He took off his jacket. → 脫掉夾克
The airplane took off. → 飛機起飛
The airplane was taken off the runway. →被拖離跑道
這三句話的動詞相同,但是語意不同,這是因為語意是藉由不同成分組合產生的。除了動詞之外,句子裡還有其他「共現」成分幫助釐清語意。故「飛機」作主詞時的動詞語意,和飛機作受詞時不同。
同理,put out 意指「拿出來」,還是「撲滅」,也要考慮周邊的語意成分:
He put out a show. → The show is out. → 上演了
He put out the fire. → The fire is out. → 撲滅了
從形意搭配的角度來看,put out 的語意仍有 put 和 out 結合的軌跡:put something out 是「拿出來」,out 與動詞分離,所以保持了副詞 out 的原始語意;對照 put out the fire,put out 不可分,形成單一概念,又和 fire 合用,自然另有其義:
Put the fire out. → 把火拿出來
Put out the fire. → 把火熄滅