Phrasal verbs

Phrasal Verbs

Teacher: Susanna Carra

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn the form and the use of phrasal verbs2. Use phrasal verbs in context

What are phrasal verbs?

Phrasal verbs are verbs that are made up of a main verb and followed by a particle, adverb or preposition. Most phrasal verbs are two or three words and can be literal or figurative in meaning. In other words, sometimes it is easy to understand the meaning (such as "get up"), but in the case of figurative meanings can be quite confusing (such as "pick up").

Example: Pick up

Main verb Preposition

Phrasal verbs can be separable or nonseparable

In separable phrasal verbs you can separate the verb and the adverb or the prepostion.In non-separable phrasal verbs you cannot separate the verb and the adverb or the prepostion.

Phrasal verbs can be transitive or intransitive

Transitive phrasal verbs are followed by one or two objects.Intransitive phrasal verbs are not followed by any object.

Separable phrasal verbs can remain together when using an object that is a noun or noun phrase. Examples: He paid back the debt. OR He paid the debt back. The company laid out quite a bit for research. OR The company laid quite a bit out for research. Separable phrasal verbs MUST be separated when a pronoun is used: Examples: We ran it up by $50,000. They bailed him out of the situation. Frank paid it all back by the end of the month.

Inseparable phrasal verbs always remain together. It makes no difference if a noun or pronoun is used. Examples: He scraped by on only $800 a month for two years. NOT He scraped it by for two years. They splashed out on new office furniture. NOT They splashed it out. Note: All phrasal verbs containing more than one particle are inseparable. Example: I've put up with the situation for more than two years. Tip: If you are not sure whether a phrasal verb is separable or inseparable, ALWAYS use a noun or nouns phrase and DO NOT separate. In this manner, you will always be correct!

Reading: Adventures growing up

Read the story and click on the buttons to see the meaning of some phrasal verbs.

Lists of Phrasal verbs

Download them here

Your turn:

Work in pairs: rewrite the dialogues in this file using phrasal verbs from the lists

You have come to the end of the lesson:

Well done!