Thursday 19 March 2015

Phrasal verbs in English - exciting!



Of late, I have been picking my brains around the various facets of English language in an effort to make it easy while conversing with native speakers.  As I go through several aspects of English grammar, which I find boring anyways, there is this piece called “Phrasal Verb” that looks exciting.  It is interesting to note that I have always used some of them all these days without even realizing what exactly they are.   So, why not take some time out to list out a bit of Phrasal Verbs!

For those of you like me out there, Phrasal verbs are usually two-word phrases consisting of verb + adverb or verb + preposition.  Simply put, phrasal verbs give a different meaning as two or sometimes three words are put together.  For instance, see this question “Who is looking after the kids?”.  Looking after is the phrasal verb here.  The phrasal verb looking after in this sentence means taking care of.  However, as we know, if we break up the two words (looking, after) and try to understand the meaning, then it would be completely mislead to an unintended meaning.  In other words, unless the reader knows the meaning of the phrasal verbs beforehand, he/she will not be able to make out the meaning.  Interestingly, native speakers of the language always use heaps of phrasal verbs in their day-to-day conversations.

Listing out some of my favourite few.

catch up – to be updated with
I am used to catching up with emails right after the breakfast.

chip in - help    
If everyone chips in we can get the kitchen painted by noon.

come forward   - volunteer for a task or to give evidence              
The woman came forward with her husband's fingerprints.

do away with something -           discard
It's time to do away with all of these old tax records.

end up  - eventually reach/do/decide     
We ended up renting a movie instead of going to the theatre.

make something up  -    invent, lie about something        
Josie made up a story about why we were late.

Reference:
https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment