구절동사의 의미의 예측성

The phrasal verb and the predictability of its meaning

English phrasal verbs which are combination of verbs with particles are often a particular problem for learners of English. The reason for this is that students may not understand the meaning of combination, even though they may be familiar with both the verbs and particles. In this paper, the meaning of phrasal verb go down is analyzed to show that its meaning can be derived from the combination of go and down through such metaphors as UNIMPORTANCE IS DOWN(IMPORTANCE IS UP), LESS IS DOWN(MORE IS UP), FAILURE IS DOWN(SUCCESS IS UP), INACTIVITY IS DOWN(ACTIVITY IS UP). This means the combination of phrasal verbs is not just arbitrary. Therefore we can conclude that the meaning of phrasal verbs can be predicted from their components, verbs and particles ,and we should not necessarily learn the meaning of phrasal verbs by heart.