So today’s blog is a quick look at phrasal verbs. This is an interesting area of the English language and in my opinion a very important area to understand and learn how to use. Why? Because Native speakers use phrasal verbs very frequently. In fact unless the language is very formal then phrasal verbs will be in almost every sentence.
For every phrasal verb there is a more formal word or expression. For example : the phrasal verb to put up with something or someone means in a more formal way to tolerate someone or something. The phrasal verb to split up or break up means to seperate.
A phrasal verb is a two or three part verb. The second part of the verb changes the meaning of the verb. Compare :
I’m giving him the job.
I’m giving up my job. 
Phrasal verbs as I mentioned before are especially common in spoken English. Some phrasal verbs can be seperated when used with a pronoun (him, her, it, them, etc.):
…you’re not going to be able to access our database until our engineers sort it out.
If a noun is used with this type of phrasal verb, it can come inside or after the verb:
….until our engineers sort the problem out.
….until our engineers sort out the problem.
Other phrasal verbs cannot be seperated, whether with a pronoun or noun:
….we depend on this for exact passenger numbers …
….we depend on database for exact passenger numbers…
Others do not not take an object:
Hang on- did you say 9 am or 5 am ?
Your dictionary will tell you whether a phrasal verb is separable, inseparable, or does not take an object.
So check out your dictionary and look up more phrasal verbs and learn how to use them and go on….. practise practise practise !!!!! 🙂