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Department of English and American Studies Phrasal Verbs in the British National Corpus and ELT Textbooks 2018

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Department of English and American Studies Phrasal Verbs in the British National Corpus and ELT Textbooks 2018 Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Teaching English Language and Literature for Secondary Schools Jan Štěrba Phrasal Verbs in the British National Corpus and ELT Textbooks Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. František Tůma, Ph. D. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Jan Štěrba I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. František Tůma, Ph.D., for his time, kindness, willingness to help and the excellent feedback he provided me with. I would also like to thank my original supervisor, doc, PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, Csc., who approached Mr. Tůma after my topic had to be changed and thus helped me to finish the thesis successfully. I cannot forget to thank James for proofreading the whole thesis as well as my grandfather who proofread the Czech parts. I am also very grateful for the support I have received from my family throughout my studies and finally, I have to thank my girlfriend Janča for simply being out there for me. Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 9 1. Multi-word Verbs ....................................................................................................... 13 1.1. Phrasal Verbs ....................................................................................................... 14 1.1.1. Definition ....................................................................................................... 14 1.1.2. Other approaches to defining phrasal verbs .................................................. 16 1.2. Phrasal Verbs vs Prepositional Verbs .................................................................. 17 1.3. Phrasal Verbs vs Free Combinations ................................................................... 19 1.4. Phrasal Verbs Tests .............................................................................................. 20 2. Corpora ....................................................................................................................... 23 2.1. Definition and Main Features............................................................................... 23 2.2. Available Corpora ................................................................................................ 26 2.2.1. British National Corpus ................................................................................. 26 2.2.2. Other corpora ................................................................................................. 28 2.3. Sketch Engine ....................................................................................................... 30 3. Research Overview ..................................................................................................... 33 4. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 41 4.1. The Reference Corpus .......................................................................................... 41 4.2. The Analysed Textbooks ...................................................................................... 42 4.2.1. Maturita Solutions ......................................................................................... 43 4.2.2. New Headway 4th edition .............................................................................. 44 4.2.3. Insight ............................................................................................................ 45 4.3. Selection of Phrasal Verbs for the Analysis ......................................................... 45 4.4. The Analysis Process ........................................................................................... 49 4.4.1. First stage ....................................................................................................... 50 4.4.2. Second stage .................................................................................................. 51 4.4.3. Third Stage .................................................................................................... 54 5. The Analysis ............................................................................................................... 57 5.1. Frequency counts ................................................................................................. 60 5.1.1. Headway ........................................................................................................ 61 5.1.2. Insight ............................................................................................................ 63 5.1.3. Solutions ........................................................................................................ 65 5.2. Text Types ............................................................................................................ 67 5.2.1. Headway ........................................................................................................ 69 5.2.2. Insight ............................................................................................................ 72 5.2.3. Solutions ........................................................................................................ 75 5.3. Functions of PVs in the Textbooks ....................................................................... 78 5.3.1. Headway ........................................................................................................ 80 5.3.1.1. No focus. ................................................................................................. 80 5.3.1.2. Indirect focus. .......................................................................................... 81 5.3.1.3. Direct focus. ............................................................................................ 82 5.3.2. Insight ............................................................................................................ 85 5.3.2.1. No focus. ................................................................................................. 86 5.3.2.2. Indirect focus. .......................................................................................... 86 5.3.2.3. Direct focus. ............................................................................................ 88 5.3.3. Solutions ........................................................................................................ 91 5.3.3.1. No focus. ................................................................................................. 92 5.3.3.2. Indirect focus. .......................................................................................... 92 5.3.3.3. Direct focus. ............................................................................................ 94 6. Discussion ................................................................................................................... 99 6.1. Discussion of Results............................................................................................ 99 6.2. Limitations of the Analysis................................................................................. 104 6.3. Areas of Further Research .................................................................................. 105 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 107 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 109 The Analysed Textbooks ........................................................................................... 109 Other Sources ............................................................................................................ 109 Resumé in English ......................................................................................................... 115 Resumé in Czech ........................................................................................................... 117 Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................... 119 Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................... 127 Introduction This thesis will deal with English phrasal verbs, which are considered to be “one of the most notoriously challenging aspects of English language instruction” (Gardner & Davies, 2007, p. 339). Because of their difficulty and also unfamiliarity with the concept of phrasal verbs in many languages, English language learners tend to avoid them, sometimes even completely (Gardner & Davies, 2007). Mullany and Stockwell (2010) even refer to them as “the scourge of the learner” (p. 201). Phrasal verbs can be distinguished at first glance because they consist of two elements – a lexical verb and an adverbial particle, which is the simplest form of their definition that will be further elaborated on the following pages. The importance of phrasal verbs is suggested by the fact that some rather frequent English verbs, such as carry or pick, tend to occur more often in phrasal verbs constructions than on their own (Gardner & Davies, 2007). What makes phrasal verbs even more challenging for language users is their rather unpredictable nature (as far as meaning is concerned) and also the fact that
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