A phrasal verb is a verb plus a particle (preposition or adverb), and its meaning is often different from the separate words: give up (stop trying), find out (discover), come across (meet or find by chance), carry on (continue). With a separable phrasal verb a noun object can go in two places: turn off the light / turn the light off; but a pronoun must go in the middle: turn it off. An inseparable one keeps the particle attached: look after the baby; look after her. Genres: fiction (invented stories: novel, short story, fairy tale, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, romance), nonfiction (real facts: biography, autobiography, essay, textbook), poetry, folktale, legend.
Worked examples
I came across an old adventure novel while I was clearing the shelf.
She didn’t give up on her dream of writing poetry, and she carried on practising.
Class activity
“Genre sort”: sort cards (titles/descriptions) into fiction/nonfiction and a genre; then make a sentence with a phrasal verb.
Practice
1
Replace the verb with a phrasal verb: I will discover the date of the book fair.
I will find out the date of the book fair.
2
Rewrite with a pronoun: She put off the meeting. → She ___ ___.
She put it off.
3
Is a biography fiction or nonfiction?
nonfiction
4
Why can we say “turn the radio off” but only “look after it”?
Turn off is separable, so the object can come in the middle. Look after is inseparable, so the particle stays with the verb.