What are phrasal verbs?
Phrasal
verbs are sometimes called multi-word verbs. They are verbs that consist of two and sometimes
three words. The first word is a verb and it is followed by an adverb (turn down)
or a preposition (look into) or both (put up with). These adverbs or
prepositions are sometimes called particles.
The meaning of phrasal verbs.
The meaning of some phrasal verbs, such as sit down, is easy to guess
because the verb and the particle keep their usual meaning. However, many phrasal
verbs have idiomatic meanings that you need to learn. The separate meanings of
(look) (forward) and (to),
for example, do not add up to the meaning of look forward to (= be thinking with pleasure about
something which is going to happen)
The meaning of a
phrasal verb can sometimes be explained with a one-word verb. However, phrasal
verbs are frequently used in spoken English and, if there is a one-word
equivalent, it is usually more formal in style:
-
I wish my ears didn’t stick
out / project so much.
Both stick out
and project
have the same meaning – “to extend beyond a surface”- but they are very
different in style. Stick out is used in informal contexts and project in
formal or technical contexts.
The grammar of phrasal verbs.
Phrasal verbs
can be transitive ( they take an object ) or intransitive ( they have no object
). Some phrasal verbs can be used in both ways.
The two parts of intransitive phrasal verbs
cannot be separated by any other word. You can say:
(Shall we eat out tonight? (BUT not, shall we eat
tonight out?)
In
order to use transitive phrasal verbs correctly,
you need to know where to put the object.
a). With separable phrasal verbs the object can go
either between the verb and the particle or after the particle.
( She tore
the letter up or she tore up the letter).
When the object is a long phrase it usually comes after the particle:
(She tore
up all the letters he
had sent her)
When the object is a pronoun (for example “it” standing for “the
letter”), it must always go between the verb and the particle:
( She read the letter and then tore it up )
b).
With inseparable phrasal verbs,
the two parts of the verb cannot be separated by an object.
( I ran
into Joe yesterday ,
BUT not I ran Joe into yesterday )
(From "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary")