+ xP,FP9 اp)E KGXG %8 x…Q\
from?
96 I've spent four hours doing my late night \ ّقXY&&&F+ ا0&&&/ ي,&&&OŸ 4U&&&ƒPّق \ اXY&&&F+ ا%&&&.')أه
97 How about we get the students of 5E,Y+ و„‘ اp)E رXهŠ+ت ا7w7\ “*\ ‚-Y.F+
teachers]
99 Human beings run into trouble when „&&&&&[رانp&&&&&)E ول,Y&&&&&FY-+X'+ ا4اآ,&&&&&F1 7/[&&&&&.E
arterial walls guck up with cholesterol 5&&&&&&)ƒ…/ 0-1ا,N&&&&&&+• ا-U&&&&&&} 7/[&&&&&&.E \ 0-1ا,N&&&&&&+ا
[Medical brochure]
100 We had built up this cult following 7.F*3H ‘1XN} و7Pد7ƒFP ا4} \ 5H,o 5)3Q+ 7.Rّ,*}
APPENDIX 3
FULL DETAILS OF THE RESULTS OF THE
TRANSLATION TESTS
Subject Number: P1
37 √
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 X
49 √
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 X
54 X
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 X
61 X
62 √
63 √
64 X
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 X
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 √
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 √
81 √
82 √
83 √
84 X
415
85 X
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 X
90 X
91 X
92 X
93 √
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 50 Satisfactory= 14 Overtly= 26 Covertly= 10 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: P2
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 X
29 X
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 √
34 √
35 X
36 X
37 X
38 √
39 X
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 X
49 X
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 √
65 X
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
417
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 X
79 √
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 X
90 √
91 X
92 √
93 X
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 27 Satisfactory= 19 Overtly= 46 Covertly= 8 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: P3
11 √
12 X
13 X
14 X
15 X
16 X
17 X
18 X
19 √
20 √
21 √
22 X
23 √
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 X
28 X
29 X
30 √
31 X
32 X
33 √
34 X
35 √
36 √
37 X
38 √
39 X
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 X
47 √
48 X
49 √
50 X
51 X
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
419
59 √
60 X
61 √
62 √
63 X
64 √
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 X
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 X
75 X
76 X
77 X
78 X
79 X
80 X
81 X
82 X
83 √
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 X
90 X
91 X
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 √
100 X
Very Good= 32 Satisfactory= 12 Overtly= 48 Covertly= 8 Unanswered= 0
420
Subject Number: P4
Q Correct Incorrect Unanswered
Very good Satisfactory Overtly Covertly
erroneous erroneous
error error
1 X
2 √
3 √
4 X
5 X
6 X
7 √
8 √
9 X
10 √
11 X
12 √
13 √
14 √
15 X
16 X
17 X
18 √
19 √
20 √
21 X
22 X
23 √
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 √
29 √
30 X
31 X
32 X
33 X
34 X
35 √
36 √
37 √
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 X
421
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 X
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 X
56 X
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 X
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 X
75 X
76 X
77 X
78 √
79 √
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
422
90 √
91 X
92 X
93 √
94 √
95 X
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 43 Satisfactory= 13 Overtly= 36 Covertly= 8 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: P5
29 √
30 √
31 X
32 √
33 √
34 X
35 √
36 X
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 X
44 X
45 √
46 X
47 X
48 √
49 X
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 √
62 √
63 X
64 √
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 X
424
77 √
78 X
79 √
80 √
81 √
82 X
83 √
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 √
88 √
89 √
90 √
91 X
92 X
93 X
94 √
95 X
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 36 Satisfactory= 15 Overtly= 36 Covertly= 13 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: P6
17 √
18 X
19 X
20 √
21 X
22 X
23 √
24 X
25 √
26 √
27 X
28 X
29 √
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 X
34 X
35 X
36 √
37 X
38 X
39 √
40 X
41 ▬
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 X
426
65 X
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 X
90 X
91 √
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 X
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 38 Satisfactory= 17 Overtly= 37 Covertly= 7 Unanswered= 1
Subject Number: P7
5 X
6 X
7 √
8 √
9 X
10 √
11 X
12 X
13 X
14 √
15 X
16 √
17 X
18 √
19 √
20 √
21 X
22 √
23 ▬
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 X
28 √
29 √
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 X
34 √
35 X
36 √
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 √
41 √
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 X
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 X
52 √
428
53 X
54 √
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 X
91 X
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 √
100 X
429
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 X
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 X
82 √
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 X
431
90 X
91 X
92 √
93 √
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 52 Satisfactory= 14 Overtly= 26 Covertly= 8 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: P9
29 √
30 √
31 X
32 X
33 √
34 √
35 √
36 X
37 √
38 √
39 √
40 √
41 √
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 X
56 X
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 X
65 X
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 X
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 X
433
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 √
82 √
83 X
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 √
90 X
91 X
92 X
93 √
94 X
95 X
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 40 Satisfactory= 18 Overtly= 36 Covertly= 6 Unanswered= 0
17 √
18 √
19 X
20 X
21 X
22 √
23 √
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 X
29 √
30 √
31 √
32 √
33 X
34 √
35 X
36 √
37 X
38 ▬
39 X
40 √
41 √
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 X
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 √
435
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 X
75 √
76 √
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 X
90 X
91 X
92 √
93 √
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 49 Satisfactory= 14 Overtly= 32 Covertly= 4 Unanswered= 1
5 √
6 √
7 X
8 √
9 √
10 √
11 √
12 X
13 √
14 √
15 √
16 √
17 √
18 √
19 X
20 √
21 √
22 √
23 √
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 √
29 √
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 X
34 √
35 √
36 √
37 X
38 X
39 √
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
437
53 √
54 √
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 X
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 √
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 √
82 X
83 √
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 X
91 √
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 √
100 X
438
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 X
48 √
49 X
50 X
51 √
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 √
56 X
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 ▬
65 √
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 X
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 X
82 X
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 √
88 √
89 √
440
90 X
91 ▬
92 X
93 X
94 X
95 X
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 ▬
Very Good= 29 Satisfactory= 25 Overtly= 37 Covertly= 6 Unanswered= 3
Subject Number: S1
29 X
30 X
31 X
32 X
33 √
34 √
35 √
36 X
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 X
42 X
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 X
47 X
48 X
49 X
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 X
54 X
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 X
62 X
63 X
64 X
65 X
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 X
70 X
71 X
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
442
77 √
78 X
79 √
80 X
81 X
82 X
83 X
84 X
85 X
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 √
91 X
92 X
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 9 Satisfactory= 14 Overtly= 73 Covertly= 4 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: S2
17 ▬
18 X
19 √
20 X
21 X
22 ▬
23 X
24 ▬
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 ▬
29 ▬
30 X
31 X
32 ▬
33 X
34 √
35 X
36 X
37 ▬
38 ▬
39 ▬
40 ▬
41 ▬
42 ▬
43 ▬
44 ▬
45 ▬
46 ▬
47 ▬
48 ▬
49 √
50 ▬
51 √
52 √
53 √
54 X
55 X
56 ▬
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 ▬
62 ▬
63 √
64 ▬
444
65 √
66 ▬
67 √
68 X
69 √
70 X
71 √
72 X
73 √
74 √
75 √
76 √
77 X
78 √
79 ▬
80 ▬
81 X
82 √
83 ▬
84 X
85 √
86 X
87 ▬
88 √
89 X
90 X
91 X
92 ▬
93 ▬
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 ▬
98 ▬
99 X
100 ▬
Very Good= 18 Satisfactory= 11 Overtly= 35 Covertly= 2 Unanswered= 34
Subject Number: S3
5 √
6 √
7 √
8 √
9 X
10 √
11 √
12 √
13 √
14 √
15 X
16 X
17 √
18 √
19 √
20 √
21 √
22 √
23 √
24 X
25 √
26 √
27 X
28 √
29 X
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 X
34 √
35 X
36 X
37 √
38 √
39 X
40 √
41 X
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 X
48 √
49 X
50 √
51 √
52 √
446
53 X
54 √
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 √
76 √
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 √
91 X
92 X
93 ▬
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
447
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 X
50 X
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 X
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 √
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 X
73 √
74 √
75 √
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 √
81 √
82 √
83 √
84 X
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
449
90 X
91 √
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 50 Satisfactory= 14 Overtly= 30 Covertly= 6 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: S5
29 X
30 √
31 √
32 X
33 √
34 √
35 √
36 √
37 √
38 X
39 X
40 √
41 X
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 X
47 X
48 √
49 √
50 X
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 √
63 √
64 X
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 X
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
451
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 √
82 √
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 √
88 √
89 √
90 X
91 √
92 √
93 √
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 39 Satisfactory= 19 Overtly= 40 Covertly= 2 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: S6
17 X
18 √
19 √
20 X
21 √
22 √
23 X
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 X
29 ▬
30 X
31 X
32 X
33 ▬
34 X
35 √
36 √
37 X
38 X
39 √
40 √
41 X
42 ▬
43 √
44 ▬
45 √
46 ▬
47 √
48 ▬
49 X
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 √
56 ▬
57 ▬
58 √
59 X
60 ▬
61 X
62 √
63 ▬
64 ▬
453
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 ▬
70 X
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 X
75 X
76 √
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 ▬
85 √
86 X
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 X
91 X
92 ▬
93 ▬
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 ▬
98 X
99 X
100 ▬
Very Good= 23 Satisfactory= 20 Overtly= 31 Covertly= 7 Unanswered= 19
Subject Number: S7
5 X
6 √
7 √
8 √
9 X
10 √
11 √
12 X
13 X
14 √
15 X
16 X
17 X
18 X
19 √
20 √
21 X
22 √
23 √
24 √
25 X
26 √
27 X
28 X
29 ▬
30 √
31 X
32 X
33 X
34 X
35 √
36 √
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 √
41 X
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 X
46 √
47 ▬
48 √
49 X
50 √
51 X
52 √
455
53 √
54 X
55 √
56 X
57 X
58 √
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 X
65 √
66 X
67 X
68 √
69 X
70 X
71 √
72 X
73 √
74 X
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 √
82 √
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 X
87 X
88 √
89 X
90 X
91 √
92 X
93 √
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 ▬
456
42 √
43 X
44 X
45 √
46 X
47 √
48 X
49 √
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 X
54 √
55 √
56 X
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 X
64 X
65 √
66 X
67 X
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 √
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 X
85 √
86 X
87 X
88 √
89 X
458
90 √
91 X
92 √
93 X
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 24 Satisfactory= 20 Overtly= 52 Covertly= 4 Unanswered= 0
Subject Number: S9
29 √
30 √
31 X
32 X
33 X
34 √
35 X
36 X
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 X
42 √
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 X
48 √
49 X
50 √
51 X
52 √
53 √
54 √
55 X
56 X
57 ▬
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 X
62 X
63 ▬
64 ▬
65 √
66 X
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 X
460
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 X
82 X
83 X
84 ▬
85 X
86 X
87 X
88 X
89 X
90 ▬
91 X
92 √
93 ▬
94 ▬
95 X
96 ▬
97 ▬
98 ▬
99 ▬
100 ▬
Very Good= 20 Satisfactory= 15 Overtly= 49 Covertly= 4 Unanswered= 12
17 X
18 √
19 √
20 √
21 X
22 X
23 √
24 X
25 X
26 √
27 √
28 √
29 √
30 √
31 √
32 √
33 √
34 X
35 X
36 X
37 √
38 √
39 X
40 X
41 √
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 X
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 X
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 X
462
65 X
66 X
67 √
68 X
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 X
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 √
80 √
81 √
82 √
83 √
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 √
89 √
90 X
91 X
92 √
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 46 Satisfactory= 15 Overtly= 34 Covertly= 5 Unanswered= 0
5 √
6 X
7 √
8 √
9 X
10 X
11 √
12 √
13 X
14 X
15 X
16 √
17 X
18 X
19 X
20 X
21 √
22 √
23 X
24 X
25 X
26 X
27 √
28 X
29 √
30 √
31 X
32 X
33 X
34 X
35 X
36 √
37 √
38 X
39 X
40 X
41 X
42 X
43 X
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 X
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 X
52 √
464
53 √
54 X
55 √
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 √
61 X
62 X
63 √
64 X
65 X
66 √
67 X
68 √
69 X
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 √
75 X
76 X
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 X
81 √
82 X
83 X
84 X
85 X
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 √
90 √
91 X
92 X
93 X
94 X
95 √
96 X
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
465
42 √
43 √
44 √
45 √
46 √
47 √
48 √
49 √
50 √
51 √
52 √
53 X
54 X
55 X
56 √
57 X
58 X
59 √
60 X
61 √
62 √
63 √
64 X
65 X
66 √
67 √
68 √
69 √
70 √
71 √
72 √
73 √
74 X
75 X
76 √
77 √
78 √
79 X
80 √
81 X
82 X
83 X
84 √
85 √
86 √
87 X
88 X
89 √
467
90 X
91 X
92 X
93 X
94 √
95 √
96 √
97 X
98 X
99 X
100 X
Very Good= 41 Satisfactory= 23 Overtly= 33 Covertly= 3 Unanswered= 0
468
APPENDIX 4
AVERAGE OF THE STANDARD DEVAITION
36 dnp 8 4 0 66.66%
37 dnp 4 8 0 33.33%
38 dnp 5 6 1 41.66%
39 dnp 4 8 0 33.33%
40 dnp 5 7 0 41.66%
41 dnp 10 1 1 83.33%
42 dnp 12 0 0 100%
43 dnp 6 6 0 50%
44 dnp 11 1 0 91.66%
45 dnp 12 0 0 100%
46 dnp 8 4 0 66.66% 64.39% 0.275136
26 dpn 12 0 0 100%
27 dpn 7 5 0 58.33%
28 dpn 3 9 0 25%
29 dpn 9 3 0 75%
30 dpn 10 2 0 83.33%
31 dpn 7 5 0 58.33%
32 dpn 3 9 0 25%
33 dpn 6 6 0 50%
34 dpn 8 4 0 66.66%
35 dpn 5 7 0 41.66% 58.33% 0.261125
65.32% 0.229834
91 p 2 9 1 16.66%
92 p 7 5 0 58.33%
93 p 5 7 0 41.66%
94 p 9 3 0 75%
95 p 7 5 0 58.33%
96 p 6 6 0 50%
97 p 0 12 0 0%
98 p 0 12 0 0%
99 p 3 9 0 25%
100 p 0 11 1 0% 32.50% 0.27902
73 sva 8 4 0 66.66%
74 sva 9 3 0 75%
75 sva 2 10 0 16.66%
77 sva 11 1 0 91.66%
78 sva 9 3 0 75%
79 sva 5 7 0 41.66%
80 sva 5 7 0 41.66%
81 sva 9 3 0 75%
82 sva 3 9 0 25%
84 sva 6 6 0 50%
85 sva 11 1 0 91.66%
86 sva 12 0 0 100%
88 sva 8 4 0 66.66%
89 sva 6 6 0 50%
90 sva 3 9 0 25% 59.44% 0.261381
57 svap 0 12 0 0%
470
58 svap 5 7 0 41.66%
59 svap 12 0 0 100%
60 svap 7 5 0 58.33%
61 svap 9 3 0 75%
62 svap 9 3 0 75%
63 svap 10 2 0 83.33%
64 svap 8 3 1 66.66%
65 svap 9 3 0 75%
66 svap 6 6 0 50%
67 svap 12 0 0 100%
68 svap 11 1 0 91.66%
69 svap 11 1 0 91.66%
70 svap 8 4 0 66.66%
71 svap 12 0 0 100%
72 svap 11 1 0 91.66% 72.91% 0.264398
76 svp 2 10 0 16.66%
83 svp 8 4 0 66.66%
87 svp 2 10 0 16.66% 33.33% 0.288675
63.48% 0.281305
20 c 6 6 0 50%
21 c 7 5 0 58.33%
22 c 7 4 1 58.33%
23 c 5 7 0 41.66%
24 c 3 8 1 25%
25 c 4 8 0 33.33% 47% 0.208157
52 de 12 0 0 100%
53 de 5 7 0 41.66%
54 de 5 7 0 41.66%
55 de 6 6 0 50%
56 de 7 3 2 58.33% 58.33% 0.242979
47 den 5 5 2 41.66%
48 den 8 2 2 66.66%
49 den 5 7 0 41.66%
50 den 9 2 1 75%
51 den 7 5 0 58.33% 56.66% 0.149093
36 dnp 5 7 0 41.66%
37 dnp 7 4 1 58.33%
38 dnp 3 8 1 25%
39 dnp 2 9 1 16.66%
40 dnp 5 6 1 41.66%
41 dnp 3 8 1 25%
42 dnp 8 2 2 66.66%
43 dnp 3 8 1 25%
44 dnp 9 1 2 75%
45 dnp 10 1 1 83.33%
46 dnp 7 3 2 58.33% 46.97% 0.227523
26 dpn 9 3 0 75%
27 dpn 8 4 0 66.66%
28 dpn 7 4 1 58.33%
29 dpn 5 4 3 41.66%
30 dpn 8 4 0 66.66%
31 dpn 4 8 0 33.33%
32 dpn 3 8 1 25%
33 dpn 4 7 1 33.33%
34 dpn 8 4 0 66.66%
35 dpn 6 6 0 50% 51.66% 0.174793
51.88% 0.198036
91 p 3 9 0 25%
92 p 5 5 2 41.66%
93 p 2 6 4 16.66%
94 p 6 5 1 50%
95 p 11 1 0 91.66%
96 p 2 9 1 16.66%
97 p 0 9 3 0%
98 p 0 10 2 0%
99 p 0 11 1 0%
100 p 0 8 4 0% 24.16% 0.297737
472
73 sva 8 4 0 66.66%
74 sva 9 3 0 75%
75 sva 3 9 0 25%
77 sva 11 1 0 91.66%
78 sva 11 1 0 91.66%
79 sva 5 6 1 41.66%
80 sva 6 5 1 50%
81 sva 8 4 0 66.66%
82 sva 5 7 0 41.66%
84 sva 5 5 2 41.66%
85 sva 9 3 0 75%
86 sva 7 5 0 58.33%
88 sva 9 3 0 75%
89 sva 8 4 0 66.66%
90 sva 4 7 1 33.33% 60% 0.204606
57 svap 0 10 2 0%
58 svap 2 10 0 16.66%
59 svap 11 1 0 91.60%
60 svap 6 5 1 50%
61 svap 2 9 1 16.66%
62 svap 4 7 1 33.33%
63 svap 8 2 2 66.66%
64 svap 2 7 3 16.66%
65 svap 8 4 0 66.66%
66 svap 2 9 1 16.66%
67 svap 9 3 0 75%
68 svap 6 6 0 50%
69 svap 7 4 1 58.33%
70 svap 8 4 0 66.66%
71 svap 11 1 0 91.66%
72 svap 9 3 0 75% 49.47% 0.29255
76 svp 4 8 0 33.33%
83 svp 5 6 1 41.66%
87 svp 1 10 1 8.33% 27.77% 0.173459
52.20% 0.25891
473
APPENDIX 5
RANKING THE ITEMS ACCORDING TO THEIR
PERCENTAGES OF THE CORRECT IN A DESENDING
ORDER
33 6 6 0 50%
43 6 6 0 50%
51 6 6 0 50%
55 6 6 0 50%
66 6 6 0 50%
84 6 6 0 50%
89 6 6 0 50%
96 6 6 0 50%
12 7 5 0 58.3%
14 7 5 0 58.3%
27 7 5 0 58.3%
31 7 5 0 58.3%
53 7 5 0 58.3%
60 7 5 0 58.3%
92 7 5 0 58.3%
95 7 5 0 58.3%
2 8 4 0 66.6%
10 8 4 0 66.6%
11 8 4 0 66.6%
20 8 4 0 66.6%
34 8 4 0 66.6%
36 8 4 0 66.6%
46 8 4 0 66.6%
47 8 4 0 66.6%
64 8 3 1 66.6%
70 8 4 0 66.6%
73 8 4 0 66.6%
83 8 4 0 66.6%
88 8 4 0 66.6%
5 9 3 0 75%
16 9 3 0 75%
29 9 3 0 75%
49 9 3 0 75%
56 9 3 0 75%
61 9 3 0 75%
62 9 3 0 75%
65 9 3 0 75%
74 9 3 0 75%
78 9 3 0 75%
81 9 3 0 75%
94 9 3 0 75%
3 10 2 0 83.3%
18 10 2 0 83.3%
30 10 2 0 83.3%
41 10 1 1 83.3%
48 10 2 0 83.3%
50 10 2 0 83.3%
63 10 2 0 83.3%
475
8 11 1 0 91.6%
23 11 0 1 91.6%
44 11 1 0 91.6%
54 11 1 0 91.6%
68 11 1 0 91.6%
69 11 1 0 91.6%
72 11 1 0 91.6%
77 11 1 0 91.6%
85 11 1 0 91.6%
26 12 0 0 100%
42 12 0 0 100%
45 12 0 0 100%
52 12 0 0 100%
59 12 0 0 100%
67 12 0 0 100%
71 12 0 0 100%
86 12 0 0 100%
91 3 9 0 25%
13 4 8 0 33.3%
15 4 8 0 33.3%
18 4 8 0 33.3%
25 4 8 0 33.3%
31 4 8 0 33.3%
33 4 7 1 33.3%
62 4 7 1 33.3%
76 4 8 0 33.3%
90 4 7 1 33.3%
6 5 5 2 41.6%
23 5 7 0 41.6%
29 5 4 3 41.6%
36 5 7 0 41.6%
40 5 6 1 41.6%
47 5 5 2 41.6%
49 5 7 0 41.6%
53 5 7 0 41.6%
54 5 7 0 41.6%
79 5 6 1 41.6%
82 5 7 0 41.6%
83 5 6 1 41.6%
84 5 5 2 41.6%
92 5 5 2 41.6%
2 6 6 0 50%
20 6 6 0 50%
35 6 6 0 50%
55 6 6 0 50%
60 6 5 1 50%
68 6 6 0 50%
80 6 5 1 50%
94 6 5 1 50%
10 7 5 0 58.3%
12 7 5 0 58.3%
14 7 5 0 58.3%
16 7 5 0 58.3%
21 7 5 0 58.3%
22 7 4 1 58.3%
28 7 4 1 58.3%
37 7 4 1 58.3%
46 7 3 2 58.3%
51 7 5 0 58.3%
56 7 3 2 58.3%
69 7 4 1 58.3%
86 7 5 0 58.3%
3 8 4 0 66.6%
5 8 4 0 66.6%
11 8 4 0 66.6%
477
19 8 4 0 66.6%
27 8 4 0 66.6%
30 8 4 0 66.6%
34 8 4 0 66.6%
42 8 2 2 66.6%
48 8 2 2 66.6%
63 8 2 2 66.6%
65 8 4 0 66.6%
70 8 4 0 66.6%
73 8 4 0 66.6%
81 8 4 0 66.6%
89 8 4 0 66.6%
7 9 3 0 75%
26 9 3 0 75%
44 9 1 2 75%
50 9 2 1 75%
67 9 3 0 75%
72 9 3 0 75%
74 9 3 0 75%
85 9 3 0 75%
88 9 3 0 75%
8 10 2 0 83.3%
45 10 1 1 83.3%
59 11 1 0 91.6%
71 11 1 0 91.6%
77 11 1 0 91.6%
78 11 1 0 91.6%
95 11 1 0 91.6%
52 12 0 0 100%