1

Is there a universally recognized term for a sequence like the following?

  • take care of

It's not a verb phrase, but it doesn't seem to be a verb group in the sense of M. A. K. Halliday's framework, either.

What exactly is it called?

I'd appreciate your help.

Edwin Ashworth
  • 83,272
Apollyon
  • 1,879
  • 1
    It is a phrasal verb. – Arnav Borborah Jan 29 '18 at 13:10
  • 1
    No, it isn't. A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a particle. – Apollyon Jan 29 '18 at 13:10
  • The of is a preposition which indicates to me that the "sequence" is merely a fragment. – Andrew Leach Jan 29 '18 at 13:15
  • 2
    Isn't a phrasal verb defined as "an idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another element, typically either an adverb, as in break down, or a preposition, for example see to, or a combination of both, such as look down on"? Isn't the phrase look down on similar to take care of? – Arnav Borborah Jan 29 '18 at 13:16
  • "Care" is neither a preposition nor an adverb. – Apollyon Jan 29 '18 at 13:22
  • @AndrewLeach "Fragment" is too broad a term. – Apollyon Jan 29 '18 at 13:22
  • 1
    It's not called anything because it is not a constituent, but part of one. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 13:29
  • But it is a useful unit to learn and recognize, because it means roughly the same as some phrasal (or prepositional) verbs such as tend to, care for, etc. – Apollyon Jan 29 '18 at 13:37
  • But it's not a unit. In any case the term 'phrasal verb' is a misnomer. – BillJ Jan 29 '18 at 13:48
  • For example, "take off" is called a phrasal verb of 'take', and "take care of" is called a phrase of 'care' (phrase of a verb, but not a phrasal verb). – AmI Jan 29 '18 at 23:29
  • No, Aml, the term 'phrasal verb' is nonsense - a total misnomer. In "take off", it is just the word "take" that is a verb; "off" is a preposition. “Take off” is not a constituent at word level: it’s a VP. Verb is a word category, like noun, adjective, etc., and it’s “take” that is a verb: this is the word that takes verbal inflections. So we have “They had taken off”, but not *“They had take offen”. – BillJ Jan 30 '18 at 06:57
  • @BillJ It is not a "unit" only if by "unit" you mean "constituent." But it is a unit in the sense that it has a self-contained meaning similar to "care for" or "tend to." – Apollyon Jan 31 '18 at 13:12
  • @Apollyon Of course I mean constituent. "Unit" is just another term for constituent. – BillJ Jan 31 '18 at 13:19
  • What linguistics textbooks equate "unit" with "constituent"? I think the former is a relatively loose term. – Apollyon Feb 03 '18 at 06:27
  • 2
    Does this answer your question? Meaning of "Use was made of something" 'Take care of' (cf 'make use of') is a transitive multi-word verb of the verbo-nominal class, is commonly used, and is synonymous with the more formal 'tend'. (Often 'look after', or sometimes even 'murder', may be substituted.) – Edwin Ashworth Feb 03 '23 at 12:11

1 Answers1

2

Take care of, like make love to, have a drink with, make a date with, or millions of others, is a fixed phrase. That means it's always reproduced using the same words (and often the same intonation), and does not change. Of course, long frequent phrases often get shortened by habit, and the of at the end is most likely to turn into a schwa, like kinda, sorta, wanna. Often the meanings are changeable, especially in metaphoric or pejorative senses.

If a mobster tells a henchperson to "take care of him", that probably implies violence for him. But if a nurse is told the same thing, what's implied is at least official recognition of him, and possibly medical care for him. But they'll use "take", "care", and "of" in both cases.

This particular type of fixed phrase is a verb phrase onset that is turning into a transitive verb itself, so the object of of functions as the object of the transitive verb take care of, as shown by passivization, for instance:

  • Have you been taken care of, sir?
John Lawler
  • 107,887