Phrasal Verbs
Some verbs are two part verbs . They consist of a verb and a particle:
- find + out (to discover)
>> The police found out the hiding place of the criminal. (Often this gives the verb a new meaning.)
- take + after (to resemble ; to look like)
>> She takes after her mother. - count + on (to rely on; trust ; depend on)
>> I can always count on my best friend.
Some transitive two part verbs have only one pattern:
N (subject) + V + p + N (object)
[Note: N = noun; V = verb; p = particle]
| N (Subject) | Verb | Particle | N (Object) |
| She I My cousin | turned can count comes | on on from | the lights you Canada |
Some transitive two part verbs are phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs have two different patterns:
- The usual pattern is: N + V + N + p
| N (Subject) | Verb | (N) Object | Particle |
| She He We | gave put will be throwing | the money his toys the trash | back away away |
- But sometimes these verbs have the pattern: N (subject) + V + p + N (object)
| N (Subject) | Verb | Particle | N (Object) |
| She He We | put brought put | off up on | the party his children our coats |
When the object is a personal pronoun, these verbs always have the pattern:
N + V +N + p:
- She gave back it
>> She gave it back - He knocked over it
>> knocked it over - We will be leaving behind them
>> We will be leaving them behind - Phrasal verbs are nearly always made up of a transitive verb and a particle. Common verbs with their most frequent particles are:
| bring: | about, along, back, forward, in, off, out, round, up |
| call: | off, up |
| cut: | back, down, off, out, up |
| give: | away, back, off |
| knock: | down, out, over |
| leave: | behind, out |
| put: | across, away, down, forward, off, on, out, through, together, up |
| set: | apart, aside, back, down |
| take: | apart, away, back, down, in, on, up, over |
| think: | over, through, up |
One reply on “Phrasal Verbs”
Hi there, it would be also helpful to have also a hint of intransitive phrasal verbs.