Sooner or later, when learning a foreign language, various kinds of difficulties arise. Phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions are the pitfalls that "excite" most English learners, from a student of a prestigious language university to an ordinary amateur traveler.
Things to remember
The problem is not even in the English phrasal verbs or idioms themselves, but in the prepositions that are used with nouns, adjectives, verbs or past participles without any logic. You just need to remember that interested is followed by in, good is followed by at, and go home does not require any prepositions at all.
What are phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs are verbs that make up one whole with one or more auxiliary words, which can serve as prepositions and/or adverbs. For example, stand for is a combination of a verb with a preposition, go off is a combination of a verb with an adverb, and stand in for already includes a verb, an adverb, and a preposition. If additional auxiliary words change the meaning of the main verb, then the combination is called a phrasal verb, since now it has an idiomatic meaning that differs from those that the components used inpast.
Phrasal verbs in use: meanings
However, there are times when the meaning of a phrasal verb and the meaning of its main verb are identical or close in meaning. And thus, they do not have idiomatic characteristics. So, not all phrasal verbs are translated figuratively. For example, to run up literally means “to run up” (does not carry the aforementioned character), when figuratively it can be translated as “increase in price.”
Some phrasal verbs, as mentioned above, are similar in meaning to the main verb. In such cases, the main interpretation remains unchanged, but the auxiliary words create conditions for additional meaning. For example, in the sentence: The plane fly on to New York, the on component indicates that the plane continues to fly. Thus, the phrasal verb fly on reflects an action that lasts for a marked period of time.
Phrasal verbs: advanced list of phrasal verbs
For an illustrative example, let's take a few topics with the most commonly used phrasal verbs and idioms in the proposed thematic framework.
Theme 1. Hospital
The first group of verbs refers to hospital topics.
- To come through smth. To endure, recover from, or recover from a serious illness or situation.
- To build up. 1) Increase power, energy. 2) Help someone move away from any incident / case, make them strong again, especially after an illness.
- To fight smth/smb off. To win over something unpleasant or over some impending threat (for example, to overcome an infection, a cold).
- To go ahead with smth. Keep doing something (like taking pills).
- To wear off. Gradually disappear until the complete cessation of existence.
- To bring smth on. Bring on illness or pain.
- To feel up to doing smth. To be able to do something (both physically and mentally).
- To try smth out on smb. Try an item for effectiveness (such as painkillers or other medications).
Phrasal verbs + idiomatic expressions
- To be up and about. Survive the disease and return to normal life.
- To be over the worst. Start recovering from a previous illness.
- To be in good hands. To be in good hands (so they say about caring medical staff).
- To take a turn for the worse/better. Suddenly feel worse or better (for example, during the rehabilitation period).
- To live through smth. Go through difficult times without breaking (survive war or famine).
- To go through smth. Get through tough times. For example, endure severe pain, undergo surgery.
Theme 2. Features of character
This list of phrasal verbs is applicable to describe a person and his character traits. Any expressions are suitable for emphasizing someoneeither success and positive traits, while others are indispensable in order to mark the fact of an unexpected disclosure of qualities of nature unusual for someone. Also, the following phrasal verbs will help express someone's feelings towards another person.
- To make of someone or smth. To have an impression of someone or something.
- To turn out to be someone or smth. Reveal the other side in someone's eyes (randomly).
- To come off. To be successful in overcoming certain difficulties, to be successful in something (for example, to succeed in the implementation of a plan, in promoting an idea).
- To put someone off someone or smth. Dissuade another person from something (from getting close to someone).
- To live up to smth. Achieve expected aspirations. For example, the proper level, long-awaited impressions.
- To come across. To be perfectly understood (about a message, an idea).
- To put smth across. To convey an idea to others easily and naturally, to be sociable, to skillfully express one's thoughts.
The following portion of phrasal verbs is suitable for describing not only a human person, but also for defining the nature of relationships between people.
- To hand smth over. Give (give) something to someone with the right to own and control it.
- To take someone in. Deliberately deceive, mislead someone.
- To talk someone into doing something. To convince someone to do something, to take up some business. Such a statement is oftenis generally used in a negative context, for example, when one person convinces another to take some action (legal or illegal), in which the second will later repent or be punished for them. And the first one does it on purpose.
- To come across as smth. Create the impression of the owner of some specific traits, characteristics.
- To get away with smth. Get rid of criticism and punishment for anything.
- To pass someone or smth off as someone or smth. Pass off someone or something as something that the object or person is not, in fact.
- To go by something. To judge (for example, by clothes, at a glance).
- To see through someone or smth. To see the real essence of a person, not paying attention to the pleasant outer shell.
Don't back down from difficulties
Despite the complexity of phrasal verbs and idioms, students do not lose their desire to learn them. They understand that phrasal verbs are an important part of the English language, especially spoken English. It is also clear to students that understanding idioms contributes to successful communication with citizens of English-speaking countries.
