PHRASAL VERBS

A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of two or three words. The first word is a verb, and the second word is a particle i.e. either an adverb or a preposition such as in, up, or on.

Examples of common phrasal verbs include get up, turn off, and deal with.

There are also some phrasal verbs that have two particles, for example, catch up with and look forward to.

In other words, a phrasal verb is a verb with an adverb, preposition, or both.

It is difficult to guess the meaning of a phrasal verb from the meaning of each of the two or three parts.

The verb usually takes a figurative meaning in the phrasal verb.

• I ran away from the growling dog -+ not a phrasal verb
• You can’t just run away from your responsibilities – phrasal verb = to avoid dealing with a problem
• I ran across the sports field – › not a phrasal verb
• I ran across an old friend the other day – + phrasal verb = to meet someone or find something by chance.

Education (NOUN)

BE INTO: be interested in.

My friend is into poetry.

Derek is able to solve problems quicker than others in the class as he is into arithmetics.

CATCH UP WITH:

succeed in reaching a person who is ahead of one.

If I still don’t start reading the notes, / will never catch up with the class.

FALL BEHIND:

fail to keep up with one’s competitor.

He’s fallen behind with his school work again.

READ UP ON:

to get information on a particular subject by reading a lot about it.

I need to read up on Bluff body aerodynamics before the big test.

GO OVER:

to examine or check something carefully.

“Go over your notes, before the interview,” said my sister to me.

PUT OFF:

to delay doing it

Putting off studies until the last moment is never a good idea.

READ OVER:

to read something from beginning to end especially to look for mistakes or check details.

One should always read over their answer sheets before submission to avoid errors.

TAKE UP:

start doing a new activity.

Steve took up the position of the school’s new editor this year.

HAND OUT:

give something to each person in a group.

Emily handed out flyers to her classmates.

COPY OUT:

write something again exactly as it was written.

Nim copied out her entire presentation from a book.

HAND IN/ TURN IN:

to give something to a person in authority.

All essays must be handed in by this weekend.

Mario failed to turn in the submission even after the deadline passed.

DROP OUT:

to stop doing something before you have completely finished.

Due to financial circumstances, Lily had to drop out from school.

CLOTHING(NOUN)

DO UP:

to fasten something.

Do up your shoelaces, or you’ll fall.

DRESS UP:

dress in smart or formal clothing.

For company gala, every employee dressed up for the event.

HANG UP:

to put something on a hook or a hanger.

The coats are hung up behind the door.

PUT ON:

to clothe oneself.

Lola put on her coat and left to meet her friend.

SLIP ON:

to put on an item of clothing easily and quickly.

David slipped the jacket on to see if it fits well.

STAND OUT:

to be very easy to see or notice.

The bride stood out in her beautiful wedding gown.

TAKE OFF:

to remove clothing.

Mom had to take off the baby’s sweater after she spilled juice on it.

THROW ON:

put something on quickly and without thought.

Maria threw on a dress and left for the party.

TRY ON:

put something on to see if it fits or looks nice.

My sister wanted to try on the Gucci shoe at the store.

Travel (NOUN & VERB)

BOOK INTO:

to arrange for oneself or someone to stay at a hotel

On her birthday she booked herself and her friend for a spa.

CHECK IN:

arrive and register at a hotel or airport.

Louisa tried to check in before 10 minutes of departure.

CHECK OUT:

settle one’s hotel bill before leaving.

Liam checked out of the hotel as it was not hygienic.

FILL IN:

to write necessary information on an official document.

Carl had to fill in the travel insurance form.

GET AWAY:

to go somewhere to have a holiday especially because you need to rest.

We’ve decided to go to hiking in the mountains to get away from it all.

GET IN:

(of a train, aircraft, or other transport) arrive at its destination.

The train from Vienna will get in at 7 a.m.

GET OFF:

to leave a place, bus, plane or train.

Before an hour I got off from the bus.

HOLD UP:

to cause a delay for someone or something, or to make them late.

Harry got held up at work and had to miss the show.

SEE OFF:

go to the airport or station to say goodbye to someone.

She saw her son off at the train station.

SET OFF:

to start a journey.

It is considered bad luck to set off on a trip on Saturday.

STOPOVER:

pay a short visit en route to one’s ultimate destination.

Christy stopped over in Goa on her way to Kerala.

TAKE OFF:

become airborne.

The plane should take off on time.

WORK (NOUN & VERB)

CARRY OUT:

to execute or to perform work.

Students were asked to carry out tasks for neighborhood development.

TAKE OVER:

an act of assuming control of something, especially the buying out of one company by another.

They sought a controlling interest rather than a takeover.

LAYOFF:

a temporary or permanent discharge of a worker or workers.

The workforce is on strike over layoffs.

HAND IN:

to submit, to deliver work

Employees had to hand in the survey a week ago.

SET UP:

to create or arrange

Could you help me set up the projector?

RUN BY/PAST SOMEONE:

to tell them about the idea and find out what they think of it

I have to run the file by my boss before I send it out.

The student had to run the project past her professor before the big presentation.

COPY SOMEONE IN (ON AN EMAIL):

add someone to an email that is sent to others.

I’ll copy you on all the teams’ emails.

PENCIL IN:

to arrange for something to happen nbsp;or for someone to do something on a particular date or occasion, knowing that the arrangement might be changed after

Will you please pencil me in for the next schedule?

Could Lina pencil in a meeting for this coming week?

GO OVER:

to review; to examine or look at something in a careful or detailed way.

John asked Ryan to go over the weekly report and correct any errors.

DEAL WITH:

to take action to do something, especially to solve a problem.

The government needs to deal with urgent issues first and then with trivial ones.

Customer care deals with complaints.

FALL THROUGH:

to fail to happen or occur

I wanted to go on holiday, but my plan fell through when I broke my leg.

PICK UP:

to improve

I hope the sales are going to pick up.

REPORT BACK:

to bring to the knowledge of someone in authority.

Harvey asked Mike to report back as soon as he notices something.

TECHNOLOGY (NOUN)

HOOK UP:

To connect two things: to set up an electronic device or system

We can hook up your car to my truck and tow it home.

Can you hook up my TV before you leave?

TURN ON:

To switch on and start running.

Josie turned on all the lights, but there was no power.

LOG IN:

go through the procedures to begin the use of a computer, database, or system.

Even after working hours, Abhijit had to log in to the company account and provide support to customers.

Mona tried to log in to her account, but authentication failed.

HACK INTO:

To gain unauthorized entry to (a computer system), particularly by exploiting little-known weaknesses.

I forgot my root password and was forced to hack into my own machine.

BREAK INTO:

enter or open (a place, vehicle, or container) forcibly, especially for the purposes of theft.

Some unknown sources tried to break into the bank’s database.

PLUG IN:

to connect a piece of equipment to an electricity supply or to another piece of equipment.

Mike only realized later that the TV was not plugged in.

WIPE OUT:

completely erase or delete files

A virus wiped out the hard drive of my laptop.

KEY IN:

type or enter information or instructions into a computer or other devices by means of a keyboard.

Sam was asked to key in all the data and present it by this weekend.

SET UP:

to create or arrange

Four friends decided to set up a new application for school.

MONEY (NOUN)

SCRAPE BY:

to have enough money to pay for the things that you really need in order to live, but no more

She just manages to scrape by on her teacher’s salary.

GET BY:

to be able to live or deal with a situation with difficulty, usually by having just enough of something you need, such as money

How can he get by on so little money?

SAVE UP:

accumulate money for future use.

Kris has been saving for several months to buy a new house.

PUT ASIDE:

to put aside something especially money for a special purpose.

Parents put aside money for their kid’s education.

FORK OVER:

to give money over reluctantly.

He had to fork over 100 rupees for a fine

SHELL OUT:

to pay or give money for something, usually unwillingly.

Every time I have to shell out for food.

DIP INTO:

to take some money from an amount that one has saved.

I have to dip into my savings to pay for my tuition.

BREAK INTO:

to start to use an amount of money.

Chris had to break into his savings as he didn’t have any insurance.

PAYBACK:

to give someone the same amount of money that you borrowed from them

Haley cannot afford to pay back the full amount to the bank now.

PAY OFF:

you give someone all the money that you owe them

It would take him the rest of his life to pay off that loan.

SPLASH OUT:

spend money freely.

Pete splashed out on an antique sculpture.

CUT BACK ON:

to reduce the amount of something, especially money that one spends.

Rosie was not working anymore and hence had to cut back on her expenses.

CHIP IN:

to contribute some money.

Almost everyone chipped in for the hurricane charity.

Emotions (NOUN)

BOTTLE UP:

to deliberately not allow yourself to show strong feelings, especially anger or worry.

During the funeral of her loving father, she bottled up her feelings and presented herself in a composed demeanor.

CHOKE UP:

to have trouble talking because of crying or strong emotion.

He chokes up whenever he tries to talk about the accident.

PERK UP:

to become or to make somebody become more cheerful or lively, especially after they have been ill/sick or sad.

As soon as she saw her lost pup, she perked up.

BE PUT OUT:

to be annoyed, often because of something that someone has done or said to you Leila seemed a bit put out when she didn’t get a call back for auditions.

GOOF AROUND:

to act silly.

Instead of taking the work seriously, the interns were goofing around on their first day.

GET DOWN:

to make someone feel unhappy.

Living a monotonous life can get one down.

LIVEN UP:

to become more energetic or cheerful, or to make someone feel this way.

The party needs music to liven it up.

GNAW AT:

to make somebody feel anxious, frightened or uncomfortable over a long period of time.

Pauline look disturbed, one could say something was gnawing at the back of her mind.

TEAR APART:

to make someone feel very unhappy.

Illyria tore apart the Cornwall team at the last soccer match.

FLIP OUT:

to suddenly start to behave in a very excited or strange way.

Maria flipped out about how the other team members failed to include her name in the project.

CRACK UP:

suddenly start laughing

Stand-up shows always crack up Joe.

LIGHTEN UP:

to take things less seriously.

Lisa always wished to lighten un and to be like Amanda

HEALTH(NOUN)

THROW UP:

vomit or puke.

Issac was feeling sick and throwing up the whole day.

COME DOWN WITH:

become sick (not serious: begin to suffer from (a specified illness).

Rosa called in sick as she came down with the flu.

BREAK OUT:

start suddenly.

The skin on his arms was breaking out in a rash.

COME TO/AROUND:

to recover consciousness.

She fainted but quickly came around.

RUN OVER:

to hit someone or something with a vehicle and drive over them.

Misha ran over a dog by mistake.

COME TO/AROUND:

to recover consciousness.

She fainted but quickly came around.

RUN OVER:

to hit someone or something with a vehicle and drive over them.

Misha ran over a dog by mistake.

GET OVER:

recover from something.

The new dog will help Susie get over the loss of last pet.

PASS OUT:

become unconscious.

Due to the confined space, Mel started feeling suffocated and eventually passed out.

PASS AWAY:

to die.

Annie’s grandfather passed away in his sleep.

SHOPPING(NOUN)

LOOK AROUND:

shop without a plan; to walk around a room, building, or place and see what is there

As her friend was late she started looking around the mall to kill some time.

SHOP AROUND:

to go to several shops before you decide what particular thing to buy.

I’m shopping around for new formal wear.

PAY FOR:

give money in order to buy something

Kris was confused if she was supposed to pay for the new glasses or was her sister buying those.

BRING DOWN/MARKDOWN:

reduce in price

Markdown up to 50 percent on some items.

We aim to bring down prices on all our computers.

QUEUE UP:

to wait in line behind people

There’s a long queue up in front of the payment counter

SELL OUT:

sell the whole supply/capacity

Due to the sale, the entire purses were sold out.

ZIP AROUND:

move quickly from place to place

Sally was in a hurry so she zipped around the supermarket.

HELP OUT:

to assist someone

The assistant buyer helped me to buy this gift for my boss.

SELL OFF:

to dispose of supplies by selling them completely.

Owing to Christmas, most of the products are sold off at the market.

CASH UP:

count all the money taken in a shop or business at the end of the day.

After the shop closed, they have to cash up before they can go home.

FOOD(NOUN)

BOLT DOWN:

eat food very quickly.

As Sammie didn’t want to get late for school, he bolted down his breakfast.

CHOP UP:

cut food into pieces.

Sue was chopping up the vegetables for soup.

PIG OUT:

eat a large amount of food.

People usually pig out in a buffet.

WHIP UP:

prepare something to eat very quickly.

If you are hungry, I can whip us up some lunch.

WARM-UP:

make something warm.

TIl warm up some soup for you.

CUT OUT:

stop eating something.

I have cut out the cheese completely.

CUT BACK:

eat less of something.

You should cut back on desserts.

KNOCK BACK:

drink (alcohol) quickly.

He knocked back two double vodkas.

EAT OUT:

have a meal in a restaurant instead of at home.

People are spending more on eating out.

FRY UP:

cook food in hot oil or fat.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the chicken until its golden brown.