 |
Essential
ENGLISH
GRAMMAR Using verbs with prepositions in English |
| English
Grammar :
an introduction |
GRAMMAR TOPICS |
| Verbs |
| Verbs : the present tenses |
| Verbs : past tenses |
| Verbs: expressing the future |
| Verbs of enabling & permission |
| Phrasal & prepositional verbs |
| Irregular verbs |
| Nouns |
| Noun phrases |
| Articles |
| Adjective order in English |
| The possessive |
| Sentences & clauses |
| Relative clauses in English |
| Conditional clauses in English |
| Word order in English |
| Reported questions in English |
| Miscellaneous |
| Language and style |
| Word stress in English |
| The short story of English |
Related pages:
Prepositions and adverbs in English
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| Introduction : | Phrasal verbs | Prepositional verbs | Phrasal-prepositional
verbs |
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 hedgehog | The car ran it over | The hedgehog was run over by the car. |
| The soldiers ran over the field | The soldiersran over it. | Impossible. |
| The editor quickly looked through the new book | He quickly looked looked it through | It was quickly looked through by the editor. |
| We looked through the window at the garden. | We looked through it into at the garden. | Impossible |
| I got off all the dirty marks. | I got them all off | All the dirty marks were got off by me. (Improbable, but possible) |
| I got off the bus at Bristol. | I got off it at Bristol | 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..
1. 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
(=
attribute)
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:
Several students 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 Queen had taken her place, the guests all sat quietly down.
The alarm went off just as the bank was shutting.
b2. Prepositional verbsb
► 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. |
b3. Phrasal-prepositional verbs.
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 event. | 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 work | They got on with it. | The work was got on with by the builders. |
Les verbes à préposition et à particule
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