Sorting things right out: An analysis of English particle verbs without object movement

Abstract

Particle verbs are combinations of verb and particle (Prt). Verb+Prt stay together in the continuous word order (He ate up the spinach) but separate in the discontinuous order (He ate the spinach up). We use the facts that Prt can be modified in the discontinuous order (He ate the spinach right up), even by a phrasal modifier (He ate the spinach pretty much right up), and that modification is not possible in the continuous order (*He ate right up the spinach) to argue for an analysis of Prt modifiers as generated in Spec-PrtP and for verb rather than object-movement to account for the ordering alternation. Adopting a phase-by-phase model of incremental interpretation and assuming PrtP to be a phase, we capture the tendency of Prt in idiomatic Verb+Prt combinations to resist modification (You pulled the band-aid right off vs. ?You pulled the heist right off).