PHRASAL VERBS FOR NATIONAL EXAM PREPARATION

Phrasal verbs have been the source of challenges for learners of English. Many students talk about the difficulties they have using the phrasal verbs. While phrasal verbs are widely used by native speakers of English, they have been found to be difficult for second language learners. This may be caused by the following facts: There are lots of them; It’s often difficult to guess its meaning; One given phrasal verb can have different meanings; Some phrasal verbs can be seperated while some other can’t ; There are two word phrasal verbs and there are also three word phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs form an integral part of the English language as spoken every day. They also appear in most writing, except the very formal. Unless you are comfortable with them, you may find yourself scratching your head and asking questions like, What does up (or into, or down, or under) mean in this sentence?. Apart from understanding phrasal verb usage, another reason you should learn some is so that you sound more fluent and comfortable with the language. Although teaching phrasal verbs has been daunting and difficult for teachers, and therefore tedious for learners, it is necessary to develop our students’ skills in understanding and using them. Another reason that I choose this topic is that phrasal verbs appear in almost every English test in general and once for the University Entrance Examination or now National School Education Examination. In fact, the phrasal verb related questions account for from 6 to 8 percent of the total marks of the whole test. Thus, in this minor study, I want to focus mainly on how to teach English phrasal verbs in class with the purposes of both helping my students to prepare for the National School Education Examination and giving them a good chance to practise using English language more fluently in daily communication.

Phrasal verbs have been the

source of frustration for learners

of English Many students talk

about the difficulties

they have using the phrasal

verbs Phrasal verbs are widely used by native speakers of

English but they have been

found to be difficult for second language learners to master

(Moon, 1997; Kao, 2001) The

subject of how best to

teach phrasal verbs is still quite controversial Although teaching

of phrasal verbs has been

daunting and difficult for

teachers, and therefore tedious for learners, it is necessary to

develop our students’ skills in

understanding and using

them Since phrasal verbs are

frequently used by native

speakers both in written and

spoken English, students need

to be encouraged to learn them

“There is no specified way or a programmed manner in which a student can learn all

the phrasal verbs, nouns,

adjectives, and idioms The

authors observe that the only

way to acquire such knowledge is

by extensive reading and

listening” (Al-Sibai, 2003).

Phrasal verbs have been the

source of frustration for learners

of English Many students talk

about the difficulties

they have using the phrasal

verbs Phrasal verbs are widely used by native speakers of

English but they have been

found to be difficult for second language learners to master

(Moon, 1997; Kao, 2001) The

subject of how best to

teach phrasal verbs is still quite controversial Although teaching

of phrasal verbs has been

daunting and difficult for

teachers, and therefore tedious for learners, it is necessary to

develop our students’ skills in

understanding and using

them Since phrasal verbs are

frequently used by native

speakers both in written and

spoken English, students need

to be encouraged to learn them

“There is no specified way or a programmed manner in which a student can learn all

the phrasal verbs, nouns,

adjectives, and idioms The

authors observe that the only

way to acquire such knowledge is

by extensive reading and

listening” (Al-Sibai, 2003).

Phrasal verbs have been the

source of frustration for learners

of English Many students talk

about the difficulties

they have using the phrasal

verbs Phrasal verbs are widely used by native speakers of

English but they have been

found to be difficult for second language learners to master

(Moon, 1997; Kao, 2001) The

subject of how best to

teach phrasal verbs is still quite controversial Although teaching

of phrasal verbs has been

daunting and difficult for

teachers, and therefore tedious for learners, it is necessary to

develop our students’ skills in

understanding and using

them Since phrasal verbs are

frequently used by native

speakers both in written and

spoken English, students need

to be encouraged to learn them

“There is no specified way or a programmed manner in which a student can learn all

the phrasal verbs, nouns,

adjectives, and idioms The

authors observe that the only

way to acquire such knowledge is

by extensive reading and

listening” (Al-Sibai, 2003).

Phrasal verbs have been the

source of frustration for learners

of English Many students talk

about the difficulties

they have using the phrasal

verbs Phrasal verbs are widely

used by native speakers of

English but they have been

found to be difficult for second language learners to master

(Moon, 1997; Kao, 2001) The

subject of how best to

teach phrasal verbs is still quite controversial Although teaching

of phrasal verbs has been

daunting and difficult for

teachers, and therefore tedious for learners, it is necessary to

develop our students’ skills in

understanding and using

them Since phrasal verbs are

frequently used by native

speakers both in written and

spoken English, students need

to be encouraged to learn them

“There is no specified way or a programmed manner in which a student can learn all

the phrasal verbs, nouns,

adjectives, and idioms The

authors observe that the only

way to acquire such knowledge is

by extensive reading and

listening” (Al-Sibai, 2003).

CHUYÊN ĐỀ ÔN THI THPT QG

MÔN : TIẾNG ANH

PHRASAL VERBS FOR NATIONAL EXAM

PREPARATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

II Objectives of the study 3

I Grammatical explanation of phrasal verbs 4-7

IV Exercises for selfstudy

Phrasal verbs form an integral part of the English language as spoken every day They alsoappear in most writing, except the very formal Unless you are comfortable with them, you may

find yourself scratching your head and asking questions like, "What does up (or into, or down,

or under) mean in this sentence?" Apart from understanding phrasal verb usage, another reason

you should learn some is so that you sound more fluent and comfortable with the language

Although teaching phrasal verbs has been daunting and difficult for teachers, and thereforetedious for learners, it is necessary to develop our students’ skills in understanding and usingthem

Another reason that I choose this topic is that phrasal verbs appear in almost every Englishtest in general and once for the University Entrance Examination or now National SchoolEducation Examination In fact, the phrasal verb -related questions account for from 6 to 8 percent

of the total marks of the whole test

Thus, in this minor study, I want to focus mainly on how to teach English phrasal verbs inclass with the purposes of both helping my students to prepare for the National School EducationExamination and giving them a good chance to practise using English language more fluently indaily communication

II OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study is designed to obtain the following objectives:

 Revise the overview of phrasal verbs

 Recommend the way to teach phrasal verbs in class

 Help students to prepare for the National School Education Examination

B DEVELOPMENT

I GRAMMATICAL EXPLANATION OF PHRASAL VERBS

 A phrasal verb is a phrase or expression that consists of a verb and another word or two, like this: get up; hand in; take off; look forward to

 There are some types of phrasal verbs formed from a single-word verb:

1 verb + adverb

eg: look up

These phrasal verbs can be:

 transitive (direct object)

 intransitive (no direct object)

Examples of transitive and intransitive Phrasal verbs:

meaning example sentence

direct object

transitive

meeting

turn down

stop working

He was late because his car broke down.

Separable

When this type of phrasal verb has a direct object, we can usually separate the two parts For

example, "turn down" is separable We can say: "turn down my offer" or "turn my offer down".

Example sentences:

They turned down my offer.

They turned my offer down.

However, if the direct object is a pronoun, we have no choice We must separate the two parts of

the verb and insert the pronoun Look at these examples with the verb "switch on" Note that the last one is impossible:

John switched on the radio.

John switched the radio on.

John switched it on.

John switched on it.

Separable or inseparable?

Many dictionaries tell you when a phrasal verb is separable If a dictionary writes "look

(something) up", you know that the phrasal verb "look up" is separable, and you can say "look something up" and "look up something" It's a good idea to write "sthg/sby" as appropriate in yourvocabulary book when you learn a new phrasal verb, like this:

eg: look after

This type of phrasal verb is also called a "prepositional verb"

Because a preposition always has an object, all prepositional verbs have direct objects (if they are transitive)

Examples of prepositional verbs:

prepositional

verb

direct object believe in have faith in the

existence of

Prepositional verbs cannot be separated That means that we cannot put the direct object

between the two parts For example, we must say "look after the baby" We cannot say "look the baby after":

Who is looking after the baby?

Who is looking the baby after?

It is a good idea to write "something/somebody" in your vocabulary book when you learn a new prepositional verb, like this:

 believe in something/somebody

 look after sthg/sby

This reminds you that the verb needs a direct object (and where to place it)

3 verb + adverb + preposition

eg: look forward to

This type of phrasal verb is also called a "phrasal-prepositional verb".

Examples of phrasal-prepositional verbs:

phrasal-prepositional verb

direct object get on with have a friendly

look forward to anticipate with pleasure I look forward to seeing

you

Because phrasal-prepositional verbs end with a preposition, there is always a direct object And, like prepositional verbs, phrasal-prepositional verbs cannot be separated

Examples:

We ran out of gas.

We ran out of it.

We ran gas out of.

We ran out gas of.

It is a good idea to write "something/somebody" in your vocabulary book when you learn a new phrasal-prepositional verb, like this:

 put up with sthg/sby

 run out of something

This reminds you that the verb needs a direct object (and where to place it)

Summary:

There are 4 types of phrasal verbs:

Type 1: Separable Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)

The object may come after the phrasal verbs or it may separate the two parts:

 You have to do this paint job over

 You have to do over this paint job

When the object of the phrasal verbs is a pronoun, the two parts of the phrasal verb must be separated:

 You have to do it over.

Type 2: Inseparable Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)

The parts of these phrasal verb cannot be separated The objects always come after the phrasal verbs:

 "Who will look after my estate when I'm gone?"

Type 3: Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

These phrasal verbs are not followed by an object:

 "Once you leave home, you can never really go back again."

Type 4: Three-Word Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)

These phrasal verbs are made up of three parts:

 "My brother dropped out of school before he could graduate."

II COMMON PHRASAL VERBS

These are lists of common phrasal verbs most of which are used in English course books They are also useful for preparing for the National School Education Examination

Separable Phrasal Verbs ( Transitive)

1 blow up explode The terrorists tried to blow up the railroad station

2 bring up mention a topic My mother brought up that little matter of my prison

record again

3 bring up raise children It isn't easy to bring up children nowadays

4 call off cancel They called off this afternoon's meeting

5 do over repeat a job Do this homework over

6 fill out complete a form Fill out this application form and mail it in

7 fill up fill to capacity She filled up the grocery cart with free food

8 find out discover My sister found out that her husband had been

planning a surprise party for her

9

give away give something to someone else for free The filling station was giving away free gas

10

give back return an object My brother borrowed my car I have a feeling he's not about to give it back.

11 hand in submit something

(assignment) The students handed in their papers and left the room

12 hang up put something on

look over examine, check The lawyers looked over the papers carefully before questioning the witness

(They looked them over carefully.)

17 look up search in a list You've misspelled this word again You'd

better look it up

18

make up invent a story or lie She knew she was in trouble, so she made up a story about going to the movies with her friends.

19 make out hear, understand He was so far away, we really couldn't make

out what he was saying

20 pick out choose There were three men in the line-up She picked

out the guy she thought had stolen her purse

21 pick up lift something off

something else

The crane picked up the entire house (Watch them pick it up.)

22 point out call attention to As we drove through Paris, Francoise pointed out the

major historical sites

23

put away save or store We put away money for our retirement She put away the cereal boxes.

24 put off postpone We asked the boss to put off the meeting until

tomorrow (Please put it off for another day.)

25 put on put clothing on the

body

I put on a sweater and a jacket

(I put them on quickly.)

26 put out extinguish The firefighters put out the house fire before it could

spread (They put it out quickly.)

27

read over peruse I read over the homework, but couldn't make any sense of it.

28

set up to arrange, begin My wife set up the living room exactly the way she wanted it She set it up.

29 take down make a written note These are your instructions Write them down before

you forget

30 take off remove clothing It was so hot that I had to take off my shirt

31 talk over discuss We have serious problems here

Let's talk them over like adults

32 throw

away discard That's a lot of money! Don't just throw it away.

33 try on put clothing on to see

turn up raise the volume Grandpa couldn't hear, so he turned up his hearing aid.

38 turn off switch off electricity We turned off the lights before anyone could see us

39 turn on switch on the

electricity Turn on the CD player so we can dance.

40

use up exhaust, use completely The gang members used up all the money and went out to rob some more banks.

Inseparable Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)

1 call on ask to recite in class The teacher called on students in the back row

across find st by chance

I came across my friend’s lost pen while arranging

I am counting on you to submit the assignment by tomorrow morning

6 go over review The students went over the material before the

exam They should have gone over it twice.

7

go

through use up; consume

They country went through most of its coal reserves

in one year Did he go through all his money already?

8 look

after take care of

My mother promised to look after my dog while I was gone

The professor touched on the students’ attendance

in the meeting, but he did not go into much detail

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

1 break

down stop functioning

That old Jeep had a tendency to break down just when Ineeded it the most

2 catch on become popular Popular songs seem to catch on in California first and

then spread eastward

3 come

back return to a place

Father promised that we would never come back to thishorrible place

4 come in enter They tried to come in through the back door, but it was

locked

5

come to regain consciousness He was hit on the head very hard, but after several minutes, he started to come to again.

6 come

over to visit The children promised to come over, but they never do.

7 drop by visit without

appointment

We used to just drop by, but they were never home, so

we stopped doing that

8 eat out dine in a restaurant When we visited Paris, we loved eating out in the

10 get up arise Grandmother tried to get up, but the couch was too

low, and she couldn't make it on her own

11

go back return to a place It's hard to imagine that we will ever go back to Lithuania.

12 go on continue He would finish one Dickens novel and then just go

on to the next

13 go on (2) happen The cops heard all the noise and stopped to see what

was going on

14 grow up get older Charles grew up to be a lot like his father

17 pass out lose consciousness,

faint He had drunk too much; he passed out on the sidewalk outside the bar

18 show off demonstrate