There are four types of phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs can be separable or inseparable and they can take an object or not. Here is a guide to the basics of phrasal verbs.
University Terms Explained - Video and Fill in the Blank Activity
Food Phrasal Verbs and Discussion Questions
Phrasal Verbs, Negatives, Questions, Tag Questions, Have/Has (5 of 24)
Simple Present, Auxilaries, Interview, Object Pronouns (4 of 24)
Possessives, Verbal Phrases, Infinitives, Sentence Writing Spanish and English
Song (Collocations) Worksheet: Someone Like You
Unscramble the Phrasal Verb Sentences with Answer Key
Phrasal Verbs - Literal and Non-literal
Phrasal Verbs Worksheet 5 - Pattern of Sentence Structure
Phrasal Verbs Worksheet 4 - Correct the Mistake
Phrasal Verbs Worksheet 3 - Match and Fill the Gaps
Phrasal Verbs Speaking Game - Don't Say It!
Phrasal Verbs Worksheet 1 - Introduction and Reading Activity
Phrasal Verb Mind Map - Phrasal Verbs on Three Topics
Song Worksheet: Lost Stars (from the Movie Begin Again)
Song Worksheet: Tik Tok by Kesha
Play - Using Words and Expressions with the Word 'Play'
Phrasal Verbs with Particles - Away and Back
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs
Transitive Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs
Cold Weather Expressions and Idioms
Expressions with Get
Phrasal Verbs Esl Exercises
Phrasal Verbs & Idioms - Get
Phrasal Verbs List
13,587IntAdvPhrasal Verbs which Take Objects
Phrasal verbs which take objects are known as transitive phrasal verbs. These verbs can be separable or inseparable:
Separable phrasal verbs can remain together when using an object that is a noun or noun phrase.
I picked Tom up. OR I picked up Tom.
They put their friends up. OR They put up their friends.
My friends gave bowling up. OR My friends gave up bowling.
Separable phrasal verbs: pick up, put up, give up
Separable phrasal verbs MUST be separated when a pronoun is used:
We picked him up at the station. NOT We picked up him at the station.
They put them up. NOT They put up them.
She thought it up the other day. NOT She thought up it the other day.
Separable phrasal verbs: pick up, put up, think up
Ps3 mortal kombat cheats. Inseparable phrasal verbs always remain together. It makes no difference if a noun or pronoun is used.
We set off for the beach. / We set off for it.
They are looking after the children. / They are looking after them.
The teacher called for the answer in class. / The teacher called for it in class.
Inseparable phrasal verbs: set off, look after, call for
Phrasal Verbs which Don't Take Objects
Some phrasal verbs do not take objects. Verbs that do not take objects are also known as intransitive verbs. These phrasal verbs are ALWAYS inseparable.
The thieves got away.
The bus broke down on the way to work.
She got up early.
Intransitive phrasal verbs: get away, break down, get up
Phrasal Verbs Esl Worksheet
If you are not sure whether a phrasal verb is separable or inseparable, ALWAYS use a noun or nouns phrase and DO NOT separate. In this manner, you will always be correct!
Separable Phrasal Verbs: bring up, take off
They brought up their children to respect others.
She took off her jacket before she began the lesson.
The boss put off the meeting until next week.
Inseparable Phrasal Verbs: look for, set off, keep at
She was looking for her books when he arrived.
They set off for a wonderful holiday in Hawaii.
You should keep at your homework for at least an hour.
Three-word Phrasal Verbs
Some verbs are followed by two prepositions (or adverbs). These phrasal verbs are ALWAYS inseparable.
I'm looking forward to meeting John. OR I'm looking forward to meeting him.
They didn't get on with their mother. OR They didn't get on with her.
Peter came up with a great idea. OR Peter came up with it.
Three-word phrasal verbs: look forward to, get on with, come up with
Phrasal Verb Type Quiz
Check your understanding by identifying each phrasal verb as transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable.
For example:
My friend picked me up at the airport. -> pick up: transitive, separable
- We set off at six o'clock in the morning.
- Tom looks forward to meeting you next week.
- Unfortunately, the thieves got away.
- He told me that he had given cigarettes up last year.
- I got up and went to work.
- Jennifer thought it up during the meeting.
- I was so tired after the race I broke down.
- He brought the subject up during class yesterday.
- I'll look after your dogs while you're away on vacation.
- She came up with a great idea.
Quiz Answers
- set off: intransitive / inseparable
- look forward to: transitive / inseparable
- get away: intransitive / inseparable
- give up: transitive / separable
- get up: intransitive / inseparable
- think up: transitive / separable
- break down: intransitive / inseparable
- bring up: transitive / separable
- look after: transitive / inseparable
- come up with: transitive / inseparable
Continue Learning Phrasal Verbs
This phrasal verbs reference list will get you started with short definitions of approximately 100 of the most common phrasal verbs. Teachers can use this introducing phrasal verbs lesson plan to help students become more familiar with phrasal verbs and start building phrasal verb vocabulary. Finally, there are a wide variety of phrasal verb resources on the site to help you learn new phrasal verbs.
Getting students to come to terms with phrasal verbs is a constant challenge. The fact of the matter is that phrasal verbs are just rather difficult to learn. Learning phrasal verbs out of the dictionary can help, but students really need to read and hear phrasal verbs in context for them to be able to truly understand the correct usage of phrasal verbs.
This lesson takes a two-pronged approach to helping student learn phrasal verbs. It begins with a reading comprehension which can also serve to introduce some interesting student stories for discussion. This comprehension is peppered with phrasal verbs which can then be discussed as a class. The second part of the lesson includes a brainstorming session for students to create lists of phrasal verbs to share with one another.
Once students have become familiar with phrasal verbs, you can refer them to these resources to continue their learning. This phrasal verbs reference list will get students started with short definitions of approximately 100 of the most common phrasal verbs. This guide in how to study phrasal verbs will help them develop a strategy to understand and learn phrasal verbs.
Aim: Improve phrasal verb vocabulary
Activity:Reading comprehension followed by brainstorming session and discussion
Level: Intermediate to upper intermediate
Outline:
- Have the students read the short story full of phrasal verbs.
- Ask them some general comprehension questions about the text. Once they have read the text, ask them to tell a story of their own from their youth.
- Now that you have discussed the text, ask the students to find the phrasal verbs from the list which occur in the reading selection. Once the students have found these phrasal verbs, ask the students to provide synonyms for the phrasal verbs.
- Tell the students a little bit about what you have done that teaching day:Example:I got up at seven this morning. After I had breakfast, I put together tonight's lesson plan and came to school. I got into the bus at X square and got off at Y square..
- Ask students which of the verbs you used were phrasal verbs and ask them to repeat those verbs. At this point, you might want to ask them if they have ever taken a look under the heading 'get' in a dictionary. Ask them what they discovered.
- Explain that phrasal verbs are very important in English - especially for native speakers of the language. You can point out that it might not be important for them to be able to use a lot of phrasal verbs if they use their English with other non-native speakers. However, it is important that they have a passive knowledge of phrasal verbs, as they will need to understand more and more phrasal verbs as they become used to reading, listening, seeing and exploring authentic materials in English. Obviously, if they are going to use their English with native speakers, they will really need to buckle down and get used to using and understanding phrasal verbs.
- Write a list of common verbs that combine with prepositions to make phrasal verbs. I would suggest the following list:
- Take
- Get
- Make
- Put
- Bring
- Turn
- Be
- Carry
- Divide students into small groups of 3-4 each, ask students to choose three of the verbs from the list and then brainstorm to come up with as many phrasal verbs using each of the three verbs that they can. They should also write example sentences for each of the phrasal verbs.
- As a class, ask students to take notes while you write the phrasal verbs down that each group provides. You should then give a spoken example or two for each of the phrasal verbs so that students can understand the phrasal verbs from the context of what you are saying.
- Once you have provided the students with examples, ask the students to read their own examples and check to make sure that they have used the phrasal verbs correctly.
NOTE: Don't introduce the idea of separable and inseparable phrasal verbs at this point. The students will already be dealing with almost too much new information. Save that for a future lesson!
Adventures Growing Up
I was brought up in a small town in the countryside. Growing up in the countryside offered lots of advantages for young people. The only problem was that we often got into trouble as we made up stories that we acted out around town. I can remember one adventure in particular: One day as we were coming back from school, we came up with the brilliant idea to make out that we were pirates looking for treasure. My best friend Tom said that he made out an enemy ship in the distance. We all ran for cover and picked up a number of rocks to use for ammunition against the ship as we got ready to put together our plan of action. We were ready to set off on our attack, we slowly went along the path until we were face to face with our enemy - the postman's truck! The postman was dropping off a package at Mrs. Brown's house, so we got into his truck. At that point, we really didn't have any idea about what we were going to do next. The radio was playing so we turned down the volume to discuss what we would do next.
Jack was all for switching on the motor and getting away with the stolen mail! Of course, we were just children, but the idea of actually making off with a truck was too much for us to believe. We all broke out in nervous laughter at the thought of us driving down the road in this stolen Postal Truck. Luckily for us, the postman came running towards us shouting, 'What are you kids up to?!'. Of course, we all got out of that truck as quickly as we could and took off down the road.
Phrasal Verbs
- to make out
- to make off with
- to drop off
- to set off
- to get out of
- to get into
- to get ready
- to be up to
- to take off
- to grow up
- to make up
- to set off
- to turn down
- to get into
- to bring up
- to break out
There are at least 7 other phrasal verbs in the text. Can you find them?