pharsal verbs 50 of English
Answers
Explanation:
A phrasal verb is a phrase that’s made up of a verb and another word or two, usually a preposition but sometimes an adverb.
So before we can talk about English phrasal verbs, it’s important to understand what verbs, prepositions and adverbs are.
A verb is an action word. It describes something happening (e.g. hearing, seeing), a state of being (e.g. to live, to sleep), or an action being done (e.g. to read, to sing).
A preposition is a word that describes the relationship between two words. For example, the bees are above the table or under the table, but not inside the table (hopefully). Prepositions mainly deal with location or direction (e.g. on, through, around) and time (e.g. “by” or “around” a certain time).
An adverb is a word that describes a verb. For example, you can run quickly or slowly and arrive to class early or late.
Now that you know what verbs and prepositions are, you’re ready to start putting them together into phrasal verbs.
Phrasal verbs work by changing the verb’s meaning based on the preposition that follows them.
It’s easier than you think—you probably already know a number of phrasal verbs. For example, read the last sentence before this section: “So come on, let’s learn some phrasal verbs.” The words “come on” in that sentence are a phrasal verb!
The word “come,” on its own, means to move towards something. Together with the preposition “on,” though, the phrase “come on” becomes a phrase of encouragement.
There are many other phrasal verbs out there!
How to Learn English Phrasal Verbs
English phrasal verbs are everywhere, so one of the best ways to learn them is to try to listen for them. These phrases are commonly used, and would not be unusual to hear in a conversation. Do you hear a verb used together with another word very often? It might be a phrasal verb.
If you’re not sure whether a phrase is a phrasal verb or just a verb that happened to be spoken with a preposition, try looking it up. Most dictionaries have entries for phrasal verbs, so look the phrase up to be sure. You can also look up the phrase in the online Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary, which is an excellent resource, so save that link!
Some phrasal verb meanings are obvious—like “fall down”—but some are almost like idioms since they can’t be literally translated. To make them easier to learn, you can try grouping the phrasal verbs into categories, like we’ve done with our phrasal verbs list below.
Don’t be afraid to create your own categories from different types of phrasal verbs. For example, you could group phrasal verbs that are focused on time of day (e.g. wake up, lie down) or positive vs. negative (e.g. cheer up/give up). That’s why we’ve organized our phrasal verbs list below into groups.
There are so many phrasal verbs that it might seem difficult to learn them all. But many of these phrases become natural after a while—all it takes is some repetition and practice.
One of the fastest ways to understand phrasal verbs and use them correctly is watching videos on FluentU. FluentU provides authentic English videos—like movie trailers, TV commercials, inspiring speeches and more—where you will hear tons of phrasal verbs used naturally by native speakers. And you never have to worry about misunderstanding them.