And what are they really are? Do you have specific examples?
I know about them but many people tell me different things so I want to be sure since I am teaching english right now.
2007-08-26 19:22:41 · 3 answers · asked by Desire A 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
A phrasal verb is where a verb + something else is used to express one action. Examples
"Look the word up in the dictionary"--You can't say just look.
"Hold out for more money"--You can't say just hold.
The second word makes a lot of difference:
stand up--be in or rise to an upright position
stand up to--confront
stand down--leave or take from active work
stand by--wait in readiness
stand out--be outstanding, obvious (in a good way)
stand aside--get out of the way
stand in--replace
stand for--represent or tolerate
...and probably lots of others I didn't think of!
An idiom is something that is said a certain way "just because."
Some phrases are both idioms and phrasal verbs, like my second example above. "Hold out for" means to refuse to go further until you get something. "Negotiations were at a standstill because the workers were holding out for a 5% salary increase."
Why do we say "I am hot" in English and "I have hot" in French" and "(It) to me is hot" in German when we mean the same thing? Just because each language has its own idioms!
2007-08-27 02:55:07 · answer #1 · answered by hoptoad 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A phrasal verb is one in which two (usually) words are used to convey a single meaning, e.g. sit up, slow down, find out.
An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional—that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is composed. For example, the English phrase 'to kick the bucket' means to die. A listener knowing the meaning of kick and bucket will not thereby be able to predict that the expression can mean to die. Idioms are often, though perhaps not universally, classified as figures of speech.
2007-08-26 23:39:00 · answer #2 · answered by JJ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a million. we will meet next week to bypass over all the main significant factors for the top-of-term stay overall performance. 2. I do wish my staying here shouldn't get on your way too plenty. 3. the risk of an early loss of existence from lung maximum cancers isn't consistently sufficient sufficient to end people from smoking.
2016-10-09 07:37:05 · answer #3 · answered by grzech 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋