Phrasal Verbs Essay

Definition of phrasal verbs

From relevant literature, phrasal verbs are defined as:

Phrasal verbs are usually described as a structure that composed of a base verb and the participle as a single unit both literal and idiomatic (Darwin & Gray, 1999; Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik, 1985). Some linguists called a phrasal verb as "a multi-word verb" (Schmitt & Siyanova, 2007) or "a verb-particle combination" (Fraser, 1976). However, the term “phrasal verb” will be used in this study as it was the most common term using by the researcher who teaching and learning English language.

In addition, Fraser (1976) defined phrasal verb as a verb-particle combination that "a single constituent or series of constituent, whose semantic interpretation

Take the phrasal verb “fix up” as an example, the word “up” is a participle, not a preposition, because a participle can move whereas a preposition has a fixed to the position. For example, “I went to”. It is not possible to say “I went the store to”. Thus, this example is the specific characteristic of a phrasal verb which different from preposition phrase.

Type of phrasal verbs

Fraser (1976) divides phrasal verbs into three types:

1. Literal phrasal verbs – The particle retains its literal adverbial meaning as the “up” does in the examples

First, phrasal verbs were commonly used in English. Learners had to learn a great number of it to get well communication in English. Second, the figurative meaning was difficult for ESL learner to understand the meanings. Third, each part of words were unconnected to the overall meaning. Lastly, the position of participle or preposition can be move.

In addition, Celce-Muricia and Larsen –freeman (1999) indicated that learning phrasal verbs are one of the most difficult for ESL because of their meanings and structures. The combination between each element in phrasal verbs could not help EFL learners understand the meanings clearly. Furthermore, Lightbrown (2000) studied about Classroom SLA research and second language teaching found that ESL learners lack of the foreigner environments of English conversation where can help them developing English phrasal verb outside the classroom. He recommended that students should learn phrasal verbs from movie, music, or in conversation that native speakers used in their language. Moreover, Gramley and Patzold (2004)describe that phrasal verbs are constantly changing and growing in English vocabulary because new terms can be created by combining adverbs (e.g. by, off, in, out, up etc.) with common verb (e.g. come, fall, go, make, take, put etc.) Furthermore, Darwin and Gray (1999) pointed out