So, if you've clicked on this lesson that means that you want to learn more about
phrasal verbs and you want to avoid some of those common errors that you
non-native speakers make with phrasal verbs. The only way to do that...
the secret rules of using phrasal verbs!
Welcome back to love English with Leila and Sabrah. So, today we are indeed looking
at the grammar of phrasal verbs there are four words I'm going to teach you
today to help you understand phrasal verbs. They are transitive,
That's quite fun! Intransitive, separable, and inseparable. That's fun! Now first of
all what is a phrasal verb? Well a phrasal verb is a verb and a particle, a
preposition sometimes an adverbial preposition. Or even an adverb! That has a
different meaning to the original meaning of the verb. Now an example;
lipstick! Not a phrasal verb but the activity (like this) is to 'put on' there's
a nice phrasal verb for you. To 'put on' makeup. Put is obviously a very common verb but
the phrasal verb to put on means to 'apply'! Now, remember that a phrasal verb
is still a verb and that verb will need to change depending on the tense. So, if
we take the phrasal verb to' get on'. Okay, to 'get on with' two particles there. To get
on with + somebody, means that you have a good relationship with them.
It's a really common phrasal verb. Now, if I want to talk in the
present, I would say' we get on well' That's the present simple and it just
means that we get on well all the time. It's a general truth. If I want to talk
about an old school friend, that I haven't seen for a long time. I could say
we got on well at school. If I want to talk about maybe a new person that I've
met and maybe it's more of a temporary period of time. I might say that I'm
getting on well with him, the present continuous. If I want to make a
prediction, I could use a future form with the same verb. I think we're going to get on well.
So, we could put phrasal verbs into two groups. The first:
Intransitive phrasal verbs. Now, don't worry too much about the
technical language unless of course you're a teacher, this might help you.
An intransitive phrasal verb is a phrasal verb that doesn't take an object.
So, normally in sentences we would have our subject, Often I, you, they, the verb and an
object. For example; I woke up. You can have I woke up this morning but often we
just say I woke up or I woke up late. Get up or take off , when a plane leaves the
plane took off not the plane took off..... I don't know because there's no object.
So, intransitive no object. That is simple enough. Where the grammar starts to get a
little bit, just a little bit more complicated is when you have transitive
so phrasal verbs that take an object. For example; I picked him up. There we have
'him' pick up, is to move or to collect something or someone.
Now, in this case we have a transitive verb. It needs an object, you can't say 'I
picked up' doesn't mean anything, has no meaning without an object. Now, a phrasal verb
taking an object is simple enough but we are then going to categorize
those transitive verbs into two more sub categories. They are separable and
inseparable. Pick up, I just gave you the perfect example of actually a phrasal
verb that a lot of students make the mistake with. Now, if a phrasal verb is
separable, it simply means that we can place the object between the verb and
the particle. So, in the example that I gave you earlier I picked him up. I have
used that phrasal verb and separated it. It could also remain together. So, I could
say I picked up Michael but when I use a pronoun, an object pronoun, him, it has to
go in the middle, it has to go between the verb and the particle. So, I cannot
say 'I picked up him', it doesn't work. I can say 'I picked up Michael' I can say...
'I picked him up' but I cannot say 'I picked up him' . That is the number 1 grammar
mistake with phrasal verbs.
Now, some really common phrasal verbs include; 'pick up' as I've just shown you.
write down , I wrote it down, not I wrote down it. Meaning to take notes.
We've got' put on'. I put my jumper on, I put on it mm-hmm , I put it on'
'Turn down' meaning to refuse. Another great separable phrasal verb. I turned down his
offer, I turned him down, meaning to refuse to say no! How about another
phrasal verb' make up' Now, I've just talked about the makeup that ladies wear
on their face but did you know that 'make up' is also a transitive, separable
phrasal verb meaning to invent. Often a story. So, we could say 'she made up the
story' but 'it' she made it up. So, there's some common separable phrasal verbs. Now...
It's the inseparable ones that we have, that can maybe cause a bit more
confusion. For example; 'get on'. As we were discussing earlier, you can get on with
somebody. I get on with my friend, hopefully. But you can't get him on,
It doesn't make sense. Likewise, with 'get off'. I got off the bus
not I got it off. I got the bus off... it doesn't make sense in that case.' Run into'
meaning to accidentally meet somebody. To meet somebody by chance. I ran into my
neighbor at the supermarket, not I ran my neighbour into. 'Look after' another
inseparable, transitive phrasal verb. I looked after my brother, I looked after
my cousin, I looked after my daughter. You cannot say 'I looked my daughter after' or
'I looked him after' you can only say I looked after him and finally another
very common in separable phrasal verb, 'put up with' meaning to tolerate. So, I' put
up with him' not' I put him up with' or 'I put up him with' doesn't make sense.
The 'with' obviously implies that that's where the object needs to go, at the end.
It cannot be separated. So, hopefully you've learned a few phrases over there.
Along with the secret rules of using phrasal verbs. Now, keep watching
and don't forget to subscribe to learn lots more phrasal verbs and also make a
point of reviewing this lesson to make sure you understand those rules.
Thank you so much for watching. I look forward to seeing you with more phrasal verbs very soon!