GRAMMAR PHRASAL VERBS
These can be great fun to teach, and you can do lots of activities with them – for example, using dominoes to match up the verb and prepositions/adverbs.
Learners can find them very confusing though, as the meaning of the phrasal verb can be very different to the meanings of the two separate parts of it, e.g. look + after, put + off. Plus there are so many possible combinations which can sound very funny or even cause offence if they get them wrong!
What are they?
In modern English there are many words which have a Latin origin. A lot of these are verbs, for example:
maintain – manu tenere
tolerate – tolerare
succeed – succedere
For many Latin based verbs, there are also English phrasal verb equivalents. These are verbs + prepositions or adverbs which are regularly used together, often with a more colloquial use:
maintain = keep up
tolerate = put up with
succeed = come off
There are many phrasal verbs used in everyday speech and informal writing. Latin based verbs are more scientific and formal.
Phrasal verbs consist of a verb followed by a preposition or adverb:
{verb} + {preposition/adverb}
run into
look after
pull off
The meaning of a phrasal verb is very different from the meaning of the two words taken together:
go = leave
off = from
but…
go off = become bad, mouldy
The same phrasal verb can also have several very different meanings:
take off = remove
take off = imitate
take off = leave the ground
How do I use it?
Some phrasal verbs can stand alone:
The plane took off.
or be followed by a direct object:
{phrasal verb} + [direct object]
She took off her coat.
When a phrasal verb takes a direct object, the two parts of the verb can usually be separated; the adverb or preposition can be put before or after the object:
She took her coat off.
She took off her coat.
But if the object is a pronoun, it must break the phrasal verb in two:
She took it off.
She took off it.
Some phrasal verbs consist of three parts:
{verb} + {adverb} + {preposition}
She did away with her husband.
You must not go back on your promise.
Three part phrasal verbs are not split.
