how useful are the phrasal verbs?

Question

They a re hundreds!
http://unilang.foro.ijijiji.com/

Answer 1

The phrasal verbs are very useful and a fundamental part of English grammar. I had to laugh at the previous answer because "run into" is NOT a phrasal verb. It requires an object for the preposition "into"; the verb is just "run", the prepositional phrase is "into lots of them." A phrasal verb is a verb that does NOT require a nominal or pronominal object for its particle (which looks like a preposition, but isn't), "I woke up", "I picked it up", etc. And, yes, sometimes they are confusing: "I ran up the stairs" ("run" with a prepositional phrase) versus "I ran up the score" ("run up" is a phrasal verb with "the score" being the direct object, not the object of a preposition). You can tell the difference by pronominalizing the noun phrase after "up" and then moving it before the particle: "I ran up the stairs" cannot be pronominalized as *"I ran them up", but "I ran up the score" can be pronominalized as "I ran it up".

Answer 2

They are the most illogical and confusing part of the English language... and unfortunately, you'll 'run into' LOTS of them every day. Good luck.

Answer 3

Hang on, let me see what I can come up with to answer this for you.
They're really useful once you get over your resistance to them, you know, come around and accept them. Don't give up!