Re: Topics and foci/focuses... Wow, now I get it!!!

Muke Tever wrote:
> [Er, you meant 'head-final'?  Like 'MOD MOD MOD HEAD']
English is pretty mixed.  I wouldn't say that it's mostly head-initial
OR mostly head-final.

>     He [switched on] the light.
>
> Where 'on' doesn't modify 'the light'
Well, "switch on" is really a single phrasal verb.  Altho in this case,
perhaps one could make the argument that it's really "He caused the
light to be on"

> Plus there's the postposition-like objects:
>
>     It happened seven years [ago].
>     He looked the table [over] for defects.
The first is definitely a postposition, but the second is a phrasal
verb, as shown by the fact that one can also say "He looked over the
table for defect".  In fact, for me, that sounds a bit better.

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