Examples
Phrasal verbs are very common in English and it is estimated there are around 5,000 in the English language. They can be tricky for English learners.
This page aims to explain some basic rules of phrasal verbs, approaches to learning them and some common examples. This page will cover:
- Introduction – What is a phrasal verb? Transitive + Intransitive (separable or not?)
- Basic phrasal verbs.
- 50 common phrasal verbs.
- Learning phrasal verbs – tips and examples.
What is a phrasal verb?
A phrasal verb consists of a verb and (at least one) preposition.
*** these can sometimes be referred to as ‘particles’
For example:
- I usually get up at 7:30 a.m.
- I recently took up painting. (to start a new hobby)
These two examples show how a phrasal verb can be very simple to understand (to get up) and less clear for someone who doesn’t know the meaning (to take up).
Transitive and Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
Terms like these can make grammar confusing, even for native speakers! However, let’s make it simple.
Basically, there are two types of phrasal verbs:
- A transitive phrasal verb, like other transitive verbs, has an object, so that means it can (usually) be separated. For example:
- ‘Hang up your coat.’ or ‘Hang your coat up.’
In this case, the object can go after the phrasal verb, or in between the verb and preposition.
However, when using a pronoun to replace the noun, it must be separated:
- Whoever owns this coat, can you hang it up please? ✅
- Whoever own this coat, can you
hang up itplease? ⮽
Furthermore, some transitive phrasal verbs (those which take an object) cannot be separated. For example:
- I am looking for my phone = I’m looking for it.
- I’m getting on the bus = I’m getting on it.
- An intransitive phrasal verb does not have an object and is not separated.
- He turned up late to the party. ✅
He turned to the party up late. ⮽
As you learn phrasal verbs, it is important to learn if they can or cannot be separated. It will help you use them correctly.
Now that we have the basics, let’s have a look at some of the most basic phrasal verbs.
Basic Phrasal Verbs
Some phrasal verbs are very common and describe very common actions. They are used throughout the day and have an obvious or clear meaning.
They often include very clear verbs like take, call, wake, turn, put, take, pick, come and get.
For example:
Put on your coat – Take off your coat.
Get on the bus – Get off the bus
Turn off the TV – Turn on the TV
Pick up the toy – Put down the toy
Call over to my house – Come over to my house
Wake up at 7 a.m. – Get up at 7 a.m.
Turn around to check – Turn over the page
Hang up a painting (on the wall) – Take down a painting (off the wall).
This section will not deal very much with these easier to understand phrasal verbs.
Instead, we will look at 50 very common phrasal verb which often have more than one meaning and are less obvious to understand.
The table below gives the phrasal verb, meaning(s) and a sample sentence. It is followed by some general tips on how to learn phrasal verbs and incorporate them into your speaking.
50 Common Phrasal Verbs
| Phrasal Verb | Meaning | Sample Sentence |
Break down | For a machine (car) to stop working | My car broke down on the way to work. |
| Make simpler/ easier to understand | Let me break those statistics down. | |
| Carry out | To do/ undertake something | We carried out customer surveys. |
| Come around/ round/over/ by | Visit a person’s house | Why don’t you call around tomorrow? |
Come up with | To create/ invent (an idea/ solution) | It’s brilliant, how did you come up with it? |
Come about | To happen | He invested? How did that come about? |
Come across | To seem/ appear/ act like | He came across as very rude at first. |
Calm down | Become more relaxed, less angry | Ok, I’m sorry, just calm down a little. |
Cheer up | To become happier | Oh cheer up, it’s not that bad! |
Count on | To rely/ depend on someone | I’m counting on you for this to be a success. |
Crack down on | To penalize behaviour more harshly. | Police are cracking down on drink driving. |
Cut down on | Reduce the amount used/ consumed | I need to cut down on the desserts! |
Get on/ along with | To have a good relationship with | I don’t get along with my brother-in-law. |
Get over | To accept/ come to terms with | It took years to get over my divorce. |
Get at | To imply, suggest without saying | What are you getting at exactly? |
Get by | To survive financially | Since I lost my job, I’m struggling to get by. |
Get together | To meet/ socialise with people | We should get together next weekend. |
Get away with | Not be caught/ punished for …… | It was a bad mistake but I got away with it. |
Go ahead | Happen/ take place | The match didn’t go ahead unfortunately. |
Go on | Happening | What’s going on here? |
To proceed to do/ accomplish | She went on to work for NASA. | |
Give out to | To shout at/ chastise | His Mum gave out to him for cheating. |
Give up | To quit doing something | He gave up smoking last year. |
Keep up | To maintain/ even with someone/thing | I can’t keep up with work, I’m so busy! |
Keep from | Not to tell someone/ a secret | Why did you keep this from? |
Let down | To disappoint someone | I felt very let down by my colleagues. |
Let up | To cease, stop or reduce | The rain isn’t letting up. |
Look up to | Respect/ admire someone | I’ve always looked up my Dad. |
Look after | To take care of, mind, supervise | Can you look after my dog next week? |
Look into | Research/ find an answer | I don’t know but I’ll look into it for you. |
Look for | Searching, seek, try to buy | I’m looking for my phone. |
Look over/ through | To examine/ read something | I need to look over my presentation. |
Make up for | To compensate/ replace | Sorry I’m late but I’ll make up for it. |
Make of | To think/ have an impression of | What did you make of the movie? |
Make up | To create/ imagine (a lie/ story) | My students love making up short stories. |
Pass on | To die | My father passed away last year. |
To give information to another person | Can you pass on a message please? | |
Pick up | To collect something/one | Can you pick me up from the station? |
Pick on | To bully, intimidate | My boss is always picking on me. |
Put up with | To tolerate/ accept | I have to put up with rude customers. |
Put off | To delay/ postpone | We have to put off today’s meeting. |
Run/ bump into | To meet unexpectedly | I ran into Mrs. Jones earlier today. |
Run out of | Very little left of something | We’re running out of time to finish this. |
Set up | To establish/ organise | Can we set up a meeting for next week? |
Set aside | To save/ keep (usually money) | I always set aside money for Christmas. |
Show (turn) up | To come to/ attend/ be present | John didn’t how up for work today. |
Sort out | To solve a problem/ situation | I have a few minor details to sort out first. |
Take after | To resemble (physical/ character) | I take after my father in that way. |
Take aback | Be surprised by (usually passive) | I was taken aback when I saw the bill! |
Turn down | Refuse an offer | I turned down the promotion and I quit. |
Turn out | The end result, often surprising | It turns out he knew about it all along! |
Work up | To gain/ build up (courage) | I’m working up the courage to ask for a raise |
To work out | To exercise/ lift weights | I try to work out twice a week. |
To understand | I can’t work out what’s wrong with it. |
A final note on prepositions
- They are like all other verbs and follow the same conjugation rules. For example:
- Present Simple – He carries out surveys but he doesn’t sort out the results.
- Modal verbs – He should put off the meeting and he can make up for it.
- Past Tenses – I ran into George today. I was picking up the dry cleaning.
- Perfect tenses – My car has just broken down!
- They are difficult for learners to use appropriately in the right context. Some useful tips for learning them include:
- You can group them together when learning them in a number of ways. By topic for example – daily routines, health and fitness, business/ the workplace.
- You can also group them together by verb, learning common phrasal verbs with take, make, go, think, work etc.
- Crucial to learning them is practicing them, making your own examples and trying to use them appropriately. Ask someone if you have used it correctly if you are unsure.