UNIT 2

PHRASAL VERBS (MULTI-WORD VERBS)

"The novel was so exciting that I couldn't put it down. I

read it all night… The part I liked the most was when the
main character put down the villain, that made me so
happy. However, what it really made sad was the part
when the hero needs to put down his dog… I was crying!”.
What do you notice in this text?
What is this text about? Do you think it relates with the cartoon above?
Maybe you know, or maybe you don’t that the verbs marked in red are called “Phrasal verbs”.
Have your heard about them?

What’s a phrasal verb?

First, let’s watch this video about phrasal verbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW8i5s2KauY&feature=emb_logo

In other words:
A phrasal verb is a standard verb such as put, go, or take, plus one or two particles.
Now don't let that confuse you!
A particle in a phrasal verb is either a preposition or an adverb.
 Go out….. Salir
  Go after…. Ir detrás de alguien o algo
 Go together… Ir juntos
 Go away… Irse definitivamente
These words marked in italics are prepositions and adverbs and with the regular verb they form a
phrasal verb.
But of course, there are many, many more phrasal verbs.
 Hang out
 Look after
 Bring together
 Put away
 Hang up
 Look out for
 Bring out
 Put up with

As you can see, because of those combinations, there are a loooooot of phrasal verbs, which makes
difficult to deal with them…
Some of the reasons why phrasal verbs are complicated are:
1. Because there are many of them
2. Because they're so commonly used
3. Because one phrasal verb can have multiple meanings

Let’s go back the initial paragraph:

"The novel was so exciting that I couldn't put it down. I read it all night… The part I liked the most
was when the main character put down the villain, that made me so happy. However, what it really
made sad was the part when the hero needs to put down his dog… I was crying!”.

The phrasal verb “put down” can mean:

1. To place something down on the ground or a surface.
2. An idiom to describe something we are reading that is so interesting that we don't want to stop
reading it
3. To humiliate or criticise someone-
4. To kill an animal that was sick or suffering.

Which do you think are the meanings of these sentences grouped in the paragraph.
The novel was so exciting that I couldn't put it down
_____________________________________________________________________________
The main character put down the villain
_____________________________________________________________________________
The hero needs to put down his dog.
______________________________________________________________________________
Can you see how even the verbs are simple to form, its changing meaning make them scary for
English learners?
To see more examples on how the same verb changes its meaning depending on the particle
that goes along with it, check this out:

Look up for the meaning in Spanish for these verbs:

Look up _______________________________
Look ahead ____________________________
Look back _____________________________
Look for _______________________________
Look forward to _________________________
Look in ________________________________
Look on _______________________________
Look out _______________________________
Look round _____________________________
Look through ___________________________
Look to ________________________________
If you're determined to understand more about phrasal verbs, then this lesson is for you. I'm going to
teach you five things that you need to know about phrasal verbs.
Starting with..
Transitive or Intransitive?
Now, once you know how to recognise a phrasal verb you need to learn how to use it
correctly and one of the first things that you need to find out is is it a transitive or an
intransitive phrasal verb?

If it's transitive, you need something or someone to finish the action. If it's intransitive, it stands on its
own.

Take the example from before, the phrasal verb “look up to” which means to respect or admire
someone. This phrasal verb always has to be followed by someone.
You can't just say “I really look up to”… The first thing that I would have to ask them is who? Who do
you look up to?

“Look up to” is a transitive phrasal verb. You need to have someone after the phrasal verb to
make it make sense.

But some phrasal verbs are intransitive which means they work fine on their own.
For example, to “grow up” means to mature and you never need to add an object here.
Here are a few examples of how this works.
 He grew up in Singapore.
 Your children are growing up so fast!
 What do you want to be when you grow up?

Now some phrasal verbs are either transitive or intransitive, depending on the meaning. So
take the example “come over” which has two meanings.
The first is an intransitive phrasal verb and it means to visit someone in the place where they are,
usually their house.
 Why don't you come over?
It stands on its own.

But “come over” can also be transitive if a feeling suddenly comes over you or an emotion that affects
you in a strong way. You would say that that emotion came over you.
 A wave of anger came over him.

So whether a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, it's important to know because it helps you to
understand how to use it correctly.

Now in addition to knowing if a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, you also need to
know if you also need to know if it's separable or inseparable and this is as simple as
it sounds!
Separable means that the verb and the particle are able to be separated in the sentence. So for
example, the phrasal verb “take on” which means to become responsible for something. It's a
transitive phrasal verb it doesn't make sense on its own.
 I'm going to take on the project.
 But we can also say I'm going to take the project on.

We can separate the words in the phrasal verb so it's separable.

Now an inseparable phrasal verb means that we can't separate the main verb from the other
words in the phrasal verb. No way!
Let's go back to the example “look up to”.
So we know that this is a transitive phrasal verb. It's also an inseparable phrasal verb.
You can't separate the words in the phrasal verb.
It's not possible to say “look someone up to” or “look up someone to”. It just doesn't work because it's
inseparable.

One thing you could try is to replace the object with a pronoun, place it between the verb and the
particle, and see if it makes sense:

For example, run into the woman makes sense but run her into does not make much sense, so
there is a good chance that run into is inseparable.

Write down what I say makes sense, and write it down also makes sense, so there is a good
chance that write down is separable.

Phrasal Verbs are multi-word verbs

Now, phrasal verbs are just multi-word verbs. So they need to be treated like any
other verb in a sentence. They need to show us which tense is being used and
they need to match the subject that they're being used with.

 I give up! It's too hard.

 He always gives up without really trying.
 We're not giving up yet!
 I thought you'd given up!

See how the verb changes each time with the tense.

Find the right Phrasal Verbs to practise.

Firstly, don't type “phrasal verbs” into Google don't type “phrasal verbs” into
Google and try to memorise them.
This will completely overwhelm you! You need to look for and find the phrasal verbs that are relevant
to you and that are commonly used because there are thousands of phrasal verbs in English but you
will never need to know all of them!

But you will need to know the ones that are coming up in your life. Right? The important ones for
you.
You need to look for them_
 Read the news.
 Read blogs that you love.
 Read the transcripts of TEDTalks.
 Read magazines and articles that are related to your profession.
For example, take a blog post from your favourite English about English or just written in English. Go
through it and highlight all of the phrasal verbs that you see. Study how they're used.

Practise using phrasal verbs (in the right way)

Now, practise using phrasal verbs in the right way. Focus on topics, not on
alphabetical lists because that is how you're going to use phrasal verbs while writing
or talking about a topic or issue. For example, if you're planning to take a holiday soon
think about all of the phrasal verbs you might use on your trip.
 Get on the bus.
 Take off in the plane.
 Pick up the hire car.
 Pack up your suitcase.
 Go out for dinner.
 Hang out with friends.
And if you don't know all the phrasal verbs that you might need, then try looking at a blog post about
the topic to inspire you or search YouTube for a lesson that can help you to learn this vocabulary.
Or go to a list of phrasal verbs and see which ones will be helpful to talk about travel.
But don't forget to pay attention to whether they're transient or intransient, separable or inseparable.

Practise:
Take these phrasal verbs and fill in the gaps.
 Hang out
 Look after
 Take over
 Put away
 Clean up
On Thursdays I ____________ my nephew in the evening, because my sister works late. I only live
over the road, so I usually __________ dinner and we have a picnic in the back garden. He's very
cute but very cheeky. I spend most of my time ___________ his toys and __________ after him. But I
love to ___________ with him!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-ktHXX0BkI&feature=emb_logo

Read through the following short story to brush up (review) your phrasal verbs.

Seeing the dentist!

Little Johnny hated going to see the dentist. It wasn't that his
dentist was nasty; it was that Johnny wasn't too fond of sweets.
His dentist had warned him that his teeth would fall out if he
kept up eating candy. Time and time again, the dentist had told
him to cut out sweet food or at least cut down on the amount he
ate.
As he lay down in the dentist's chair, all the horrible memories
from his last visit came back to him. On that occasion, the
dentist had to pull out one of his teeth! The pain was terrible -
even with the anaesthetic the dentist had given him. When the
anesthetic wore off it was difficult for him to eat or chew
anything at all.
This time the check up was much better. His dentist checked
out his teeth, made him wash out his mouth with pink liquid and then told him to spit it out into the
sink. That was it. No problems and no pain! Johnny was delighted and so was his dentist. Johnny
has finally learned his lesson and was taking better care of his teeth. Well done, Johnny!

Match the phrasal verbs from the text with these definitions:
____________ To separate. When one thing separates from another thing. Often used with teeth and
hair.
____________ continue.
____________ stop.
____________ reduce / consume less.
____________ to put your body in the position where it is flat and horizontal - like being in bed.
____________ remember
____________ remove using force.
____________ the effects of something like a drug/medicine end gradually.
____________(noun) - inspection or examination.
____________ inspect, examine or investigate.
____________ use water or a liquid to clean the inside of something.
____________ to force something out of your mouth, especially saliva or liquid.