preposition or adverb? does it matter?

A matter is haunting me… All the dictionaries I’ve been looking up, as far as the so-called phrasal verbs, take care to make it clear whether the “words” following these verbs are prepositions or adverbs… Well, I wonder what’s actually the point of knowing whether a phrasal verb is followed by a preposition or an adverb… Thanks in advance for the answer. claudio

Many grammar books now call them two-part or multi-part verbs to avoid the problem. In other words the distinction adverb/preposition is virtually useless unless you are a professor of linguistics. The important thing is to know how to use them correctly! (R. Roberts)