Whenever you say: Let's get rid of the old books to have more space in the cabinet. You are using phrasal verbs.
And whenever you say let's give a round of applause to our next performer, you are using collocations. Both phrasal verbs and collocations are used in speech and writing, and while its usage seems pretty natural to native speakers, we as users of English as a second language are often perplexed by its use and construction.
What are phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs consist of a main verb plus either an adverb or a preposition. The term particle is another word for the adverb or preposition. Phrasal verbs provide the action in a sentence. However, by combining a verb with a particle, the combination of the words makes the verb phrase take on a meaning of its own
For example-
The boss has called off the team meeting today.
Some phrasal verbs are separable, and others are inseparable.
Inseparable phrasal verbs must take the object at the end, after the preposition.
Separable phrasal verbs can take the object in the middle, between the verb and the preposition, or at the end, just like inseparable phrasal verbs,
When we use a pronoun with separable phrasal verbs, the pronoun must come in the middle, between the verb and the preposition.
Collocations are combinations of one or more than one word that are often used together in a sentence. Fast food, quick meals, are all examples of collocations that due to their constant use have become part of our everyday English vocabulary.
There are different combinations of collocations like noun plus noun, noun plus verb, adjective plus verb, verb plus noun, verb plus adverb, adverb plus adjective and verb plus preposition.