What are Phrasal Verbs?
Phrasal verb is the name given to an English verb which is composed of two or three words. One verb is combined with a preposition (like on, in, under) or an adverb (like up, down, away). Sometimes a phrasal verb can have a meaning that is very different to the meaning of at least one of those two or three words separately. Some text books call these verbs multi-word verbs. Phrasal verbs are used more frequently in everyday speech than in formal, official writing or speaking.
Here are some examples:
- To Turn Up
- Turn up the tv. I can't hear what they're saying.
- To Keep Away
- Keep the kids away from the cookies.
- To Count On
- You can really count on sarah.
- To Drop Out Of
- It's difficult to get a good job if you drop out of high school.
- To Look Into
- The police are looking into the murder.