Difference between verb+preposition and phrasal verbs?

Question

I am reading a book on grammar. Now I can't understand the difference between the `verb+preposition` and `phrasal verbs`. For example>He never thinks about(or of) other people.and>put on your coatWhy this book call `think about` a `verb+preposition` and `put on` a `phrasal verb`. What's the difference between them?Here are another examples about this subject###*verb+preposition*### - ask (somebody) for A man stopped me and asked me for money. - belong to ... Does this book belong to you? - talk to somebody about something Did you talk to Paul about the problem?###*phrasal verbs*###- Turn over Turn over and look at the next page- turn on It was dark, so I turned on the light.- bring back You can take my umbrella but please bring it back.I don't know the difference clearly.

Answer 1

A verb+preposition does not change the fundamental meaning of the verb. And example would be "go out". The literal meaning remains using the verb+preposition

.

A phrasal verb changes the literal meaning of the verb and preposition.

"Hold on" is a good example of the difference between a verb+preposition and a phrasal verb.

Getting onto a horse, the rider is told to "hold on". Literally to keep his hands ton the horse.

On the phone, when one speaker needs to take a pause, the listening is asked to "hold on". The listener is not being asked to actually hold anything, but to pause.

Answer 2

Verbs + prepositions are straightforward combinations and are literal. They mean exactly what they say. "I asked him for money," can't be stated in any other way, nor could it be confused by a non-native speaker, and is likely to be translated into other languages with out the meaning lost.

Phrasal verbs are more like idioms or slang terms. "She turned on the light," could be translated into something sexual in nature. It is a figurative expression and actually means that a person used a switch on the wall (or wherever it is) to make the light illuminate or that she completed the light's electrical circuit with a switch. The same is true of "bring back my umbrella." A non-native speaker may be confused by this and wonder what location of behind or back of you that you would like an umbrella and why. What it literally means is please return my umbrella to me. Native English speakers use these phrases so often that they seem quite common and just like other verbs, but in reality, they aren't.