By Whom, Phrasal verbs

Hello. "play up something // play something up"- Ralph plays up his devotion to his parents, though he seldom even calls them.- She's always playing up her friendships with famous people, most of whom she barely knows. Is this usage of the phrasal verb rarely used in the US?

Look at - is a phrasal verb meaning to direct one's attention to something. i.e. She is looking at you. Look on- has a competely different meaning and it was incorrect in the context of your sentences.

Grammar Geek wrote:But you left out the "in," you didn't move it. Well I was just following what Aperisic said about phrasal verbs with adverbs as particles. He gave the following example. you can check it in the above posts. pay back - repay, take revenge I pay back for...

Aperisic wrote:When we have a preposition A preposition changes a verb in such a manner that without it almost always you can't know what the verb means at the end. The meaning of a phrasal verb is strongly divided between the verb and the particle and the two are inseparable. Next, we have a...

Grammar Geek wrote: So "to lay by" is a phrasal verb meaning "to store away"? New vocabulary for me! But anyway, when you have a phrasal verb like that (or like "look up" (as a word in a dictionary) or "write down") - do the prepositions act like normal prepositions, or because they are...

Inchoateknowledge wrote:To lay by is a phrasal verb, and by is an adverbial particle belonging to the verb. what does the farmer lay by? his crops. So, isn't it true that when a particle in a phrasal verb could be questioned by what or whom, it's a preposition (by). GB

Inchoateknowledge wrote:what does the farmer lay by? his crops. So, isn't it true that when the particle in the phrasal verb answers the question what or whom, it's a preposition. GB

Is the following explanation enough to find out the difference between a preposition and adverb used in a phrasal verb.. If not, then please can you give another alternative. Many of the words in the preposition list can also be used as adverbs. The problem for you is to figure out when a word...

Is the following explanation enough to find out the difference between a preposition and adverb used in a phrasal verb.. If not, then please can you give another alternative. Many of the words in the preposition list can also be used as adverbs. The problem for you is to figure out when a word...

First a word of caution... I'm not a native speaker so there are things I may overlook in your text... :-) 'Last wednesday I've read...'Should be 'I read' since you specify when exactly in the past it happened.'...exiting challenge'Missing 'c' in 'exiting', should be 'exciting'. '... where I...