UNIVERSITY OF MOSTAR

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

CROATIAN-ENGLISH DEPARTMENT




Ljubica Mii, Dea Nenadi, Martina Halilovi

PHRASAL VERBS

Contrastive analysis in the book Fallen angelby Lauren Kate








Mentor: Ivona etka ili
Mostar, December, 2012
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INTRODUCTION

The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three distinct but related constructions
in English: a verb and a particle and/or a preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit.
This semantic unit cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual parts in
isolation, but rather it must be taken as a whole. In other words, the meaning is non-
compositional and thus unpredictable. Phrasal verbs that include a preposition are known as
prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs that include a particle are also known as particle
verbs. Additional alternative terms for phrasal verb are: compound verb, verb-adverb
combination, verb-particle construction, two-part word/verb, and three-part word/verb
(depending on the number of particles), and multi-word verb.

Examples

One can differentiate at least three main types of phrasal verb constructions depending upon
whether the verb combines with a preposition, a particle, or both. The words constituting the
phrasal verb constructions in the following examples are in bold:
Verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal verbs):
a. Who is looking after the kids? - after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional
phrase after the kids.
b. They pick on Billy. - on is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on Billy.

Verb + particle (particle phrasal verbs)
a. They brought that up twice. - up is a particle, not a preposition.
b. You should think it over. - over is a particle, not a preposition.

Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional phrasal verbs)
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a. Who can put up with that? - up is a particle and with is a preposition.
b. She is looking forward to a rest. - forward is a particle and to is a preposition.

The difference between these types of phrasal verbs lies with the status of the elements that
appear in addition to the verb. When the element is a preposition, it is the head of a full
prepositional phrase and the phrasal verb is a thus a prepositional phrasal verb. When the
element is a particle, it cannot (or no longer) be construed as a preposition, but rather it is a
particle by virtue of the fact that it does not take a complement. Finally, many phrasal verbs
are combined with both a preposition and a particle.
METAPHOR AND PHRASAL VERBS

The meanings of phrasal verbs are often difficult to remember as they seem to have no
connection with the words that they consist of (the verb and the particle).
Many phrasal verbs are metaphorical and if you understand the metaphors they use, it will be
easier to understand and remember their meaning.

What is a metaphor?

E.g. The dog dug up an old bone. We dug up some interesting facts.

In the given examples, the first phrasal verb has a literal meaning and refers to physical
action, while the second is metaphorical and describes an action that is similar in some way to
the first.

Some phrasal verbs have only metaphorical meaning, e.g. to breeze in means to enter a place
confidently, without seeming to care what other people think.

Adverbs, prepositions and metaphor

As we know, a phrasal verb consists of a verb and a particle, an adverb or a preposition. When
the verb part of a phrasal verb is used in metaphorical way, this is usually quite obvious. But
the particles may be used metaphorically too. This is less easy to recognize, but in fact there is
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often a clear connection between the literal meanings of the particles and their metaphorical
uses.
Basically, literal meanings of adverbs and prepositions refer to direction, position in space,
distance, or extent.
up literally describes movement towards a higher position
down literally describes movement towards a lower position
ahead literally describes a position in front of you.

Their metaphorical uses develop from the literal ones:
up has metaphorical meanings to do with increases in size, number or strength (prices
went up)
down has metaphorical meanings to do with decrease in size, number or strength
ahead metaphorically describes a point in the future.




















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CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Fallen Angel by Lauren Kate

Phrasal verbs with TURN:
a) TURN AROUND
He knew without turning around: She was there.
Nije se morao okrenuti da zna: Bila je tu.

b) TURN IN
Now, she turned very slightly in her seat until she glimpsed his dreadlocks out of the corner
of her eyes.
Sada se neprimjetno okretala u stolici, sve dok krajikom oka nije uhvatila traak njegovih
dreadlocksa.

c) TURN UP
His eyes fell on the ivory upholstered settee across the parlor, where only hours earlier shed
turned up unexpectedly, later than the rest of her party, in a rose silk grown, to applaoud the
eldest daughter of their host after a fine turn at the harpsichurd.
Pogled mu je pao na suprotnu stranu prostorije, na divan presvuen tkaninom slonovae gdje
se samo nekoliko sati prije neoekivano pojavila, kasnije nego ostatak njezina drutva, u
ruiastoj svilenoj haljini, da bi zapljeskala najstarijoj keri njihovih domaina nakon izvrsne
toke na klaviembalu.


Phrasal verbs with LOOK:
a) LOOK DOWN
She looked down at her phone one last time and so that shed receive two new text messages.
Spustila je posljednji pogled prema svojem mobitelu i vidjela da ima dvije nove poruke.
b) LOOK FOR
Already looking for the exit? Not a good sign. Were in this hellhole until lunch.
Ve trai izlaz? Lo znak. Zarobljeni smo u ovoj prokletoj rupi sve do ruka.
c) LOOK OVER
She looked over at Cam, who winked at her again, than brushed his dark hair away from his
eyes.
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Pogledala je Cama i on joj je namignuo, zatim sklonio tamnu kosu iz oiju.


Phrasal verbs with GET:
a) GET THROUGH
It was ridiculous, but shed half expected to get through her first day of school without the
past creeping up and robbing her of her thin faade of calm.
Smijeno, ali djelomice je oekivala da joj se, na njezin prvi dan ovdje, prolost nee
priuljati i oduzeti joj tu krinku mirnoe.
b) GET IN
Okay, spill it, Arriane ordered. Plopping down on the top bleacher and motioning for Luce
to join her, she said, Whatd ya do to get in her?
Dobro, pjevaj! Arriane je naredila. Sjela je na vrh tribina, dala Luce rukom znak da joj se
ondje pridrui i rekla: - to si uinila da zavri ovdje?
c) GET OUT
Get out of here, Arriane, before I have you lobotomized, the attendant said, though it was
clear from her first brief but genuine smile that she had some coarse affection for the crazy
girl.
-Brii odavde Arriane, prije nego to te lobotimiziram- rekla je voditeljica, iako je njen prvi
iskren osmjeh tog dana, premda se pojavio tek nakratko, govorio da joj je na neki surov
nain, ta djevojka draga.













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CONCLUSION

To conclude this analysis, we can say that phrasal verbs are too informal to be formal, so that
is the reason why they are used mostly in informal texts. They also do not exist in Croatian
language and therefore, they are not translated from English literally. Phrasal verbs which are
mostly presented in this book are those with get.