There are so many phrasal verbs in English, and they all look soconfusing. How should I go about learning phrasal verbs

In fact, phrasal verbs are often a particular problem for learners of English.Many students generally find great differences between their English withnative speakers.. Darwin and Gray 1

On the completion of this graduation paper, I am sincerely grateful tomany teachers who have helped, encouraged and supported me during 4years in the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Dong Do University

First of all, I would like to express my great thanks to all my teachers inthe Faculty of Foreign Languages of Dong Do University for theirinteresting and useful lectures which gave me background knowledge ofEnglish

In addition, I owe a sincere thank to my Supervisor, Ms Vu Thi Thuongwho has helped me to shape the ideas and guided me in different mattersrelated to the topic Her continual encouragement and patient guidancemade my work easier

Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks are to my family and all my dearfriends who have given me love, support and encouragement for thecompletion of this graduation paper

Without the help and support of these people, my graduation paper couldnot have been done

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the topic

Each language has its own character, developed by the countlessgenerations who have used it In spoken English, phrasal verbs are themost common verb forms, they have the importance that lies in the factthat they form a key part of everyday English Phrasal verbs are frequentlyused by native speakers, especially in casual, laid-back spoken English.The importance of multiword expression to gain fluency in languagelearning has been asserted by many researchers

In fact, phrasal verbs are often a particular problem for learners of English.Many students generally find great differences between their English withnative speakers When using unfamiliar phrasal verbs, a lot of students ofEnglish, struggle with finding the right preposition Unfortunately,preposition usage does not follow the set rules so everything must bememorized Moreover, the meanings of a phrasal verb often have norelation to the meaning of either verb or preposition which is used with itand its meaning is often unpredictable

In the process of learning English at Dong Do University, my studyingprovides me with very basic and vital knowledge Nevertheless, phrasalverbs are paid little attention Thus, the thesis paper is focus on the usage

of phrasal verbs and the way to study them effectively Especially, I wouldlike to present the analysis of verb – particle combination regarding to thestructure of both verb and particle As a student, I have little experience on

obtained from the lessons in class, my teachers, books as well as anyinformation on the Internet Hope that this is also helpful to the studentswho would like to share ideas with other fellow students of the sameinterest.

2 Reason for choosing the topic

As a big part of the English vocabulary is made up of phrasal verbs, ifstudents of English can learn and use common phrasal verbs, theirvocabulary will be bigger, their listening and reading comprehension willimprove, and their spoken English will be more fluent and native-like.But "There are so many phrasal verbs in English, and they all look soconfusing How should I go about learning phrasal verbs?" This is acommon question of the learners But phrasal verbs are a specific kind ofverbs Their meanings are mostly conceptual or even completelyidiomatic, there are no shortcuts to phrasal verbs Learners have tomemorize them and try to use them as much as they can The addition ofthis difficulty is having to remember which particles must be used incombination with certain verbs and their using of the wrong particles candistort meanings and mark writing as non – native

Darwin and Gray (1999) noted that the students prefer using a single to amultiword verb; consequently, they tend to avoid phrasal verbs Thereason is simply that it takes time to store so many verb – particleconstructions without any definite rules Moreover, the teachers also putoff teaching phrasal verbs until the students are at highly advanced level.However, no one can deny the crucial role of phrasal verbs in the English

language Exploring phrasal verbs in English is one of the main factorswhich denote a true, colloquial speaker of English.

Therefore, this thesis is to help students face with the challenge and enablethem to take the most advantage of it This makes a small contribution,especially with regard to the usages and types of phrasal verbs In fact, donot worry about phrasal verbs, call them whatever you want The mostimportant thing is that you should understand as many phrasal verbs aspossible and be able to use them For meanings or equivalent ‘normal’verbs, you will need to buy a good dictionary or a phrasal verb grammarbook Hopefully, this thesis works well to everyone

3 Aims of study

It is obvious that foreign learners have many difficulties in understanding and using phrasal verbs in English With my understanding, I would like togive some information about this matter The specific aims of study are to:

 Bring the most basic information on phrasal verbs in English

 Help learners understand types of phrasal verbs

 Guide them to use phrasl verbs effectiverly and provide them some tips on learning phrasal verbs

In short, I hope my graduation paper will provide more useful informationfor all people who want to expand their knowledge about phrasal verbs,especially English learners

4 Methods of study

To finish this thesis, I have based on three main methods: synthetic, list,analysis

Firstly is Synthetic method This means collecting informations about

phrasal verbs from many reliable book such as: “Oxford phrasal verbs” of Oxford University Press, “Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and

Written English”… and on the internet then gathered together.

Secondly, it is listing method I have listed many examples that I tookfrom books, internet and from my knowledges in university in this thesis.Lastly, analysis method After collecting and listing the informations andexamples, they are all analyzed for readers easy to undertand

5 Outline of the paper

The paper consists of three main parts:

Part A – INTRODUCTION, it deals with the statement of the topic, thereason for choosing topic and the outline of the paper

Part B – DEVELOPMENT, it mentions to overview of phrasal verbs,types of phrasal verbs and guides to use phrasal verbs

Part C – CONCLUSION, it gives summary of the thesis, remarks andsuggestions

APPENDIX is added at the end of this paper to supply some exercisesabout phrasal verbs, key to exercises and references

Part B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF THE PHRASAL VERBS

I What are the phrasal verbs?

1 Definition

In English, there is one particular aspect of the grammar and vocabulary:combinations of two (sometimes three) parts; verbs with an adverbial orprepositional particles It can be a core verb plus one or two particles.They are extremely common in English and these combinations are

generally called phrasal verbs.

E.g Fortunately, the plan came off (= succeeded)

Why did you turn down such a good offer? (= refuse)

I can’t make out if it’s a man or women over there (= see clearly)

2 Identifying phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb is formed by a verb with a preposition, a verb with an

adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition

 Verb + adverb:

Take off = Leave quickly, fly away

 Verb + preposition:

Come across = Find by chance

Verb + adverb + preposition

Look down on = Think little and scorn

II Difficulties in learning phrasal verbs

In many cases, even though both the verb and the particles in the phrasalverb may be familiar, students may not understand the meaning of thecombination, since it can differ from the meanings of the two words usedindependently The fact that phrasal verbs often have a number of differentmeanings adds to their complexity.

2 Grammatical problems

Some particles, such as about, over, round and through can be used as

both adverbs and prepositions in particular phrasal verbs combinations,although in other combinations they are used either adverbially orprepositionally

Some phrasal verbs are not normally used with pronouns as objects, othersare normally only used with pronouns as objects

3 Phrasal verbs tend to be informal

It is often said that phrasal verbs tend to be rather ‘colloquial’ of

‘informal’ and more appropriate to spoken English than written, and eventhat it is better to avoid them and choose single-word equivalents orsynonyms instead

III Phrasal verb misunderstanding

1 Phrasal Verbs and other multi-word verbs

1.1 A basic verb + another word or words

The important thing to remember is that a multi-word verb is still a verb

"Get" is a verb "Get up", is also a verb, a different verb "Get" and "Get up" are two different verbs They do not have the same meaning So you

should treat each multi-word verb as a separate verb, and learn it like anyother verb

1.2 Verb + preposition phrase combinations

Many verb + preposition phrase combinations are idiomatic Suchcombinations function semantically as a unit that can often be replaced by asingle lexical verb, as in the following sentence:

E.g I also have to bear in mind the interests of my wife and family.

(= remember)

1.3 Verb + verb combinations

A second idiomatic category involves verb + verb combinations, such as:

E.g Patients had to make do with quiche or ham salad.

1.4 Verb + noun phrase combinations

There are a few verbs such as: take, make, have and do that can be used for

many meanings These verbs cam combine with noun phrases to formidiomatic verbal expressions In many cases, the combination also includes afollowing preposition

E.g Do you want me to do your hair?

Yes, I’ll take care of it.

2 Phrasal verbs and idioms.

Many phrasal verbs have idiom meanings, they are called idiomaticphrasal verbs That is, the meaning of the whole verb is not related to themeaning of the parts of the verb So we always misunderstand and thinkthat all the phrasal verbs are idioms

E.g She opened her suitcase and packed all the clothes in (Literal

meaning)

He decided to pack his job in (leave his job) (Idiom meaning)

Chapter 2: TYPES OF PHRASAL VERBS

I Dividing by semantic

1 Literal phrasal verbs

Literal phrasal verbs are the most commonly, their structure include verbs+ directional prepositions Here are some examples:

2 Aspectual phrasal verbs

Aspectual are phrasal verbs whose meaning is not as transparent as literalphrasal verbs, but the meaning is not idiomatic either

3 Idiomatic phrasal verbs

Idiomatic phrasal verbs are phrasal verbs whose meanings are idiom andtheir whole meanings are different from the meaning of verbs orprepositions

E.g Follow up = Take further action about something

4 Polysemous phrasal verbs

The final semantic category of phrasal verbs called polysemous which canhave multiple meanings

E.g Pick up = Become better

= Obtain or buy something

= Collect things

II Dividing by structure

I Intransitive phrasal verbs

 Structure: Verb + Particle

Intransitive phrasal verbs are phrasal verbs that are not followed by anobject

E.g Shut up! Just forget it (Conversation)

Go off to bed now (Conversation)

II Transitive phrasal verbs

Transitive phrasal verbs are phrasal verbs that must take direct objects.They are more evenly spread across written and spoken registers Phrasalverbs which take objects can be separable or inseparable and they can bedivided into 4 types

1 Inseparable transitive phrasal verbs

 Structure: Verb + Particle + Object

In the following table, we can see correct example and incorrect examples

of inseparable phrasal verbs:

Come across

The librarian came across the missing book (Correct)

The librarian came the missing book across (Incorrect)

2 Optionally separable transitive phrasal verbs

 Structure: Verb + Particle + Object

Verb + Object + Particle

E.g They turned down my offer.

They turned my offer down.

3 Obligatorily separable transitive phrasal verbs

 Structure: Verb + Object (pronoun) + Particle

E.g John switched it on (Correct)

John switched on it (Incorrect)

4 Three-word phrasal Verbs (Transitive)

 Structure: Verb + Adverb + Preposition

This type of phrasal verb consists of a lexical verb combined with both anadverbial particle and a preposition

E.g I’m looking forward to the weekend (Conversation)

Chapter 3: GUIDES TO USE PHRASAL VERBS

I Parts of phrasal verbs

1 Verbs and particles

2 Nouns and adjectives based on phrasal verbs

2.1 Nouns made from verb + particle

In English we often create nouns from verbs, e.g to invite / an invitation.

In the same way it is sometimes possible to create a noun from a phrasalverb

E.g Her son dropped out of college last year (gave up his course)

2.2 Nouns made from particle + verb

Some phrasal verbs have nouns forms where the particle is first The stress

in pronunciation is usually on the particle

2.3 Adjectives

There are also adjectives which are based on phrasal verbs

E.g a broken-down vehicle (vehicle whose engine has stopped working)

a breakdown truck (truck which helps drivers who have broken

down)

blocked-up drains (drains where the water cannot flow properly)

3 Pronunciation patterns of Phrasal verbs

3.1 Phrasal verbs with one stress

In phrasal verbs with one stress, the main stress is often on the verb, and

no stress on the particle

E.g He ‘makes for the door

She ‘looks at all the options

3.2 Phrasal verbs with two stresses

These phrasal verbs have both a primary and a secondary stress The

primary stress is on the second word, the particle The secondary stress is

on the first word, the verb The majority of phrasal verbs are like this

E.g How are you making ‘out in your new home?

I’ve set the oven to turn ‘on at 5 p.m

3.3 Exception

Sometimes the same phrasal verb can have different stresses depending onits meaning These cases are treated as separate phrasal verbs:

E.g The animals live on bamboo shoots.

Long after her death, her memory lives on.

3.4 Nouns and adjectives formed from phrasal verbs: rules for stress.

 Nouns

The majority of phrasal verbs are stressed on their second word (theparticle), but nouns formed from those verbs usually have the stress on thefirst part of the word

E.g.

let down letdownprint out printoutturn off turn-offbreak in break-in

 Adjectives

For adjectives formed from phrasal verbs, the rules are less straightforward Some adjectives are stressed on the second element, especiallythose where the verb is in its past participle form When these adjectivescome at the end of a phrase, their stress pattern usually follows the 'citationform':

E.g My shoes are worn out.

The place looks really run down.

The area is quite built up.