How to Correctly Use Phrasal Verbs in English

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hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and i answer them

maybe okay let’s get to your first

question this week

first question this week comes from mari

hi mari

mari says could you please explain

how to know when i can separate a

phrasal verb by putting a noun

between the verb and the preposition

great question

let’s think about this in two categories

phrasal verbs that you can split

are phrasal verbs that take a direct

object these are called

transitive phrasal verbs but please

note that just because a phrasal verb

takes a direct object does

not necessarily mean that you can split

it let’s take a look at some examples

i wrote down her phone number i

wrote her phone number down this is an

example of a phrasal verb

write down or wrote down in past tense

that can be split

the direct object here is her phone

number we can put

her phone number after wrote down in the

past tense

or we can put it between wrote and down

this is one that we can split let’s look

at another example

he opened up the file and started

working

he opened the file up and started

working

in this sentence the phrasal verb is

open up past tense opened up

we can move the file the direct object

to the middle

of the phrasal verb if we want to opened

up the file

is fine opened the file up is also fine

so this is another example of a phrasal

verb that we can split a transitive

phrasal verb that is splittable

let’s take a look now at a transitive

phrasal verb that we cannot split

we got in the car this is an example of

a phrasal verb that we cannot split

so to get in something means to put

yourself

into something but we cannot move the

car

between get and in we cannot say we get

the car in this is an example of a

transitive phrasal verb that we cannot

split so how do we know which ones are

splittable

and which ones are not splittable or

separable and inseparable

unfortunately there isn’t an easy rule

for distinguishing the two

it just takes time and practice let’s

now talk about

intransitive phrasal verbs so phrasal

verbs that do not take a direct object

which are intransitive phrasal verbs

cannot be split we cannot move the noun

after the phrasal verb to

the middle of the phrasal verb some

examples of this

i like to work out my plan fell through

she loved her trip to france she’s

planning to go back next year

the interviewee never showed up so in

each of these example sentences the

phrasal verb is in bold

in each of these examples as well the

phrasal verb does not take a direct

object that means that we cannot split

the phrasal verb

so again these are called intransitive

phrasal verbs

in sum intransitive phrasal verbs cannot

be split

some transitive phrasal verbs can be

split

please take a look at inseparable

transitive

phrasal verbs to get a list of

vocabulary words that you can study so

that you can remember which ones need to

stay together

so i hope that this helps you thanks

very much for the question

okay let’s move on to your next question

next question

comes from jose elias hello jose

jose says hi alicia i would like to know

how to use

rap for example when people say your

life was a wrap

or you are a wrap i would like to know

other possible meanings please

generally when we use the expression

it’s a wrap or that’s a wrap it means

that something is

finished it’s complete we often use this

word

in like media like film production movie

production or tv production related work

when something has come to an end we can

say it’s a wrap

or that’s a wrap which means we’re

finished or we’re done

we might also hear this in business or

professional settings to mean

this is finished as in this project is

finished or

this meeting is finished you might say

let’s wrap up this meeting which means

let’s finish this meeting or let’s

conclude this meeting

so it tends to have this idea this

feeling of something being

finished something being completed to

look specifically at the examples that

you provided here

while they’re not sentences i would say

maybe not phrases i would say

perhaps those would be used in very

specific situations

like he got in trouble with his parents

and they said he couldn’t go

out for a month his social life was a

wrap which means his social life is over

as a result of something that happened

so that might be a situation where you’d

hear something like his life was a wrap

or her life was a wrap

if someone says you are a rap it sounds

like maybe i’m finished with you

i suppose again these are not

expressions that i personally would say

but that might be how someone would use

this

okay to end this question let’s talk

about one more very common use of

rap we have the expression to be wrapped

up in something or to be wrapped up in

someone

which means you are so involved or so

interested in someone or something

that you ignore things outside that or

you don’t pay enough attention to those

things so for example

i’m so wrapped up in this tv show i

forgot my friend’s birthday

or why are you so wrapped up in your new

relationship

i never see you anymore so it means that

someone is too interested or too

involved in something and they forget

about the other things in their life we

also have this meaning

associated with rap so i hope that this

helps you thanks for the question

okay let’s move on to your next question

next question

comes from miriam atef hi miriam maryam

says hey alicia

what is the difference between

infectious and

contagious good question something that

is

infectious is something that is capable

of

causing sickness so an infectious

disease

is a disease that can cause someone to

become sick

so that means that diseases are commonly

called

infectious diseases some examples

prevent the spread of infectious disease

by washing your hands

there was something infectious in my

food and now i’m sick

contagious on the other hand refers to

something that can be passed to another

person through

contact some example sentences

i’m sneezing a lot but don’t worry it’s

just allergies

i’m not contagious there’s a highly

contagious cold going around this year

so to think about the relationship

between these two words

something that is contagious is always

infectious

so for example a cold a cold is a germ

it’s a disease

and it can be passed between people so

it is contagious

and it is infectious however something

that is infectious

is not always contagious i gave the

example of

allergies in an earlier example sentence

allergies are an example of something

that is infectious but

not contagious so we can’t pass

allergies from person to person

one person just has this unfortunate

relationship with like dust or maybe

like

cats or dogs or something something

causes this unfortunate reaction in a

person but it is not contagious

it’s the same idea with something like

food poisoning if you eat something

and there’s an infectious germ in there

you can get sick

but you can’t pass that to another

person through contact

so again something that is contagious is

also infectious

but something that is infectious is not

necessarily contagious

on a lighter note we also use these

words to talk about moods feelings and

emotions like you might say

her laughter is infectious or his energy

is contagious

so we can use these words to talk about

concepts as well

so i hope that this helps you thanks for

the question all right

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from

rice hi ryza rysa says hi alicia i’m

trying to memorize some phrasal verbs

but sometimes i don’t understand the

need to use a preposition

when the verb without the preposition

means the same thing

for example what’s the difference

between she called him

and she called him up thanks yeah this

is a good question

in this example the two have the same

meaning yes as you said

but the one with up sounds a little more

casual

so she called him and she called him up

are the same

but she called him sounds a little more

formal

i would use she called him in a more

polite situation

and she called him up in a more casual

situation

if you’re not sure just use she called

him another example of this might be

something like

close down so for example if we say the

store closed down

or the store closed the two have the

same meaning and depending on the

context it could mean

the store closed for the day or the

store closed permanently

but again the one with the preposition

closed down

sounds a little bit more casual so if i

want to make sure that i’m being polite

in a polite situation

i would probably choose to say the store

closed

if i want to sound a little bit more

casual a little more conversational i

might say

closed down so this is an imperfect rule

actually this is not a rule this is just

a guide really if you’re not sure which

to use

and you think that the two verbs might

have the same meaning so that means

just the regular verb and the verb with

the preposition

if you think the two have the same

meaning and you’re not sure which to

choose

choose the one that doesn’t have the

preposition attached to it so it’s

better to sound a little bit more polite

and then you won’t be in any trouble

ever than to sound a little bit too

casual

sometimes so this is kind of a general

guide that i hope helps you make

decisions with verbs like these

thanks for the question okay let’s move

on to your next question

next question comes from eduardo botrell

hello eduardo

eduardo says hi alicia you are a great

teacher i learned a lot with you thanks

cool eduardo says my question is

is the expression bear with me used a

lot in everyday life

and when can i use it it’s a common

expression

yes but whether it’s

commonly used in everyday life depends

on the person

so first let’s talk about what this

expression means bear with me means

please tolerate me or please be patient

with me

we use this expression like when we know

we’re being difficult or when we know

maybe we’ve caused a problem

or we’re related to a problem and we’re

asking for the other person’s patience

or the other person’s kindness

so you might hear this if someone is

trying to solve a problem and it’s

taking a long time

like on the phone if i’m like a

technical support person i might say

bear with me i’m working on a solution

like to try to solve someone’s problem

so that means please be patient with me

i’m trying to solve this

issue or maybe if someone made a mistake

you might say

i’m really sorry i messed up please bear

with me i won’t let it happen again

so it’s like asking for someone’s

patience so if maybe you’re the type of

person that messes up a lot or you know

that you’re being really difficult or

something

you might say a lot please bear with me

but hopefully you don’t have to use this

expression so much

so yes it is natural to use an everyday

conversation hopefully you don’t have to

use it that much but i hope that this

helps you understand some situations in

which

you might need to use it so thanks very

much for this question

all right that is everything that i have

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you