Phrasal verbs in English have no analogues in Russian. They are a combination of a verb and a so-called aftersyllable, which can be used separately, but together they carry an indivisible semantic load. For example, dress up - "dress up", bring up - "nourish, educate", look down on - "look down at someone", put up with - "reconcile, endure". As you can see, the meaning can be either more or less transparent, obvious, or completely unexpected.
Phrasal verbs in English are very actively used in the spoken language, replacing more strict analogues that are more common in the literature (for example, put up with instead of endure). However, do not think that phrasal verbs are only a sign of conversational style. They can be found in legal documents or business reports, and everywhere they haveits specificity. The same phrasal verb can have a literary, figurative and idiomatic meaning.
English phrasal verbs: types
Because these verbs are one of the most vibrant topics in English, they are very difficult to categorize. How can you remember phrasal verbs of the English language, the list of which in one of the reference books has more than five hundred, but in fact there are many more?
In many cases, the meaning of a phrasal verb can be guessed by knowing the meaning of its parts. For example, put off - "postpone something until a later date." Put - "put", off - an adverb indicating the removal, distance of something. Now let's see how the phrasal verb put off can be translated: "put off, turn off (light), get off, repel (cause disgust), interfere, distract, discard (doubt), slip, set off." In all these variants of translation, one can find an indication of the meaning of the main verb and adverb. With experience, you will be able to guess the meaning of a phrasal verb based on the context, but, alas, this is not always possible. For example, it's not easy to guess that looking up to is "treating someone with respect".
Therefore, at first, the translation of English phrasal verbs should simply be memorized, and their structuring will help in this. What are the types of phrasal verbs?
1. Intransitive phrasal verbs
These verbs are used on their own,i.e. no additions. For example: hurry up! - "hurry up!", the vine is off - "the wine has gone bad" (to be off - "spoil"), the device has broken down - "the device is broken" (to broke down - "fail").
2. Divisible transitive phrasal verbs
These are flexible, mobile verbs, the most unusual for Russian students. The particle of such a phrasal verb is separated from the main part and is found at the end of the sentence after objects, although some verbs show mobility: the postposition may or may not be separated from the verb by an object. For example: she is looking trough the folders - "she is looking through the folders." And in the following example, the object comes after the particle, so the phrasal verb is divisible: she is looking the folders through - "she is looking through the folders".
3. Indivisible transitive phrasal verbs
Additions in sentences with these verbs come only after particles. Thus, the verb retains its integral structure, remains indivisible. For example, I turned out the light. Keep in mind that there are phrasal verbs, which, as mentioned above, can have different meanings, and one of them can be transitive and the other intransitive, which means that they can be divisible and indivisible. For example, look up. In the meaning of "look in a dictionary, reference book" it will be transitive (look the term up in a dictionary - "look up this term in a dictionary"), and in the meaning“to get better” this verb will be intransitive (things are starting to look up - “everything is getting better”).
4. Multiphrasal verbs
These verbs are relatively few. They are in three parts. For example: get down to - "get down to (work, conversation, discussion, business)".
5. Prepositional verbs
They simply disguise themselves as phrasal verbs, since they require the use of certain prepositions after themselves, but they have a literal translation. For example: begin with - "start with", believe in - "believe in", forgive for - "forgive for", talk about - "talk about". These verbs cannot be separated by an object. The object with which the action is performed always comes after the preposition. For example: believe in love - "believe in love", talk about money - "talk about money".
It should be understood that this classification is quite simplified, experts distinguish many more groups of phrasal verbs. For example, five categories of phrasal verbs are distinguished according to the specifics of the meaning introduced by the postposition.
How to learn English phrasal verbs?
Unfortunately, relying on your ingenuity here is far from always possible. You need to practice as much as possible. Experts cannot agree on how many times you need to repeat an unfamiliar word, seven or twelve, in order to remember it firmly, but agree that without constant repetition, success in learning foreign languagesimpossible. At the same time, it makes no sense to purchase collections of phrasal verbs, which can be found in abundance in stores. Mechanical memorization of a phrasal verb and its translation will be useless. These verbs are one of the most lively sections of the English language, and it is very important to repeat them in context. Choose from a huge list of phrasal verbs that you really need and fit your learning goals. The scheme for studying this topic is best built as follows: analysis of the initial meaning of words that become post-syllables, and their influence on the general meaning of the verb (very often you can catch patterns), the choice of the most common phrasal verbs, then memorization itself. For example, you can take one phrasal verb a day and mentally play various situations with it, check yourself in two or three days, or arrange mini-exams for yourself.
