Teacher Discussion Forums

Anyone have any information on Compound Verbs in English?

I've consulted 5 different sources and have (kind of) received 4 different answers:


1) Some teacher training materials developed by an experienced colleague:
"We can also have compound verbs. An example is 'bring back'." (I assume with the meaning 'made popular/come to life again').

This seems to be simply a (verb + adverb) phrasal verb.


2)Wikipedia (which doesn't cite any real references or sources):
Compound verbs, also known as complex predicates, are MWs that act as a single verb. One compound acts as a light verb carrying inflections, tense, mood, aspect, etc. The other carries the main meaning.

The suggestion here seems to agree with (3) below, which is also referenced at the bottom of the article. But, the only example it gives in English is, "start reading", which to me is very much two separate words (start carrying much more meaning than just inflections, tense, mood, aspect, etc) and, as they admit in the article, as a verb + gerund combination whether this is a compound verb or not is controversial.

Overall, it gives the impression that compound verbs exist in other languages but not really in English.


3) The University of Ottawa's online Writing Centre.
Compound verbs are auxiliary verb + main verb, and are used for creating tenses in English. Examples include 'were destroyed', 'was looking', 'will meet' etc. This actually matches the introduction on the Wikipedia entry mentioned above (ie. the light verb carries inflection, tense, etc), despite the Wiki's example being rather different.

I find this a bit out of sync with the other compounds, though. I mean, book + case is a pretty fixed combination. You can't have book + tree, book + car, book + computer, etc. Whereas was + doing, was + eating, was + driving, etc, is an endless combination.

Even as a phrasal verb, the 'bring back' example seems a much more logical fit than this does.


4) The Oxford Guide to Grammar (Eastwood)
No mention.


5) Grammar for English Language Teachers (Parrot)
No mention.


So what does Compound Verb mean to you, and would you say English has them?

I think of the coordinated verb pairs that are listed at
https://arts-ccr-002.bham.ac.uk/ccr/pat ... 1.html#s16

e.g. try and help / go and spoil / up and left / turn around and win /

And, I also think of verbs whose meaning is changed by being combined with another verb. e.g. keep talking, tends to stare, not bother to reply.

For both types, it's the first verb that is key to the compound structure. However, grammatical terms are often vague, misleading, or ridiculous, so you really shouldn't allow them to influence your understanding of grammar.

Ah, yes.

I had come across coordinated pairs in one of the sources (but it was only mentioned as an aside). On thinking about it, it seems the most logical group to me, to be called compounds, but then the 'and' kind of goes and ruins things.

Oh, well, terms do chop and change a bit, don't they. Thanks.