The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three distinct but related constructions in English: a verb and a particle and/or a preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit.
One can discern at least three main types of phrasal verb constructions depending upon whether the verb combines with a preposition, a particle, or both. The words constituting the phrasal verb constructions in the following examples are in bold:
Verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal verbs)
a. Who is looking after the kids? – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after the kids.
b. They pick on Alex. – on is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on Alex.
c. I ran into an old friend. – into is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase into an old friend.
Verb + particle (particle phrasal verbs)
a. They brought that up twice. – up is a particle, not a preposition.
b. You should think it over. – over is a particle, not a preposition.
c. Why does he always dress down? – down is a particle, not a preposition.
Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional phrasal verbs)
a. Who can put up with that? – up is a particle and with is a preposition.
b. She is looking forward to a rest. – forward is a particle and to is a preposition.
c. The other tanks were bearing down on my panther. – down is a particle and on is a preposition. 1
Transitive and Intransitive Phrasal Verbs 2
Phrasal Verbs cand be Transitive or Intransitive.
Transitive and Intransitive Phrasal Verbs 2
Intransitive phrasal verbs have no direct object. (A direct object is “acted upon” by the verb).
Examples of intransitive phrasal verbs:
I woke up at 10:30 AM.
You can come over to my house after school.
He’s going back to Russia next month.
Examples of intransitive phrasal verbs:
I woke up at 10:30 AM.
You can come over to my house after school.
He’s going back to Russia next month.
Examples of transitive phrasal verbs (direct object is in green):
You need to fill out this form to register for the course. (fill out = complete)
I’m going to cut down on fast food this year. (cut down on = reduce)
Check out that website – it’s really great! (check out = look at, go to)
Separable and Inseparable Transitive Phrasal Verbs:
Some transitive phrasal verbs are separable. The object is placed between the verb and the preposition.
Example:
I talked my mother into letting me borrow the car.
She looked the phone number up.
Some transitive phrasal verbs are inseparable. The object is placed after the preposition.
Example:
I ran into an old friend yesterday.
They are looking into the problem.
BE CAREFUL! Some transitive phrasal verbs can take an object in both places. I looked the number up in the phone book.
I looked up the number in the phone book.
WARNING! Although many phrasal verbs can take an object in both places, you must put the object between the verb and the preposition if the object is a pronoun.
Example:
I looked the number up in the phone book.
I looked up the number in the phone book.
I looked it up in the phone book. correct
I looked up it in the phone book. incorrect 3
ADVICE: Use a Phrasal Verb Dictionary to learn which phrasal verbs are separable or
inseparable.
inseparable.
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