Using
verbs with prepositions in English
Students of English frequently have
difficulty understanding how to use
verb+preposition combinations
in English. And this is not surprising. Though the general
rules are actually quite simple (like most rules of language), it is
sometimes difficult to see the relation between a verb and the
preposition that follows it. Two principal but very different
situations (or deep structures) exist, and unfortunately they (i.e.
their surface structures) can appear to be identical.
Compare
the following pairs:
| With
nouns
as objects |
With
pronoun
objects |
(Passive
) |
| The car
ran over the dogs |
The car ran them over |
They were run
over by the car |
| The children ran over the bridge |
The children ran
over it. |
Improbable. |
| He turned
off the television |
He turned
it off |
The television
was turned off (by him). |
| We turned
off the main road
into a car park. |
We turned
off (it) into a car park. |
Impossible |
| I got
off all the old paint. |
I got it all
off |
All the old
paint was got off by me. (Improbable, but possible) |
| I got
off the train at
York. |
I got off
it at York |
Impossible |
►In the
examples on the pink
lines, the preposition is an integral part of the verb,
defining its meaning: these verbs are called phrasal verbs. They
are in effect two-word
verbs.
►In
the examples on the blue
lines, the preposition affects the meaning of the verb,
but is not
part of the verb; it belongs to the adverb phrase following the verb;
verbs that are used in this way are called prepositional verbs.
These differences are by no means always easy to
understand, particularly in the examples above which show that some
verbs can even be either phrasal or prepositional, depending
on
the circumstances! However, with the vast majority of verbs, there is no choice.
The verb is either a phrasal verb or a prepositional verb. Here are
some guidelines to help you understand the differences between the two
groups, and their usage..
Phrasal
verbs or Particle verbs
► Phrasal verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.
► Phrasal verbs" or "particle verbs" are composed of a verb + a particle
(preposition or adverb). Sometimes, there may be two
particles.
► These elements together have a single
meaning,
and frequently are synonymous with a single word verb, as in the table
below.
► They are usually
formed using a transitive*
root verb + a particle. This is the most common type of
phrasal verb or particle verb.
Examples: break
up / shut out / put off
/ fill up / give up /
set up / etc.
► Others are formed from an intransitive root verb + a particle:
Examples: go
out / come across / sleep off
/ lie down / stand out
etc.
Many English root verbs can combine
with particles to create an idiomatic phrasal verb: but the most common
ones are: break,
make, take, set, put,
get.
► Transitive phrasal
verbs are usually separable,
meaning that the direct object can - or with pronouns, must - come
between the verb and the particle.
However adverbs do not
usually come between the verb and the particle - though there are
exceptions.
Transitive
phrasal verbs: examples
| Using
nouns |
Using
pronoun
objects |
(Passive
) |
The
referee broke up
(=stopped)
the fight immediately.
or:
The referee broke the fight up immediately. |
He broke it up immediately. |
The fight was immediately
broken up by the referee. |
The old lady made out (=wrote) the
cheque very slowly.
or:
The old lady made the cheque out very slowly. |
She made it out very slowly |
The cheque was
made out by the old lady very
slowly. |
He took up (=started) golf
when he retired.
or:
He took golf up when he retired. |
He took it up
when he retired |
improbable |
The robbers set
off (=started)
the alarm as they entered the bank.
or:
The robbers set the alarm off as they entered the
bank. |
They set it off
as they entered the bank |
The alarm was
set off as the robbers entered the bank. |
The men managed
to put out (=extinguish) the
fire by themselves.
or:
The men managed to put the fire out by themselves |
They managed to
put it out by themselves. |
The fire was put
out by the men, by themselves. |
The
soldiers got up
(=erected)
their tents in two minutes.
or:
The soldiers got their tents up in two minutes. |
They got them up
in two minutes. |
The tents were
got up in two minutes. |
I put
down
your success to
hard work
or:
I put
your success down to
hard work. |
I put it down to hard work. |
His success was put down to hard work. |
► Intransitive phrasal verbs:
► Since
intransitive verbs have no direct object, and cannot be put into the
passive, their usage is simple: they are by definition inseparable.
However adverbs can occasionally
come between the verb and the particle if the adverb serves to describe the action.
► In intransitive phrasal verbs, the particle is either
narrows the sense of the verb (as in
sit down), or else
creates an idiomatic meaning which is different from that of the root
verb (as in shut up).
Here
are a few examples of intransitive phrasal verbs:
| Flight 201 to
New York will take off
at 12.33. |
| A lot of the guests showed up late |
| Bird flu first broke out in China
in 1996 |
| Tomorrow morning, we all have to get up at 5.30. |
| Once the President had taken his place,
the guests all sat quietly down. |
| The bomb went off just as
the bus was passing. |
Prepositional
verbs
► Prepositional verbs are
transitive: they require an object. This object is
generally stated, but sometimes just implied or inferred.
► Most prepositional verbs consist or an intransitive
root verb + a particle.
► Some prepositional verbs are formed using a transitive verb and a
particle.
► Often, the particle transforms an intransitive
verb into a transitive verb:
Examples : look / look
at / look for - wait
/ wait for - come / come
through.
► The particle is not really part of the verb, but an essential
link between the verb and its stated or implied object.
► These verbs are usually inseparable,
meaning that the verb and particle generally stand together.
However short
adverbs or adverb phrases can
come between the verb and the particle in transitive statements,
particularly when the object is a noun.
If in doubt, do not place the
adverb between the verb and the particle.
| Using
nouns |
Using
pronoun
objects |
Passive |
The
climbers went up
(=ascended)
the mountain very
slowly.
or The
climbers went very
slowly up (=ascended)
the mountain. |
They went up it very slowly |
Improbable |
| They came through (=passed) their exam very well. |
They came
through it very well |
Improbable |
| We're depending on your support, totally. |
We're depending
on you totally. |
You're being
depended on. |
The students
were looking
intently
at
(= studying)
the notice board.
or The
students were looking at the notice board intently. |
They were
looking intently
at it , or
They were looking at it intently. |
|
Phrasal-prepositional
verbs.
English
has a good number of verbs that appear
to be formed on the structure verb+particle+particle.
In most cases, these are prepositional verbs in which the root verb is
actually a phrasal verb.
Like simple prepositional verbs, phrasal prepositional verbs are transitive.
So in reality, the structure of these verbs is actually phrasal-verb + particle.
Once this is understood, usage should not be hard to follow. They
behave in the same way as ordinary prepositional verbs.
| Using
nouns |
Using
pronoun
objects |
(Passive
) |
| Everyone
looked
forward to the concert. |
Everyone looked
forward to it. |
It was looked
forward to by everyone. |
| The prisoners broke out of their
cells. |
They broke out
of them. |
The cells were
broken out of. |
| The airline did away with tickets |
The airline did
away with them |
Tickets were
done away with. |
| The builders got on with the job |
They got on with it. |
The job was got on with by the builders. |
|
