Re: "Turn on the radio?"

[Elna Tymes <Etymes -at- LTS -dot- com>]

Martyn Perry wrote:

>  "On" in this use is not a preposition, just as "up" in Churchill's famous, but
> fatuous, quip is not. It is an adverb that is part of the verb. English, because
> it is a germanic language uses adverbs to modify the meaning of verbs: knock
> out, turn off, turn on, and the like.
>
> This adverb originally followed the objects of the verb of the clause in which
> it is because it modifies the whole simple predicate, for example: "His face
> lights up when he sees her," or :She knocked him out with a left hook."
>
> This construction is sometimes called the pincher construction.  Now, you
> occaisionally see the adverb be placed before the objects of the verb as in
> "turn on the radio."  One  often does this to emphasize the action of the verb.
>
> Adverbs can also be attached to verbs as prefixes to modify the meaning , such
> "undertake," "outline," and the like.  In this construction, the adverb is
> always part of the verb and never separated from it.
>
> The latter construction is the norm in most of the other members of the
> Indoeuropean languages.

Fellow techwr-l'ers:

This guy (Martyn Perry) knows more about the history, proper construction, and
popular usage of the English language than most of us have forgotten.   Working with
him is like getting to take a grad school class from a favorite professor - you
learn much, much more than what the textbook says.  Pay attention to what he says.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems




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