Slide 1

Phrasal VerbsEd McCorduckEnglish 402--GrammarSUNY Cortland http://mccorduck.cortland.edu

1

Phrasal verbs are idioms consisting of a verb and a particle.

idiom: a phrase that has a meaning different from that of the combination of the words that comprise it

particle: usually a preposition but sometimes an adverb

slide 2: definition of phrasal verbsEnglish 402: Grammar

2

Phrasal verbs are sometimes called

prepositional verbs (but not accurate when the particle is not a preposition, hence these are also known as phrasal/prepositional verbs)

two-word verbs

multi-word verbs (because some consist of more than two words, e.g., put up with)

slide 3: alternative terms in use for phrasal verbsEnglish 402: Grammar

3

examples of phrasal verbs

speak up fill outget out go down get up fire awayput up with go out forget away with

slide 4: examples of phrasal verbsEnglish 402: Grammarcheck outget outgive ingive upgive awayfall through

4

compare:

The balloon floated up. adverbial of place

Jack ran up the stairs. preposition, head of the PP up the stairs

Jill threw up. particle in the phrasal verb throw up (= vomit)

slide 5: demonstration of the difference between a phrasal verb and a verb plus adverb or PPEnglish 402: Grammar

5

In Reed-Kellogg diagrams, the verb and the particle(s) of a phrasal verb are put together on the main line with no separating line. For example, here is the diagram of the sentence The food ran out quickly containing the phrasal verb run out which means something like become exhausted or become depleted:

slide 6: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of sentences with phrasal verbsEnglish 402: Grammar

6

Compare the previous diagram to the following one of the sentence The balloon floated up quickly which contains the verb run followed by the adverb up (actually, this same diagram serves also for the sentence The balloon floated quickly up, once more illustrating the relative flexibility in the positioning of adverbials and giving more evidence of the adverbial status of up in this use):

slide 7: diagrams of sentences with phrasal verbs compared to those with verbs plus adverbialsEnglish 402: Grammar

7

To determine if a particle following a verb belongs to that verb in a phrasal verb combination or whether the particle is an adverb or is a preposition heading a following prepositional phrase, you can use the so-called movability test. To perform this test, try moving the particle and any word or phrase following it to the front of the sentence. If the resulting sentence is grammatical, you know that you have either a verb followed by an adverbial or a prepositional phrase; if the sentence is ungrammatical, this indicates that the verb-particle combination is in fact a phrasal verb. slide 8: the movability testEnglish 402: Grammar

8

exx The man ran out. Out the man ran.

The man ran out the door. Out the door the man ran.

slide 9: the movability test in actionEnglish 402: Grammargrammatical, therefore run out is not a phrasal verb here

grammatical, therefore run out is not a phrasal verb here

9

but The money ran out. *Out the money ran.

The money ran out quickly. *Out quickly the money ran.

slide 10: examples of the application of the movability test revealing a phrasal verbEnglish 402: Grammarungrammatical, therefore run out is a phrasal verb here (meaning something like become exhausted or become gone)

ungrammatical, therefore run out is a phrasal verb here (meaning something like become exhausted or become gone)

10