Agnus  +  148877 Mon, 17 Oct 05 09:03 PM In an exercise entitled word order with verb + object, I found the following sentence: - "He always gets early to the office". I am supposed to correct the position of the adverb since to the office is considered the object and it should come after the verb. - "He always gets to the office early ". However, it doesn't make sense that to the office should be considered the Object, but an Adverb Phrase (since it is a prepositional phrase), and in this case the word order is correct. Am I wrong? Can anyone help me?   Agnus Joined on Mon, Oct 17 2005 New Member 06 Verbs, Adverbs, Word Order

	Clive  +  148916 Mon, 17 Oct 05 11:43 PM Hi Agnus, Welcome to the Forum. - "He always gets early to the office". I wouldn't say it's wrong, but it sounds odd. A native speaker would say  "He always gets to the office early ". However, you can say 'he comes to the office early' or 'he comes early to the office'. The former is much, much more common, but the latter sounds OK and just adds more emphasis to 'early'. Best wishes, Clive   Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,580 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

	rvw  +  148925 Tue, 18 Oct 05 12:07 AM I think get is used intransitively here, so it does not have a direct object.  I agree that to the office is an adverbial prepositonal phrase.  From Merriam-Webster Online: get intransitive senses 1 a : to succeed in coming or going : to bring or move oneself <get away to the country> <got into the car> Still, even though none of the references I have consulted call it that, I feel that get to is "almost" a phrasal verb. It certainly sounds better to my ear to have to the office immediately after get.  Here is another example in which the preposition "belongs" with get:  We got out of the burning building in a hurry.  Get out is a phrasal verb, according to dictionary.com.  My guess is that get to is on its way to becoming a phrasal verb. rvw Joined on Sun, Nov 28 2004 Woodstock, Georgia, USA Full Member 350 Verbs, Prepositions, Phrasal Verbs, Direct Objects

	Joey_five  +  148963 Tue, 18 Oct 05 02:02 AM I am sorry. Not sure if I should ask my question here or start a new topic. But since you are talking about sentence order here..... I was taught that we normally put  the time phrase at the end of a sentence, eg. "My mum goes swimming every day." How about "Every day, my mum goes swimming." Is the 2nd wrong? Or it is just not common. thank you Joey_five Joined on Mon, Oct 10 2005 Full Member 105

	Clive  +  148986 Tue, 18 Oct 05 04:59 AM Hi, I was taught that we normally put  the time phrase at the end of a sentence, eg. "My mum goes swimming every day." How about "Every day, my mum goes swimming." Is the 2nd wrong? Or it is just not common. It's fine. Putting it at the end is certainly more common, but at the front adds more emphasis, if that's what you want to do.  Best wishes, Clive   Clive

	Agnus  +  149115 Tue, 18 Oct 05 01:37 PM rvw, you're right. The other day I saw get to as a phrasal verb as well. The problem was the context in which the sentence was in. Although it was an exercise on word order, it asked for verb + object. It didn't make sense. Speaking English as a second language, I can't rely completly on what sounds best. So thank you very much for your help! Agnus Verbs, Word Order, Phrasal Verbs, Speaking English, English as a Second Language