Phrasal verbs are an integral part of the English language, and mastering them is essential for clear and effective communication. This guide provides an in-depth look at what phrasal verbs are and how to correctly construct and use them in everyday conversations.
Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and a particle (preposition, adverb). The particle can change the meaning of the verb completely. For example::
- look up – consult a reference book (look a word up in a dictionary)
- look for – seek (look for her ring)
- look forward – anticipate with pleasure (look forward to meeting someone)
| 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 | My mother brought up that little matter of my bad mark again. |
| 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 | Fill out this application form and mail it in. |
| 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. |
| make out | 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 | save or store | 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 | He applied for a promotion twice this year, but he was turned down both times. |
| 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 a disgusting movie. It really 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 I 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 | I found it very hard to get along with my brother when we were young. |
| 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 | First-graders really look up to their teachers. |
| 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 | That old Jeep had a tendency to break down just when I needed it the most. |
| 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 | The children promised to come over, but they never do. |
| drop by | visit without an appointment | We used to just drop by, but they were never home, so we stopped doing that. |
| 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 by without borrowing money from relatives |
| get up | arise | Grandmother tried to get up, but the couch was too low, and she couldn’t make it on her own. |
| 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. |
