Prhosal Verbs

Phrasal verb
The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three distinct but related constructions in English: a verb and a particle and/or a preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit. This semantic unit cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual parts in isolation, but rather it must be taken as a whole. In other words, the meaning is non-compositional andthus unpredictable. Phrasal verbs that include a preposition are known as prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs that include a particle are also known as particle verbs. Additional alternative terms for phrasal verb are compound verb, verb-adverb combination, verb-particle construction, two-part word/verb, and three-part word/verb (depending on the number of particles), and multi-word verbExamples
One can discern at least three main types of phrasal verb constructions depending upon whether the verb combines with a preposition, a particle, or both. The words constituting the phrasal verb constructions in the following examples are in bold:
Verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal verbs)
a. Who is looking after the kids? – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phraseafter the kids.
b. They pick on Billy. – on is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on Billy.
c. I ran into an old friend. – into is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase into an old friend
d. She takes after her mother. – after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after her mother.
e. Sam passes for a linguist. – for is a prepositionthat introduces the prepositional phrase for a linguist.
f. You should stand by your friend. – by is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase by your friend.
Verb + particle (particle phrasal verbs)
a. They brought that up twice. – up is a particle, not a preposition.
b. You should think it over. – over is a particle, not a preposition.
c. Why does he always dress down? – down isa particle, not a preposition.
d. You should not give in so quickly. – in is a particle, not a preposition.
e. Where do they want to hang out? – out is a particle, not a preposition.
f. She handed it in. – in is a particle, not a preposition.
Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional phrasal verbs)
a. Who can put up with that? – up is a particle and with is a preposition.[5]
b.She is looking forward to a rest. – forward is a particle and to is a preposition.
c. The other tanks were bearing down on my panther. – down is a particle and on is a preposition.
d. They were really teeing off on me. – off is a particle and on is a preposition.
e. We loaded up on Mountain Dew and chips. – up is a particle and on is a preposition
f. Susan has been sitting in for me. – in is aparticle and for is a preposition.
The difference between these types of phrasal verbs lies with the status of the element(s) that appear in addition to the verb. When the element is a preposition, it is the head of a full prepositional phrase and the phrasal verb is a thus a prepositional phrasal verb. When the element is a particle, it can not (or no longer) be construed as a preposition, butrather it is a particle by virtue of the fact that it does not take a complement. Finally, many phrasal verbs are combined with both a preposition and a particle.
The aspect of these types of phrasal verbs that unifies them under the single banner phrasal verb is the fact that their meaning cannot be understood based upon the meaning of their parts taken in isolation. When one picks on someone,one is not selecting that person for something, but rather one is harassing them. When one hangs out, one is in no way actually hanging from anything. The meaning of the two or more words together is often drastically different from what one might guess it to be based upon the meanings of the individual parts in isolation.
As a class, particle phrasal verbs belong to the same category as the...