Phrasal Verbs
English Language: KS3, topic 3.6.1
Separable Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are idiomatic expressions. Phrasal verbs are created by combining verbs and prepositions to make new verbs. The meaning is often not obvious from the definitions of each word.
Use of phrasal verbs
- Phrasal verbs are used in both written and spoken English.
- New examples are formed all the time, as they are a flexible way of creating new terms.
Separable phrasal verbs
- Separable phrasal verbs can be separated into two parts in a sentence.
- The phrasal verb doesn’t have to be separated, but it can be:
- E.g. ‘Take back’
- In the sentence ‘I had to take the shirt back to the shop because it was too large’, the verb ‘take’ is able to be separated from the proposition ‘back’.
Separable phrasal verbs examples
- Other examples of separable phrasal verbs include:
- Write down - 'write your ideas down'.
- Put on - 'Put your hat on'.
- Blow up - 'Can you blow those balloons up?'.
- Fill up - 'Fill the car up'.
- Find out - 'Find it out for me'.
- Hand in - 'Hand your homework in'.
Inseparable Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are idiomatic expressions. Phrasal verbs are created by combining verbs and prepositions to make new verbs. The meaning is often not obvious from the definitions of each word.
Inseparable phrasal verbs
- Inseparable examples of phrasal verbs must stay together in a sentence:
- E.g. ‘Come over’
- In the sentence ‘Anya, please come over to my house', you can’t separate 'come' and 'over'.
Inseparable examples
- There are fewer examples of inseparable phrasal verbs. Some examples of phrasal verbs are:
- Look after.
- Jump to.
- Look on.
- Stand by.
- Run across.
- Wait on.
Two prepositions
- Sometimes you can have two prepositions in the phrasal verb. For example:
- Check up on.
- Get along with.
- Drop out of.
- Keep up with.
- Get rid of.
Test yourself on Phrasal Verbs
Which of these are examples of phrasal verbs?