phrasal verb + clause ‘work out how you did it’ – English Grammar Profiler

At C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile:

work out = to understand something or to find the answer to something by thinking about it

A search in NOW corpus for which ‘question words’ follow phrasal verbs:

work out _*Q

1 WORK OUT HOW 12286

Just give us five minutes, Mr Poirot, and I‘m sure we‘ll be able to work out how you did it.

listen

  • 2 WORK OUT WHAT: I can’t work out what he’s trying to say.
  • 3 WORK OUT WHICH: Can you work out which one is the best?
  • 4 WORK OUT WHERE: I need to work out where I’m going.
  • 5 WORK OUT WHO: I’m trying to work out who did it.
  • 6 WORK OUT WHY: I can’t work out why he’s so angry.
  • 7 WORK OUT WHEN: We need to work out when we can meet.
  • 8 WORK OUT WHATEVER: You need to work out whatever is best for you.
  • 9 WORK OUT WHOSE: Can you work out whose phone this is?

There is no English Grammar Profile entry for phrasal verbs + question word + clauses, so we looked into iWeb corpus for this structure:

_VV _RP _*Q

1 FIND OUT WHAT 128669

Although the phrasal verb ‘find out‘ is listed at A2 in the EVP, the learner example does not get followed with a clause.  A search in the PELIC corpus shows ‘find out what‘ is used with errors at intermediate but gets accurate at level 5 or B2 which is the highest level they have.  In the EVP, ‘what’ referring to something without naming it, is listed at B1.  This combined structure should be at the very least considered to be a marker of B2 complexity.  Finally, if we look at similar profiling of complexity in the following B2 grammar example:   “How did you find out about the party?”, we should easily accept that a clause in this position is of equal or higher complexity.

When children find out what they are interested in, they will do it and will not stop.

Chinese, Female, level 5 reading class

2 FIGURE OUT HOW 111941 3 FIND OUT HOW 96079 4 FIGURE OUT WHAT 94565 5 FIND OUT WHY 23689 6 FIND OUT WHICH 23377 7 FIGURING OUT HOW 23021 8 FIND OUT WHO 21441 9 FIGURED OUT HOW 20831

10 FIGURE OUT WHICH 18878 (figure = C2)

I needed to figure out which one could fit better.

PELIC Suundi, Female, Level 4 grammar class

11 FIGURE OUT WHY 18777 12 FIND OUT WHERE 15992 13 FIGURING OUT WHAT 15657 14 FIGURE OUT WHERE 14983 15 WORK OUT HOW 13734

16 CHECK OUT WHAT 12781

Check out what we‘ve got.

listen

17 WORK OUT WHAT 12501 18 FIGURE OUT WHO 9617 19 FINDING OUT WHAT 9026 20 FIGURED OUT WHAT 7874 21 FIND OUT WHEN 7449 22 CHECK OUT HOW 7308 23 FOUND OUT WHAT 5366 24 WRITE DOWN WHAT 4468 25 FINDING OUT HOW 4014

26 PICK UP WHERE 3790

We can pick up where we left off.

listen

27 FIGURING OUT WHICH 3786 28 WORK OUT WHICH 3355 29 FOUND OUT HOW 3297 30 WORKING OUT HOW 3272 31 POINT OUT HOW 2850 32 FIGURING OUT WHERE 2664 33 GET OVER HOW 2573

34 GOING ON WHEN 2427

Was it still going on when she had the accident?

The Descendants

35 TAKE ON WHAT 2418 36 WORKING OUT WHAT 2416 37 PICKS UP WHERE 2211 38 FIGURE OUT WHEN 2195 39 SHOW UP WHEN 2155 40 POINT OUT WHAT 2020 41 FINDING OUT WHO 1992 42 FIGURING OUT WHO 1951 43 CAME ABOUT WHEN 1915 44 FIGURED OUT WHY 1884 45 WORK OUT WHERE 1866 46 POINTING OUT HOW 1782 47 WORK OUT WHY 1782 48 WORRY ABOUT HOW 1779 49 MAKE OUT WHAT 1777 50 PICKED UP WHERE 1759 51 COME BACK WHEN 1757 52 WORKED OUT HOW 1750 53 SETS OUT HOW 1742 54 LIGHT UP WHEN 1697 55 GO OVER HOW 1615 56 SHOW OFF WHAT 1609 57 POINTED OUT HOW 1591 58 COME ON WHEN 1535 59 PICKING UP WHERE 1533 60 FIGURES OUT HOW 1481 61 FOUND OUT WHEN 1480 62 FOCUS ON HOW 1435 63 FOUND OUT WHY 1397 64 WORRY ABOUT WHEN 1392 65 GIVE UP WHEN 1305 66 TURN ON WHEN 1302 67 FOUND OUT WHO 1286 68 WORRY ABOUT WHERE 1257 69 WORK OUT WHO 1234 70 SORT OUT WHAT 1220 71 FINDING OUT WHICH 1211 72 TAKE ON HOW 1206 73 WORKED OUT WHAT 1206 74 LOOK UP WHAT 1193 75 POINTS OUT HOW 1187 76 THINK THROUGH WHAT 1153 77 FINDS OUT WHAT 1084 78 PAID OFF WHEN 1075 79 SUMS UP WHAT 1073 80 FIGURING OUT WHY 1072 81 BREAK DOWN WHAT 1060 82 TURN OFF WHEN 1046 83 COME UP WHEN 1032 84 TURNED OFF WHEN 1019 85 POINTING OUT WHAT 1015 86 SHOW OFF HOW 1012 87 CAME OUT WHEN 1011 88 GO THROUGH WHEN 1007 89 FINDING OUT WHERE 991 90 COME OUT WHEN 983 91 FIGURES OUT WHAT 983 92 CONTROL OVER HOW 980 93 MAKE UP WHAT 958 94 PICK UP WHAT 957 95 REFLECT ON HOW 954 96 TAKE BACK WHAT 954 97 COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW 940 98 BACK UP WHAT 931 99 GET BACK WHAT 915

100 COMES UP WHEN 909

A search for

_VV _RP _CST

1 POINTED OUT THAT 197007 B2 in EVP

First, Johannes Kepler pointed out that orbits aren’t perfect circles or spheres.

TED

2 POINTING OUT THAT 52104 3 POINTS OUT THAT 51689 4 POINT OUT THAT 51660 5 FOUND OUT THAT 42856

6 TURNS OUT THAT 31030

It turns out that she is still in love with her best friend.

listen

7 FIND OUT THAT 20240 8 TURNED OUT THAT 13654 9 FINDING OUT THAT 4917 10 FIGURED OUT THAT 4632 11 FINDS OUT THAT 3481 12 FIGURE OUT THAT 3127 13 CAME OUT THAT 2632 14 WORKED OUT THAT 2112 15 RULE OUT THAT 2029 16 GOING ON THAT 1840 17 GOES BY THAT 1760 18 TURN OUT THAT 1222 19 GOING AROUND THAT 1166

20 WORK OUT THAT 1163