Predicated Theme As A Diagnostic Of Phrasal Verbs

Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 126-7):

Often it will be obvious that the preposition must count as part of the process realisation. For example:

If in doubt, the best test is to check the ‘circumstance’ as the focus of theme predication.

??It was off the old bus they got.
?It was at the snail we were looking.
It wasn’t about the strike (that) they were worrying.
It was for a chat they called.

Where the prepositional phrase is feasible as a predicated Theme, as in the last two cases, it is likely to be functioning as a circumstance.

Blogger Comments:

[1] See the previous post.

[2] To be clear, The following predicated Theme is also feasible, perhaps more so:

It wasn't the the strike they were worrying about.

If this is the case, then worrying about can be reasonably construed as a phrasal verb serving as a mental Process, with the strike as Phenomenon.