Understanding Phrasal Verbs

If you are going to understand the many facets of phrasal verbs it is best to accept the literal and figurative meanings behind the grammar piece and use the information to your advantage. Do not be satisfied just with the real sense;there has to be another hidden meaning that the preposition can help you decode. Take look up for example. When one looks up to someone, there is the real sense of raising your gaze so that you see the person and that is due to presence of up as opposed to down. The figurative use of looked up comes through when one takes the preposition to be not only a reference to altitude but also to a metaphorical sense such holding someone in esteem or high regard. When you see the use of high in high regard than it is easier to accept the figurative sense of up because whatever is up is usually high relative to its immediate surroundings.

Similar approaches could be made with the corollary, look down, meaning setting ones gaze lower as Alice in Wonderland did when she soon discovered herself to be a giant in meed of remedy to reduce her size and get on with her discoveries. Looking down at someone has its figurative sense just as looking up does. Holding someone in contempt or condescending helps to communicate that figurative sense of this phrasal verb. For that matter when one condescends his object is metaphorically placed at a lower plain and the actor sees himself as higher up on the social scale.