Read the text and match the phrasal verbs with their meanings
When you study English, you face with a lot of problems. One of them is phrasal verbs. There are many of them and they can change their meaning as time passes. They are mainly used in daily talks. In films you can also hear a lot of phrasal verbs in conversations, because on the screen we often see everyday life.
When phrasal verbs appeared in the ancient English language, their meaning was clear. "Walk out" meant "to go somewhere". But with time, the meaning changed. Look at the preposition "out". In the 9th century, "out" with a verb of motion meant "to go to the street or in some direction" (to walk out of the house, to ride out to the city). In the 14th century, it added to the verbs another meaning — "to make a sound", for example, to cry out or call out. In the 15th century, the meaning "to end" appeared — to die out, to burn out. In the 16th century, there was a verb "to pass out" which meant to give something to several people. And by the 19th century, appeared such verbs as "to clean out" and "to rinse out" that meant "to free from things inside".
In English, adverbs and prepositions make phrasal verbs and play the same role as Russian prefixes.
We understand some phrasal verbs by intuition, for example, come back or stand up. But many of them form idioms that you need to learn. For example, "take after" — to take an example from somebody, to look like somebody.
Phrasal verbs are usually used in conversations. In official documents, business letters and scientific works you should use their synonyms.
| to walk out | to take an example from someone |
| to pass out | to make a loud sound |
| to clean out | to give something to several people |
| to take after | to make free from dust and garbage |
| to cry out | to go somewhere |