English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
B7.5 Conclusion
B7 Multi-word verbs
Section B Development
Whatever terminology we use, prepositional and phrasal verbs (as labelled here) need to be distinguished - from each other, and from ordinary verb + preposition combinations. We can summarise the different constructions as follows:
Figure B7.5.1 Distinguishing prepositional and phrasal verbs
Multi-word verbs often have single-word alternatives, for example distribute alongside hand out, or investigate alongside look into. Learners of English often prefer these since they are simpler grammatically. But they can sound unidiomatic and formal, especially in spoken English: I got up at eight this morning is preferable to I arose . . .
Comments
Activity B7.1:
Sentence 2 is not possible. After is a preposition and must be placed in front of the noun phrase.
Activity B7.2:
Phrasal verbs: 2, 4, 6, 7
Prepositional verbs: 1, 3, 5
Break down in sentence 7 is a phrasal verb, even though the particle down cannot be moved. This is because it is an intransitive verb with no object (as many phrasal verbs are).
Activity B7.3:
Sentence 4 is wrong: the object it should not come after the particle in. The word order in 3 is correct.
Activity B7.4:
Both are correct, but for very different reasons. They have different meanings; in sentence 1 turn on is a prepositional verb meaning ’attack’, while in sentence 2 it is a phrasal verb meaning ’excite’. In 2 the particle has been obligatorily moved after the object, which is why 1 could only be prepositional. (If we used a noun phrase instead then it would be ambiguous: They turned on the audience.)