Transcript Phrasal_Verbs_presentation

Grammar Focus
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are idiomatic expressions combining
verbs and prepositions to make new verbs whose
meaning is often not obvious from the dictionary
definitions of the individual words.
Review: Verbs are the action words in a sentence.
Prepositions are usually short words that show
show the relationship of one word to other words
in the sentence.
Phrasal Verbs
English speakers use phrasal verbs a lot when
they speak, but not as much when they write,
especially not in business writing.
There are hundreds of these phrasal verbs, but
you are probably already familiar with some of
them.
Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is a normal verb plus one or two prepositions:
Verb +
Preposition =
Phrasal Verb
Call +
Back =
Call back
Call back means to return a phone call later.
Please leave a message and I will call back as soon as I can.
Give +
Up =
Give up
Give up means to stop trying to do something or to stop using something.
Many people give up candy and soda to try to lose weight.
Look +
Up =
Look up
Look up means to find something in a reference like a phone book or the
Internet.
I need to look up that new word in my dictionary.
Phrasal Verbs
Here are some examples of phrasal verbs from the readings:
Phrasal Verb
Meaning
Account for
To explain
Lower wages and longer hours accounted for cheaper cotton manufacturing
in the South.
Look forward to
To wait for or anticipate something
good
Many children looked forward to becoming of age to work in the mill.
Take care of
1) To provide care for
The babysitter takes care of my children when I go to work.
Take care of
2) To pay a bill
The children were allowed to keep maybe twenty-five cents of their wages
after household expenses were taken care of.
Phrasal Verbs
Sometimes we put another word in between the two parts of a
phrasal verb:
Verb +
Preposition =
Phrasal Verb
Call +
Back =
Call back
I did not call her back because I lost her phone number.
Give +
Up =
Give up
My doctor says I should give candy up to be more healthy.
Look +
Up =
Look up
When I do not know the meaning of a word, I look it up in the dictionary.
Phrasal Verbs
For websites with more about phrasal verbs, follow these
links:
http://www.eslcafe.com/pv/
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/
http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/
http://www.carolinebrownenglishlessons.com/
or do an Internet search for “phrasal verbs”.
Now, get more practice by trying the grammar focus
activity.