Those Frustrating Phrasal Verbs!

For those of us who are native speakers ofhas memorized a list of them together with an
English, the term "phrasal verb" may have littleapproximate translation of each one into his/her
meaning, and we have probably never seen theown language, there is no guarantee that he/she
necessity of seeking a phrasal verbs list for thewill use them correctly: when they use these verb
purpose of memorizing it, or indeed for any otherconstructions in a conversation with a native
purpose.speaker, they may end up getting laughed at. No
Yet for non-native speakers of our language,wonder that learners of English get so frustrated!
these infamous combinations are a source ofOften, foreigners will adopt what seems to them
frustration, dismay and countless hours of hardto be a practical strategy: they will memorize a
work.phrasal verbs list in order to pass their English
Just what is a phrasal verb, anyway?exams, but when conversing, they will use
One common definition is that it is a verb plus aalternatives instead.
particle - preposition or adverb - that, as a unit,For example, instead of trying to say " I called up
has a meaning that is not equivalent to the verbmy mother", they will say "I phoned my mother";
and complement alone.for "I ran out of sugar", they will say "I didn't
For example: "to look up". We often "look up" ahave any more sugar."
word in the dictionary, that is, we seek itsI had an advanced pupil named Enrique whose
meaning. Yet when we do so, we are not reallyEnglish was rather high, yet he almost never used
casting our gaze upwards at all. "Look up"phrasal verbs, which made his speech sound a bit
therefore has a specific meaning that actually hasstrange. After all, no native English speaker would
nothing to do with "looking up(wards)."speak for even a few minutes without using one
"To get in" is another example. "Get in the car!"or more of them!
We all understand that, yet in fact "to get" usuallyIn order to help these, and other students,
means "to receive". You get a present. You get amaster such expressions, I recorded a series of
new cat. But to get "in"? Doesn't seem to makemp3 files, in which I spoke about the one hundred
sense when you think about it, does it? Here, themost common phrasal verbs, giving not only their
phrasal verb "to get in" simply means to enter,meanings, but also examples of their correct
when we are entering a rather confined space:usage. This seemed to do the trick: after listening
get in the elevator, get in the car, get in theto these files a number of times on their mp3
closet.players, my students gradually were able to
Anyone who has taught English to foreigners, as Iincorporate them into their speech and writing,
have for many years, knows how much troublewhich of course greatly improved their level of
they can have with these constructions, sinceEnglish.
their meanings cannot be divined logically, (andOver thirty years of teaching English to people of
since foreigners have not been exposed to thesemany countries has shown me some of the best
units since childhood, as we have), they feel thatways to help foreigners master the phrasal verbs:
their only recourse is to memorize long lists of- Use phrasal verb lists only as guidelines, to make
phrasal verbs, in the hope that they will pass theirsure that the most important ones are indeed
next English test. Unfortunately for them, due tolearned. Do not insist upon having your students
translation subtleties, memorizing doesn'tmemorize such lists, for that process is long and
guarantee that they will be able to use themtedious, and in the end, will not assure that they
properly.use them properly anyway.
Here's a concrete example from one of my- When conversing with your students, point out
classes that I taught in Granada, Spain.the phrasal verbs that occur, give further
I was giving a private conversation class to Maria,examples of their usage, and above all, tell them
a college student whose English level wasjust how specifically they often must be used if
relatively good. She was telling me aboutthey are to make any sense at all.
something that had happened to her a few days- Encourage the use of audio. I use a series of
before...mp3 files that I have made available, and this
"I went to the department store with my littleapproach has had excellent results: students
brother, and he got lost. It took me a half hour tomaster the most common phrasal verbs with a
look him up!"minimum of effort. The key here is to use audio
I laughed, but I knew what she meant, and whyconversation that has a lot of them verbs, and
she had made this mistake. She had learned thatpreferably repeats them, so that the learner may
the English phrasal verb "to look up", in Spanish,assimilate them more quickly and efficiently.
means "buscar/encontrar" (equivalent to "seekAbove all, take pity on all those millions of people
find"). After all, when you "look up" a word in thewho, because they are learning English, have no
dictionary, you seek and find it, right?choice but to undertake a monumental struggle to
I had to explain to her that while "look up" doeslearn the notorious English phrasal verbs.
mean "seek and find" when we are talking aboutIf you are a native speaker, be glad that you
words in a dictionary, articles in an encyclopedia,have learned them from early childhood on, so
or numbers in a telephone book, it does not meanthat they don't cause you any problems at all.
this when we are talking about finding someoneAnd if you are a non-native speaker of English
who is lost.who still makes mistakes with phrasal verbs, take
Her problem was that she didn't realize just howheart: patience, persistence and continual practice
specifically these expressions must often be usedwill solve your problems, not only where these
in order for them to make any sense at all.linguistic demons are concerned, but in many
Thus, even after a non-native speaker of Englishother areas of your life as well!