Phrasal verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb. Its meaning is often different from the meaning of its parts.
Compare the meanings of the verbs gets on and run away in (a) and (b) below. You can easily guess their meanings in (a) but in (b) they have special meanings.
(a) She got on at Agra when the bus stopped for breakfast.
Dev Anand ran away from home when he was a teenager.
In (a) i.e. the first sentence, she got on refers to the movement of a person
Whereas
In the second sentence, it says that Dev Anand ran away i.e. left his house
(b) She’s eager to get on in life. (Succeed)
The visitors ran away with the match. (Won easily)
In (b) i.e. the first sentence, it refers to climbing the ladder of success
Whereas
In the second sentence, it refers to winning the match (ran away with the match)
Some phrasal verbs have three parts: a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition. For Example:
(c) Our car ran out of petrol just outside the city limits.
(d) The government wants to reach out to the people with this new campaign.
A. Look up the following in a dictionary for their meanings (under the entry for the italicized word).
(i) Plunge (right) in (ii) Kept back
(iii) Ramble on
(iv) Get along with
(i) Plunge in – drive into. Eg- The drunk man plunged into the pole.
(ii) Kept back – to withhold. Eg- His result was kept back due to a compartment in three subjects.
(iii) Ramble on – to walk or talk in a confused way. Eg- He just went on rambling all evening.
(iv) Get along with – to be friendly with one another. Eg- In their first meeting only, they got along very well.
NOTE: As a noun, plunge means a brief swim or a fall but as a verb, its meaning may differ.