Question

Consider the distribution below: They turned down the proposal. They turned the proposal down. They turned it down. *They turned down it. They looked after the student. *They looked the student after. Which analysis accounts for the contrast?

Accepted Answer

B) Turn down behaves as a transitive particle verb permitting particle placement variation with a lexical noun phrase, while a pronoun favors the discontinuous order; look after behaves differently as a prepositional verb.

Answer

A) Turn down permits movement because down functions as an adverbial complement, whereas after remains immobile because it functions as an adjective selected by look.

Answer

C) Both constructions permit particle movement, but the starred examples violate information-structure preferences rather than constraints on the placement of pronominal and prepositional material.

Answer

D) Turn down and look after are syntactically equivalent phrasal verbs, but semantic transparency permits particle movement in the former and blocks it in the latter.

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