Unit 01: Phrasal verbs.

Phrasal Verbs and other multi-word verbs

Phrasal verbs are part of a large group of verbs called "multi-word verbs". Phrasal verbs and other multi-word verbs are an important part of the English language. Multi-word verbs, including phrasal verbs, are very common, especially in spoken English. A multi-word verb is a verb like "pick up", "turn on" or "get on with". For convenience, many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. These verbs consist of a basic verb + another word or words. The other word(s) can be prepositions and/or adverbs. The two or three words that make up multi-word verbs form a short "phrase"—which is why these verbs are often all called "phrasal verbs".

The important thing to remember is that a multi-word verb is still a verb. "Get" is a verb. "Get up", is also a verb, a different verb. "Get" and "get up" are two different verbs. They do not have the same meaning. So you should treat each multi-word verb as a separate verb, and learn it like any other verb. Look at these examples. You can see that there are three types of multi-word verb:

single-word verb look direct your eyes in a certain direction : You must look before you leap.
multi-word verbs /prepositional verbs : look after ,take care of : Who is looking after the baby?
phrasal verbs: look up ,search for and find information in a reference book :You can look up my number in the telephone directory.
phrasal-prepositional verbs: look forward, to anticipate with pleasure :I look forward to meeting you.

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are a group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another word or words. Many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. On these pages we make a distinction between three types of multi-word verbs: prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. On this page we look at phrasal verbs proper.

Phrasal verbs are made of:

verb + adverb

Phrasal verbs can be:

intransitive (no direct object)
transitive (direct object)

Here are some examples of phrasal verbs:


intransitive phrasal verbs :
get up , rise from bed .I don't like to get up.
break down: cease to function. He was late because his car broke down.
transitive phrasal verbs :
put off ,postpone. We will have to put off the meeting.
turn down, refuse . They turned down my offer.

Separable Phrasal Verbs
When phrasal verbs are transitive (that is, they have a direct object), we can usually separate the two parts. For example, "turn down" is a separable phrasal verb. We can say: "turn down my offer" or "turn my offer down". Look at this table:

transitive phrasal verbs are separable:
They turned down my offer.
They turned my offer down.

However, if the direct object is a pronoun, we have no choice. We must separate the phrasal verb and insert the pronoun between the two parts. Look at this example with the separable phrasal verb "switch on":

direct object pronouns must go between the two parts of transitive phrasal verbs John switched on the radio. These are all possible.
John switched the radio on.
John switched it on.
John switched on it. This is not possible.

Separable or inseparable phrasal verbs?
Some dictionaries tell you when phrasal verbs are separable. If a dictionary writes "look (something) up", you know that the phrasal verb "look up" is separable, and you can say "look something up" and "look up something". It's a good idea to write "something/somebody" as appropriate in your vocabulary book when you learn a new phrasal verb, like this:
get up
break down
put something/somebody off
turn sthg/sby down
This tells you whether the verb needs a direct object (and where to put it).

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