Introduction
A phrasal verb is the combination of a standard verb such as make or put with one or two particles. In some cases the particle is an adverb such as away, together; in others, it is a preposition such as through, in and in some others it is a combination of a particle and a preposition. In general, a phrasal verb is a combination of 2 or 3 words. The phrasal verbs cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual parts, but must be taken as a whole. Here are a few examples of the many hundreds of English phrasal verbs: pass away, pull together, fall through, make do with, put down to.
Phrasal Verb Constructions: Primarily there are 3 main types of phrasal verb constructions as below:
- Verb + Preposition (prepositional verbs) : Examples: 1. Who is looking after the kids? 2. I ran into an old friend. After and into are prepositions.
- Verb + Particle (particle verbs): Examples: 1. You should not give in so quickly. Here in is a particle. A particle is a word or a part of a word that has a grammatical purpose but often has little or no meaning.
- Verb + Particle + Preposition (particle-prepositional verbs): Examples: 1. She is looking forward to the party. 2. I cannot put up with that?
- Transitive Phrasal Verb : Phrasal verbs which require an object in a sentence are called transitive phrasal verbs. Ex: She looks after the dog. looks after is a phrasal verb and the dog is the object without which the sentence would not have a complete meaning.
- Intransitive Phrasal Verb: Phrasal verbs which do not require an object in a sentence are called transitive phrasal verbs. Ex: His grandmother passed away. The phrasal verb in bold does not have an object.
- Separable Phrasal Verb: Phrasal Verbs whose words can be separated to be used in different places in a sentence. Ex: Please turn on the light vs. Please turn the light on.
- Inseparable Phrasal Verb: Phrasal Verbs whose words cannot be separated to be used in different places in a sentence. Ex: The boy ran away.
Quiz
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Ask after (ask about the welfare, inquire after) | I met your brother at the party, he asked after you. |
| Ask for (request for) | She asked for a glass of water. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Back out (go back on, withdraw from promise) | He agreed to help but backed out at the last moment. |
| Bear away (win) | Suhani bore away the first prize in the dance competition. |
| Bear on/upon [relevant, (bearing on)] | Your remarks have no bearing on the main problem. |
| Bear out (support the argument, corroborate) | I am sure my classmates will bear out my statement. |
| Bear with (to show patience, co-operate) | In view of the heavy losses suffered by the company, the shareholders were requested to bear with. |
| Bear out (extinguish) | The candle blew out as the gust of wind came in. |
| Blow over (pass off without harm, come to an end) | Don’t worry, the crisis are likely to blow over. |
| Blow up (explode, start suddenly) | The plan of the enemy to blow up the fly-over was foiled by the police. |
| Break down (emotional collapse, stop functioning) | While giving evidence in the court, she broke down. |
| Break into (enter by force) | The robbers broke into his house last night. |
| Break out [spread (war, epidemic, fire, riots)] | The fear that aids has broken out in India is not unfounded. |
| Break through (discover a secret, major achievement) | There is no hope of break through in the murder case. |
| Break up [terminate (meeting, school, session)] | The college will break up next week for summer vacation. |
| Bring about (cause to happen) | The administration helped to bring about a peaceful settlement. |
| Bring out (explain the meaning, publish) | When asked to explain, she could not bring out the meaning of the poem. |
| Bring round (to make one agree, bring to senses) | I was able to bring my mother round to my views with great difficulty. |
| Bring up (rear, educate) | Fathers are beginning to play a bigger role in bringing up their children. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Call in/call out (send for help) | The police were called in without delay by the residents. |
| Call off (suspend or abandon) | We decided to call off the strike. |
| Call on (go and visit a person) | It is a tradition for the Prime Minister to call on the President. |
| Call upon (appeal, exhort) | He was called upon to prove the correctness of the press reports. |
| Carry on (continue) | Now it is difficult to carry on this business in the teeth of stiff competition. |
| Carry out (implement, obey, execute) | It is not likely that your father will carry out the threat of disinheriting you. |
| Cast down (dejected, down cast) | Now-a-days he is cast down as a result of his failure in the examination. |
| Cast off (release, remove) | Organization must cast off old fashioned practices in order to survive. |
| Catch up with (make up for deficiency, overtake) | He remained ill for many days but caught up with the pending work very soon. |
| Come about (happen) | It is not good that such an unfortunate accident cam talent about. |
| Come across (meet by chance) | I came across my old friend in the market yesterday. |
| Come by (get) | How have you come by such a precious diamond? |
| Come of (belong to) | Reeta comes of a family of freedom fighters. |
| Come round (agree, recover from illness) | My father at first refused to let me continue study but he came round in the end. |
| Cope with (manage) | They coped with all their problems cheerfully. |
| Cut down (curtail, reduce) | Since you are out of job these days, you must cut down your expenditure. |
| Cut out for (suitable) | He is cut out for an administrative career. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Die down [gradually disappear (riots, excitement, storm etc.)] | The wind has died down. |
| Die out (become out of use or existence) | He thought that the custom had died out a long time ago. |
| Do away with (eradicate) | We should do away with social evils. |
| (Have) Done with (have no relation) | I have done with him because of his dishonesty. |
| Drop out (retire in the midst of doing something) | She could not qualify for the selection as she dropped out while the race was in progress. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Fall back (retreat) | The rioters fell back when the police arrived. |
| Fall back on (depend on) | You must save money to fall back on it in old age. |
| Fall off (decrease in number, get separated) | In the wake of roof tragedy the admissions in the school have fallen off. |
| Fall out (quarrel) | The two friends appear to have fallen out over a minor issue. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Get along (be friendly) | They just can’t get along together because of temperamental differences. |
| Get at (reach, understand) | It is very difficult to get at the truth etc. |
| Get away with (without being punished or with little punishment) | Although his fault was serious, he got away with light punishment. |
| Get on (progress) | How is your son getting on with your study? |
| Get over (recover from illness or shock, come over) | He is still trying to get over the financial crises. |
| Get through (pass through, succeed) | It is not possible to get through examination without labour. |
| Give away (distribute) | She has given away jewellery worth thousands of Rupees. |
| Give in (surrender, agree) | At first she was adamant but at last she gave in to the request of her friend. |
| Give up (stop, abstain from) | He gave up smoking to save money. |
| Give way (collapse under pressure, break) | The contractor was charged with negligence when the roof of a new building gave way. |
| Go down (be believed) | Your excuse will not go down. |
| Go off (explode and be discharged) | When he was cleaning his gun it west off and killed him. |
| Go through (read hurriedly, endure) | He didn’t lend me the newspaper because he was going through it. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Hand out (distribute) | Hand out the books to the students. |
| Hand over (give charge or authority) | He has not handed over charge to the new manager. |
| Hold on (carry on, bear difficulties, persist) | Inspite of financial difficulties he held on and succeeded in the long run. |
| Hold out (resist) | When the robbers ran short of ammunition, they could no longer hold out. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Jump at (accept happily) | He jumped at the offer of his boss to accept the job abroad. |
| Jump to (arrive suddenly [conclusion]) | You should never jump to conclusions. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Keep from (refrain from, not to mix with) | Always keep from selfish people because they can harm you anytime. |
| Keep off (keep at a distance) | There was a notice at the site, “Keep off the bushes.” |
| Keep on (continue) | She kept on crying inspite of my assurance of help. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Lay by (save money) | The wise men always lay by money for their old age. |
| Lay down (establish a rule, sacrifice, surrender) | The conditions laid down by the Department of Health were violated by the nursing homes. |
| Lay off (to discontinue work, dismiss temporarily) | The workers have been laid off for want of raw material. |
| Lay out (plan building, garden etc.) | A number of gardens were laid out by the Moghuls. |
| Let down (humiliate, to lower down) | We should never let down our friends. |
| Live on (depend for food (staple food) | The lion is carnivorous and lives on flesh. |
| Live by (means/manner) | You must learn to live by honest means. |
| Look after (take care of) | In her old age she has no one to look after her. |
| Look at (see carefully) | The boys are looking at the sky. |
| Look back on (to think of the past) | People can often look back and reflect on happy childhood memories. |
| Look for (search for a lost thing) | She was looking for her lost books. |
| Look down upon (hate, despise) | It is folly on your part to look down upon the poor students. |
| Look into (investigate the matter) | A committee was set up to look into the problem. |
| Look upto (respect) | His younger brother looks upto him and obeys his every order. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Make off with/away with (run away, destroy) | They made off with the cash and fled. |
| Make out (understand the meaning) | The police could not make out the coded message they intercepted. |
| Make over (transfer possession, convert) | Since she had no legal heir, she made over her house in charity. |
| Make up (to end (quarrel), compose) | You should make an effort to make up a quarrel with your friend. |
| Make up for (compensate for) | After her long illness she is trying her best to make up for her deficiency in study. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Pass away (die, expire) | On the passing away of his father I sent him a message of condolence. |
| Pass for (regarded to be) | The TATAs pass for philanthropists in the country. |
| Pass off (take place) | The elections are likely to pass off peacefully. |
| Pass oneself off (show off) | The hypocrites always pass themselves off as honest persons. |
| Pass out (leave after completing education) | The cadets will pass out next month after completing their training. |
| Pull down (demolish a structure) | Why did they pull the shops down? |
| Pull off (succeed) | India pulled off victory in the last stage of the match. |
| Pull up (stop, scold) | The students were pulled up by the Principal for their misbehaviour with the class teacher. |
| Put down (crush, keep down) | The riots were put down by the local police. |
| Put off (postpone, avoid, discourage) | The meeting had to be put off because the President could not come. |
| Put on (wear, pretend) | It is difficult to put on the appearance of innocence for a long time. |
| Put out (extinguish) | The fire was put out suddenly. |
| Put up (stays, question) | He is putting up at a hostel these days. |
| Put up with (tolerate patiently) | For an honourable person it is difficult to put up with the haughty behaviour of the Directors. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Run after (pursue, hanker after) | We should not run after money. |
| Run down (criticise, poor health) | As a result of long illness she has run down a lot. |
| Run into (come across, meet by chance) | While walking along the roadside, I ran into my old schoolmates. |
| Run out (come to an end) | When the rations ran out, the head office was informed. |
| Run over (crush under) | He was run over by a speeding car. |
| Run through (waste money) | It is a pity that he has run through his fortune over gambling and drinking. |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| See off (to escort a guest for his departure) | His friends were present at the station to see him off. |
| See through (discover something hidden, motive) | Man has grown so clever that it is difficult to see through his tricks. |
| Send for (summon) | She sent for a doctor when her husband fell ill. |
| Set about (start doing) | As soon as she reached home, she set about calling up her friends. |
| Set aside (allocate, strike down, turn down) | The High court set aside the verdict of the lower court in this sensitive matter. |
| Set in (begin) | As soon as the summer sets in, the reptiles come out of hibernation. |
| Set off (to start a series of events, process, improve) | (i) Cosmetics set off the natural grace. (ii) Privatisation has set off the process of liberalisation in foreign trade. |
| Set forth (start on a journey, explain) | The party will set forth its views on globalisation at a public rally. |
| Stand by (support, help) | Although he promised to stand by me in difficulties, he did not live up to it. |
| Stand for (represent) | T.E.C. stands for Technical Education Certificate. |
| Stand out (to be conspicuous) | She stood out from the crowd because of her as |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Turn up (arrive, take place) | Who can say what will turn up next? |
| Phrasal Verb | Example |
|---|---|
| Wipe away (cleanse, remove) | The marks of blood were wiped away by the accused. |
| Wipe out (destroy completely) | We must try to wipe out poverty from the country. |
| Work up (incite, instigate) | The politicians should not try to work up communal frenzy. |
| Work upon (influence) | The leader tried to work upon the mob. |