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stranger
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Anyone know of a good site or reference book for English language learners struggling with which preposition to use after a specific meaning of a verb (two- and three-word verbs)?
And since I'm here, is there a word for this: Two people, simultaneously in the a.m. or p.m. of a day, are they in the same hemi-meridian? Hemi-chron?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear hankuri: Perhaps it would be helpful if you gave some examples of sentences illustrating your problem.
With regard to your second question, I have trouble grasping what you are trying to describe. It might be helpful if you re-phrased the question to make it more clear.
This is not intended as critcism, just confession of my own modest talent. Do post again, the Board welcomes new contributors, and has members better qualified to comment than I am.
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stranger
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It's not a problem, just looking for a reference that gives not just definitions and usage, but throws in examples of which preposition to use following a verb or an expression, e.g., regret (tr)--new English learners don't know if they should say regret for, regret of, regret over, reget about, regret around, regret from, and so on. Does anyone know of a resource (online or print) that can help?
The other question is: Is there a word to say the same half of a day, as in two events that happen in the morning happen in the same ____________? hemi-xxx? (Analogous to the idea that if two things happen in the US, they happen in the same hemishphere.) I had a specific reason/situation for this question, but that was long, long ago.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear hankuri: I regret that I do not know of a book likely to be just what you want. At the moment I cannot think of a way to use a preposition with "regret" . I think that as a transitive verb, a noun or clause as its object should give you the meaning you desire. I'm 83, and have forgotten all the grammar I ever knew.
As to the two simultaneous events in US, they might occur in the same time zone. They might happen on the East Coast, or in the Mid-West.
Keep posting until some of our experts notice, and give you better answers than I can. We have some very bright and helpful people who just have not happened to see your posts yet. Don't get discouraged. Try some other examples. My very best wishes to you, Bill Hunt
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newbie
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Anyone know of a good site or reference book for English language learners struggling with which preposition to use after a specific meaning of a verb (two- and three-word verbs)?
Hankuri,
This is so grammatical! Takes me back to school days of diagramming sentences,(which they do not teach anymore)yet I still think of sentences in this way. Anyone else remember the vertical and slanted lines of compound/complex sentences? Prepositions should never latch onto verbs - "Take on"should be "Take on the job" to form the prepositional phrase. But this is Proper English, hardly ever heard anymore. So I suggest listening very carefully. In any case I like your query......although, the first examples I thought of ( there's one for you!) were off-color obscenities shouted by angry drivers!
in any case, good luck to you, your efforts will prove fruitful I am sure!
Gats
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enthusiast
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There are now dictionaries of verbal constructions. I think there is the Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, though I won't swear that is its exact name, and there's a Longman one.
Many recent dictionaries will now be clearer about this information than they used to be, and won't just mark a verb as "transitive" when it requires a specific construction. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is one example that I think will show verbs in this way.
Phrasal verbs are now recognized as perhaps the one biggest part of English grammar. Do a web search on "phrasal verb" and you'll find a lot of hits in various languages.
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"Take on"should be "Take on the job" to form the prepositional phrase.
I may well be misunderstanding Gatsby's example, but I would say that "take on the job", meaning "accept to do the job" is actually a phrasal verb followed by its direct object. The only way that I can see "on the job" as a prepositional phrase in this example is if "take" is a noun as well, so that you could ask someone "So, what is your take on the job we have been asked to do?"
Phrasal verbs have to be the brainchildren of the devil, at least for language learners...
Marianna
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Phrasal verbs have to be the brainchildren of the devil, at least for language learners...Well, then, she said evilly, shouldn't they look them up in The Devil's Dictionary? 
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Shouldn't they look them up in The Devil's Dictionary?You got directions to it, O Most Wicked Pooh-Bah? Marianna
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