VOA · Everyday Grammar
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Everyday Grammar digs into one grammar topic per episode — verb tenses, prepositions, sentence patterns — with plenty of spoken examples. Because you are listening to language about language, it doubles as grammar review while you train your ears.
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01Welcome back to Everyday Grammar from VOA Learning English.
02Today, we look at a very common verb form in English, phrasal verbs.
03There are over 5,000 verbs that fall in this category.
04Do you know how to use them?
05In this episode, we will introduce this type of verb and help you understand how and why English speakers use them.
06In future episodes, we will give more information about the different kinds of phrasal verbs.
07Our story begins back when other languages, French and Old Norse, began to influence Middle English.
08That period started with the invasion of the British Isles in 1066 by William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy.
09There were small particles, or prefixes, placed before verbs in Middle English to change their meaning.
10One that we still use is for, as in forlorn.
11The word lorn in Old English meant lost.
12Adding the prefix for created forlorn, meaning to be lonely or sad.
13As time went by, these prefixes started to disappear.
14Some reappeared as adverbs, separate words that came after the verb.
15William Shakespeare, who wrote many plays between 1589 and 1613, is a well-known writer of the time.
16His works, written in Early Middle English, include over 5744 phrasal verbs.
17In modern English, we use phrasal verbs more often in informal language.
18The reason for that practice goes back to the time when French influenced English.
19English speakers thought that French words or words of Latin origin were polite or cultured.
20When you want to speak more formally, you can use a single word of Latin or French origin instead of most phrasal verbs.
21For example, the phrasal verb look over can be replaced by review.
22As English learners know well, daily conversation in English is almost never formal.
23So, feel free to use phrasal verbs when you speak English in everyday settings.
24Another general fact about phrasal verbs is that British English uses different ones from American English.
25At one time, British English speakers used phrasal verbs much less often than American English speakers.
26Now, the Oxford English Dictionary lists many phrasal verbs in common use in British English.
27Let's start with the basic structure of phrasal verbs.
28A phrasal verb is a phrase with two or more words.
29A verb and a preposition or adverb or both.
30An example is in this sentence.
31I looked up my cousin's phone number.
32The verb is look and up is the adverb.
33The phrasal verb look up means to research or search for.
34Some phrasal verbs allow an object to separate the phrase.
35I didn't know the number, so I had to look it up.
36Here, the pronoun it stands for the object number.
37Other phrasal verbs have to stay together.
38You can say you care for someone with the phrasal verb look after, as in, I looked after Andy's dog while he was on vacation.
39But you cannot say, I looked his dog after while he was on vacation.
40The first two kinds of phrasal verbs we looked at have two words.
41The next kind has three words.
42For example, I put up with the noise of my neighbor's party because I knew it was his birthday.
43Here, the phrasal verb put up with means tolerate.
44The verb put is followed by the particle up and the prepositional phrase with plus object, the noise.
45These phrasal verbs must have direct objects.
46We cannot say, I put up because I knew it was his birthday.
47Let's look at some examples.
48Carrie asked me to help out with the cooking.
49Here, we can substitute a single verb, assist, for the phrasal verb, help out.
50However, we need to keep the preposition with when we paraphrase the sentence, as in, she looks her sister up to.
51Learners may be confused because there are combinations of verbs and prepositions that look like phrasal verbs.
52How do you tell the difference?
53A regular verb plus preposition combination has two meanings.
54Take the sentence, I looked up at the sky.
55Here, look means view and up means in a higher direction.
56On the other hand, a phrasal verb has a single meaning.
57We saw look up earlier, meaning research.
58Another test is whether you can move the object.
59You cannot say, I looked the sky up, with the meaning, I gazed upwards at the sky.
60So, if you want to test whether a combination of words is a phrasal verb, ask these questions.
61Can I substitute a single word for a two-word phrase?
62The answer should be yes.
63Can I remove the direct object in a three-word phrase?
64The answer should be no.
65In the next Everyday Grammar, we will take a closer look at phrasal verbs that can separate from the adverb.
66I'm Jill Robbins.
67I'm Jill Robbins.
68I'm Jill Robbins.
69I'm Jill Robbins.
70I'm Jill Robbins.
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