This paper aims to develop a derivational approach to the syntactic alternation of English transitive phrasal verbs such as take out the rubbish and take the rubbish out. It is argued that these two alternative verb phrases (VP) are equally derived from their more primitive rule or construction. This construction is often called ‘complex verb (or predicate)’ and notated as [V V P]. The complex verb structure interacts with the standard VP-shell structure through the canonical verb movement to yield the two alternative forms. The paper also offers suggestions for other issues that arise from the suggested analysis.

• Kyungchul Chang(Pusan National University)