RE: "Turn on the radio?"

["Susan W. Gallagher" <SGallagher -at- akonix -dot- com>]

It's called a phrasal verb -- and I say that with authority because I've
just 
finished reading a journal article on such things. The article speculates 
whether phrasal verbs defy the goals of the plain English movement because,
while they generally consist of short anglo-saxon or germanic words, they
are
idomatic in nature -- their meaning cannot be determined by the meaning of 
the individual words.

My gut feeling -- and this is all I can provide at the moment, my copy of
Chicago being at home while I'm at work -- says that anytime you have a
composite, such as a phrasal verb, you should try to keep it together. So
I'd go with "turn on the radio". But that's just me.

HTH!
-Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- akonix -dot- com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: amy -at- amyprobst -dot- com [mailto:amy -at- amyprobst -dot- com]

> May I have your guidance on a word-usage issue?  I have my attractive 
> Chicago Manual of Style sitting here next to me, but don't 
> know what this 
> kind of thing is "called."
> 
> Two coworkers say this is correct:
> "Turn on the radio."
> 
> I say it sounds better this way:
> "Turn the radio on."
> 
> Think instructional manual, if that matters.

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