Phrasal verbs of the English language have no analogues in the Russian language. They are a combination of a verb and the so-called after-syllable, which can be used separately, but together they carry an indivisible semantic load. For example, dress up - “dress up”, bring up - “feed, educate”, look down on - “look at someone from top to down”, put up with - “reconcile, endure”. As you can see, the meaning can be more or less transparent, obvious, and completely unexpected.
Phrasal verbs in English are very actively used in the spoken language, replacing more stringent analogues that are more often found in the literature (for example, put up with instead of endure). However, you should not think that phrasal verbs are a sign of only conversational style. They can be found in legal documents or business reports, and everywhere they have their own specifics. The same phrasal verb in composition can have literary, figurative and idiomatic meaning.
English Phrasal Verbs: Types
Since these verbs are one of the most lively topics in English, they are very difficult to classify. How can one remember phrasal verbs of the English language, the list of which in one of the directories includes more than five hundred, but in fact there are much more?
In many cases, the meaning of the phrasal verb can be guessed if you know the meaning of its parts. For example, put off - "postpone something late." Put - "put", off - an adverb that indicates the removal, removal of something. Now let's see how the phrase verb put off can be translated: “put off, turn off (light), get off, push away (cause disgust), interfere, distract, drop (doubt), palm off, put off." In all these translation variants, one can find an indication of the meaning of the main verb and adverb. With experience, you will be able to guess the meaning of the phrasal verb, based on the context, but, alas, this is not always possible. For example, it’s not so easy to guess that look up to is “treat someone with respect”.
Therefore, first you need to memorize the translation of phrasal verbs of the English language, and their structuring will help. What types of phrasal verbs are there?
1. Intransitive phrasal verbs
These verbs are used independently, that is, without additions. For example: hurry up! - “Hurry up!”, the vine is off - “the wine has gone bad” (to be off - “go bad”), the device has broken down - “the device is broken” (to broke down - “go bad”).
2. Divisible transitive phrasal verbs
These are flexible, mobile verbs, the most unusual for Russian students. The particle of such a phrasal verb is separated from the main part and is at the end of the sentence after additions, although some verbs demonstrate mobility: the after syllable can be separated by the complement from the verb or not. For example: she is looking trough the folders - "she is browsing folders." And in the following example, the addition comes after the particle, so the phrase gagol is divisible: she is looking the folders through - "she browses folders."
3. Indivisible transitive phrasal verbs
Additions to sentences with these verbs go only after particles. Thus, the verb retains its entire structure, remains indivisible. For example, I turned out the light. Keep in mind that there are phrasal verbs that, as mentioned above, can have different meanings, and one of them can be transitive and the other intransitive, which means that they can be divisible and indivisible. For example, look up. In the meaning “look up in the dictionary, reference book” it will be transitive (look the term up in a dictionary - “look at this term in the dictionary”), and in the meaning “become better” this verb will be intransitive (things are starting to look up - " everything is getting better ").
4. Multi-Phrasal Verbs
These verbs are relatively few. They consist of three parts. For example: get down to - "proceed (to work, conversation, discussion, business)."
5. Prepositional verbsThey are simply disguised as phrasal verbs, since they require the use of certain prepositions, but they have a literal translation. For example: begin with - “start with”, believe in - “believe in”, forgive for - “forgive”, talk about - “talk about”. These verbs cannot be separated by addition. The object with which the action is performed always stands after the preposition. For example: believe in love - "believe in love", talk about money - "talk about money."
It should be understood that this classification is quite simplified, experts identify much more groups of phrasal verbs. For example, five categories of phrasal verbs are distinguished according to the specific meaning of the afterword.
How to learn phrasal verbs in English?
Unfortunately, relying on one's own ingenuity is far from always possible. You need to practice as much as possible. Experts cannot agree on how many times you need to repeat an unfamiliar word, seven or twelve in order to remember it firmly, but agree that without constant repetition, success in learning foreign languages ​​is impossible. At the same time, there is no point in acquiring collections of phrasal verbs that can be found in abundance in stores. Mechanical memorization of the phrasal verb and its translation will be useless. These verbs are one of the most lively sections of the English language, their repetition in context is very important. Choose from the huge lists of phrasal verbs those that you really need and are consistent with your learning objectives. The scheme for studying this topic is best constructed as follows: analysis of the initial meaning of the words that become after syllables, and their influence on the general meaning of the verb (very often you can catch patterns), the choice of the most common phrasal verbs, then memorization itself. For example, a day you can take one phrasal verb and mentally play various situations with it, after two or three days check yourself or arrange yourself mini-exams.