Phrasal verb

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and preposition, a verb and adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and preposition, any of which are part of the syntax (of the sentence), and so are a complete semantic unit. Its sentences may, however, contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are particularly frequent in the English language. A phrasal verb often has a meaning which is different from the original verb.

'Preposition' and 'adverb' as used in a phrasal verb are also called 'particle' in that they do not alter their form through inflections (are therefore uninflected, they do not accept affixes, etc.).

Phrasal verbs in informal speech

Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as “to get together” rather than “to congregate”, “to put off” rather than “to postpone”, or “to get out” rather than “to exit”.

Literal usage

Many verbs in English can be combined with an adverb or a preposition, and readers or listeners will easily understand a phrasal verb used in a literal sense with a preposition:

"He walked across the square."

Verb and adverb constructions can also easily be understood when used literally:

"She opened the shutters and looked outside."

"When he heard the crash, he looked up."

An adverb in a literal phrasal verb modifies the verb it is attached to, and a preposition links the subject to the verb.

Phrasal verb patterns

A phrasal verb contains either a preposition or an adverb (or both), and may also combine with one or more nouns or pronouns.

1. Particle verbs

Phrasal verbs that contain adverbs are sometimes called "particle verbs", and are related to separable verbs in other Germanic languages. There are two main patterns: intransitive and transitive. An intransitive particle verb does not have an object:

“When I entered the room he looked up.”

A transitive particle verb has a nominal object in addition to the adverb. If the object is an ordinary noun, it can usually appear on either side of the adverb, although very long noun phrases tend to come after the adverb:

Switch off the light.

Switch the light off.

Switch off the lights in the hallway next to the bedroom the president is sleeping in.

With some transitive particle verbs, however, the noun object must come after the adverb. Such examples are said to involve "inseparable" phrasal verbs:

The gas gave off fumes. (not *The gas gave fumes off.)

Still other transitive particle verbs require the object to precede the adverb:

They let the man through. (not *They let through the man.)

With all transitive particle verbs, if the object is a pronoun, it must normally precede the adverb:

Switch it off. (not *Switch off it.)

The gas gave them off. (not *gave off them)

They let him through. (not *let through him)

2. Prepositional verbs

Prepositional verbs are phrasal verbs that contain a preposition, which is always followed by its nominal object. They are different from inseparable transitive particle verbs, because the object still follows the preposition if it is a pronoun:

On Fridays, we look after our grandchildren.

We look after them. (not *look them after)

The verb can have its own object, which usually precedes the preposition:

She helped the boy to an extra portion of potatoes.

with pronouns: She helped him to some.

Prepositional verbs with two prepositions are possible:

We talked to the minister about the crisis.

3. Phrasal-prepositional verbs

A phrasal verb can contain an adverb and a preposition at the same time. Again, the verb itself can have a direct object:

no direct object: The driver got off to a flying start.

direct object: Onlookers put the accident down to the driver’s loss of concentration.

Single-word verb		Look	Direct your eyes in a certain direction	You must look before you leap.
multi-word verbs	Prepositional verbs	Look after	Take care of	Who is looking after the baby?
	Phrasal verbs	Look up	Search for and find information in a reference book	You can look up my number in the telephone directory
	Phrasal-prepositional verbs	Look forward to	Anticipate with pleasure	I look forward to meeting you.

Phrasal verbs and modifying adverbs

When modifying adverbs are used alongside particle adverbs intransitively (as particle adverbs usually are), the adverbs can appear in any verb/particle/adverb positions:

“He unhappily looked round.”

“He looked unhappily round.”

“He looked round unhappily.”

The particle adverb here is "round" and the modifying adverb is "unhappily". ("Round" is a particle because it is not inflected — does not take affixes and alter its form. "Unhappily" is a modifying adverb because it modifies the verb "look").

With a transitive particle verb, the adverb goes either before the verb of after the object or particle, whichever is last:

“He cheerfully picked the book up.”

“He picked up the book cheerfully.” (not *picked cheerfully up the book)

“He picked the book up cheerfully.”

Prepositional verbs are different from transitive particle verbs, because they allow adverbs to appear between the verb and the preposition:

“He cheerfully looked after the children.

“He looked after the children cheerfully.

“He looked cheerfully after the children.