Unit: 4 Socializing.

What is a Phrasal Verb?

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition.

A phrasal verb has a meaning which is different from the original verb. That's what makes them fun, but confusing. You may need to try to guess the meaning from the context, or, failing that, look it up in a dictionary.

The adverb or preposition that follows the verb are sometimes called a particle. The particle changes the meaning of the phrasal verb in idiomatic ways.

They are also known as ‘compound verbs’, ‘verb-adverb combinations’, ‘verb-particle constructions", “two-part words/verbs’ and ‘three-part words/verbs’ (depending on the number of words).

Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as “to get together” rather than “to congregate”, “to put off” rather than “to postpone”, or “to get out” rather than “to exit”. They should be avoided in academic writing.

Inseparable phrasal verbs.

back out of desert; fail to keep a promise	bear down on lean on; browbeat	bear on have to do with
bear up under endure	break in on interrupt	break into interrupt
call for come to get; require	care for like; guard; supervise; maintain	carry on with continue
catch up with cover the distance between oneself and	check up on examine; verify	come across find accidentally
come along with accompany; make progress	come by find accidentally	come down with become ill with
come out with utter; produce	come up with utter; produce	count on rely on
cut in on interrupt	disagree with cause illness or discomfort to	do away with abolish
do without deprive oneself of	drop in at/on visit casually without planning	drop out of leave; quit
face up to acknowledge	fall behind in lag; not progress at required pace	fall back on use for emergency purpose
fall out with quarrel with	fill in for substitute for	get ahead of surpass; beat
get around evade; avoid	get away with do without being caught or punished	get by with manage with a minimum of effort
get down to become serious about; consider	get in enter (a vehicle)	get off descend from; leave
get on enter (a vehicle); mount	get on with proceed with	get through with terminate, finish
go back on desert; fail to keep (a promise)	go for like a great deal	go in for be interested in; participate in
go on with continue	go over review	go with harmonize with; look pleasing together
go without abstain from	hang around remain idly in the vicinity of	hear from receive a communication from
hear of learn about (sometimes accidentally)	hit on discover accidentally	hold on to grasp tightly
hold out against resist	keep at persevere at	keep to persist in; continue
keep up with maintain the pace of	lie down on evade; fail to do	live on support or sustain oneself by means of
live up to maintain the standard demanded of	look after take care of	look back on remember nostalgically
look down on feel superior to	look forward to anticipate	look up to respect; admire
make up for compensate for	pass on transmit	pick on tease; bully
play up to flatter for personal advantage	put up with tolerate	read up on search out information on
run against compete against in an election	run away with leave; escape from	run for campaign for
see about consider; arrange	see to arrange; supervise	settle on decide on; choose
stand for represent; permit	stand up for support; demand	stand up to resist
stick to persist	stick up for support; defend	take after resemble
talk back to answer impolitely	talk over discuss	tell on report misbehavior to authority
touch on mention briefly	turn into become	wait on serve
wait up for not go to bed while waiting for	watch out for be careful for