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 Back Out Of
- Sam backed out of the agreement at the last second.
- To Go On With
- I think we should go on with the meeting and stop wasting time.
- To Carry Out
- The secret agent carried out his orders exactly as planned.
- To Let Up
- I told her NO a thousand times, but she won't let up.
- To Go Into
- I really don't want to go into that now.