Reanalysis of Verb and Preposition in English

Abstract

The verb (V) and the preposition (P) of prepositional verbs in the English prepositional passive cannot be interrupted by other material and this phenomenon has long been explained by means of the so-called reanalysis. About when or where this reanalysis occurs, however, there has been considerable controversy among scholars. This paper argues against both the reanalysis hypothesis (that assumes that the reanalysis exists in both the active and the passive) and the no-reanalysis hypothesis (that claims that there is no such thing as reanalysis in English at all) and shows that English indeed has the reanalysis of verb and preposition for passive permitting V+P sequences but that this reanalysis is possible and required only in the passive but not in the active.