Distinction: phrasal verbs / prepositional verbs

Question

Hello ,

I would like to know how to distinguish between a phrasal verb and a prepositional verb.

Please provide me with examples .

Thanks .

Ed_shaw · Accepted Answer

In my experience, those two terms are not commonly used to describe verbs or verb phrases.
Maybe my knowledge is outdated. My advice would be, if you still have a question, to start another thread, providing detailed examples of each, as you understand them, for illustration and comparison.

Anonymous · Answer

--phrasal verb has an adverb as its particle,and it can either precede or follow the object,as in:
...She called UP her friends. or
...She called her friends UP.
Some phrasal verbs can be both: Transitive and Intransitive:
1.)The plane took off.-intransitive(takes no object)

2.)He took off his shoes.-transitive(takes an object)

--prepositional verb has a preposition as its particle,and it MUST precede the object:
...She called ON her friends.
*She called her friends ON.-ungrammatically!!!!!!
Prepositional verb always take an object: Lexical verb+Preposition+Prepositional Object:

...Look AT these pictures.
You cannot say just: Look at. Look at WHAT??? You must add an object

))

Ed_shaw · Answer

Very interesting. Thank you for that explanation.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI would like to know how to distinguish between a phrasal verb and a prepositional verb.

You might be interested in this.

Note in particular:

There are a number of particles (up, down, in, out, on, off, away, back) which should make you very suspicious that you are dealing with a separable phrasal verb, and a number of them (with, without, by, for, at, across, of, from, to, into) which almost certainly indicate a prepositional verb. (This guideline is not 100% consistent, however, so be cautious.)

Some (three-word) verbs have both a phrasal and a prepositional component (in that order), e.g., put up with, do away with, sneak up on, come down with.

CJ

Distinction: phrasal verbs / prepositional verbs

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