A follower of my Facebook page for Jose Carillo’s English Forum, Maria Fernandez, told me in a post a few weeks ago that she finds phrasal verbs deceiving: “I get confused trying to distinguish them from idioms. Are they the same?”
My answer, belated because I got to read her post only the other day, is definitely not. An
idiom can be any of the broad class of fixed or conventional expressions—whether a word, phrase, or sentence—with either an intended literal or figurative meaning but whose constituent word or words have a meaning or sense different from their dictionary definitions. On the other hand, a
phrasal verb is an idiomatic phrase that combines a particular verb with a preposition or adverb to denote an action different from the combined meaning of that verb and the other constituent words.
PHRASAL VERBS FORMED WITH THE VERB “TAKE”
Let’s examine some typical examples of idioms and phrasal verbs.
The idiom “dumbbell” means a stupid person, but that word literally means a short exercise bar with weights at each end. The phrase “down in the dumps” is idiomatic for feeling depressed, which isn’t the same as its literal sense of “having been thrown among discarded materials.” And the sentence “It’s not rocket science” is idiomatic for something not difficult to do—a playful reverse metaphor for the complicated process of building rocket ships for space travel.
As to
phrasal verbs, it would be instructive to consider them as figurative verb phrases expressing an action different from that of the verb being used in the phrase. “Look down on” means to regard with contempt, as in “She
looked down on officemates who haven’t read Tolkien’s
Lord of the Rings, calling them ignorami”; “cut back on” means to consume less, as in “The editor admonished the writer to
cut back on clichés in her stories”; and “pass something up” means to decline, as in “The manager
passed up the promotion because of a lucrative foreign job offer.”
Definitely, the fact that phrasal verbs have a figurative rather than literal meaning will make them seem deceiving to the uninitiated. This will always be the case for phrasal verbs and for all idiomatic expressions for that matter, and the only way for English learners not to feel that way is to learn as many of them as possible through wide reading and purposive listening—in short, committing them to memory.
At this point, I must call attention to certain verb phrases and adjective phrases with literal meaning that are idiomatic only in the sense that they will work properly only with particular prepositions. Below are just a few examples of these two types of nonfigurative phrases:
Verbs with prepositional phrases: adapt
from a source (not “
to a source”), agree
on a plan (not “
to a plan”), agree
to a proposal (not “
with a proposal”), charge
with a crime (not “
of/for a crime”), contend
with a person (not “
against a person”), differ
from someone in appearance (not “
to someone in appearance”), disappointed
by/with a person (not “
in/on a person”), disappointed
in/with a thing (not “
on/by a thing”), infer
from (not “infer
to/with”), inferior
to (not “inferior
with”), occupied
by a person (not “
with a person”), occupied
with a thing (not “
by/of a thing”), rewarded
for something done (not “
with something done”), wait
at a place (not “
in/on a place”), and wait
on a client (not “
in a client”).
Adjectives with prepositional phrases: angry
with Angela (not “
of Angela”), capable
of (not “capable
with”), identical
with/to (not “identical
of”), impatient
at her conduct (not “
of her conduct”), impatient
for a raise (not “
of/with a raise”), impatient
with a person (not “
in/for a person”), independent
of (not “independent
from”), prior
to (not “prior
from”), similar
to (not “similar
with”).
The flawless use of these phrases marks the grammar savvy. (2015)
This essay first appeared in the weekly column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times
in its November 7, 2015 issue, © 2015 by Manila Times Publishing. All rights reserved.
