DON'T Use Phrasal Verbs (until you watch this!)

Have you ever wondered when or if you should  replace a regular verb with a phrasal verb?

Maybe your sentence is she discovered the truth  

and you wonder if you should change  this to she found out the truth.

Is 1 better than the other?

Is one more advanced than the other?

Is one more professional than the other?

Is one more natural than the other?

Maybe you've heard some teachers say  you should only use phrasal verbs.

Maybe you've heard some teachers say  you should never use phrasal verbs.

If you have ever wondered if a phrasal  verb is better than a regular verb,  

the honest answer is yes, no, and it depends.

Don't worry, by the end of this video,  

I promise you'll feel confident with  both regular verbs and phrasal verbs.

Our question is, are phrasal  verbs better than regular verbs?

First, let's talk about the reasons why yes,  phrasal verbs are better than regular verbs.

You might be wondering, well,  Jennifer, what is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a verb  plus a preposition or adverb.

The phrasal verb has a different  meaning from the main verb.

For example, pick a pen.

This means select a pen.

But if I say pick up a pen here,  pick up means lift from a surface.

I picked up your pen for you.

Pick up can also mean buy from a store.

I need to pick up some new pens after work.

Pick up can also mean get, retrieve or collect.

Can you pick up my pens from Ashley's desk?

It's very important to remember that phrasal verbs  have different meanings depending on context.

Now that you know what phrasal verbs are, let's  talk about why they are better than regular verbs.

Reason #1 Native speakers  love using phrasal verbs.

If you ask a native speaker what  he did last night, he'll say, Huh?

I hung out at home.

I checked out a movie.

I picked up some food.

So if you want to understand native speakers in  the real world, you need to learn phrasal verbs.

Reason #2 Phrasal verbs sound natural.

Here's a question that native  speakers are faced with every day.

Are you picking up the kids after school or am I?

This is the natural way to communicate this idea.

A native speaker would not say Are you  collecting the kids after school or am I?

This sounds unnatural and it will make  you sound unnatural if you use it.

Reason #3 Phrasal verbs sound casual and friendly.

Phrasal verbs are more casual than regular verbs,  

and in many situations in your daily life,  you want to use casual and friendly language.

In most social situations and  in many professional situations,  

it sounds awkward to use  overly formal word choices.

It's not the right tone for the situation.

Let's say you're at a party  and your friend says to you,  

I saw this awesome movie last weekend, you  should check it out, I know you'll love it.

And you reply back and say, I'll  investigate that at my earliest convenience.

This may sound appropriate in a formal academic or  

business situation, but at  a party it sounds awkward.

And because the person talking  to you used casual language,  

it sounds awkward to reply using formal language.

In this specific situation, it's better  to use casual and friendly language.

You can use a common phrasal verb  and say I'll look into that soon.

Look into means, investigate and soon  means at my earliest convenience.

Reason #4 The phrasal verb is the  only option a native would use.

In my examples before, both the phrasal  verb and the regular verb exist,  

but the phrasal verb was preferred  because it sounds friendly and casual.

There are some situations where, even  in a professional or formal environment,  

the phrasal verb is the only  choice a native would use.

Let's review these examples.

Where should I get off the train?

Get off means disembark from a vehicle,  

but it isn't natural to say where  should I disembark from the train?

A native speaker would never say that  even in the most formal situation.

Another example, can you turn on the lights?

Turn on, of course, means activate  or what time do you wake up?

Wake up means awaken for the  first time in the morning.

In all of these situations, a native  speaker would use the phrasal verb.

Remember our original question was Are  phrasal verbs better than regular verbs?

Sometimes the answer is no, they're  not better than regular verbs.

Reason #1 Grammatically, phrasal  verbs are more complex and confusing.

There are four types of phrasal verbs, separable,  inseparable, transitive, and intransitive.

The type of phrasal verb  determines the sentence structure.

You can say I looked the information up.

I looked up the information, I looked it up.

You can say I look after  my kids, I look after them.

You can't say I looked it up, I look  my kids after, I looked them after.

Although phrasal verbs sound more natural to  native speakers, they don't sound natural.

If your grammar is incorrect, it's better to use  

regular verbs correctly then  incorrectly use phrasal verbs.

It sounds more natural to have a  regular verb that's grammatically  

correct than to have a phrasal verb  that isn't grammatically correct.

If you are not 100% confident that your  grammar is correct, regular verbs are better.

Reason #2 Regular verbs sound more formal.

In some situations.

You don't want to sound casual in spoken English.

You may want to sound more formal  when you're attending a job interview,  

giving a formal presentation,  or meeting the CEO or president.

And both academic and formal business writing  favor regular verbs over phrasal verbs.

Reason #3 Using the wrong  preposition can change the meaning.

Let's review this sentence.

I put off the presentation here.

Put off means delay.

But let's review this.

I put up the presentation.

Put up means to post, advertise,  or make publicly available.

How about this?

I put on the presentation.

Put on means to be responsible for organizing.

So let's say that you want to tell your  boss that you posted the presentation  

and you remember learning  the phrasal verb for posted,  

but you used the wrong preposition  and say I put off the presentation.

Your boss may become angry because she thinks you  

delayed the presentation instead  of making it publicly available.

Or maybe you use a preposition that doesn't exist,  

and you say I put over the presentation and  your boss has no idea what you're talking about.

This confusion doesn't exist with regular verbs.

So again, if you are not 100% confident that  you're using the correct phrasal verb with  

the correct preposition and and your grammar is  correct, you should use regular verbs instead.

Remember our original question was, are  phrasal verbs better than regular verbs?

In some ways, yes, they're better,  but in some ways, no, they're not.

And that's why ultimately, it depends.

It depends on your English level.

It depends on your confidence.

It depends on the context.

It depends on your audience.

Here are some guidelines on when  and how to use phrasal verbs.

You should use phrasal verbs if you want to  sound casual and friendly instead of formal.

You are 100% confident that the  meaning and grammar is correct.

There isn't a regular verb choice used by natives.

You should use regular verbs if  you want to sound more formal.

You're writing something for  academic or formal business purposes.

You're not 100% that the  phrasal verb is used correctly.

Although remember, if you want to  understand native speakers in the real  

world, you need to learn the  most common phrasal verbs.

This doesn't mean you need  to use them in your speech,  

but you need to understand  them when natives use them.

So now you can watch my lesson on  the 100 most common phrasal verbs.

And don't worry, you'll learn the meaning and  grammar so you're 100% confident using them.