The compound word 抓住 (zhu¯a-zh`u/ grab) falls into the category of attainment resultative verb compounds. This type of resultative verb compounds features a phase-marker verb (Li and Thompson 1981) on the right indicating the attainment of an action symbolized by the verb on the left. For instance, in the word 抓住 (zhu¯a-zh`u/ grab), 抓 (zhu¯a/ grab) is the primary action in this verb compound, and 住 (zh`u/ hold on) marks the attainment of this action.
The verbs with this semantic function include verbs like 到 (d`ao/ arrive), 完 (w´an/ finish),
著 (zh˘ao/ on target), and 好 (h˘ao/ good).
Reference: Chinese: a linguistic introduction by Chao Fen Sun
