Phrasal Verbs

Common phrasal verbs with meanings and example sentences, and the rules for separable and inseparable verbs.

What is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with a particle (an adverb or preposition) that together have a meaning different from the verb alone: 'give' means to hand over, but 'give up' means to stop or abandon.

Separable: the object can come between the verb and particle — turn off the light / turn the light off; with a pronoun it must come between: turn it off (not 'turn off it').
Inseparable: the object must come after the particle — look after the children (not 'look the children after').
Intransitive: no object — The car broke down.
Three-part phrasal verbs are inseparable: put up with, look forward to, do away with.

Common phrasal verbs

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
back out	withdraw from a promise	He backed out of the deal at the last minute.
break down	stop working; collapse emotionally	The bus broke down on the motorway.
break into	enter by force	Thieves broke into the shop.
bring about	cause to happen	The internet brought about a revolution in communication.
bring up	raise a child; mention a topic	She was brought up by her grandparents.
call off	cancel	The match was called off because of rain.
call on	visit briefly; formally ask	The minister called on the governor.
carry on	continue	Carry on with your work.
carry out	perform, execute	The government carried out a census.
come across	find by chance	I came across an old letter.
come up with	think of, produce	She came up with a brilliant idea.
cut down on	reduce	You should cut down on sugar.
do away with	abolish	The law did away with the old system.
drop out	leave school or a course early	He dropped out of college.
fall out	quarrel	The two friends fell out over money.
fill in	complete a form; substitute	Fill in this form, please.
get along with	have a good relationship	She gets along with her colleagues.
get over	recover from	It took him months to get over the loss.
give in	surrender, yield	The rebels finally gave in.
give up	stop, abandon	He gave up smoking.
go through	experience; examine	The country went through a crisis.
hold up	delay; rob	Traffic was held up by the protest.
keep up with	stay level with	It is hard to keep up with technology.
look after	take care of	Nurses look after patients.
look down on	regard as inferior	Never look down on the poor.
look forward to	wait eagerly for	I look forward to meeting you.
look into	investigate	The police are looking into the matter.
look up to	admire, respect	Students look up to their teachers.
make out	understand; see with difficulty	I could not make out his handwriting.
make up for	compensate	He worked late to make up for lost time.
pass away	die (polite)	His grandfather passed away last year.
point out	draw attention to	She pointed out the mistake.
put off	postpone	Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
put up with	tolerate	I cannot put up with this noise.
rule out	exclude a possibility	The doctor ruled out infection.
run out of	use up completely	We have run out of petrol.
see off	go to say goodbye to a traveller	We saw him off at the airport.
set off	start a journey; cause	They set off at dawn.
set up	establish	He set up a school in his village.
stand by	support; be ready	True friends stand by you.
take after	resemble a parent	She takes after her mother.
take off	remove; (of a plane) leave the ground	The plane took off on time.
take over	take control of	The new manager took over last week.
turn down	reject; reduce volume	He turned down the job offer.
turn up	arrive, appear; increase volume	Only ten people turned up.

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Practise English MCQs

What is a phrasal verb?

Separable: the object can come between the verb and particle — turn off the light / turn the light off; with a pronoun it must come between: turn it off (not 'turn off it').

Inseparable: the object must come after the particle — look after the children (not 'look the children after').

Intransitive: no object — The car broke down.

Three-part phrasal verbs are inseparable: put up with, look forward to, do away with.

Common phrasal verbs

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
back out	withdraw from a promise	He backed out of the deal at the last minute.
break down	stop working; collapse emotionally	The bus broke down on the motorway.
break into	enter by force	Thieves broke into the shop.
bring about	cause to happen	The internet brought about a revolution in communication.
bring up	raise a child; mention a topic	She was brought up by her grandparents.
call off	cancel	The match was called off because of rain.
call on	visit briefly; formally ask	The minister called on the governor.
carry on	continue	Carry on with your work.
carry out	perform, execute	The government carried out a census.
come across	find by chance	I came across an old letter.
come up with	think of, produce	She came up with a brilliant idea.
cut down on	reduce	You should cut down on sugar.
do away with	abolish	The law did away with the old system.
drop out	leave school or a course early	He dropped out of college.
fall out	quarrel	The two friends fell out over money.
fill in	complete a form; substitute	Fill in this form, please.
get along with	have a good relationship	She gets along with her colleagues.
get over	recover from	It took him months to get over the loss.
give in	surrender, yield	The rebels finally gave in.
give up	stop, abandon	He gave up smoking.
go through	experience; examine	The country went through a crisis.
hold up	delay; rob	Traffic was held up by the protest.
keep up with	stay level with	It is hard to keep up with technology.
look after	take care of	Nurses look after patients.
look down on	regard as inferior	Never look down on the poor.
look forward to	wait eagerly for	I look forward to meeting you.
look into	investigate	The police are looking into the matter.
look up to	admire, respect	Students look up to their teachers.
make out	understand; see with difficulty	I could not make out his handwriting.
make up for	compensate	He worked late to make up for lost time.
pass away	die (polite)	His grandfather passed away last year.
point out	draw attention to	She pointed out the mistake.
put off	postpone	Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
put up with	tolerate	I cannot put up with this noise.
rule out	exclude a possibility	The doctor ruled out infection.
run out of	use up completely	We have run out of petrol.
see off	go to say goodbye to a traveller	We saw him off at the airport.
set off	start a journey; cause	They set off at dawn.
set up	establish	He set up a school in his village.
stand by	support; be ready	True friends stand by you.
take after	resemble a parent	She takes after her mother.
take off	remove; (of a plane) leave the ground	The plane took off on time.
take over	take control of	The new manager took over last week.
turn down	reject; reduce volume	He turned down the job offer.
turn up	arrive, appear; increase volume	Only ten people turned up.