Phrasal verbs are an integral part of the English language, and knowing them is crucial for clear and effective communication. This post provides an in-depth look at what phrasal verbs are and how to construct and use them in English correctly.
Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and a particle (preposition, adverb). The particle can change the meaning of the verb completely.
For example:
- Break down:
- The car broke down on the highway. (The car stopped functioning.)
- Break up:
- They decided to break up after years of dating. (They ended their romantic relationship.)
- Break into:
- Someone tried to break into our house last night. (Someone attempted to enter the house illegally.)
Types of Phrasal Verbs
- Transitive Phrasal Verbs: These phrasal verbs need a direct object to complete their meaning. For example, when you say “turn off the lights,” where “lights” is the direct object influenced by the verb and preposition combination.
- Intransitive Phrasal Verbs: These verbs do not require a direct object and can stand alone. For instance, “She woke up early,” where the phrasal verb “woke up” doesn’t need an object to convey its meaning.
- Separable Phrasal Verbs: In these verbs, the particle can be placed between the main verb and the object or at the end of the sentence. For example, “They called the meeting off” and “They called off the meeting” are both correct.
- Inseparable Phrasal Verbs: In this case, the particle is always attached to the verb, and the verb and particle cannot be separated. Consider “She takes after her mother” or “He looks up to his older brother.”
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Become of | Happen to | If she is sent to prison, what will become of her children? |
| blow up | explode | They tried to blow up the railroad station. |
| bring up | mention a topic | Please fill out this application form and mail it in. |
| bring up | raise children | It isn’t easy to bring up children nowadays. |
| call off | Cancel | They called off this afternoon’s meeting |
| do over | repeat a job | Do this homework over. |
| Deal with | take action to do something | I spent the morning dealing with my exercises. |
| fill out | complete a form | make out, |
| fill up | fill to capacity | She filled up the grocery cart with free food. |
| find out | discover | My sister found out that her husband had been planning a surprise party for her |
| give away | give something to someone else for free | The filling station was giving away free gas. |
| give back | return an object | My brother borrowed my car. I have a feeling he’s not about to give it back. |
| Give up | cease making an effort | The boxer gave up the fight in the middle of round 3 |
| Give up (2) | stop doing something | Tom gave up smoking last year |
| Have over | Come to visit or stay with | We’re having the Simpsons over for supper on Tuesday evening. |
| hand in | submit something (assignment) | The students handed in their papers and left the room. |
| hang up | put something on-hook or receiver | She hung up the phone before she hung up her clothes. |
| hold up | delay | I hate to hold up the meeting, but I have to go to the bathroom. |
| hold up (2) | rob | Three masked gunmen held up the Security Bank this afternoon. |
| Kick out | to force someone to leave a place or organization | Sonia’s been kicked out of her house. |
| Look for | search for someone or something | I’m looking for Jim. Have you seen him? |
| leave out | omit | You left out the part about the police chase down Asylum Avenue. |
| look over | examine, check | The lawyers looked over the papers carefully before questioning the witness. (They looked them over carefully.) |
| look up | search in a list | You’ve misspelled this word again. You’d better look it up. |
| make up | invent a story or lie | She knew she was in trouble, so she made up a story about going to the movies with her friends. |
| save, or store | hear, understand | He was so far away, that we really couldn’t make out what he was saying. |
| Make out (2) | to write all the necessary information on a document | She made out a cheque and handed it to me. |
| pick out | choose | There were three men in the lineup. She picked out the guy she thought had stolen her purse. |
| pick up | lift something off something else | The crane picked up the entire house. (Watch them pick it up.) |
| point out | call attention to | As we drove through Paris, Francoise pointed out the major historical sites. |
| put away | I read over the homework but couldn’t make any sense of it. | We put away money for our retirement / She put away the cereal boxes. |
| put off | postpone/delay | We asked the boss to put off the meeting until tomorrow. (Please put it off for another day.) |
| put on | put clothing on the body | I put on a sweater and a jacket. (I put them on quickly.) |
| put out | extinguish | The firefighters put out the house fire before it could spread. (They put it out quickly.) |
| Read out | Speak loudly | He reads the list of names out. |
| read over | peruse | I read over the homework, but couldn’t make any sense of it. |
| Sit up | to go to bed later than usual | We sat up very late yesterday talking |
| set up | to arrange, begin | My wife set up the living room exactly the way she wanted it. |
| take down | make a written note | These are your instructions. Write them down before you forget. |
| take off | remove clothing | It was so hot that I had to take off my shirt. |
| Take off (2) | copy someone for fun | Beth can take off Mr. Bean brilliantly. |
| Take up | to start doing something as a habit or job | Chris has taken up jogging. |
| talk over | discuss | We have serious problems here. Let’s talk them over like adults. |
| throw away | discard | That’s a lot of money! Don’t just throw it away. |
| try on | to put on a piece of clothing to see how it looks | What a lovely dress! Why don’t you try it on? |
| try out | test | I tried out four cars before I could find one that pleased me. |
| turn down | lower volume | Your radio is driving me crazy! Please turn it down. |
| turn down (2) | reject | It was an awful movie. It really turned me off. |
| turn up | raise the volume | Grandpa couldn’t hear, so he turned up his hearing aid. |
| turn off | switch off electricity | We turned off the lights so that the baby could sleep. |
| turn off (2) | repulse | It was an awful movie. It turned me off. |
| turn on | switch on the electricity | Turn on that TV set, please. |
| use up | exhaust, use completely | The gang members used up all the money and went out to rob some more banks. |
Inseparable Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)
With the following phrasal verbs, the lexical part of the verb (the part of the phrasal verb that carries the “verb-meaning”) cannot be separated from the prepositions (or other parts) that accompany it: “Who will look after my estate when I’m gone?”
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
| call on | ask to recite in class | The teacher called on students in the back row. |
| call on (2) | visit | The old minister continued to call on his sick parishioners. |
| get over | recover from sickness or disappointment | I got over the flu but don’t know if I’ll ever get over my broken heart. |
| go over | review | The students went over the material before the exam. They should have gone over it twice. |
| go through | use up; consume | The country went through most of its coal reserves in one year. Did it go through all his money already? |
| look after | take care of | My mother promised to look after my cat while I was gone. |
| look into | investigate | The police will look into the possibilities of embezzlement. |
| run across | find by chance | I ran across my old roommate at the college reunion. |
| run into | meet | Carlos ran into his English professor in the hallway. |
| take after | resemble | My second son seems to take after his mother. |
| wait on | serve | It seemed strange to see my old boss wait on tables. |
Three-Word Phrasal Verbs (Transitive)
With the following phrasal verbs, you will find three parts: “My brother dropped out of school before he could graduate.”
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
| break in on | interrupt (a conversation) | I was talking to Mom on the phone when the operator broke in on our call. |
| catch up with | keep abreast | After our month-long trip, it was time to catch up with the neighbors and the news around town. |
| check up on | examine, investigate | The boys promised to check up on the condition of the summer |
| come up with | to contribute (suggestion, money) | The old lady came up with a thousand-dollar donation |
| cut down on | curtail (expenses) | We tried to cut down on the money we were spending on Entertainment. |
| drop out of | leave school | I hope none of my students drop out of school this semester. |
| get along with | have a good relationship with | First-graders look up to their teachers. |
| get away with | escape blame | Janis cheated on the exam and then tried to get away with it. |
| get rid of | eliminate | The citizens tried to get rid of their corrupt mayor in the recent election |
| get through with | finish | When will you ever get through with that program? |
| keep up with | maintain pace with | It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses when you lose your job! |
| look forward to | anticipate with pleasure | I always look forward to the beginning of a new semester. |
| look down on | despise | They looked down on him because of his shabby clothes |
| look in on | visit (somebody) | We were going to look in on my brother-in-law, but he wasn’t home. |
| look out for | be careful, anticipate | Good instructors will look out for early signs of failure in their students |
| look up to | respect | The teacher had to put up with a lot of nonsense from the new students. |
| make sure of | verify | Make sure of the student’s identity before you let him into the classroom. |
| put up with | tolerate | The teacher had to put up with a great deal of nonsense from the new students. |
| run out of | exhaust/supply | The runners ran out of energy before the end of the race. |
| take care of | be responsible for | My sister used to take care of me when my mother was out. |
| talk back to | answer impolitely | The star player talked back to the coach and was thrown off the team. |
| think back on | recall | I often think back on my childhood with great pleasure. |
| walk out on | abandon | Her husband walked out on her and their three children. |
Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
The following phrasal verbs are not followed by an object: “Once you leave home, you can never really go back again.”
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
| break down | stop functioning | The children promised to come over, but they never did. |
| catch on | become popular | Popular songs seem to catch on in California first and then spread Eastward. |
| come back | return to a place | Father promised that we would never come back to this horrible place. |
| come in | enter | They tried to come in through the back door, but it was locked. |
| come to | regain consciousness | He was hit on the head very hard, but after several minutes, he started to come to again. |
| come over | to visit | We used to drop by, but they were never home, so we stopped doing that. |
| drop by | visit without an appointment | Grandmother tried to get up, but the couch was too low, and she couldn’t make it alone. |
| eat out | dine in a restaurant | When we visited Paris, we loved eating out in the sidewalk cafes. |
| get by | survive | Uncle Heine didn’t have much money, but he always seemed to get bywithout borrowing money from relatives |
| get up | arise | He would finish one Dickens novel and then go on to the next. |
| go back | return to a place | It’s hard to imagine that we will never go back to visit this place. |
| go on | continue | He would finish one Dickens novel and then just go on to the next. |
| go on (2) | happen | The cops heard all the noise and stopped to see what was going on. |
| grow up | get older | Charles grew up to be a lot like his father. |
| keep away | remain at a distance | The judge warned the stalker to keep away from his victim’s home. |
| keep on | continue with the same | He tried to keep on singing long after his voice was ruined. |
| pass out | lose consciousness, faint | he passed out for 15 minutes after his car hit the tree. |
| show off | demonstrate haughtily or arrogantly | after he bought that car, he was always showing off. |
| show up | arrive | Day after day, The student showed up for class twenty minutes late. |
| wake up | arouse from sleep | I woke up when the rooster crowed. |
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