Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and another word or phrase, usually a preposition. The resulting combination creates what amounts to a new verb, whose meaning can sometimes be puzzling to non-native speakers. Phrasal verbs often arise from casual uses of the language and eventually work themselves into the mainstream of language use. Phrasal verbs can be both intransitive (The children were sitting around, doing nothing. The witness finally broke down on the stand.) and transitive in meaning (Our boss called off the meeting. She looked up her old boyfriend.) The word that is joined with a verb in this construction (often a preposition) is called a particle.
The problem with phrasal verbs is that their meaning is often, at first, obscure, and they can also have several different meanings. To make out, for instance, can mean to perceive or to see something; it can also mean to engage in light sexual play. If someone chooses to turn up the street that is a combination of a verb and a preposition, but it is not a phrasal verb. On the other hand, if your neighbors unexpectedly turn up (appear) at a party or your brother turns up his radio, those are phrasal verbs. To come out, we are told, has eighteen different meanings!
Verbs can be combined with different prepositions and other words, sometimes with dizzying effect: stand out, stand up, stand in, stand off, stand by, stand fast, stand down, stand against, stand for. Further, the verb and the word or phrase it connects to are not always contiguous: “Fill this out,” we would say, but then we would say, “Fill out this form.” This is because some phrasal verbs are separable (as in the previous case) and when a pronoun is used as object of the verb MUST be placed between the two parts of the phrasal verb. Others are not separable and this is therefore impossible.
I will be posting on this page links to phrasal verb exercises. They may be categorised in different ways: by verb (eg. phrasal verbs with “bring”), by particle (eg. phrasal verbs with “up”) or by topic (eg. phrasal verbs in computer use). Finally, there is a general / miscellaneous category.
You should work on these as they appear and try to learn and use the ones you think are most useful. Use them in class in oral activities and in essays you write for homework.
GENERAL LIST with SPANISH TRANSLATIONS:
CATEGORISED ACCORDING TO VERB:
BRING Ex 1 Ex 2 Ex 3 Ex 4 Ex 5 Ex 6 Ex 6 (with audio) Ex 7 (with audio) Ex 8 (with audio)
COME List Ex 1 Ex 2 Ex 3 Ex 4 Ex 5 Ex 6
GET Ex 1 Ex 2 Ex 3 Ex 4 Ex 5 Ex 6 (3 exercises here) Ex 7
EXCELLENT PAGE WITH QUIZZES CATEGORIZED BY 119 DIFFERENT VERBS!!!
CATEGORISED ACCORDING TO PARTICLE:
OFF Ex 1 (Reference only) Ex 2 Ex 3 Ex 4 Ex 5
OUT Ex 1 Ex 2 (Reference only) Ex 3
CATEGORISED ACCORDING TO TOPIC:
MONEY: Ex 1
GENERAL / MISCELLANEOUS
