What are Phrasal Verbs

Some verbs in English can be made up of more than one word. Such verbs generally consist of a verb and a preposition or adverb. Therefore, a phrasal verb is a verb that consists of a verb and another element. The addition of the new element often creates a new meaning for the verb. For example,

He turned down the job offer. (turn + down = refuse)

I ran into your husband yesterday at the market. (run + into) = meet

You can count on me. (count + on = trust)

Examples of Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verb	Composition	Meaning	Example
Look into	Look + into	Investigate	The police looked into the matter.
Get away	Get + away	Escape	You cannot get away easily.
Run out of	Run + out + of	Use up one’s supply of something.	We ran out of milk this morning.
Hand in	Hand + in	Submit	You have to hand in the report by tomorrow.
Hold on to	Hold + on + to	Grasp tightly	Don’t move, hold on to the rail.
Pass out	Pass + out	Lose consciousness/faint	She passed out on the stairs.
Break into	Break + into	Enter forcibly	The firemen broke into the house to rescue the old woman.

Some phrasal verbs are intransitive. This means that they cannot take an object.

Ex:

His boss suddenly showed up.

Some phrasal verbs can be followed by an object. These are called transitive phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs can be divided into separable phrasal verbs and inseparable phrasal verbs. This categorization is based on the position of the object.

Separable Phrasal Verbs

Separable phrasal verbs are the verbs where the object is placed between the verb and the preposition/adverb. Here, the verb and the particle can be separated.

He talked his mother into lending him money.

Your radio is too loud, please turn the volume down.

Write this down before you forget.

Inseparable Phrasal Verbs

Unlike separable phrasal verbs, some phrasal verbs cannot be separated. The object is placed after the particle in such verbs.

I ran into some friends of yours.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over his loss.

His youngest son takes after his wife.

However, some transitive phrasal verbs can take an object in both places.

She gave your dress back. = She gave back your dress.

He looked up the word in the dictionary.

Phrasal Verbs with Prepositions

Although many transitive verbs can take objects in both positions, the object must be between the verb and the preposition if the object is a personal pronoun.

He gave your money back.→ He gave it back.

I looked your number up in the phone book.→ I looked it up.

We’ll be leaving behind our son.→ We’ll be leaving him behind.