MULTI-WORD VERBS IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING

This paper aims to analyze the approach of multi-word verbs in free digital resources for English learning. Multi-word verbs, which are widely known as phrasal verbs, are verbal English verbal combinations, formed from a verb and preposition or adverb, or both. From a functional standpoint, these verbal combinations and their different particles behave differently in syntactic terms (Greebaum & Quirk, 1990 and Downing & Locke (2006). Learning about these differences can be of great importance to foster fluency in the language, mainly at higher proficiency levels. At present, with the growing demand for learning English, many digital environments were made available. This paper analyzes 07 major websites for English learning in Brazil, in order to investigate how the topic is addressed. As a result, we argue that more precision and concision are required to approach the theme. This can be achieved, for example, by employing the term multi-word verbs, together with a more precise definition of its functional syntactic behavior. This paper argues that this change of approach is especially important in digital learning environments, in which there is not always a direct mediation of the teacher or specialist.

GRAMMATICALIZATION PROCESS ON PREPOSITIONS

Some prepositions are in the process of grammaticalization, especially the preposition "de" (of), which, in general, no longer presents its lexical meaning so apparently, showing its grammatical character of connection between words, phrases or clauses. This process involves the metaphorical use of the prepositions, that starts from a spatial imagination scheme and, in many cases, it advances until the original sense of a preposition is not recognized anymore. KEYWORDS: Grammaticalization; Prepositions; Metaphorical use.