Figuring Out Phrasal Verbs: Practical Ideas from Research
Leila Ranta
University of Alberta
Despite the fact that phrasal verbs are very frequent forms in spoken English, many ESL students avoid using them just as many ESL teachers avoid teaching them. Phrasal verbs are one type of what grammarians call multiword verbs. These consist of a verb + adverbial particle (figure out), or a verb + prepositional phrase (rely on me), or a verb + adverbial particle + prepositional phrase (go on about it). New phrasal verbs are constantly being created (I recently heard for the first time “staff it out” on The West Wing). They are also reliable sources of humour as in “Ours is the house by the cliff. We’d love to have you drop over.”
Many ESL textbooks make no distinction between phrasal and prepositional verbs calling them both ‘phrasal verbs’. Unfortunately, this simplification may lead to greater confusion in the long run because phrasal and prepositional verbs have different characteristics. All prepositional verbs must take a direct object but phrasal verbs don’t have to. Most phrasal verbs allow the particle to be separated from the verb so that both figure out something and figure something out are possible. But whenever the direct object of a phrasal verb is a pronoun, there is a strong preference for the separated form I can’t figure it out. In contrast, prepositional verbs do not allow the preposition to be separated from the verb. Phrasal verbs also have their own intonation pattern; the particle is always stressed (He woke up not *He woke up). This is not the case with prepositional verbs (rely on not *rely on). Finally, the most frequent phrasal verbs consist of a small number of highly frequent verbs like take, get, and put combined with a small number of particles whereas prepositional verbs consist of a wide range of verbs combined with a wide range of prepositions.
Given this complexity, it is important that ESL teachers know all about multiword verbs and teach them to their students. I suggest that teachers supplement traditional fill-in-the-blank exercises with the following techniques inspired by applied linguistics research:
- Focus on the phrasal and prepositional verbs that are most frequent and therefore the most useful for learners. (See frequency lists in Biber et al., 1999 and Gardner & Davies, 2007.)
- Avoid teaching similar multiword verbs like run on, run away, run into at the same time because lexical sets can lead to interference (Nation, 2000).
- Focus on the meaning of the particles (out, up, down, etc). Rudzka-Ostyn’s (2003) book is a valuable guide to understanding the basic metaphorical meanings of the particles, which can help learners to organize their knowledge of phrasal verbs more effectively than in a list.
- Help learners to notice multiword verbs by including listening practice activities where learners listen and fill in a cloze passage where the particles or prepositions have been deleted.
- Provide pronunciation practice to help learners notice the difference between stressed phrasal verb particles and unstressed prepositions.
Many ESL students enjoy learning phrasal verbs because it makes them sound more like native speakers. I hope that I have convinced you that in order to teach them effectively, there is nothing more practical than a good theory!
References
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson.
Collins COBUILD phrasal verbs dictionary. Glasgow: HarperCollins.
Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2007). Pointing out frequent phrasal verbs: A corpus-based analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 41(2), 339-360.
Nation, P. (2000). Learning vocabulary in lexical sets: Dangers and guidelines. TESOL Journal, 9(2), 6-10.
Rudzka-Ostyn, B. (2003). Word power: Phrasal verbs and compounds. A cognitive approach. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.