List of Phrasal Verbs

1. Separable Phrasal verbs (the object may come after the following phrasal verb or it
may separate the two parts):
You have to do this paint job over.
You have to do over this paint job.

When the object of the following phrasal verb is a pronoun , the two parts of the phrasal verb
must be separted.

You have to do it over.

Verb Meaning Example

blow
explode The terrorists tried to blow up the railroad station.
up

bring My mother brought up that little matter of my prison

mention a topic
up record again.

bring
raise children It isn't easy to bring up children nowadays.
up

call off cancel They called off this afternoon's meeting

do over repeat a job Do this homework over.

fill out complete a form Fill out this application form and mail it in.

fill up fill to capacity She filled up the grocery cart with free food.

My sister found out that her husband had been planning a

find out discover
surprise party for her.

give something to
give
someone else for The filling station was giving away free gas.
away
free
give My brother borrowed my car. I have a feeling he's not
return an object
back about to give it back.

submit something
hand in The students handed in their papers and left the room.
(assignment)

hang put something on

She hung up the phone before she hung up her clothes.
up hook or receiver

I hate to hold up the meeting, but I have to go to the

hold up delay
bathroom.

hold up Three masked gunmen held up the Security Bank this

rob
(2) afternoon.

leave You left out the part about the police chase down
omit
out Asylum Avenue.

The lawyers looked over the papers carefully before

look
examine, check questioning the witness.
over
(They looked them over carefully.)

You've misspelled this word again. You'd

look up search in a list
better look it up.

make She knew she was in trouble, so she made up a story

invent a story or lie
up about going to the movies with her friends.

make He was so far away, we really couldn't make out what he

hear, understand
out was saying.

pick There were three men in the line-up. She picked out the
choose
out guy she thought had stolen her purse.

lift something off The crane picked up the entire house. (Watch
pick up
something else them pick it up.)
point As we drove through Paris, Francoise pointed out the
call attention to
out major historical sites.

put We put away money for our retirement. She put away the
save or store
away cereal boxes.

We asked the boss to put off the meeting until tomorrow.

put off postpone
(Please put it off for another day.)

put clothing on the

put on I put on a sweater and a jacket. (I put them on quickly.)
body

The firefighters put out the house fire before it could

put out extinguish
spread. (They put it out quickly.)

read I read over the homework, but couldn't make any sense
peruse
over of it.

My wife set up the living room exactly the way she

set up to arrange, begin
wanted it. She set it up.

take These are your instructions. Write them down before you
make a written note
down forget.

take off remove clothing It was so hot that I had to take off my shirt.

talk We have serious problems here. Let's talk them over like
discuss
over adults.

throw
discard That's a lot of money! Don't just throw it away.
away

put clothing on to She tried on fifteen dresses before she found one she
try on
see if it fits liked.

I tried out four cars before I could find one that pleased
try out test
me.
turn
lower volume Your radio is driving me crazy! Please turn it down.
down

turn
He applied for a promotion twice this year, but he
down reject
was turned down both times.
(2)

turn up raise the volume Grandpa couldn't hear, so he turned up his hearing aid.

switch off
turn off We turned off the lights before anyone could see us.
electricity

turn off
repulse It was a disgusting movie. It really turned me off.
(2)

switch on the
turn on Turn on the CD player so we can dance.
electricity

exhaust, use The gang members used up all the money and went out
use up
completely to rob some more banks.

2. Inseparable Phrasal verbs (Transitive)

With the following phrasal verbs , the lexical part of the verb (the part of the phrasal
veb that carries the ‚verb meaning’) can`t be separated from the prepositions (or other
parts) theat accompany it :
Who will look after my estate when I`m gone?

Verb Meaning Example

call on ask to recite in class The teacher called on students in the back row.

call on The old minister continued to call on his sick

visit
(2) parishioners.

recover from sickness or I got over the flu, but I don't know if I'll ever get
get over
disappointment over my broken heart.

go over review The students went over the material before the
 exam. They should have gone over it twice.

They country went through most of its coal

go
use up; consume reserves in one year. Did he go through all his
through
money already?

look My mother promised to look after my dog while I

take care of
after was gone.

The police will look into the possibilities of

look into investigate
embezzlement.

run I ran across my old roommate at the college

find by chance
across reunion.

Carlos ran into his English professor in the

run into meet
hallway.

take
resemble My second son seems to take after his mother.
after

It seemed strange to see my old boss wait

wait on serve
on tables.

3. Three-Word Phrasal verbs (Transitive)

With the following phrasal verbs, you will find three parts:
My brother dropped out of school before he could graduate.

Verb Meaning Example

interrupt (a I was talking to Mom on the phone when the

break in on
conversation) operator broke in on our call.

catch up After our month-long trip, it was time to catch up

keep abreast
with with the neighbors and the news around town.

check up The boys promised to check up on the condition of

examine, investigate
on the summer house from time to time.

After years of giving nothing, the old parishioner

come up to contribute
was able to come up with a thousand-dollar
with (suggestion, money)
donation.

cut down We tried to cut down on the money we were

curtail (expenses)
on spending on entertainment.
 I hope none of my students drop out of school this
drop out of leave school
semester.

get along have a good I found it very hard to get along with my brother
with relationship with when we were young.

get away Janik cheated on the exam and then tried to get
escape blame
with away with it.

The citizens tried to get rid of their corrupt mayor in

get rid of eliminate
the recent election.

get through
finish When will you ever get through with that program?
with

keep up It's hard to keep up with the Joneses when you lose
maintain pace with
with your job!

look anticipate with I always look forward to the beginning of a new

forward to pleasure semester.

look down It's typical of a jingoistic country that the

despise
on citizens look down on their geographical neighbors.

We were going to look in on my brother-in-law, but

look in on visit (somebody)
he wasn't home.

look out Good instructors will look out for early signs of
be careful, anticipate
for failure in their students

look up to respect First-graders really look up to their teachers.

make sure Make sure of the student's identity before you let
verify
of him into the classroom.

The teacher had to put up with a great deal of

put up with tolerate
nonsense from the new students.

The runners ran out of energy before the end of the

run out of exhaust supply
race.

take care My oldest sister took care of us younger children

be responsible for
of after Mom died.

talk back The star player talked back to the coach and was
answer impolitely
to thrown off the team.

think back I often think back on my childhood with great

recall
on pleasure.

walk out abandon Her husband walked out on her and their three
on children.

4. Intransitive Phrasal verbs

The following phrasal verbs are not followed by an object.
Once you leave home, you can never really go back again.

Verb Meaning Example

That old Jeep had a tendency to break down just

break down stop functioning
when I needed it the most.

Popular songs seem to catch on in California first

catch on become popular
and then spread eastward.

Father promised that we would never come back to

come back return to a place
this horrible place.

They tried to come in through the back door, but it

come in enter
was locked.

regain He was hit on the head very hard, but after several
come to
consciousness minutes, he started to come to again.

The children promised to come over, but they never

come over to visit
do.

visit without We used to just drop by, but they were never home,
drop by
appointment so we stopped doing that.

dine in a When we visited Paris, we loved eating out in the

eat out
restaurant sidewalk cafes.

Uncle Heine didn't have much money, but he always

get by survive seemed to get by without borrowing money from
relatives.

Grandmother tried to get up, but the couch was too

get up arise
low, and she couldn't make it on her own.

It's hard to imagine that we will ever go back to

go back return to a place
Lithuania.

He would finish one Dickens novel and then just go

go on continue
on to the next.

go on (2) happen The cops heard all the noise and stopped to see what
 was going on.

grow up get older Charles grew up to be a lot like his father.

remain at a The judge warned the stalker to keep away from his
keep away
distance victim's home.

keep on
continue with the He tried to keep on singing long after his voice was
(with
same ruined.
gerund)

lose
He had drunk too much; he passed out on the
pass out consciousness,
sidewalk outside the bar.
faint

demonstrate Whenever he sat down at the piano, we knew he was

show off
haughtily going to show off.

Day after day, Efrain showed up for class twenty

show up arrive
minutes late.

wake up arouse from sleep I woke up when the rooster crowed.