If phrasal verbs give you a headache....

...try this: organize the phrasal verbs according to the particle, not by the verb.

Why?

Consult one of those very long lists of phrasal verbs, and you notice one thing: there are LOT more verbs than their are particles (particles are the adverbs or prepositions that create a phrasal verb.) So why not try organizing phrasal verbs by the particle, rather than the verb?

Don't forget...focus on the phrasal verbs that you need, rather than memorizing long lists of random phrasal verbs that you will never use.

If you need help with phrasal verbs...

Yesterday, I posted my latest Doceri video about phrasal verbs. Looking back, though, I realize that I should have provided a little bit more of an explanation, so here's a quick rundown of what to remember about phrasal verbs:

a) Phrasal verbs may be complex, but they're not LONG. The maximum number of words you can have in a phrasal verb is three words. That makes it easier to learn and use all the parts together. Don't fixate on the meaning of the individual pieces. That won't help you. Trying to translate the individual words just shows that you can't work in English. If you can learn the name of a brand (e.g. Coca-Cola - two words) or someone's name (Angelina Jolie, which has two words), you can learn phrasal verbs.

b) You do not need to know every possible phrasal verb that exists in English. If I told you that you had to memorize the credit card numbers of everyone you know, you would think that I'm crazy. If I told you to sit in the Metro and learn the names of every single station in the Metro system, you'd think I was mad. So why do students feel that they have to learn every single possible phrasal verb? Don't drive yourself crazy with that idea. So....

c) Focus on the phrasal verbs that you need to use in your everyday life. Don't try to learn phrasal verbs that you won't use. If you're a secretary, you probably don't feel a great need to learn terms related to neuroscience. It's the same thing, here.

I'll post more Doceri presentations about phrasal verbs in the future; but, for now, if you can remember those three key ideas, you'll give yourself a lot less stress and frustration.

Business phrasal verbs!

Here you go - 64 phrasal verbs related to business! (Note that they're not exclusively for business - you could use quite a number of these in regular social situations, too.)

Remember to write down the ones you need the most (or the ones that give you most trouble), and practice them as often as you can!

Phrasal Verb Thought of the Day

If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything.

What do the phrasal verbs "stand up" and "fall for" mean?

Making sense of phrasal verbs: Introduction

If there's one thing about English vocabulary that makes students wince, it's phrasal verbs.

I'm not the best person to talk about the history of phrasal verbs (if you're really interested, you can check out this University of Toronto web page: http://tinyurl.com/35gftf5), but I do know from experience that it's hard to teach students phrasal verbs.

When learning phrasal verbs, don't panic. Over the summer I'll post information on hints and tips on how to remember and use phrasal verbs. Before we start, however, there are a couple of pieces of information that you should remember:

a) When you learn a phrasal verb for the first time, make sure you understand if it's transitive or intransitive. Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not need direct objects: with the verb and the subject alone, the verb makes sense: Elvis died. The sun is coming up. But some verbs don't make sense if you don't include a direct object: *I want. *She has to buy.

The problem is that some phrasal verb combinations can have transitive and intransitive meanings. Take the example of put off:

Transitive - to procrastinate: She put off her tax return until the very last minute.
Intransitive - to distract: I can't concentrate! That noise is putting me off!

b) Make sure you know WHAT or WHO the direct object is. This can make a big difference in the meaning of the verb:

I put my back out last week playing tennis. (to dislocate a part of the body)
The company put out a press release announcing the changes. (to broadcast)
The firefighters were unable to put out the fire. (to extinguish)
If you want the bus to stop you need to put your arm out and wave. (to extend from the body.)

In this case, you have two meanings that can only be used with parts of the body (dislocate/extend), one that refers to information (broadcast) and one that talks about an object (to extinguish a fire.) This technique works best if you....

c) Learn phrasal verbs within a specific context. Most students cannot remember the meanings of phrasal verbs if they learn them from long lists, and if you take a look at your textbooks, you'll notice that most of them only show you the phrasal verbs that you would need to talk about a specific idea.

As an example, observe these phrasal verbs that talk about appearance:

People are always mistaking Diane for her sister. It's hard to make out the difference if you're looking at them from a distance, but the sister is usually more made up (look out for the bright lipstick) and because she's a little bigger, she needs to let out her skirts and trousers.

Can you make a list of thea meanings and the direct objects (if needed) for each of these phrasal verbs?

In the next post about phrasal verbs, we'll look at how to predict what a phrasal verb means by looking at its particle.
TODAY'S VOCABULARY:
to wince: to pull your body or face back because you are in pain or because someone has hit you.
to check something out: to take a look at something.