How many phrasal verbs does a native speaker use. Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are an expression that usually consists of 2-3 words.

They make speech bright and varied, therefore they are constantly used in colloquial English speech.

You have probably met them if you watched TV shows in English, listened to songs or read books.

However, despite their popularity in use, they cause many difficulties. After all, one small word completely changes the meaning of the expression.

In addition, when using them, there are certain grammatical features. It is about them that we will talk in this article.

What are phrasal verbs in English?

Phrasal verbs is a phrase that consists of several words. Such expressions resemble small phrases, hence the name "phrasal verbs".

Here is an example of such verbs:

go on - keep doing something

go out - go out, spend time outside the home

As you can see, the meaning of phrasal verbs changes depending on the prepositions used. And guessing the meaning of such verbs is very difficult, and sometimes impossible.

That is why they cause so many difficulties in learning.

To make it easier for you to "recognize" phrasal verbs, let's see what they are.

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3 types of phrasal verbs in English

All phrasal verbs can be grammatically divided into 3 types:

1. Action (verb) + preposition

In such combinations, prepositions are very often used:

• on - on
• in - in
• out - from
• off - from
• by - to
• for - for

For example:

Check in - check in (at the hotel)
Call off - cancel
Look for - look for
Try on - try on (clothes)

2. Action (verb) + sign (adverb)

An adverb is a word that denotes a sign and answers the question "how".

In such combinations, adverbs are most often used:

• across - through, through
• down - down
• up - up
• around - around
• against - against
• back - back
• ahead - ahead
• forward - forward

For example:

Walk around - walk, wander around
Write down - write down, write down
Come across - come across, meet by chance
Look ahead - look into the future, envisage

3. Action + sign + preposition

In this case, the phrasal verb consists of 3 words.

For example:

Look forward to - look forward to (pleasure)
Сut down on - reduce something
Get along with - get along, get along with someone
Keep away from - stay away from

As you probably noticed, sometimes you can trace the logic of the formation of a phrasal verb.

For example:

look - look
for - for

By combining these words, we get look for - "look for" (look for).

However, this is not always possible to do. Therefore, it is better to clarify the translation and meaning of the phrasal verb.

In addition, the same prepositions / adverbs give different meanings to different verbs.

For example:

Get up - get up, wake up
Give up - give up, refuse; leave, quit
Make up - make up; compose

In addition to types, phrasal verbs can be divided into transitive and intransitive. Let's look at what that means.

Transitive and intransitive phrasal verbs in English

Also, all phrasal verbs can be divided into transitive and intransitive.

Intransitive phrasal verbs is an expression that is complete in itself. Such phrasal verbs do not require an addition.

For example:

This old car breaksdown all the time.
This old car breaks down all the time.

They usually get up early.
They usually get up early.

He tried to calmdown.
He tried to calm down.

Transitive phrasal verbs

Transitive phrasal verbs- this is an expression that requires addition, clarification (what exactly, whom exactly, with whom exactly).

For example:

He gets along with his sister.
He gets along (with whom exactly?) with his sister.

As you can see, we cannot use this verb without this qualification. Then the proposal will be incomplete.

transitive verbs can be separable and inseparable.

• Inseparable - when the refinement comes after the entire expression.

For example:

He looked for the key.
He was looking for the keys.

You should give up smoking.
You should quit smoking.

• Separable - when the refiner breaks the phrasal verb and becomes in the middle

For example:

He took his coat off.
He took off his coat.

He threw the trash away.
He threw out the trash.

• Separable and inseparable at the same time

Sometimes a phrasal verb can be either separable or inseparable. Both options will be correct.

For example:

I put my sweater on.
I put on a sweater.

I puton my sweater.
I put on a sweater.

You can always clarify whether a phrasal verb is separable or not in a dictionary.

And now, I want to give you a list of commonly used phrasal verbs.

List of phrasal verbs in English

Let's look at a table of popular phrasal verbs.

So, we have analyzed what phrasal verbs are and what they are. Now the most difficult thing is to remember phrasal verbs and use them in your speech.

In it you will find instructions and tips on the easiest way to remember phrasal verbs.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English. Leave your answers in the comments below the article.

1. I am looking for my phone.
2. You need to calm down.
3. Try on this dress.
4. They are looking forward to this trip.
5. He quit smoking.

The greatest difficulty for students is the phrasal verbs of the English language. They compensate for the lack of a complex system of conjugations, but add many additional meanings to each word expressing action.

a brief description of

This group of words includes idioms or stable combinations with prepositions and other parts of speech. The meaning of these expressions may be completely different from the translation of the verb itself. There are several types of phraseological verbs in English:

• Compatible with adverbs:

break up - fall apart, stop;

bring down - break, destroy;

get out - get out.

• adding a suggestion:

hold in - restrain yourself;

get to - get somewhere;

take over - take possession of something.

• prepositional adverbs:

run out of - end, dry out;

look forward to - look forward to;

get away with - get away with it.

The basic phrasal verbs of the English language have accumulated over several centuries, as grammar has evolved. Initially, prepositions and adverbs attached to these words retained their direct meaning, but then the meaning of the phrase changed beyond recognition. Thus, various idiomatic expressions, which cannot be translated by individual components.

Most popular phrasal verbs

It is more convenient to present the list of such phrases in the form of tables with translation. Idioms can be divided into several groups:

• with the verb break:

• with the verb bring:

• with the verb come:

• with get verb:

• with the verb give:

• with the verb go:

• with the verb hang:

• with the verb hold:

• with look verb:

• with the verb make:

• with put verb:

• with the verb run:

Definition

What phrasal verb? It could be a combination:

• Verb + preposition.
• Verb + adverb.
• Verb + adverb + preposition.

A phrasal verb is an integral semantic unit, which is one member of a sentence. Most often, the meaning of the phrasal verb differs significantly from the translation of the main verb.

Why is it so important to study these semantic units? Phrasal verbs are constantly used in colloquial speech, so without them it will be difficult for you to understand the interlocutor or to capture the meaning of what you read in the book. In addition, in any international test you will definitely meet phrasal verbs.

Classification of phrasal verbs

First of all, all phrasal verbs are divided into transitive and intransitive:

1. Transitional, or transitive phrasal verbs . These verbs require a direct object:

I have turned down his proposal.
I rejected his offer.

John decided to put off his plans.
John decided to postpone his plans.

2. Intransitive, or intransitive phrasal verbs . After such verbs, a direct object is not required:

He goes on foot, because his car has broken down.
He walks because his car has broken down.

Also, phrasal verbs can be separable and inseparable:

1. Inseparable, or inseparable phrasal verbs . These are all intransitive and some transitive verbs. For a better understanding, consider an example on a phrasal verb run into:

His car ran into the tree.
His car collided with a tree.

We cannot separate the two parts of a phrasal verb with other words. That is, the option His car ran the tree into is wrong.

2. Shared, either separable phrasal verbs. In the case of such phrasal verbs, the object can be placed either after the verb or between its parts:

You should turn off the music.
You should turn the music off.
You should turn off the music.

Both of these options are correct.

Attention! If the object is expressed by a pronoun, then the phrasal verb must be separated:

Mary took off her dress.
Mary took off her dress.

Mary took it off.
Mary took it off.

Mary took it off
this option is not allowed.

From this information, a certain conclusion can be drawn: the main difficulties in studying phrasal verbs are associated not only with the amount of material, but also with the inability to classify it independently. In order to avoid mistakes in use, regular practice is needed. It is also worth remembering that many phrasal verbs have multiple meanings. For example, get off translates as to shoot, go, get out, go, escape. Therefore, you need to be extremely careful.

Is it possible to learn all phrasal verbs?

No, and it's not necessary at all. Today at English language more than 5,000 phrasal verbs are presented, of which only a few hundred are constantly used. In order to learn the basic semantic units, you will need to familiarize yourself with the most common phrasal verbs. This can be done using tables from the Internet or special printed publications.

The meaning of many phrasal verbs can be understood intuitively. It really is much easier than memorizing Latin. In addition, when communicating with an American or reading a book in the original, you should definitely rely on the context. Most likely, you can guess what we are talking about.

Basic phrasal verbs

Let's bring short list the most common semantic units:

• Back away - retreat.
• Be back - return.
• Be over - come to an end.
• Be up - wake up.
• Break out - flare up / break out.
• Calm down - calm down.
• Carry on - continue some business.
• Check in - register.
• Come in - enter, arrive.
• Cut off - cut off, interrupt.
• Dream up - invent.
• Eat out - eat outside the home.
• Fall down - collapse.
• Find out - find out, find out.
• Get away - run away.
• Give up - retreat.
• Hold on - hold on!
• Look for - look for.
• Look forward to - wait.
• Move on - continue moving, go further.
• Pull on - put on.
• Run away - run away.
• Set up - install.
• Stand up - rise to a standing position.
• Switch off/on - disable/enable.
• Take off - take off (clothes), serve.
• Wake up - wake up.
• Watch out - be careful, alert.
• Work up - develop.
• Write down - write down on paper.

Study strategy

Your task is not just to memorize phrasal verbs, but to learn how to study them consciously, with understanding. To do this, you will have to devote to this lesson at least 5 days a week. If you can memorize at least 7-15 phrasal verbs every day, this can be considered a success. You should not try to learn as many semantic units as possible in one sitting: most likely, after a couple of days you will completely forget at least half of them. It is better to study little by little, but regularly.

How exactly to learn phrasal verbs? Many people try to achieve their desired goal solely with the help of special tables or dictionaries. However, you can greatly simplify your task by using various tutorials. Give preference to British and American authors.

What books to choose?

Let's look at a few benefits that can be useful when learning phrasal verbs:

1. Really learn 100 phrasal verbs (Oxford University Press). It is with this textbook that you should start learning phrasal verbs. A structured manual will allow you to slowly but surely learn the most common semantic units. Approximately 1 printed page is devoted to each of the verbs. First, you will be asked to guess the meaning of the verb based on a couple of examples, then you can check your guesses. You find out detailed information about the meaning of the verb and you can practice. A special section is devoted to the development of knowledge throughout the material of the textbook. Tip: learn verbs randomly, not in order.

2. Longman Phrasal Verbs Dictionary. This is an advanced dictionary that includes approximately 5,000 modern English phrasal verbs. The author gives all the meanings of phrasal verbs. Dictionary entries are accompanied by the most accessible explanations. Also in the book there are many useful and fairly simple tables.

3. English Phrasal Verbs in Use. This is a great book for advanced students. The book is an excellent theoretical guide, equipped with huge amount diverse exercises to develop the acquired knowledge. In total, the textbook offers 70 different topics. At the end of the book is a mini-dictionary of phrasal verbs.

4. Phrasal Verbs Plus (Macmillan). This is one of the new dictionaries, which describes in detail the grammatical and semantic aspects of the use of phrasal verbs. At the same time, the author constantly accompanies the explanations with examples. The book was created with modern style life: verbs that are used in business, economics, the Internet, etc. are given. Funny comics illustrating common phrases make learning new verbs more positive.

Since unclaimed information is quickly forgotten, you should reconsider your life a little. First, try to find time to read books or magazines in English. This will help you not only consolidate knowledge, but also learn to understand the meaning of phrasal verbs in context. Secondly, take every opportunity to communicate with people in English. Ideally, you should sign up for English courses or study via Skype. You can also find a group of interests. The main thing is that studying is not a tedious hard labor for you: strive for diversity.

Third, be organized. Plan your own self-study and stick to the schedule. Many decide to give up learning phrasal verbs when faced with the first problems. But everything is not as scary as it might seem at first glance. Don't forget about motivation!

You may have already heard about the fact that in English there are so-called "phrasal verbs" (this is how the term phrasal verbs is usually translated into Russian). Indeed, there is, moreover, phrasal verbs are very popular in colloquial speech. And even if you have no idea what they are - you probably used them in a speech - like the hero of Moliere, who did not know what he was saying in prose. For example “come on!” (“Kamon, come on!”) ​​- this is one of the phrasal verbs. However, let's start from the very beginning - what are phrasal verbs and what they are for.

A phrasal (not phraseological, pay attention, but a phrasal) verb is a verb combined with a preposition, particle or adverb. Do not try to remember the names of these additional parts of speech - the main thing is that some kind of appendage is added to the verb, as a rule, something simple, like up, on, with.

In this combination, the verb acquires some new meaning, which is far from always connected with the meanings of the verb and preposition included in it.

Let's take an example. Take three simple verbs, for example, to go, to get, to look- go, get, look. Let's add to each of them by preposition: to go on, to get up, to look for. We got phrasal verbs with new meanings - continue, get up, seek.

If you try to translate these combinations literally, you will most likely fail. Indeed, why is "looking for" is seeking, and "getting up" is getting up? And that's why. Treat phrasal verbs like Chinese characters, where "the sun and thumb” is “time”, and “man and tree” is “rest”. Because gladiolus.

However, back to phrasal verbs. It turns out that by combining verbs with prepositions, you can get from one verb a whole set of phrasal verbs with the most different values. In total, there are a huge number of such combinations - there are thousands of phrasal verbs in the language.

The resulting phrasal verb is a new lexical unit, a new verb, which itself can, in turn, have several meanings. For example, bring up can mean both “mention, remember” and “grow, educate”.

Sometimes two words are attached to the verb at once - for example: get away with, look forward to, run out of. To save you a trip to the dictionary, here is the translation: get away with- get away with something look forward to- looking forward to something run out of- to use up completely, to spend something. Pay attention to the elegance of this construction - just three simple words put together mean something that cannot be translated in one word.

The meaning of phrasal verbs can be found in the dictionary - they are most often listed after the meaning of the main verb. And it is in the dictionary that you can see the variety of phrasal verbs - look, for example, the description in the online dictionary of phrasal verbs with the verb put is 7 times longer than the description of the verb itself.

I can imagine how upset those who planned to “learn all the words” and finally speak English are now upset - the amount of work has grown many times right before our eyes. In fact, do not be alarmed - the most common phrasal verbs are not so many. They occur so often in speech that with enough practice you will quickly memorize the most common ones. They usually consist of very simple constituent parts(variety is achieved due to the number of possible combinations), and sometimes you can even guess about the meaning.

And most importantly, over time, when you get used to phrasal verbs, you will notice that it is in them, in phrasal verbs, that part of the indescribable charm of the English language lies.

A few thoughts on phrasal verbs in English.

Hi all! In this article, I would like to talk about phrasal verbs. Do you like them? I bet yes! 🙂 But how many of them do you know? And in general, how many phrasal verbs exist in English?

And the answer is - A LOT! In fact, phrasal verbs are one of the most difficult topics. I have been studying English for more than a year and a half, but I cannot say that I know many phrasal verbs and use them often in my speech. I always try to teach them, but the bottom line is that the most The best way memorizing them is a common practice. And for me it is quite difficult to speak English every day for a long time, there is simply no one with whom. Of course, I practice English both with my tutor and with friends, but this is not enough to master phrasal verbs well. I would really like to go to some English speaking country and live there for a while. I think it would be the most better way memorize the most popular of these expressions!

But anyway, it is very important to learn phrasal verbs and try to use them in conversation. it salient feature English, which makes your speech better.

What is a phrasal verb?

This is a stable expression, usually consisting of two words that are combined with each other. One is a verb, the other is usually a preposition. If you try to translate them separately, you will not understand the meaning of the phrase, because it is the complete phrase that has the exact translation and the best way to remember it is to memorize it and use it as often as possible.