Remember that a verb is an action word like “ran” or “look. " A preposition is a word that establishes a relationship between two parts of a sentence. For instance, in “She arrived after dinner,” the preposition is “after. ” Review this concept with your students if you haven’t already. [2] X Research source Most often, a phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition. For example, in the sentence “I gave up when the game got too hard,” the phrasal verb is “gave up. " Teach your students to recognize these combinations.
For example, in “I went out of the room,” “went out” is just a verb and preposition that literally means that you exited the room. However, in “I went out with him,” “went out” means that you went on a date. This is a phrasal verb because “went out” doesn’t literally mean you exited a place.
For example, “I called John out for being rude” and “I called out John for being rude” both work grammatically. This means that the phrasal verb “called out” is separable. However, “I went through my closet” works, while “I went my closet through” does not. This means that the phrasal verb “went through” is inseparable, because sentences don’t make sense with the phrase broken up.
Always explain why these phrases are phrasal verbs as well. If you teach them how phrasal verbs are used and constructed, then they can recognize them later on.
Build a list of phrasal verbs that start with the same word. “Call” is one choice. Then take students through the different meanings of “call out,” “call in,” “call up,” and all the other possible combinations.
Remember that the main sign that something is a phrasal verb is when the phrase has a different meaning than the 2 words by themselves. Have students break down verb and preposition combinations to see if each word works by itself, or if it has to be a single phrase to make sense. “Wear out,” for example, means to make something old or unusable. This is a much different meaning than “wear” and “out” by themselves. However, in “Go up the stairs,” the verb “go” and the preposition “up” work individually, and don’t need to be a phrase to make sense. Drill your students on recognizing these distinctions. Try having students then use that phrasal verb in a different sentence. This further trains them in proper usage for the verbs.
If a student isn’t sure if “give up” is a phrasal verb, they can look it up in the dictionary. It appears after “give” and is officially labeled as a phrasal verb. Students can use paper or online dictionaries. Online dictionaries may be more up to date than paper dictionaries, unless they’re new.
For a participatory activity, have students read their sentences aloud to the class. Ask the class to decide if students have used the verbs correctly or not. You can also make this an individual assignment that students will hand in. You can then grade everyone’s sentences to see if your point is getting across.
If you assign a student “break up” for their phrasal verb, they could say “when you decide to leave a relationship with your boyfriend. ” This should tip the class off that the student is describing a break-up.
For example, if you say “I apple a story that wasn’t true,” the context clues should tell the students that the phrasal verb in this sentence is “made up. ” Do this for several sentences to make your point. Once students get good at this, ask for volunteers to do the same. The class will have fun with this activity.
Remind the students that for something to be a phrasal verb, the phrase must mean something different from the two words individually. As an activity, give the students a worksheet of some sentences that use phrasal verbs and some that use plain verb + preposition combinations. They have to use clues from the sentence to figure out which is which.
Do a few guided group activities first so students get used to identifying phrasal verbs. Then move on to individual activities. Consider making this activity ungraded at first so the students can learn without getting discouraged. Then give a graded quiz or test when you’ve taught the subject completely. The early lessons for ESL students should include pronouns and basic vocabulary. For example, family members, animals, numbers, and basic actions. They should know to build a basic sentence. And be familiar with present simple, past simple, and future simple tense.
