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A phrasal verb (also called a two-part or two-word verb) consists of a verb particle.
Verb Particle = Phrasal Verb
think up think up
talk over talk over
call off call off
Particles can also be adverbs or prepositions in other sentences.
Verb Preposition
He walked up the hill.
The verb and particle are usually common words, but their separate meanings may not help you guess the meaning of the phrasal verb.
| Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
| turn down |
reject |
They turned down his application for a
patent. |
| turn off |
extinguish |
She turned off the light before leaving the
room. |
| turn up |
appear |
Velcro turns up in thousands of products. |
Usage note: Phrasal verbs are much more common in everyday speech than their one-word equivalents.
Please turn off the light before you leave. NOT Please extinguish the light before you leave.
Be careful! Like other verbs, phrasal verbs often have more than one
meaning.
Please turn down the radio. It's too loud. (Please lower the volume.)
Bill didn't get the job. They turned down his application. (They rejected his application.)
Many phrasal verbs are transitive (they take direct objects).
| Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
| dream up |
invent |
Edison dreamed up many new ideas. |
| look up |
try to find |
Inventors look up informaton about their
in a book ideas. |
| get on |
board |
I never get on a plane without my
Walkman. |
| put together |
assemble |
Two young men put together the first
personal computer. |
| stick with |
persevere |
Borden stuck with his idea until he
succeeded. |
| try out |
see if
works |
Morrison tried out several designs for the
something Frisbee. |
| run into |
meet
accidentally |
We ran into an old friend recently. |
Transitive verbs can be separable or inseparable.
Most transitive phrasal verbs are separable. This means that noun objects can go after the particle (look up a word) or between the verb and the particle (look a word up).
Phrasal Verb Example
dream up I just dreamed up a new idea.
OR
I just dreamed a new idea up.
look up He looked up information in the library.
OR
He looked information up in the library.
put together It's time to put together the project.
OR
It's time to put the project together.
try out We want to try out the invention.
OR
We want to try the invention out.
Notice that when the noun object is part of a long phrase, we do not separate the phrasal verb.
She tried out a new and complicated device for developing photographs. NOT She tried a new and complicated device for developing photographs out.
Be careful! If the direct object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and the particle.
There were a lot of new words. We looked them up in the dictionary. NOT We looked up them in the dictionary.
For inseparable phrasal verbs, objects always go after the particle. You can not separate the verb from its particle.
She ran into her science teacher in the library. NOT She ran her science teacher into in the library.
She ran into him in the library. NOT She ran him into in the library.
The following transitive phrasal verbs are inseparable.
Phrasal Verb Example
| Phrasal Verb |
Example |
| get on |
We couldn't get on the bus this morning. It was
too crowded. |
| stick with |
At first her idea failed, but she stuck with it until it
worked. |
| run into |
I hadn't seen Professor Mederi for years, and then I
ran into him in the supermarket. |
A small group of phrasal verbs must be separated. Following are some examples.
| Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
| see (something) through |
complete |
Eastman worked for years to see his
ideas through. |
| keep (something) on |
not remove |
Keep your earmuffs on. It's very cold outside. |
| get out of a lot (something) |
benefit from |
I got a lot out of this course. |
Some transitive phrasal verbs are used in combination with certain prepositions. A phrasal verb preposition combination (also called a three-part or three-word verb) is usually inseparable.
The following are some common phrasal verb preposition combinations.
| Phrasal Verb + Preposition |
Meaning |
Example |
| come up with |
imagine |
She came up with a brilliant idea. |
| drop out of |
quit |
They dropped out of school and
got jobs. |
| keep up with |
go as fast as |
The class went too quickly for me
to keep up with. |
Phrasal verbs can also be intransitive. (They don't take an object.) The following phrasal verbs are intransitive.
| Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
| catch on |
become
popular |
His earmuffs caught on. Everyone wanted a pair. |
| give up |
quit |
Don't give up. Keep trying. |
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