McGraw-Hill's Essential Phrasal Verb Dictionary

257 Pages·3.522 MB·English

by  Spears Richard.

McGraw-Hill’s
Essential
Phrasal Verb
Dictionary
Second Edition
Richard A. Spears, Ph.D.
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DOI: 10.1036/0071497838
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Contents
Introduction v
How to Use This Dictionary vii
Phrasal Verb Dictionary 1
iii
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Introduction
Phrasal verbs, also called two-word verbs, are idiomatic
expressions wherein the second element of the verb (the
adverb or particle) is not necessarily predictable. For
instance, why the word up in call up a friend? Why not
say call on a friendor call in a friend? Actually, those are
three separate, unpredictable combinations, and they each
mean something completely different. For example, you
can call up a friend on the telephone, call on a friend to
visit a friend’s home, and call in a friendto come help you
with something.
This dictionary is a compilation of 1,800 phrasal verbs
consisting of either a transitive or intransitive verb and its
particle or adverb. In many cases, additional prepositional
phrases are shown as part of the entry, but the dictionary
focuses on phrasal or two-word verbs. This second edi-
tion of the basic phrasal verb collection is based on
McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal
Verbs. The format of the dictionary is designed to pro-
vide the information needed by learners who are attempt-
ing to read and write conventional American English.
v
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How to Use This Dictionary
ALPHABETIZATION
In this dictionary, phrasal verbs (or two-word verbs) and
their related prepositional verbs are alphabetized on the
verb. The variable terms (such as someoneor something)
are also alphabetized.
THE TRANSPOSABLE ADVERB
Adverbs in most transitive phrasal verbs can swap places
with the direct object of the verb. This cannot be done if
the object of the verb is a pronoun. Although the result
may, in some instances, look like a prepositional phrase,
it is not. In the following example containing “down the
door,” the word “down” is an adverb that stands between
the verb and its direct object.
She broke down the door with an axe.
She broke the door down with an axe.
Please hammer the nail in.
Please hammer in the nail.
But you cannot say:
*She broke down it.
*Please hammer in it.
vii
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How to Use This Dictionary
The entry head break something down† contains a
dagger (†) that indicates that the “down” can be trans-
posed to a position just after the verb. Any word marked
with the dagger can be transposed to a position immedi-
ately following the verb except when the object ofthe verb
is a pronoun. Only the adverbs followed by † can be
swapped in this manner.
VARIABLE TERMS
Entries may include variable classes of words. The vari-
able classes can be very broad, such as someone, which
refers to any person, or something, which refers to any thing,
object, or group. Many entries are very particular as to
whether they include either someone or something. Others
can refer to people or things, someone or something without
distinction. In this dictionary, these words can be thought
of as proxies for the members of the classes of words they
describe. The following examples show the kinds of things
that someone and something can stand for.
associate with new friends (someone)
associate with them (someone)
associate with a bunch of different people (someone)
associate with the Smiths (someone)
play the radio at full blast (something)
play my new record at full blast (something)
play his huge stereo at full blast (something)
play all the audio stuff in the whole dorm at full blast
(something)
The variable classes are represented in these examples
by someone or something as in associate with someone or
play something at full blast. There are additional proxy
terms of this kind. All of them are descriptive of the kind
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How to Use This Dictionary
of words or phrases they can stand for. Here are some of
the terms you might encounter.
a period of time “about an hour”
doing something “eating bread and butter”
some amount of money “about three bucks”
somehow “without much effort”
someone “Fred”
some place “the kitchen”
something “a toaster”
sometime “at noon”
someone or something which can be either someone
or something.
EXAMPLES
Each sense has at least one example. In the case of the
transitive verbs, the position of the adverb or particle may
be either transposed or in the same position as it is found
in the entry head. Learners should study the entry head,
definition, and example and grasp the common elements
of meaning that these three parts of the entry share. These
elements are designed to share the same elements of
meaning and syntax.
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