PHRASAL VERBS

 ASK ABOUT:
Eg. The next morning, I rang up the hospital to ask about the little boy
 ASK OUT:
Eg. One afternoon, he asked me out and we went for a walk in the park.
 BE ABOUT:
Eg. There were now lots of people about.
 BE BACK:
Eg. I could slip out through the side door, run across the yard, jum over the prison wall and be back home
for breakfast.
 BE IN FOR:
Eg. I think you are in for a surprise
 BE OFF:
Eg. I´ve run out of patience. I´m off.
 BE OVER: finish, end
Eg. When the film was over, we caught the last bus home.
 BE UP TO:
Eg. My father seemed happy, but he didn´t kow what I was really up to.
 BE WITH:
Eg. Fred seemed a bit confused. “I´m not with you”, he said
 BLOW (sth) UP: destroy by an explosion.
Eg. The commandos blew up the bridge and then attacked the base.
 BREAK DOWN: stop working
Eg. The car has broken down again.
 BREAK INTO: enter illegally
Eg. The thieves broke into our house whle we were on holiday.
 BREAK OFF: stop speaking
Eg. Lady Prescott broke off and, once again, they walked on in silence.
 BREAK OUT INTO: suddenly become covered with
Eg. Fred broke out into a cold sweat.
 BREAK OUT OF: escape
Eg. He´s broken out of of his cell and run away.
 BREAK UP: * separate at the end of term for holidays
Eg. It was half past three and the local school had just broken up for the day.
* come to pieces, desintegrate.
Eg. The ship broke up on the rocks.
 BREAK UP WITH: end a friendship with
Eg. I said that I´d broken up with Gerald
 BRING BACK: call to mind, cause to remember.
Eg. Telling the story of the accident had brought back some painful memories
 BRING (sth) DOWN: reduce
Eg. We must bring the price of the tickets down if we are going to be competitive.
 BRING (sb) UP: to raise / educate children
Eg. I wouldn´t like to bring a chlid up as a single parent.
 BURST INTO: break out into.
Eg. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket, blew his nose and, not for the first time burst into tears.
 CALL (sb) BACK: return a phonecall (no passive)
Eg. Could you call Mr. Jones back this afternoon?
 CALL (sth) OFF: cancel
Eg. You can´t call the wedding off now. Everything has been arranged.
 CALL IN: order or request.
Eg. We took you up to the hospital and called in a doctor
 CALL INTO:
Eg. One afternoon, I called my secreatary into the office.
 CALM DOWN: make or become calm.
Eg. “Now calm down and speak quietly”
 CARE ABOUT: feel interest.
Eg. Money! That´s all you care about”
 CARRY ON: continue
Eg. He carried on working after everyone else had gone home.
 CARRY (sth) OUT: do
Eg. The nurses carried out all their duties quickly and efficiently.
 CARRY AWAY: cause to lose self control
Eg. She was carried away and there was just no stopping her now.
 CATCH ON: understand.
Eg. He catches on very quickly. You never have to explain twice.
 CATCH UP WITH: do all the work that has not yet been done.
Eg. I had to catch up with the class after I recovered from my illness.
 CHECK UP ON: examine
Eg. Nobody checked up on what I was doing.
 CHEER UP: fill with gladness, high spirits, comfort.
Eg. “Oh, cheer up! You mustn´t worry so much!”
 CLEAR (sth) UP: to organise / make tidy
Eg. We must clear up the spare room before your mother comes to stay.

 CLEAR OUT: empty.

Eg. I´ll clear out the cupboards and wash everything.
  CLIMB UP: go or get up.
Eg. Fred climbed up a hill.
 CLIMB OVER:
Eg. He had climbed over a couple of gates.
 COME ACROSS (sth): find unexpectedly
Eg. I came across a photo of my grandfather yesterday when I was cleanig the attic.
 COME DOWN WITH (an illness): contract illness
Eg. Most of the people in my office have come down with flu.
 COME IN FOR (sth): receive criticism or blame.
Eg. He has come in for a lot of criticism for the way he treated his wife.
 COME INTO (money/property): inherit
Eg. He´s come into a fortune.
 COME OUT IN (sth): show the signs of an illness.
Eg. John´s not very well. He´s come out in little red spots all over his body.
 COME UP AGAINST (sth): face difficulty
Eg. We´ve come up against one or two problems in trying to get support for the idea.
 COME ALONG: make more effort / hurry up
Eg. “Come along Jane. Wake up. We´re nearly there”
 COME ROUND: * pay an informal visit to.
Eg. Whenever there is an election, the politicians come round and knock on the door.
* regain consciousness
Eg. Pour a jug of water on his face. He´ll soon come round.
 COME UP WITH: find a solution, an answer.
Eg. Then suddenly, he came up with an idea.
 COME UPON: attack by surprise, strike.
Eg. They came upon a postman riding a bicycle.
 COUNT ON (sb / sth): depend on
Eg. I am counting on you to show me what to do.
 CUT BACK (on sth): reduce something because you can´t afford it
Eg The government has cut back on publec spending.
 CUT (sth) DOWN: reduce the size / amount
Eg. He cut down the number of hours he was at work from 60 to 55 a week.
 CRY OUT:
Eg. His stomach was crying out for food.
 DO AWAY WITH (sth): destroy / abolish
Eg. We are going to do away with the old tax system.
 DO (sth) UP: repair / decorate a building
Eg. The house doesn´t look very nice now but when we´ve done it up it will be fantastic.
 DRESS UP: put on special clothes, as for a fancy dress ball, etc.
Eg. He has obviously dressed up for the occasion, combing his hair, polishing his shoes...
 DRINK UP: drink the whole of it
Eg. Fred drank up his coffee, ate up his cheeseburger and then stood up.
 DRIVE DOWN TO:
Eg. One day I drove down to the hospital to pick my mother up after work.
 DRIVE INTO:
Eg. When I drove into that lay-by, you were standing around with your hands in your pockets.
 DROP OFF: become fewer or less.
Eg. His friends dropped off one by one.
 DROP BY / IN: pay a casual visit to
Eg. Some friends dropped in to tea
 DROP ONTO:
Eg. He rolled over, took off the belt and dropped it onto the floor.
 END UP: finish in a certain situation
Eg. If we continue like this we shall end up with no money at all.
 FACE UP TO (sth): confront, accept and deal with something unpleasant.
Eg. You must face up to the fact htat you are probably going to lose your job.
 FALL THROUGH: when an arrangement fails to take place.
Eg. We were going to buy that house, but it fell though because the bank wouldn´t lend us the money.
 FALL APART / FALL DOWN:
Eg. They´ve done up some of the houses, but most of the properties are falling down or falling apart.
 FALL OUT: go off
Eg. The man from the bank gaped at me and his false teeth fell out.
 FILL (sth) IN: complete (a form)
Eg. He has filled in the job application form.
 FILL (sth) UP: make full
Eg. Could you fill up this jug with water for the flowers, please?
 FIND (sth) OUT: discover
Eg. He found out that the course didn´t start for another week.
 FIT (sb / sth) IN: find time for
Eg. Can you fit me in tomorrow afternoon, doctor?
 FOLD UP:
Eg. I took a deep breath, folded up the cheque and put it into my pocket.
 FIX UP: settle, decide to have.
Eg. When we were in the take-away. I rang up your Head Office and fixed up an appointment with Karen.
 GET (sth) ACROSS: communicate
Eg. I don´t know if I got my message across.
 GET AWAY WITH (sth): escape criticism / punishment
Eg. That´s the third time you have been late this week. You are not going to get away with it again.
  GET BACK TO:
Eg. I´ll be glad when this whole thing is over and I can get back to my old routine.
 GET BY: have just enough
Eg. We haven´t got much money but we get by.
 GET (sb) DOWN: depress (no passive)
Eg. I hate this weather. It´s really getting me down.
 GET DOWN TO (sth): start doing sth / seriously
Eg. It is time to get down to bisiness.
 GET IN: arrive
Eg. The woman got in, put on her seat belt and drove off.
 GET INTO: pass into a particular condition / put on.
Eg. I don´t know what´s got into her lately. / How did I get into this mess?
 GET ON (with sb): have a good relationship with someone
Eg. I get on very well with my youngest brother.
 GET OUT (of sth): escape
Eg. We were locked in the room. There was no way to get out.
 GET OVER (sth): recover from sth, get better.
Eg. It took him more than two years to get over the death of his mother.
 GET OFF:
Eg. The passengers were getting off the train.
 GET OUT OF:
Eg. How do I get out of this mess? / She got out of the car.
 GET ROUND (sth): avoid
Eg. He tried to get round the problem by asking them to chage the rules in this case.
 GET THROUGH (to sb): make contact (by phone)
Eg. I´ve been trying to get through to you all afternoon but the line is always busy!
 GET UP TO (sth): do sth naughty or bad
Eg. It´s very quiet. What do you thik the children are getting up to now?
 GIVE ( sth) AWAY: * distribute for free
Eg. He gave away all his books to friends, before he left.
* Reveal
Eg. His accent gave away the fact that he originally came from Scotland.
 GIVE IN: surrender / agree ti demands.
Eg. It doesn´t matter what you say, he will never give in.
 GIVE (sth) OUT: distribute
Eg. He gave out information about the new training courses to everyone at the meeting.
 GIVE (sth) UP: stop
Eg. He gave up olaying football at the weekends because he didn´t have enough time.
 GO OFF: * explode (especially a bomb)
Eg. A bomb went off but no one was hurt.
* leave
Eg. He went off without saying a word.
 GO ON: * happen
Eg. Sth. Strange was going on and I wanted to know wht it was.
* continue
Eg. He went on fighting even after I told him to stop.
 GO ON (at sb): say repeatedly
Eg. I have been going on at my mother to have new locks put in.
 GO OUT (with sb): have a romantic or sexual relationship
Eg. My sister has been going out with Tom for three months
 GO UP: increase
Eg. The price of sugar will go up 5% at the end of this month.
 GO THROUGH (sth): experience sth.
Eg. We had to wait at the airport for 36 hours. I never want to go through that again.
 GO AWAY: leave
Eg. If you went away, I´d go with you
 GO BACK ON: fail to keep, break a promise.
Eg. I´m not going back on my word.
 GO DOWN WITH: fall ill with
Eg. We thought you´d gone down with flu.
 GO OVER: examine the details of.
Eg. I went over it again and again.
 GO OUT TO:
Eg. Then one night, we went out to the cinema.
 GO OUT WITH:
Eg. He didn´t want his only daughter going out with someone like him.
 GO ROUND TO:
Eg. I went straight round to his flat and we decided to go out.
 GROW UP: to change from being a child to being an adult.
Eg. This is the twn where I grew up.
 HAND TO:
Eg. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to him
 HANG UP:
Eg. Fred took off his jacket and hung it up on one of the mirrors.
 HOLD ON: wait
Eg. Could you hold on for five minutes please?
 HOLD (sb / sth) UP: delay
Eg. I was hel up in the traffic for nearly two hours.
  HOLD OUT:
Eg. He nodded, smiled and held out his hand.
 JUMP OFF:
Eg. He jumped off as the train pulled into the station.
 JUMP OVER:
Eg. I jumped over the prison wall and scaped.
 KEEP ON : continue
Eg. They kept on looking for the little girl until it got too dark.
 KEEP UP (with sb / sth): maintain the sme level as
Eg. She walks so fast, I can never keep up with her.
 KNEEL DOWN:
Eg. “You can´t do this to me”, he said kneeling down and crying.
 KNOCK OVER:
Eg. He knocked over a chair and went out of the room.
 KNOCK DOWN:
Eg. “I´d be a bit sad if they knocked all the building down”
 LAY (sb) OFF: stop employing people due to external factors.
Eg. Our conpany has laid off another 100 people this week.
 LET (sb) DOWN: no do what you say you will do
Eg. He has let me down again. I specifically asked him to meet me here at 8 pm at the latest and he is not
here.
 LET (sb) OFF: give no punishment, or very small punishment
Eg. He was let off with a warning.
 LET (sb) OUT: release
Eg. They7 let him out of prison after only ten years, because of his good behaviour.
 LET THROUGH.
Eg. “I´m the doctor, let me through”
 LOOK AFTER (sth / sb): take care of
Eg. She looked after her father for several years before he died.
 LOOK AROUND:
Eg. She got out of the car and looked around.
 LOOK BACK: turn one´s thoughts to sth in the past.
Eg. “I suppose that now, looking back, I can appreciate what he did.”
 LOOK ON AS: regard as
Eg. I want people to look on us as a friend, not as enemy.
 LOOK FOR (sth / sb): try to find
Eg. I looked for my keys all morning but I couldn´t find them
 LOOK INTO (sth): investigate
Eg. The police are looking into the strange circumstances of his death.

 LOOK (sth / sb) OVER: examine the condition of

Eg. We are going to look the house over next week.
 LOOK (sth) UP: check inreference material
Eg. I don´t like reading English newspapers because there are too many words that I need to look up.
 LOOK UP TO (sb): admire and respect
Eg. He´s always looked up to his older brother.
 MAKE OUT: pretend
Eg. He made out that he was a friend of Pete´s but I knew it wasn´t true.
 MAKE (sth) UP: * replace what is missing
Eg. He made up the hours he had missed by working all night.
* invent
Eg. You know all those things he said about fighting in the war. Well, he made it all up.
 MAKE UP YOUR MIND: come to a decision
Eg. She´s made up her mind to run away to marry him and decided not to.
 MOVE IN: start living in a new place
Eg. We are going to move in on Friday.
 MOVE ON TO:
Eg. Fred wanted to move on to another topic like the weather.
 PASS OUT: lose consciousness
Eg. She passed out while she was waiting to see the doctor.
 PAY BACK: return / have one´s revenge
Eg. Paying for lunch will be my way of paying you back for all your kindness.
 PICK ON (sb): treat badly, unfairly
Eg. It´s awful. The biger boys at school are always picking on him.
 PICK (sth) OUT: choose
Eg. We went shopping this morning and managed to pick out some very nice clothes.
 PICK (sth) UP: learn
Eg. It´s incredible how quickly ge picked up Chinese.
 PICK UP: increase / improve:
Eg. Don´t worry. Business is definitely picking up.
 PICK (sth / sb) UP: take someone in your car
Eg. My dad is going to pick me up from the party at midnight.
 PICK (sth) UP: buy unexpectedly
Eg. We picked up some real bargains in the summer sales.
 POP IN: visit, probably without warning
Eg. I think I´ll pop in on my mother and see how she is.
 PULL IN: move in towards (of a vehicle) / enter a station (of a train)
Eg. She pulled in and stopped the car.
  PULL INTO: enter a station
Eg. He jumped off as the train pulled into a station.
 PULL (sth) OFF: achieve sth difficult.
Eg. The magician pulled off an amazing trick.
 PULL OUT (of sth): withdraw
Eg. He pulled of the competition due to badk injuries.
 PULL THROUGH: survive
Eg. It was a very serious accident but I think he is going to pull through
 PULL UP: vehicle slows down and stops
Eg. Did you know that a large bladc car has just pulled up outside your front door?
 PUT (sb) AWAY: send to prison
Eg. He was put away for five years for the bank robbery.
 PUT (sth) BY: save
Eg. We try to put $50 a month by for emergencies.
 PUT (sb) DOWN: make sb feel inferior
Eg. He seems to like putting women down.
 PUT (an animal) DOWN: kill
Eg. Toby, our dog, was very old and in constant pain. So, we asked the vet ot put him down.
 PUT (sth) OFF: postpone
Eg. We put the match off for a week because of the rain.
 PUT (sb) THROUGH: connect
Eg. I am putting you through to Ms. Phillips now.
 PUT (sb) UP: give accommodation
Eg. I can put you up for the rest of this week. I´ve got a spare room
 PUT UP WITH (sb / sth): tolerate
Eg. I don´t think I can put up with him any more, he´s so rude.
 RUN OUT (of sth): have no more left
Eg. We have run out of sugar. Could you go and buy some more?
 RUN (sth / sb) OVER: hit with a vehicle
Eg. This little girl crossed the road without looking. I nearly ran her over.
 RUN INTO: * fall into
Eg. The bank has run into some problems.
* Meet unexpectedly
Eg. I ran into an old friend at the party.
 RUN OFF:
Eg. She´s made up her mind to run off to Brazil.
 SAVE UP: keep for future use
Eg. By that summer, I´d managed to save up $500
 SET OFF: start on a journey
Eg. We decided to set off very early so that we would arrive before it got dark.
 SET (sth) UP: start a company, etc.
Eg. We want to expand our business. We are thinking of setting up offices in France.
 SETTLE IN: become comfortable in a new situation
Eg. It didn´t take long for her to settle into her new job.
 SETTLE DOWN: sit or lie confortably / become established.
Eg. I told him I was just too young to settle down.
 SETTLE UP: pay back money owed
Eg. I promise I will settle up as soon as my father send me some more money
 SHOW OFF: try to impress people by making certain qualities
Eg. I hate him! He´s always showing off about how much money he´s got.
 SHOW UP: arrive
Eg. I don´t think he will show up now. It´s nearly midnight.
 SHUT UP: stop talking
Eg. She doesn´t really want conversation. She just wants you to shut up and listen.
 SORT (sth) OUT: put in order / solve
Eg. I want to spend the weekend sorting out my study. I´m in a chaos.
 SPEAK UP: speak louder
Eg. You must speak up a little, I can´t hear very well
 SPLIT UP: when a relationship finishes and the couple separate
Eg. Mike and Julie split up last summer but I think they want to get back together.
 SLOW DOWN: go at slower speed.
Eg. Fred jumped onto a train that was slowing down .
 SWITCH ON / OFF:
Eg. He plugged the radio in and switched it on / off.
 TAKE AFTER (sb): be similar in appearance or character.
Eg. He´s very good looking. He takes after his father.
 TAKE-AWAY:
Eg. He´s taken a part time job in a take-away restaurant.
 TAKE (sb) IN: deceive
Eg. He was very nice to me all evening but I wasn´t taken in. I knew that he just wanted to borrow some more
money.
 TAKE OFF: begin to increase dramatically
Eg. Sales of the new European nespaper have taken off to the surprise of many critics.
 TAKE (time) OFF: spend time doing sth different from your usual work.
Eg. We took two months off in the summer and travelled around Asia.
 TAKE (sb) OFF: imitate to make people laugh.
Eg. He´s very good at taking off the headmaster.
 TAKE ON: accept as an opponent / charge oneself with.
Eg. The bank would never dream of taking me on again.
 TAKE (sth) OVER: gain control of
Eg. ABC Ltd. Has been taken over by a large American corporation.
 TAKE (sth) OVER: occupy property
Eg. I am taking over his flat from the end of August when he moves back to England.
 TAKE (sth) UP: start a new activity
Eg. I am going to take up tennis this summer.
 TAKE UP: occupy (time / space)
Eg. Playing cricket takes up the whole of every weekend so I will have to stop.
 TALK (sb) INTO (sth): persuade
Eg. It didn´t take me long to talk her into working an extra day.
 TELL (sb) OFF: speak to sb critically because they have done sth wrong
Eg. The teacher told him off for being rude.
 TIE (sb / sth) UP: fasten with rope, chain.
Eg. He tied her up and left her in the dark with nothing to eat or drink.
 TURN (sb / sth) DOWN: refuse
Eg. He turned the job down even though the salary was very good.
 TURN INTO (sth): become
Eg. She has turned into a very unpleasant person
 THINK OVER: reflect upon, consider further
Eg. We´re going to give you 24 hours to think it over.
 THINK THROUGH:
Eg. He had to give me more time to think things through.
 THROW AWAY:
Eg. Should I just tear up the cheque and throw it away?
 TURN ROUND: face another way
Eg. She turned round and looked at him into his eyes.
 TURN DOWN: refuse to consider.
Eg. I felt very flattered but at first I turned him down.
 TURN INTO: change in nature, quality, condition.
Eg. It´s only recently that he´s turned into a workaholic. / ...as they turned into the main road...
 TURN OUT: prove to be, be in the end.
Eg. It turned out that he had an allergy.
 TURN UP: make one´s appearance.
Eg. When she finally turned up at the party, everyone looked at her.
 WEAR (sb) OUT: to make tired / exhaust
Eg. The children wear me out. After a day with them I just want to go to bed and sleep.
 WORK (sth) OUT: calculate, decide
Eg. He couldn´t work out why she had become so angry
 WAKE UP: stop sleeping
Eg. He woke up very early
 WASH UP: wash dishes, cutlery, after a meal.
Eg. I´ll wash up after dinner.