PHRASAL VERBS AND IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

UNIT 4

PHRASAL AND PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

A . C L A S S I F I C A T I O N I N T O F O U R C A T E G O R I E S :

1. Phrasal verbs (V+Adv) a. intransitive verb + particle: The plane took off on time.

b. transitive verb + particle: He gave back the book.

2. Prepositional verbs a. intransitive verb (V+Prep): She looked after her family.

b. transitive verb (V+NP+Prep): You've talked me into it.

3. Phrasal prepositional verbs a. intransitive verb (V+Adv+Prep): I won't put up with this noise.

b. transitive verb (V+NP+Adv+Prep): I'll take you up on that.

4. Other prepositional combinations: a. (V+NP+Prep): We soon made friends with them.

b. (V+Adj+Prep): I'll get even with you.

Type of

verb

Components Lexical

Verb

Direct

Object

Particles +

prepositional

Object

Adverb Prepositio

n

1. Type I Phrasal V. Come

Crop

------

------

In

Up

------

------

------

------

2. Type II Phrasal V. Send

Turn

S’one

S’one

Away

Down

------

------

------

------

3. Type I Prepositional V. Come

Come

------

------

------

------

With

Across

+me

+a problem

4. Type II Prepositional V Receive

Take

S’thing

S’one

------

------

From

For

+me

+a fool

5.Type I Phrasal –

Prepositional V

Run

Come

------

------

Away

Up

With

With

+it

+an answer

6. Type II Phrasal

Prepositional V

Send

Put

S’one

S’one

Out

Up

Into

For

+the world

+election

A L L F O U R C O M B I N A T I O N S M A Y B E M O R E O R L E S S I D I O M A T I C :

More idiomatic Less idiomatic

1a. The enemy gave in. (= surrendered) The

guests came in.

1b. Take this message down. (= write) Take that

picture down.

3. He did away with his wife. (= murdered) The

thief got away with the money.

CLASSIFICATION PROBLEMS:

1. The adverbial particles of some intransitive phrasal verbs

could sometimes be understood as prepositions with an

understood complement:

Five cars have gone past (this place) in the last few minutes.

This is where we get off (the bus).

2. It is sometimes difficult to decide whether a structure should be

analysed as an intransitive verb followed by a prepositional phrase or a

prepositional verb:

They walked for hours.

They waited for the next bus.

D I F F E R E N C E B E T W E E N P H R A S A L V E R B S A N D V E R B + P R E P O S I T I O N S C O M B I N A T I O N S

Notice, for example the

contrast in meaning of the

following pairs of

sentences:

1. A The boy ran into the street Verb+

prepositional phrase

1. B He ran into an old friend yesterday

(met by accident) Phrasal verb

2.A The passers-by looked into the window

curiously - verb+ prepositional phrase

2.B Have the policemen looked into the

bank robbery (investigated)- phrasal verb

O F T E N T H E D I F F E R E N C E C A N B E T E S T E D W I T H A Q U E S T I O N:

They arrived at the station. Where did they

arrive?

*What did they arrive at?

She looked at the pictures. *Where did she look?

What did she look at?

For each of these sentences we can

compose a question with “where” and

five a meaningful answer by using a

prepositional phrase:

The boy run into the street

Where did the boy run? Into the street

If we form a question with “Where” for the

sentences in the second example, however, we find

that there is no meaningful response:

Mr. Brown run into an old friend

Where did Mr Brown run? Into an old friend (not

meaningful)

But when we formulate a question with “what” or

“whom” using the two-word verb as a unit, we find

that the meaning is clear:

Whom did he run into? An old friend

What is the committee talking over? Our report.

So, a two word verb is a grammatical unit which

fulfils the normal functions of a verb in a sentence.

In the sentences above, we will consider the noun

phrases which follow the two-word verbs as the

object of the two-word verbs, not as the objects of

the preposition

DIFFERENCES: STRESS ON ADVERB PARTICLES

B. a. Stress - an adverb particle is usually

stressed, a monosyllabic preposition is not:

1a. I wish you'd shut up. 1b. I handed in the work.

2. He took to drink. Can you look after it?

3. She carried on with her work.

4. He took hold of her arm.

POSITION OF THE DIRECT OBJECT

b. Position of the direct object: - the direct

object may follow or precede the adverb particle of a

phrasal verb. If the object is a pronoun, it must

precede the adverb particle:

They called up the young men. They called

the young men up.

They let us down. We put them off.

PASSIVES

f. Passives: Transitive phrasal verbs can be freely

used in the passive:

1b. Two hundred workers were laid off. The

money will have to be given back

IDIOMS

What are idioms?

The free dictionary defines Idioms as (Linguistics) "a group of words

whose meaning cannot be predicted from the

meanings of the constituent words".

Example 1: in a fire situation (He just arrived) in the nick of time to call

the fire brigade before it was a real disaster, meaning, at the last possible

second.

Example 2: If something works in the long run, it means in the end, when the

whole process is finished, but it has nothing to do with running, as an action.

IDIOMS IN USE

Idioms are very common in spoken English and less common in

written English, or more formal situations, and are very often

used in business contexts to help create a relaxed atmosphere.

What's more, you can listen to them in TV comedy, drama series.

Using idioms make you sound more personal, friendly and less

formal. That's why it is another important aspect when learning a

language at advanced levels.

TIP TO LEARN IDIOMS

Learn a couple of idioms each day, try to learn

them on a daily basis. Also, try learning them

by saying the phrases out loud until they sound

natural to you. You can even write them down

and keep a notebook for idioms. Lastly, you can

visit the pages below and practice them.

EXERCISES

For more information and practice vitit:

http://cursodeingles-elena.blogspot.com.es/20

12/03/unit-4-phrasal-verbs.html

PROVERBS

http://cursodeingles-elena.blogspot.com.es/2012/03

/what-are-proverbs.html