The hardest part
of learning English involves phrasal verbs, the combination of a verb and
preposition, because any sense of logic or order is completely lacking. Therefore, the only way to learn them is
abuse them as Ziva in NCIS would do. A nice example of this randomness
is the word set, which means fixed or placed, among other meanings, but
whose sheet variety of meanings when combined with preposition is quite
unsettling to non-native speaker.
It can take
minutes or hours to set up a machine, meaning to get it ready, but a
writer may set down his/her thoughts, that is record them while baseball
pitcher may set down the other side in order, getting all three batters
out. Many younger people set out
on a journey, trying to reach a goal, but unfortunately become set in
their ways when they become older, not willing to make changes. For that
matter, if you set off an alarm, you actually cause it operate. Setting your alarm forward
causes you to wake up earlier, which could be a set back to your
sleep. Curiously, before eating a family
meal, someone has to set the table, getting out the tableware, but to set
a bar has nothing to do with alcohol, instead referring to establishing a
new challenge.
So, the only
effective way for a foreigner to learn phrasal verbs is to listen for them, try
them and reset their meanings after someone corrects (and laughs at) you. That is how children do it.
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