LATCHOUMANE

Coralie

MULTI-WORD VERBS

Test : Translate these sentences:

1. Qui regardes-tu ?
2. Qu’est-ce que tu es en train de chercher ?
3. Quel genre de musique écoutes-tu ?

Introduction: Multi-word verbs

1) Phrasal verbs

2) Prepositional verbs

3) Phrasal-prepositional verbs

INTRODUCTION

WHY ?

Multi-word verbs are very common, especially in spoken English. Because the images contained in the Anglo-saxon verb + preposition/adverb are usually still vivid to a native speaker, these are preferred in conversation, while the prefix + verb words of Latin origin are more common in formal, ‘distant’ writing and speaking.

For example: say again instead of repeat, go on instead of continue

WHAT ?

v A multi-word verb is still a verb.

Get & Get up = 2 different verbs = They do not have the same meaning.

v For convenience, many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs.

Multi-word verb = basic verb + preposition and/or adverb

The two or three words that make up multi-word verbs form a short "phrase"—which is why these verbs are often all called "phrasal verbs".

v How do we know which type of multi-word verb it is?

Ø First, you have to know if the word(s) after the verb is/are (a) preposition(s) or (an) adverb(s).

M Words like down, in and up are not always prepositions. Compare:

ADVERBS (no objects)	PREPOSITIONS ( + objects)
Please sit down.	I ran down the road.
You can go in.	He's in his office.
She's not up yet.	Something's climbing up my leg.

v So now you can compare the three types of multi-word verbs:

single-word verb		look	direct your eyes in a certain direction	You must look before you leap.
MULTI- WORD VERBS	Πphrasal verbs	look up	search for and find information in a reference book	You can look up my number in the telephone directory.
	� prepositional verbs	look after	take care of	Who is looking after the baby?
	Ž phrasal-prepositional verbs	look forward to	anticipate with pleasure	I look forward to meeting you.

WHEN ?

v As prepositions/adverbs, they are frequently added to verbs of movement (and a few other common verbs).

Specify a verb	To get up To get away
Express the result of an action	I swam across I walked across
Express a friendly tone without changing the meaning of the verb	Come along Come on in !
Slightly change the meaning of the verb	Drink your beer Drink up your beer (finish it !)
Change the whole meaning of the verb	To put off To put up with
Specify the meaning of TO BE TO LET	To be in To be out To be back To be away To let in To let down
Transform a state of being into a movement	To lie èTo lie down

v But when do we have one preposition/adverb instead of another? Here are the main prepositions and their differences:

IN inside something in a situation include restrict imprison reduce enclose

OUT outside something outside a situation exclude distribute disappear project complete

1. I've eaten ____ every day this week so I want to go to a restaurant tonight.

A. :-)  in     

B.  X  out   

inside your house

2. The gangsters shared ____ the stolen money, each one getting $50 000.

A.   X  in     

B. :-)  out   

the money was taken out of a bag or box and distributed to the gangsters.

3. The explosion in the street blew ____ the window.

A. :-)  in     

B. X  out   

after the explosion the glass was inside the building.

4. Because he left the tools ____ in the rain they were completely ruined.

A. X  in     

B. :-)  out   

it rains outside

5. I was snowed ____ and couldn't go to work for 3 days.

A. :-)  in     

B. X  out   

I was a prisoner inside my house.

UP towards a higher place make bigger to a centre increase improve complete establish

DOWN towards a lower place make smaller reduce decrease destroy analyse

1. He picked ____ the book from the floor.

A. :-)  up  

B.  X      down

he moved the book to a higher place.

2. I live in Bristol but I go ____ to London regularly.

A. :-)  up

B. X    down*

London is the political and economic centre of England. It is "higher" in importance than other towns.

3. They decided to pull ____ the ruined building.

A.   X     up

B. :-)   down

it was brought down to the ground. It was destroyed.

4. He went bankrupt and had to sell ____ .

A. :-)  up

B.   X      down

he had to sell everything. All he had was completely sold.

5. Bill told the excited girl to calm ____ .

A.   X     up

B. :-)   down

to be calm is to be in a state of low energy. Bill wants to reduce the girl's energy.

ON contact support function continue

OFF separate deteriorate not function not continue complete

1. She put ____ her watch before going to work.

A. :-)  on

B.   X     off

her watch was in contact with her arm.

2. She took ____ her watch before going to bed.

A.   X     on

B. :-)  off

she didn't want to sleep with her watch.

3. He put the water ____ the fire to boil.

A. :-)  on

B.   X     off

the water needs to be on the fire to get hot.

4. She turned ____ the electric cooker to boil the water.

A. :-)  on

B. X   off

in this more modern way a switch makes an electric contact to provide a source of heat.

5. To economise on electricity, she turned the lights ____ before she left the room.

A. X   on

B. :-)  off

she broke the electric contact.

FOR reason destination objective in place of in favour of

OVER cover complete / finish from one side to the other / from beginning to end directly above more than

1. The escaped prisoner made ____ the coast.

A. :-)  for     

B.   X       over

the boat was his objective.

2. On the way to Poland we flew ____ Germany.

A.   X     for     

B. :-)  over

we were above Germany for part of the way.

3. We've been waiting ____ the bus since 10 o'clock.

A. :-)  for     

B.   X     over

the bus is our objective.

4. MP stands___ Member of Parliament.

A. :-)  for     

B.   X     over

it can stand in place of Member of Parliament.

5. Always look ___ your exam paper before handing it in.

A.   X     for     

B. :-)  over

read it all again.

v Here is an exhaustive list of multi-word verbs

Verb	Preposition	Synonym
ask	out	ask someone to go on a date
call	back	return a telephone call
call	off	cancel
call	on	ask to speak in class
call	up	make a telephone call
cross	out	draw a line through
do	over	do again
figure	out	find the solution to a problem
fill	in	complete a sentence by writing in a blank
fill	out	write information in a form (e.g. an application form)
fill	up	fill completely with gas, water, coffee, etc.
find	out	discover information
get	in	enter a car, a taxi
get	off	leave a bus, an airplane, a train, a subway, a bicycle
get	on	enter a bus, an airplane, a train, a subway, a bicycle
get	over	recover from an illness
give	back	return something to someone
give	up	quit doing something or quit trying
hand	in	give homework, tests, papers, etc., to a teacher
hand	out	give something to this person, then that person, then another person, etc.
hang	up	hang on a hanger or a hook;  end a telephone call
keep	on	continue
leave	out	omit
look	up	look for information in a reference book
make	up	invent
pay	back	return money to someone
pick	up	lift
put	away	put something in its usual or proper place
put	back	return something to its original place
put	down	stop holding or carrying
put	off	postpone
put	on	put clothes on one's body
put	out	extinguish (stop) a fire, a cigarette, a cigar
run	into	meet by chance
shut	off	stop a machine or light, turn off
start	over	start again
take	off	remove clothes from one's body
tear	down	destroy a building
tear	off	detach, tear along a dotted or perforated line
tear	up	tear into small pieces
throw	away/out	put in the trash
try	on	put on clothing to see if it fits
turn	down	decrease the volume
turn	off	stop a machine or a light, shut off
turn	on	begin a machine or a light
turn	up	increase the volume
wake	up	stop sleeping
write	down	write a note on a piece of paper

?Exercise : Try to find the right equivalent verb:

a) To continue

b) To invent

c) To distribute

d) To give information

e) To reach the same level

f) To decide

g) To be cautious

2. He made up his mind: he will tell the truth. (to make up one’s mind)
3. They kept on working to buy this house (to keep on)
4. The movies stars gave away million dollars to the Poor. (to give away)
5. Don’t wait for me: I’ll catch you up (to catch up)
6. Watch out! It’s very dangerous. (to watch out)
7. Can you fill me in? I don’t know the story. (to fill sb in)
8. Veronica made up all these lies by herself. ( to make up)

?Exercise : Choose the right answer

1. The concert was ___ because of the rain.
   a. called off
   b. blacked out
   c. turned off
   Answer a
2. How did he ___ their bad behavior.
   a. come to
   b. account for
   c. jot down
   Answer b
3. He must be about 90. He is really ___.
   a. getting on
   b. bringing up
   c. bringing forward
   Answer a
4. In the end everything ___ OK.
   a. turned out
   b. wore out
   c. climb up
   Answer a
5. Can you ___ all right or should I get a ladder?
   a. fall through
   b. climb down
   c. barge in
   Answer b

1 ) Phrasal Verbs

verb + adverb

Phrasal verbs can be:

• intransitive
• transitive

	phrasal verbs	meaning	examples
				direct object
intransitive phrasal verbs	get up	rise from bed	I don't like to get up.
	break down	cease to function	He was late because his car broke down.
transitive phrasal verbs	put off	postpone	We will have to put off	the meeting.
	turn down	refuse	They turned down	my offer.

Separable Phrasal Verbs :

When phrasal verbs are transitive , we CAN usually separate the two parts.

transitive phrasal verbs are separable		They	turned		down	my offer.
		They	turned	my offer	down.

M If the direct object is a PRONOUN, we have no choice. We MUST separate the phrasal verb and insert the pronoun between the two parts.

direct object PRONOUNS must go between the two parts of transitive phrasal verbs		John	switched		on	the radio.	These are all possible.
		John	switched	the radio	on.
		John	switched	it	on.
		John	switched		on	it.	This is not possible.

?Exercise : Put the words in the right order

1. The gardener / up / sleeves/ rolled/ his
2. He / them/ rolled/ up
3. The nurse/ her /ring/ off/ took
4. She/ it/ took/ off
5. The dentist/ two/ my / of/ out/ took/ teeth
6. He/ them/ out/ took/ of/ two.
7. She / on/ put/ the/ her/ mother/ gave/ dress/ her.
8. The girl/ it/ on/ put

2 ) Prepositional Verbs

verb + preposition

Because a preposition always has an object, ALL prepositional verbs have direct objects.

prepositional verbs	meaning	examples
			direct object
believe in	have faith in the existence of	I believe in	God.
look after	take care of	He is looking after	the dog.
talk about	discuss	Did you talk about	me?
wait for	await	John is waiting for	Mary.

M Prepositional verbs CANNOT BE separated.

prepositional verbs are inseparable		Who is looking after the baby?	This is possible.
		Who is looking the baby after?	This is not possible.

3 ) Phrasal-prepositional Verbs

verb + adverb + preposition

Because a preposition always has an object, ALL phrasal-prepositional verbs have direct objects.

phrasal-prepositional verbs	meaning	examples
			direct object
get on with	have a friendly relationship with	He doesn't get on with	his wife.
put up with	tolerate	I won't put up with	your attitude.
look forward to	anticipate with pleasure	I look forward to	seeing you.
run out of	use up, exhaust	We have run out of	eggs.

M Phrasal-prepositional verbs CANNOT BE separated.

phrasal-prepositional verbs are inseparable		We	ran out of	fuel.
		We	ran out of	it.

?Exercise : Are the words in the right order?

1	Why do we always talk the weather about?
2	My mother switched the radio off this morning.
3	I will look your letter forward to.
4	He was nice, but we turned down him.
5	I believe in ghosts, don't you?
6	We will have to wait the bus for at the corner.
7	Melissa is going to look after the children.
8	I have to put the baby down while I sweep the floor.
9	Why don't you switch the music over while you wait?
10	Can you go to the store before we run milk out of.

?Use the multi-word verbs below to make a dialogue between two people who are on the phone:

- To pick up the phone

- Hold on

- To talk to

- To put sb through

- To call back

- To put off

- To work with

- To agree with

- To be away

- To hang up

?Exercise: Fill in the following verbs (believe, fill, get, look, put, switch, take, throw, turn, try) with the correct prepositions (away, down, for, in, off, on, out).

1. Quick! the bus. It's ready to leave.
2. I don't know where my book is. I have to it.
3. It's dark inside. Can you the light, please?
4. the form, please.
5. I need some new clothes. Why don't you the jeans?
6. It's warm inside. your coat.
7. This pencil is really old. You can it .
8. It's so loud here. Can you the radio, please?
9. The firemen were able to the fire in Church Street.
10. Does your little brother ghosts?

?Exercise : Choose the right preposition/adverb :

1. Her dress is too tight, she put…weight.

2. I’d like to listen … the radio; can you switch …the TV please.

3. Even if it was hard, they carried…

4. Don’t be shy, please come…

5. I’m sorry, Celia went…with her friends.

6. The show is…, will you all please go … home!

7. I drove …. a charming village.

8. He ran … from home and his parents are very worried.

9. This is a wonderful offer; take your time and think it …

We managed to climb … the mountain and we saw the magnificent landscape.

?Exercise: Translate these idiomatic expressions:

1. I learned English at school and I like reading a book just to keep my hand in.
2. He started off on the wrong foot when he told them that he didn’t like Harry Potter.
3. I really like Georges Clooney: he turns me on.
4. We had the opportunity to go to Italy but we let it slip away.
5. Parisians tend to look down their noses at people from Marseille.
6. You didn’t understand. Let me put you straight.
7. Go easy on him: he failed his exams.

?Choose the right preposition/adverb:

1. The taxi pulled… at the traffic lights. (up/ over/ back)
2. (on the phone) Will you put me … to the police station? It’s urgent. (through / on/ off)
3. Hurry…, we are so late! (on / out/ up)
4. Try this necklace (collier) …, it’ll suit you! (back/through/on)
5. We walked… despite the rain. (in / out/ off)
6. He looked … and saw their smiles. (through/ in/ back)
7. I’ve found … who he is. (out/ away/ in)
8. Speak …, I can’t hear you. (out/ up/ back)
9. The peace conference failed, and the war went… (back/ off/ on)
10. His temperature has gone…, he’ll be fine. (back/ off/ over)

?Translate into French these sentences:

1. They are very interested in travelling to France.
2. Why are they staring at me like this?
3. I don’t want to depend on my parents.
4. Do you spend money on cars?
5. Did you agree with what he said?
6. Count on me: I’ll always be there to help you.
7. Do you want to stay over the week end?
8. I can’t wait: I’m looking for to seeing you.
9. She is good at cooking French meals.
10. EU stands for European Union.