When is a phrasal verb not a phrasal verb?

Everybody loves phrasal verbs, right...? Wrong!

But phrasal verbs don't need to be so difficult. One of the biggest challenges comes from the fact that people are not taught that 'Verb + preposition ≠ phrasal verb'.

There are actually 3 types of 'verb + preposition' which, if you know them and pay attention to the words being used around you, you can begin to pick up and learn.

So, what are the three types that you will see?

1) Verb + prepositional phrase

If I ask you whether ' Look for' is a phrasal verb, what would your answer be? I've lost count of the amount of time I have heard teachers refer to 'Look for' as a phrasal verb. I can assure you, it is not! Sometimes referred to as prepositional verbs or verbs with a preposition, these poor, misunderstood verbs get lumped into the same category as difficult, confusing phrasal verbs. It's time to put the record straight!

Here you have the explanation from Cambridge Dictionary.

Prepositional verbs are usually intransitive verbs. You probably know most of them without realizing. But what you must remember is that the verb, being intransitive, can be used alone, without a preposition. It will make a complete sentence.

For example: I coped. We were listening. They looked.

You can see that those examples are all complete sentences or clauses. Subject + verb.

However, if you want to introduce an object with these verbs, you need a preposition, or a prepositional phrase.

• I / coped / with my workload in my old job but here I'm not coping well.
• We / were listening / to the recording.
• They / looked / for the keys for an hour

You can clearly see that the preposition belongs to the prepositional phrase that comes in the place of the direct object. It is also important to remember that a) these are all prepositions, not adverbs. b) a preposition will always be followed by an object, so prepositional verbs cannot be separated, unlike phrasal verbs

2) Phrasal Verbs

Compare the above with phrasal verbs and you will begin to see the differences between both. Firstly, phrasal verbs often have a very different idiomatic meaning. This is why they are so difficult to learn. But separating them from the other two examples in this article will help you to see the difference and learn the easier 'verb + preposition', at the very least. Secondly, phrasal verbs normally use adverbs rather than prepositions. Thirdly, phrasal verbs can be separated depending on if they are transitive, or intransitive (transitive needing an object, intransitive without an object). This can become quite tricky so I will try to keep this simple:

Phrasal verb = verb + adverb (pick up/tell off/throw away)..

Also, when using phrasal verbs, the object (noun) can be placed between the verb and adverb, or after the adverb (Pick up the pen / pick the pen up) , whereas it must follow the preposition in the verb + preposition structure (think about the pen- never think the pen about). Note that if you use an object pronoun with a phrasal verb, you can only place it between the verb + adverb (pick it up - never pick up it)

So, for example:

Transitive phrasal verbs

• He dropped the kids off at school (or dropped off the kids)
• They carried out the task well (or carried the task out well)
• The cleaner has thrown my files away (or thrown away my files)

Intransitive phrasal verbs

• They ran away
• He passed out
• The subject came up in the meeting

3) Prepositional phrasal verbs

Yes, you heard correctly! Now we have to deal with a combination of the two, but don't worry, it's not too difficult if you understand the above two points.

A prepositional phrasal verb is made up of verb + adverb + preposition (look forward to/put up with/stand up for) and the meaning changes completely.

Take 'stand up' for example. You know it means ponerse de pie, but as soon as you add the prepositional phrase after the adverb, the meaning changes to defender algo.

• I stood up in the meeting *In the meeting is an adverb of place, it tells you WHERE you stood up
• I stood up for my brother in school when he got bullied

See the difference? Let's put you to the test. Can you tell which of the follow are phrasal verbs, or prepositional verbs?

Get on, take after, come up, write down, think up, turn on, close down, laugh at, look up, look at, pass away, shout at, agree with, agree to, agree on, run away, grow up.