Diagramming Verb Phrases

Sometimes, English verbs have attached to them other words that, in other contexts, function as other parts of speech--for example, prepositions or adverbs.  But in these cases the words function with the verb to create an idiom, a specialized meaning that is not just the sum of the dictionary definitions of the verb and the other word.

In such cases, normally the two words are treated in diagramming as a single unit.

In these examples, dressed up and got up are idioms, and not just dressed and got modified by up.  Note that sometimes the  element that accompanies the verb is separated from the verb, as in the second example.   Diagramming such constructions requires drawing bridges.

Sometimes, a sentence that "looks" grammatically the same as another will be diagrammed differently, depending on the meaning of the idiom.  Such pairs of sentences illustrate the general principle that syntax cannot be completely separated from semantics.

In the first example, ran through seems to function as an idiom that means something like "explicated" and that takes a direct object.  In the second sentence, through seems to function as a preposition in a phrase that modifies ran.

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