Phrasal verbs in english and a brief history of their usage in the english language.

2. Phrasal Verbs

3.  Agenda
 A brief history of phrasal verbs
 Introduction: Why do people use phrasal verbs?!
Fun figures of speech/phrasal idiomatic phrases
How to learn phrasal verbs
Splitting phrasal verbs
Formal vs. Informal
Activities

4.  “Old English”: Anglo-Saxon English spoken
from 5th to12th Century England & Scotland
 Old English generally did not possess phrasal
verbs. But, They did exist, although they
were rare. More common in Old English was
the inseparable-prefix verb, a form in which
the particle was attached to the beginning
of the verb; comparable to current phrasal
forms.

5. monotransitive verb TO BURN
Phrasal monotransitive verb
Bærnan (to burn) forbærnan (to burn up)
The prefix “for-” remained affixed to the verb
and could not move as modern particles can.
Such Old English compound verbs were also
highly idiomatic, in that the meaning of the
compound form did not necessarily reflect the
meaning of the root.

6. Phrasal Verbs in
Middle English
 “Middle English”: English used throughout the
English empire roughly from the12th to 17th
Century
 Theories vary about why the participle shifted
from the base to the end of the verb
- Middle English had stricter syntax rules from SOV to SVO
-the influence of french on the upper classes
-changes in STRESS PATTERNS: prefixes in Old English
compound verbs were unstressed, while post-verbal
particles carried stress, making them stronger and thus
preserving their lexical value

7. Phrasal Verbs in
Pre/Modern English
 “Pre/Modern English”: English from the 17th
to now
 Phrasal Verbs were initiated more in letters
and dramas than in academic writing
 phrasal verbs occupied a lower social
position in Early Modern English than,
perhaps, single Latinate verbs that could fill
their semantic fields
 Phrasal verbs took on different idiomatic
meanings

8. Phrasal Verbs in
Pre/Modern English
 Stage-three compound nouns arose
 Ex: “breakdown” and “comeback”
 The stress on the particle in the verbal form (we say, “I
have to break DOWN these boxes) moved from the
particle to the verbal component when the
compound acted as a noun (as in, “he had a
BREAKdown”).
 It was also in this period that pronominal objects were
firmly established before particles (“She put it on” not
*She put on it) as a standard practice, while nominal
objects retained movement before and after the
particle (She put the dress on / She put on the dress).

9. Why do people use
Phrasal Verbs now?
 What’s an idiom?
 Greek: ἴδιος – idios, "one’s own”
 An expression, word, or phrase that has a
figurative meaning different from the literal
meaning of the words used.
 Fun figures of speech (idiomatic phrases)
 Drumroll…………………

10. Phrasal verbs
 Put up or shut up
 Put your head in where it’s not wanted
 They really put on the ritz for us last
weekend!
 He put some distance between himself and
his ex-wife.
 They put him away for life.
 He put Jerry on to his new job.

11. Phrasal Verbs
 How can I use them?
 Devastating news for English learners: you
have to just memorize phrasal verbs and
their meanings, in the same way that French
or Spanish learners have to memorize verb
conjugations.
 And I’m sorry to say that there are
thousands of phrasal verbs.
Deal with it!! (jk)

12. Phrasal Verbs
 A phrasal verb in Present-Day English is a
verb that takes a complementary
preposition or adverb and has an idiomatic
meaning. Distinguishing adverbs from
prepositions depends on context. For
example:
To fix up = “up” here is an adverb and
not the preposition because up can move:
 He fixed the car up

13. Splitting phrasal Verbs
 The only definitive rule:
 When the object of the monotransitive phrasal
verb is a person or pronoun and the phrasal
verb is separable
you MUST separate the phrasal verb and
insert the person/pronoun
Ex: We took him out to dinner
Look her up on facebook. No, I’m scared!
Wake her up because it’s time to go!

14. Formal vs. Informal
 Remember, if you have a doubt, just use a
latinate based word or an equivalent that
won’t get you thrown out of a meeting.
 The common use of phrasal verbs began in
the middle/pre english by the lower classes
and was a way to invoke a double meaning
to pre existing words.
 Does this happen today? Do people make
new definitions from pre existing words?
Of course (o sea MANZANA!)

15. Let’s make
combinations!

16. Phrasal Activities
Work it out!!
Don’t give up!!

17. Thanks!