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Grab Onto Phrasal Verbs |
Welcome back to Everyday Grammar from VOA Learning
English.
Today we look at a very common verb form in English –
phrasal verbs. There are over 5,000 verbs that fall in
this category. Do you know how to use them? In this
episode, we will introduce this type of verb and help
you understand how and why English speakers use them. In
future episodes, we will give more information about the
different kinds of phrasal verbs.
Phrasal verbs in history
Our story begins back when other languages - French and
Old Norse - began to influence Middle English. That
period started with the invasion of the British Isles in
1066 by William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy.
There were small particles, or prefixes, placed before
verbs in Middle English to change their meaning.
One that we still use is for as in forlorn. The word
lorn in Old English meant lost. Adding the prefix for
created forlorn, meaning to be lonely or sad. As time
went by, these prefixes started to disappear. Some
reappeared as adverbs, separate words that came after
the verb.
William Shakespeare, who wrote many plays between 1589
and 1613, is a well-known writer of the time. His works,
written in Early Middle English, include over 5,744
phrasal verbs.
Formal language and phrasal verbs
In Modern English, we use phrasal verbs more often in
informal language. The reason for that practice goes
back to the time when French influenced English. English
speakers thought that French words, or words of Latin
origin, were polite or cultured. When you want to speak
more formally, you can use a single word of Latin or
French origin instead of most phrasal verbs. For
example, the phrasal verb look over can be replaced by
review.
As English learners know well, daily conversation in
English is almost never formal. So feel free to use
phrasal verbs when you speak English in everyday
settings.
Another general fact about phrasal verbs is that British
English uses different ones from American English. At
one time, British English speakers used phrasal verbs
much less often than American English speakers. Now, the
Oxford English Dictionary lists many phrasal verbs in
common use in British English.
The structure of phrasal verbs
Let’s start with the basic structure of phrasal verbs. A
phrasal verb is a phrase with two or more words: a verb
and a preposition or adverb or both. An example is in
this sentence:
“I looked up my cousin’s phone number.”
The verb is look, and up is the adverb. The phrasal verb
look up means “to research” or “search for”.
Some phrasal verbs allow an object to separate the
phrase.
“I didn’t know the number so I had to look it up.”
Here, the pronoun it stands for the object, number.
Other phrasal verbs have to stay together. You can say
you care for someone with the phrasal verb look after as
in:
“I looked after Andy’s dog while he was on vacation.”
But you cannot say, “I looked his dog after while he was
on vacation.”
The first two kinds of phrasal verbs we looked at have
two words. The next kind has three words. For example,
“I put up with the noise of my neighbor’s party because
I knew it was his birthday.”
Here, the phrasal verb put up with means tolerate. The
verb put is followed by the particle up and the
prepositional phrase with + object (the noise).
These phrasal verbs must have direct objects. We cannot
say, “I put up because I knew it was his birthday.”
Let’s look at some examples.
“Carrie asked me to help out with the cooking.” Here, we
can substitute a single verb, assist, for the phrasal
verb help out.
However, we need to keep the preposition with when we
paraphrase the sentence, as in:
“Carrie asked me to assist with the cooking.”
Another three-part phrasal verb is look up to. It means
admire. We can say,
“She looks up to her sister.”
Here, sister is the direct object. We cannot move sister
to any other place in the sentence, as in “She looks her
sister up to.”
How to identify a phrasal verb
Learners may be confused because there are combinations
of verbs and prepositions that look like phrasal verbs.
How do you tell the difference?
A regular verb + preposition combination has two
meanings. Take the sentence,
“I looked up at the sky.”
Here look means view and up means in a higher direction.
On the other hand, a phrasal verb has a single meaning.
We saw look up earlier, meaning “research.”
Another test is whether you can move the object. You
cannot say, “I looked the sky up,” with the meaning “I
gazed upwards at the sky.”
So if you want to test whether a combination of words is
a phrasal verb, ask these questions:
Can I substitute a single word for a two-word phrase?
The answer should be “yes.”
Can I remove the direct object in a three-word phrase?
The answer should be “no.”
In the next Everyday Grammar, we will take a closer look
at phrasal verbs that can separate from the adverb.
Listen for such a phrasal verb in this song by Beatles.
Hint: it means to “solve” our problems.
Try to see it my way
Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long
We can work it out
We can work it out
For Learning English Everyday Grammar, I’m Jill Robbins.
Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English.
Hai Do was the editor. |
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Words in This Story |
- prefix
- grammar. a letter or
group of letters that is added at the beginning of a
word to change its meaning
- adverb
- grammar. a word that
describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a
sentence and that is often used to show time,
manner, place, or degree
- informal
- adj. (of language)
relaxed in tone; not suited for serious or official
speech and writing
-
preposition - grammar.
a word or group of words that is used with a noun,
pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, location,
or time, or to introduce an object
- object
- grammar. a noun, noun
phrase, or pronoun that receives the action of a
verb or completes the meaning of a preposition
- tolerate
- v. to allow
(something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) to exist,
happen, or be done
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