What Is a Phrasal Verb?
A phrasal verb is a phrase
that’s made up of a verb and
another word or two, usually a preposition but
sometimes an adverb.
Phrasal verbs
work by changing the verb’s meaning based on the preposition that follows them.
Phrasal verbs
are used just like verbs—anywhere they make sense!
Usually, the
verb and preposition in a phrasal verb need to be said together, like in the
phrase “fall down.” In some cases, though, you can separate the verb and the
preposition by putting other words in between them.
For example: the phrase
“turn off” can be used just like that, or it can be interrupted by stating what
you’re turning off. In other words, you can say “turn off the
TV,” but you can also say “turn the
TV off.” Both
are correct!
| Separable Phrasal Verbs The object may come after the following phrasal verbs or it may separate the two parts:
When the object of the following phrasal verbs is a pronoun, the two parts of the phrasal verb must be separated:
| ||
| Verb | Meaning | Example |
| blow up | explode | The terrorists tried to blow up the railroad station. |
| bring up | mention a topic | My mother brought up that little matter of my prison record 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 overcarefully.) |
| 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, we really couldn't make out what he was saying. |
| pick out | choose | There were three men in the line-up. 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 | 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 over | peruse | I read over the homework, but couldn't make any sense of it. |
| set up | to arrange, begin | My wife set up the living room exactly the way she wanted it. She set it up. |
| 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. |
| 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 | put clothing on to see if it fits | She tried on fifteen dresses before she found one she liked. |
| 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 before anyone could see us. |
| turn off (2) | repulse | It was a disgusting movie. It really turned me off. |
| turn on | switch on the electricity | Turn on the CD player so we can dance. |
| 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?" | ||
| 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 | They country went through most of its coal reserves in one year. Did he go through all his money already? |
| look after | take care of | My mother promised to look after my dog 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." | ||
| 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 withthe neighbors and the news around town. |
| check up on | examine, investigate | The boys promised to check up on the condition of the summer house from time to time. |
| come up with | to contribute (suggestion, money) | After years of giving nothing, the old parishioner was able to come 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 | Janik 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 | It's typical of a jingoistic country that the citizens look down on their geographical neighbors. |
| 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 oldest sister took care of us younger children after Mom died. |
| 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." | ||
| 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 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 ever go back to Lithuania. |
| 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 (with gerund) | continue with the same | He tried to keep on singing long after his voice was ruined. |
| pass out | lose consciousness, faint | He had drunk too much; he passed out on the sidewalk outside the bar. |
| show off | demonstrate haughtily | Whenever he sat down at the piano, we knew he was going to show off. |
| show up | arrive | Day after day, Efrain showed up for class twenty minutes late. |
| wake up | arouse from sleep | I woke up when the rooster crowed. |
