Phrasal verbs

¿Qué son los “phrasal verbs”?

Son “verbos compuestos”: un verbo al que añadimos una o más preposiciones. Por ejemplo “make + up” es "make up"[meikap]. Todos sabemos que esta palabra -comosustantivo- significa maquillaje, pero ¿sabías que significa también “inventar” e incluso “reconciliarse”? O sea que “make” en principio significa “hacer”, pero si añadimos la preposición “up”, significa algocompletamente distinto dependiendo del contexto. Como además la preposición puede aparecer separada del verbo en la oración, muchas veces no entendemos lo que nos quieren decir porque no sabemos quela preposición debe relacionarse con el verbo.
Overview of Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
Summary: Provides an overview and lists of phrasal/two part verbs.
Contributors:Allen Brizee
LastEdited: 2010-10-14 03:45:09
Many verbs in English are followed by an adverb or a preposition (also called a particle), and these two-part verbs, also called phrasal verbs, are different from verbs withhelpers. The particle that follows the verb changes the meaning of the phrasal verb in idiomatic ways:
• drop off - decline gradually
The hill dropped off near the river
• drop off(2) - fallasleep
While doing his homework, he dropped off.
• drop off(3) - stop and give something to someone
Would you drop this off at the post office?
• drop out - cease to participate
After two laps, therunner dropped out.
Some particles can be separated from the verb so that a noun or pronoun can be inserted, and some particles can't be separated from the verb. In addition, some phrases areintransitive, meaning they cannot take a direct object.
• Separable
add up (meaning: to add)
Correct: She added up the total on her calculator.
Correct: She added it up on her calculator.
• Inseparableget around (meaning: to evade)
Correct: She always gets around the rules.
Incorrect: She always gets the rules around (This construction makes no sense in English.)
• Intransitive
catch on...