Native speakers using Phrasal Verbs very frequently, because it can express a lot of meanings.
but
Is there any rule that I can follow to construct acceptable phrasal verbs?
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1What do you mean by "construct"? Do you want to "invent/create" new phrasal verbs? There are no rules for learning how to USE phrasal verbs if that is what you mean.– Mari-Lou ACommented Jan 9, 2015 at 3:56
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Do you want to "invent/create" new phrasal verbs? Yes– PhilCommented Jan 9, 2015 at 5:01
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1There are no rules, people can invent new words and expressions whenever they like, but whether other speakers will understand, recognize, remember or use these expressions/phrasal verbs is something entirely different. E.g. If I say "Can you see up a word in the dictionary?" you might well understand its meaning but the fixed expression is look up, and it is the one you should use in everyday conversation.– Mari-Lou ACommented Jan 9, 2015 at 5:13
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1 Answer
We don't, they evolve from normal uses of verbs with prepositions or adverbs becoming more specialised or generalised in use until they acquire a meaning that isn't quite the same as before and are then learn the same way that individual words are learnt.
Run into in the sense of "encounter" started as a metaphor of actually running and this running bringing the subject into something. It's only with the metaphor becoming a dead metaphor where we no longer think as much of the imagery the metaphor had been using that it became a phrasal verb.
It wasn't constructed as a phrasal verb, and we learn its meaning the same way we learn the meaning of a word.
answered Jan 9, 2015 at 4:27
