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COMPOUND VERBS
Phrasal Verbs
The term ‘compound verb’ has more than one meaning*. In this lesson I use the phrase in its meaning of:
a verb followed by a preposition which produces
a different meaning from the verb used alone.
For example:
To pass – move onward, overtake, transfer
To pass out – to faint
To pass away – to die
In my opinion the subject does not belong in the ‘Verbs’ section at all: for the purposes of learning English as a second language it is a matter of VOCABULARY.
I say this because there is nothing extra to learn, nothing extra to know, about the verb itself in this context.
The verb in these cases does not change its behaviour in any way; it is the same verb that you learned before. If it was a regular verb before it is still a regular verb and it has the same tenses that you are familiar with.
The result is that compound verbs are about meaning and therefore, they are about improving and extending your vocabulary.
In passing, I must mention that many students think they have problems with irregular verbs generally when, in reality, their problem is one of vocabulary.
For example, in using an uncommon verb like ‘to wring’, the problem is not that the student doesn’t know if it’s regular or irregular, or doesn’t know its irregular past tense or present perfect tense: it is that the student has never seen the word before and the verb ‘to wring’ is simply not in his or her vocabulary. This is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is not a difficulty with the verb itself.
The advice I offer on this topic is similar to that offered by William Safire regarding the word ‘whom’ (see our article Who and Whom) you need to save your brain space and not try to remember unusable rules and details.
Even restricting the subject ‘compound verbs’ to the extent that I do in this article:
a verb followed by a preposition which produces
a different meaning from the verb used alone.
the topic is enormous, with many variations not dealt with here.
You will find long lists of these ‘compound’ or ‘phrasal’ verbs on the internet. I don’t propose to give lists here but I suggest two main ideas to help you learn what is necessary for you and to help you ‘manage’ the topic.
1. It’s about vocabulary.
2. Many of the ‘different’ meanings that appear on lists are very fine distinctions.
For example, the differences between the compounds:
to clean off, to clean out, to clean up:
don’t seem to add much to the original verb ‘to clean’, so my advice is to ignore compounds that show fine distinctions and concentrate on the ‘biggies’ – those combinations that produce a very different meaning.
You can always consider the fine distinctions later.
I give a few compound or phrasal verbs here that produce VERY different meanings and are therefore worthwhile ‘starters’:
| Verb/Compound Verb |
Meaning |
To call
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to cry out, speak loudly |
To call off
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to cancel |
| To call in |
to visit |
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To count
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to add up numbers |
To count out
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to exclude |
To count on
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to rely on, depend on |
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To give
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to transfer freely |
To give up
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to abandon, quit |
To give in
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to surrender |
To give out
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to expire, stop |
To give back
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to return (something) |
To give off
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to exude, emit |
To give way
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make concessions, allow passage |
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To look
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use the eyes |
To look up
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to research (e.g. in dictionary) |
To look out
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to be careful |
To look for
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to search |
To look in
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to make a short visit, watch TV |
To look away
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to ignore deliberately |
To look after
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to take care of |
To look over
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to glance at something |
To look back on
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to reminisce |
| To look up to |
to admire |
To look down on
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to regard with contempt |
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To run
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move with quick steps |
To run out
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become used up, expire |
To run away
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to flee |
To run against
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to compete with, oppose |
To run over
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to revise, rehearse |
To run up
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to make, produce (e.g. tailoring) |
To run through
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to fully penetrate with a sword |
NOTE: The Verb ‘to get’ has more possible compounds than any other verb in English.
*The other meaning of ‘compound verb’ is, very briefly, one that uses two or more verbs. For example the phrase, ‘I have been’ uses the verbs ‘to have’ and ‘to be’. This seems obvious enough but it is an enormous subject in linguistics.
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