
The birth of American English. How to recognize a phrasal verb. Cucka-nucka.
999. This week, we look at what shaped early American English, from Native American words to Noah Webster's spelling reforms. Then, we explore phrasal verbs, looking at their grammatical peculiarities and some tips to distinguish them from other types of verbs.
The "American English" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." You can find her at valeriefridland.com.
The "phrasal verbs" segment was written by Edwin L. Battistella, who taught linguistics…
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