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Phrasal Verbs

A phrasal verb is a phrase, a combination of a verb and adverb or preposition or both whose meaning is dissimilar from the individual meaning of two words.

Phrasal verbs are commonly used in informal English language that is more complex than normal words hence deeper understanding is required to understand the meaning of this verb. Learning different phrasal verbs helps learners to make the English language more attractive while speaking with someone. It helps to enhance fluency in the English language and express a sentence in a unique way. A phrasal verb is used as a verb in a sentence. For example, “Turn off’ is an important phrasal verb that can be used in a sentence to express that one try to turn off something.  

Phrasal Verbs 

Phrasal verbs are a unique combination of a verb, adverb, as well as a preposition and, are independently used in a sentence whose meaning is different from the actual word meaning in the English language. Phrasal verbs can be used in the replacement of any verb in a sentence but there are some rules to use this verb in the right order. For example “get over” is a frequently used phrasal verb in the English language but it changed according to the tense. Learners can use a phrasal verb in the place of the main verb in a sentence by maintaining appropriate meaning of a sentence. Through this verb, the learner can communicate anything and can express a sentence in a new way that becomes more adorable. There are different types of phrasal verbs and each contains unique rules and order to make a sentence. Some common phrasal verbs that are generally used in English languages are;

Phrasal verbs

Meaning

“Back up”

Defend someone

“break down”

Stop working

“call around”

Contact with multiple people

“Call off”

Cancel

“Check out”

Verify a thing

“Dress up”

Wear beautiful clothes

“End up”

Draw a conclusion

“Fill up”

Fill a thing completely

“Get away”

escape

“Get down”

discourage

Table 1: Example of phrasal verb   

Phrasal verbs in English

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb with an adverb, preposition, or the combination of both whose meaning is entirely different from the actual meaning of two different words. Phrasal verb is widely used in day-to-day conversation that makes a sentence more pleasant, There are different types of phrasal verbs such as “transitive phrasal verb”, “Intransitive phrasal verbs”, “Separable phrasal verbs”, “Inseparable phrasal verbs”, used in the English language. One can use a phrasal verb in the place of the main verb in a sentence to make it more meaningful and attractive. 

Phrasal verbs increase the influence in the English language while establishing a conversation with someone. The transitive type of phrasal verb is generally used for direct objects whereas the intransitive type of phrasal verb does not use direct objects while making a sentence. Most of the time words and different types of phrasal verbs stay together however there is some exceptional case in “inseparable phrasal verbs”. Therefore there is wide use of phrasal verbs in the English language and there are more than 10 thousand phrasal verbs available in this language. Therefore it is difficult to remember all phrasal verbs for a learner to use them in sentence construction. All separable types of phrasal verbs are transitive and most of the phrasal verbs are used in a sentence with a pair.     

Characteristics of phrasal verbs

  • Phrasal verbs have more meaning than the original verbs in a sentence.
  • Intransitive phrasal verbs are known as inseparable verbs as there are no direct objects used to form a sentence.
  • Phrasal verbs containing three words are generally inseparable.
  • Many transitive types of phrasal verbs are generally inseparable.

These are the characteristics of phrasal verbs that are required to be followed for learners to learn phrasal verbs and they can be used in informal settings of the English language. Some of the transitive types of phrasal verbs are also inseparable while making a meaningful sentence construction. The use of phrasal verbs increases the quality and influences informal conversation as well as writing and it helps to boost up the language skills of a person. A combination of two or three words provides a unique meaning to a sentence. Therefore, learners can use it in the place of the main verb in a sentence to make it more attractive and meaningful. It is difficult to understand the meaning of verbs in informal English languages without a deeper understanding of the construction of phrasal verbs.    

Conclusions

It has been summarised from the article that phrasal verbs play an important role in the informal English language. We can understand from this article that phrasal verbs are a combination of a verb, preposition as well as an adverb. The meaning of phrasal verbs is entirely different from the actual word meaning. There are different types of phrasal verbs such as transitive, intransitive, separable, inseparable used in several sentence constructions. A deeper understanding of the learner about the construction of phrasal verbs is important to use informal language in spoken and written communication. Transitive types of phrasal verbs can be separable and inseparable many times. The combination of three words in a phrasal verb is generally inseparable while making a meaningful sentence.

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How do you define phrasal verbs?

Ans. It is a group of words with a meaningful combination of verb, adverb, preposition. The combination together wor...Read full

What are the important examples of phrasal verbs?

Ans. The use of phrasal verbs is very common in English and it is frequently used in making a meaningful, attractive...Read full

What is the possible structure of phrasal verbs?

Ans. There are three possible structures of phrasal verbs that can be used in a  sentence such as “verb=adverb”...Read full