Phrasal Verbs

Basically, a phrasal verb is a combination of a verb with at least one other word. These can be a verb and an adverb, a verb and a preposition, or even a verb with an adverb and a preposition.

Example: "John flew off the handle." Which means that John became very angry.

Phrasal Verbs

1. grow up - behave responsibly; behave as an adult, not a child.

Phrasal verbs are made of two parts: a base verb and another small word that is either a preposition or an adverb particle.

It is not always possible to guess the meaning of a phrasal verb from the individual words in it. The more exposure you have to phrasal verbs the easier they are to learn.

Take a look at the following ten sentences and decide which preposition is needed to form the correct phrasal verb.
 

A few months ago we looked at some plant and flower idioms and many people found the idioms really helpful and interesting. Can you still remember how they are used? Here are some sentences to help you check your memory, as well as two new plant idioms to help you learn something new!

Good luck!

Lesson by Caroline Devane

Here is another opportunity for you to practise using phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs with 'put' are extremely common and here are just a few of them. In each sentence, decide which phrasal verb is needed to complete it correctly. I've put the meanings of the phrasal verbs below to help you decide. Don't put it off until tomorrow! Do this lesson now!

Today's lesson reviewd and builds on the 7 travel phrasal verbs we studied at a few weeks ago. Look at the these phrasal verbs and their definitions. Fill in the gaps with the correct phrasal verbs so that the text makes sense. (Keep in mind that the main verb changes according to the time and function of the sentence, e.g. drop off in a past passive structure is I was dropped off.

Here's an exercise to see how much you remember about these phrasal verbs which are all used to talk about travel and holidays. Decide which phrasal verb fits in each gap. Then check and see if any of them need to be in a different tense.

Remember, it's really important to double check your work for little mistakes!

Good luck!

By Caroline Devane

Take a look at the 3 phrasal verbs in these sentences. Do you know what they mean? You can write your guesses in the comments box below:

"The music was so loud that I couldn't make out what he was saying."
"The hotel takes on extra staff during the summer season."
"We've been putting away a little money every month to buy a laptop."

This cartoon looks at two meanings of let down.

Definitions of let down

Let down - When you let something down, you deflate it (let the air out of it).