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Two-part verbs: phrasal verbs

verb + adverb particle: get back, walk out​

Many English verbs can be followed by small adverbs (‘adverb particles’). These two-part verbs are often called ‘phrasal verbs’.

  • Get back!
  • She walked out.
  • I switched the light off.

Common adverb particles: about, across, ahead, along, (a)round, aside, away, back, by, down, forward, in, home, off, on, out, over, past, through, up.

Some of these words can also be used as prepositions. Compare:

  • I switched the light off. (adverb particle)
    I jumped off the wall. (preposition)
note

For a detailed comparison, (see here).

Idiomatic meanings: break out; turn up​

The meaning of a phrasal verb is often very different from the meanings of the two parts taken separately.

  • War broke out in 1939. (Broke out is not the same as broke + out.)
  • Joe turned up last night. (= ‘appeared’—not the same as turned + up.)
  • I looked the word up in the dictionary. (Look up is not the same as look + up.)
  • We put off the meeting till Tuesday. (Put off is not the same as put + off.)

Phrasal verbs with and without objects​

Some phrasal verbs are intransitive (they do not have objects).

  • I got up at 7.00 today.
  • That colour really stands out.

Others are transitive.

  • Could you switch the light off?
  • I helped Anna to clean up the room.

Word order with objects​

Adverb particles can go either before or after noun objects (unlike most adverbs). (see here)

  • She switched off the light. or She switched the light off.

But they can only go after pronoun objects.

  • She switched it off. (not She switched off it.)
  • Is that the light which you switched off? (not ... the light off which you switched?)
  • Give me back my watch. or Give me my watch back. (not Give back me my watch.)

For details of particular phrasal verbs, see a good dictionary.