It is, however, the figurative or idiomatic application in everyday speech which makes phrasal verbs so important:
"I hope you will get over your operation quickly."
"Work hard, and get your examination over."
The literal meaning of “to get over”, in the sense of “to climb over something to get to the other side”, no longer applies to explain the subject's enduring an operation or the stress of an examination which they have to overcome. It is when the combined meaning of verb plus adverb, or verb plus preposition is totally different from each its component parts, that the semantic content of the phrasal verb cannot be predicted by its constituent parts and so becomes much more difficult for a student learning English to recognise.
Another, but much more difficult, example is “to beat a path to someone’s door.”
an idiomatic phrasal verb meaning “to go and see someone frequently and in large numbers, because the person in demand represents someone well-known, successful and/or famous, and it is important that those calling at the door are able to speak to the person".
“The reporters were beating a path to the celebrity’s door.”
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