A phrasal verb can be:
- a verb + a preposition
- a verb + an adverb
- a verb + an adverb + a preposition.
| Structure of phrasal verbs | ||
| A phrasal verb can be made up of: | a verb + adverb | throw away |
| a verb + preposition | look into | |
| a verb + adverb + preposition | put up with | |
Intransitive phrasal verbs
Some phrasal verbs are transitive (they need to have an object), and some are intransitive (they never have an object). Some can be both.
look up [intransitive]: After a horrible year last year things are starting to look up. (things are getting better now)
Transitive phrasal verbs
look up [intransitive]: I always look up the words I don’t know. (I look in the dictionary for the words)
In the example above, the words is the object of the transitive phrasal verb.
If a phrasal verb is transitive it is important to know if you can put the object between the phrasal verb and its participle (up, in, off, etc.), or whether the object must go after the phrasal verb.
With put down, the position of the object is flexible:
Put down the pen.
Put the pen down.
With look after, the position of the object is not flexible:
We looked after the children yesterday.
We looked the children after yesterday.
See also:
Vocabulary section Phrasal verbs with ‘put’
Vocabulary section Phrasal verbs with ‘come’
