Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs are often known as phrasal verbs (this is what you are likely to find in a dictionary entry).
There are actually three types of multi-word verbs.
Knowing the type of multi-word verb can help us understand how we use it with an object.
Most multi-word verbs are idiomatic in meaning and so have a more informal register.
Because multi-word verbs are idiomatic, we can’t work out the meaning from the constituent parts. However, many multi-word verbs have a number of different meanings. For example, ‘bring up’ can also mean ‘to mention’. This means we have to careful about the context and word order of multi-word verbs.
Look at the following example. Which definition is correct for the sentence?
bring up
- to care for a child
- to mention
They brought their children up frugally.
From context, we know that the meaning of bring up here is: 1. to care for a child.