PHRASAL VERBS

A phrasal verb is a verb + preposition combination whose meaning is not obviously deduced from the meaning of each individual element. Take, for example, the combination “to look up”. This combination of verb (to look) plus preposition (up) can have two meanings, but only one is a phrasal verb:

1) If the meaning is “to look upwards” (i.e. at the sky, at the ceiling...), the combination is not a phrasal because the meaning is simply a combination of the meanings of “to look” and “up”.

2) If the meaning is “to search for (some information) in a book”, the combination is a phrasal verb.

There exist both transitive (e.g. “to put off”) and intransitive (e.g. “to throw up”) phrasal verbs. (Remember: a transitive verb is a verb which takes an object, while an intransitive verb takes no object).

Transitive phrasal verbs are divided into those which are separable (e.g. “to look up”) and those which are inseparable (e.g. “to look after”).

With a separable phrasal verb, the object may be placed between the two parts of the verb, or after the two parts.

Ex. - I looked his number up in the telephone book.

- I looked up his number in the telephone book.

If the object is a personal pronoun, it is placed between the two parts.

Ex. - I looked it up in the telephone book.

(note - these phrasal verb lists are NOT complete)

bring up (1)	-mention	His parents died when he was young. He is sensitive about it, so we avoid bringing the topic up.
bring up (2)	-raise (a child)	He was brought up by his aunt.
call off	-cancel	It looks like rain; let’s call off the game.
do over	-repeat	If you fail this test you will have to do the course over.
fill in / out	-complete (a form)	Please fill in this application form and mail it to our personnel department.
give back	-return	He liked the book I lent him so much that he never gave it back.
hand in	-submit (work)	You must hand your assignments in on time.
leave out	-omit	I told them I had worked in the same type of factory before, but I left out the fact that I was fired.
look up	-search for something in a list	If you don’t know his number, just look it up in the telephone directory.
make up	-invent a story	Did you really see a UFO, or did you just make it up?
put off	-postpone	The ministers put off their WTO meeting until next year because of massive demonstrations.
put out	-extinguish	The firemen were able to put out the blaze.
take off	-remove (clothing or jewelry)	When entering a Japanese household, you should always take your shoes off.
throw out	-discard	If you have cans and bottles, don’t throw them out - recycle them.
try out	-try something to see if it’s OK	You can try out our demo software free of charge for thirty days.
turn down (1)	-refuse	He was offered a job at Monsanto, but he turned it down.
turn down (2)	-reduce the volume	Please turn the radio down; I can’t even hear myself think.
use up	-use completely	Once the world’s oil supply is used up, most of the global economy will collapse.

2) With an inseparable phrasal verb, the object is always placed after all the parts of the phrasal verb. (Note: all phrasal verbs which consist of more than two words are inseparable).

Ex. - I will look after your cat while you are on vacation.

be against	-be opposed to	Amnesty International is against all forms of political repression.
get along with	-have a good relationship with	I don’t get along with my neighbors; they are too nosy.
get over	-recover (from a sickness)	I can’t return to work until I’ve gotten over this flu.
keep up with	-maintain the same speed or level	Slow down a bit; I can’t keep up with you.
look after	-take care of	Can you look after my cat while I’m on vacation?
look forward to	-anticipate with pleasure	We are looking forward to seeing your baby girl.
look into	-investigate	The police are not sure what happened, but they are looking into it.
run out of	-exhaust the supply of	We’ve run out of milk; could you go to the store?
run into	-meet by chance	Guess who I ran into at the supermarket!
stand for	-represent	“TNC” stands for “Transnational Corporation”.

Note that transitive phrasal verbs can take gerunds but not infinitives as objects.

Ex. -If you continue to put off doing your homework, you won’t have enough time to finish the assignment.

Intransitive phrasal verbs take no object.

calm down	-pacify	After he calmed down, he explained how the accident had happened.
come back	-return	He begged her to come back, but her decision to leave him was final.
drop by	-make a casual visit	I hate it when people drop by without calling beforehand.
get up	-awake	Get up! You’re late for school!
give up	-surrender; abandon	After he failed the first exam, he gave up and quit the course.
grow up	-become an adult	As a child, he was an arrogant monster, but he grew up to be a famous politician.
pass away	-die	The former film star passed away last night after a long fight with cancer. He was only 64 years old.
show up	-arrive; appear	All of the biggest names in Hollywood showed up at the funeral.
wake up	-awake	If you really want to be sure to wake up, you should set two alarm clocks.