Phrasal Verbs 3
One problem with phrasal verbs is that learners can be confused when the meaning of a phrasal verb seems quite easy to understand, and then turns out not to be.
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There may be an unexpected overtone or nuance that changes the meaning quite considerably.
Let’s consider the sentence with go off with:
Manu has gone off with Ataa on a camping holiday.
As it stands, we know nothing whatsoever about Manu and Ataa or their relationship to each other, and we do not need to know.
From the sentence, all we are told is that they have gone on a camping holiday together.
But if the sentence is:
Manu has gone off with Joojo’s wife.
... then we have grounds for suspicion, and if the sentence then becomes:
Manu has run off with Joojo’s wife.
... then our suspicion appears to be well-founded.
It would seem that Manu and Joojo’s wife have been having a relationship and they have decided to go away somewhere to live together.
There is another problem that comes up when we deal with phrasal verbs.
Some phrasal verbs are intransitive and so do not take objects. Many of them, however, are transitive and do take objects. There in lies the problem.
There is some variation in where the object must be placed in relation to the phrasal verb.
If the object is a noun or short noun phrase, it can sometimes be placed after the second word of the phrasal verb, as in:
She is putting away the books on the shelf.
The boxer knocked out his opponent in the last round.
On the other hand, the noun or short noun phrase can sometimes be placed after the first word and before the second word of the phrasal verb, as in:
The teacher is handing trophies over to the winners now.
She is putting the books away on the shelf.
Now, the question is: how do you decide where to put the noun or noun phrase?
This is often a matter of taste or a matter of which form you think sounds better. Sometimes which form sounds better depends on the length of the noun phrase.
But note that when the object is not a noun but a pronoun, it usually comes before the second word of the phrasal verb, as in:
The glass was broken into many pieces when the child knocked it over.
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I’m sure the food will taste all right if you warn it up.