PHRASAL VERBS Emszt Fanni PROSPECTS Phrasal and prepositional

PHRASAL VERBS Emszt Fanni

PROSPECTS: Phrasal and prepositional verbs n n n Description: these are verbs in which two or three parts combine (look after, break down, put off, put up with) In some cases the combination means almost the same as the verb alone (wake up, sit down) Often it’s meaning is quite different from the meaning of the parts separately (look after =take care of, break down =stop working, put off =postpone, put up with =tolerate)

Verbs with prepositions n n They always have objects (they are transitive verbs) and it is not possible to separate the verb and it’s object (somebody, something). There a few ‘three word’ verbs (put up with, go in for, get up to) which work grammatically the same as other prepositional verbs.

Verbs with particles (phrasal verbs) They are different from prepositional verbs. n Unlike prepositional verbs, they can be intransitive: The giant’s dog woke up. n However, most of them do have objects: let somebody/something out, put off something n

Word order with phrasal verbs If the object is a noun, it is usually possible to put this before the particle or after it: n The noise woke the giant up. n The noise woke up the giant. n

Word order with phrasal verbs But if the object is a pronoun, it must come before the particle: n Don’t wake him up! (Don’t wake up the giant, Don’t wake the giant up) n He kept putting it off. (He kept putting off the day. ) n

If a phrasal or prepositional verb is followed by another verb, the second verb is usually in gerund n I must get on with reading my book. n The giant carried on throwing rocks all day.

HEADWAY Phrasal and prepositional verbs are referred to as multi-word verbs in this coursebook. n Description: many verbs in English are followed by a preposition or an adverb. These verbs are called multi-word verbs (prepositional or phrasal verbs) n