Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs are the combination of verbs and adverbs or prepositions or both with completely new meanings.

Difference in Meaning between Verbs and Group Verbs

Verbs	Meaning	Group Verb	Meaning
Look	See	Look after	Care
Call	Ask to come	Call up	Remember
Come	Move towards a place where the speaker or the writer is	Come about	Happen
Make	Prepare, create or construct	Make out	Understand

Formation of Group Verbs Rules

The Group Verbs are formed from the combination of verbs and adverbs or prepositions or both as shown below:

Verb + Adverb	Verb + Preposition	Verb + Preposition + Adverb
Bring out – Bring + out	Look after – Look + after	Loo down upon – Look + down + upon
Come in – Come + in	Bring on – Bring + on	Set out for – Set + out + for
Sit down – Sit down	Laugh at – Laugh + at	Come up with – Come + up + with
Set in – Set + in	Carry on – Carry + on	Do away with – Do + away + with
Call out – Call + out	Call at – Call + at	Fall back on – Fall + back + on
Go up – Go + up	Put on – Put + on	Go along with – Go + along + with

Placing Adverbs with Phrasal Verbs Rules

• The Group Verbs are Intransitive Verbs, the adverb is placed either between the verb and the particle or after the particle:

Example: The dog ran away fast. – The dog ran fast away.

• In case of Transitive /separable Phrasal Verbs, if the object is a noun, it may be placed after the verb or between verb and the adverb.

Example: Mohammad Kaif picked up the ball. – Mohammad Kaif picked the ball up.

• But when the object is a pronoun, it is placed between the verb and adverb.

Debobrata shot it (the bird) down.

He bought it (the letter) back.

Note: Separable verbs are those that have an item inserted between the verb and the particle.

List of Common Phrasal Verbs

Act

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Act upon	Affects	Over-exercise acts upon one’s health.
Act for	On behalf of	He acted for me while I was ill.
Act on	Affect	I acted on my brother’s advice.
Act under	Act in obedience to	She acted under the orders of the Chairman.
Act up to	Act according to	He always act up to my advice.
Act against	Do anything against	We should do anything against his opinion.

Ask

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Ask for	Pray for	He asked for a holiday.

Bear

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Bear away	Win	He bore away the first prize.
Bear down	Overcome	He bore down all resistance.
Bear off	Carry with proud	He bore off the prize.
Bear on	Relevance	He has no bearing on the present case.
Bear out	Confirms	Your reports bear out his story.
Bear with	Tolerate	I can not bear with such conduct.

Blow

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Blow off	Emit	The engine blows off carbon dioxide.
Blow out	Extinguish	Blow out the fire.
Blow up	Destroy by explosion	The soldiers blew up the bridge.

Break

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Break away	Freed himself	The thief broke away from the jail.
Break down	Suffer physical weakening	His health broke down through overwork.
Break in	Force their way in	The robbers broke in at night.
Break into	Enter by breaking	Last night a thief broke into our house.
Break off	Stop	He broke off at the middle of the speech.
Break out	Appear suddenly	Cholera has broken out in the town.
Break up	End	The meeting broke up at 5 p.m.
Break with	Part from	He has broken with me.

Bring

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Bring about	Cause	His ruin was brought about by his own folly.
Bring down	Lower	This will bring down the prices of things.
Bring forth	Produce	This tree brings forth good fruit.
Bring in	Yields	My business brings in good income.
Bring forward	Placing matter for discussion	The subject was brought forward for discussion in the meeting.
Bring out	Publish	He has brought out a new book.
Bring on	Causes	Overeating brings on dyspepsia.
Bring through	Restoration of health	He was very ill but proper medicine and good nursing brought him through.
Bring to	Conduct	The boy fainted but was soon brought to.
Bring up	Rear	He was brought up by his aunt.

Burst

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Burst into	Express emotion	He burst into tears to see her dead son.
Burst out	Begin suddenly	She burst out laughing.

Call

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Call at	Visit	I shall call at your house soon.
Call by	Pay a short visit	Mr. Roy will call by me tomorrow.
Call off	Cancel	The strike was called off.
Call for	Demand	I called for his explanation.
Call forth	Elicit	His heroism called forth the admiration of all.
Call in	Invite	Please call in a doctor.
Call on	Visit a person	I shall call on you tomorrow.
Call out	Call for mission	The troops were called out to restore order.
Call up	Remember	I cannot call up his name.
Call upon	Order	He was called upon to explain his conduct.

Carry

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Carry about	Carry with	He carries about a pistol wherever he goes.
Carry off	Won	He carried off all the prizes.
Carry on	Continue	I shall carry on the work in your absence.
Carry out	Execute	Let us carry out his order.
Carry away	To move	He was carried away by the current.
Carry through	Fulfil	He carried the bill through the council.

Cast

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Cast about	Move about	He is casting about for an opportunity.
Cast aside	Throw off	He cast away his old shirt.
Cast out	Reject	As he is my friend, I shall not cast him out.

Catch

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Catch at	Take the opportunity	A drowning man catches at a straw.
Catch up	Come up with	India is trying to catch up with the advanced countries.

Come

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Come about	Happen	How did it come about?
Come across	Meet	I came across him on the way.
Come at		The truth is very difficult to come at.
Come along	Hurry	Come along, otherwise you’ll miss the train.
Come by	Get	Jobs are very difficult to come by.
Come down	Decrease	The rent of houses have come down.
Come of	Descended from	He comes of a rich family.
Come off	Take place	The ceremony comes off tomorrow.
Come out	Reveal	The secret came out.
Come round	Recover	He came round very soon.
Come to	Amount to	His monthly salary has come to a high figure.
Come upon	Meet by chance	I came upon my friend at the hotel.
Come up to	Is not equal to	Your essay does not come up to expectation.

Cry

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Cry down	Decry	Do not cry down anything without considering the pros and cons of it.
Cry for	Demand	They are crying for a master plan for the prevention of flood.
Cry out	Shout	He cried out for help.

Cut

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Cut down	Reduce	Cut down the tree with an axe.
Cut off	Reduce	Cut down your expenses.
Cut in	Separate	He lives in England, cut off from his relations.
Cut up	To take part suddenly	He cut in in the middle of our talk.

Do

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Do away with	Abolish	We should do away with our bad habits.
Do for	Serve the purpose of	The cloth will do for a flag.
Do up	Put into order	He had to do up many rooms everyday.
Do with	Deal with	He has to do with all sorts of people.
Do without	Manage without	I cannot do without the help of my assistant.

Deal

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Deal in	Carry on business	He deals in book.
Deal with	Behave	He deals with me very well.

Draw

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Draw Away	Divert	My attention was drawn away by the noise.
Draw Back	Recede	You should not draw back from your promise.
Draw On	Near	The Pujas are drawing on.
Draw Out		Draw out the aching tooth.
Draw To	Feet attraction	I drew to the boy from the first day.
Draw Up	Draft	I drew up a petition.
Draw Off	Drop off	False friends fall off in misfortune.
Draw In	Give away	The roof fell in.
Draw In with	Agree with	I cannot fall in with your views.
Draw Through	Fail	The scheme fell through for want of funds.

Drive

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Drive away	Turn out	He was driven away from the village.

Fall

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Fall at	Show disappointment	His face fell at news.
Fall among	Happen to come among	He fell among the thieves.
Fall back upon	Have recourse to	Having lost his job he feel back upon agriculture.
Fall in with	Agree with	I cannot fall in with his views.
Fall from	Come out	Not a word fell from his lips.
Fall off	Decline	The quality of goods has fallen off.
Fall on	Attack	The robbers fell on the passerby.
Fall out	Quarrel	Do not fall out with your friend.
Fall through	Fail	All his plans fell through.

Fill

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Fill in, up	complete	Fill in (up) the blanks.

Find

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Find out	detect	Find out the mistakes.

Get

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Get Along/on	To continue	How are you getting along/on without any help?
Get Away	Escape	The prisoner got away from the prison.
Get At	Reach	We could not get at the truth.
Get About	Spread	A rumour got about that he was ill.
Get In	Arrive	What time did the train get in?
Get Into	Ascend	He got into a carriage.
Get Off	Escape	The boys got off the car.
Get On	Do	How is he getting on now?
Get Out	Exit	Get out of this room.
Get Over	Overcome	He got over the difficulties.
Get Through	Finish	Try to get through the work quickly.
Get Up	Rise	Get up at five.
Get down	descend	He got down from the car.

Give

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Give Away	Make over	He has given away his all in charity.
Give In	Yielded	He ultimately gave in.
Give Over	Hand over	He gave over the charge to me.
Give Up	Abandon	Give up this bad habit.
Give Off/forth	Emit	This flower gives off/forth a sweet smell.
Give out	disclose	He will never give out the truth.

Go

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Go after	Follow	The dog went after the hare.
Go about	Move about	I am too weak to go about.
Go against		I don’t like to go against your wish.
Go by	Is known by	He goes by a false name here.
Go off	Pass	The party went off well.
Go on	Continue	Go on with your work.
Go down	Decrease	The sun has gone down.
Go in for	Become	I shall go in for the law.
Go over	Examine	Please go over the accounts.
Go out		The lamp went out suddenly.
Go through	Check vividly	I have gone through your book.
Go up	Increase	The cost of living has gone up.
Go with	Agree	I go with you in this matter.

Hand

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Hand over	Place someone or something at the custody of some other	The thief was handed over to the police.

Hang

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Hang about	Move suspiciously	Why do you hang about the examination hall?
Hang on	Depend	I do not like to hang on others for my bread.
Hang down	lower	He hung down his head with shame.
Hang up	Suspend	Hang up the picture here.
Hang over	Postpone	The debate has been hung over.

Hold

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Hold back	Conceal	Don’t hold back anything from me.
Hold in	Check	Hold in your temper.
Hold off	Keep aloof	You should hold off from such agitation.
Hold on		East Bengal held on 1-0 lead till the end.
Hold out	Extend	Davy held out his hand to Faraday.
Hold over	Postpone	The debate has been held over.
Hold together		The whole family held together for a long time.
Hold to	Stick to	Do you still hold to your plan?
Hold up	Stop	All traffic was held up for an hour.

Keep

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Keep away/off		Keep away/off from bad boys.
Keep back	Concealed	I never kept back anything from you.
Keep in	Continue to agree	I cannot keep in with you any longer.
Keep down	Control	He failed to keep down his anger.
Keep on	Continue	He kept on ringing the bell.
Keep from	Remain aloof from	You must keep from such friends.
Keep out		I was kept out of business.
Keep to	Stick to	Keep to your business. Keep to the right.
Keep up	Maintain	I shall keep up the prestige of my family.
Keep up with	Keep pace with	Try to keep up with the class.

Lay

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Lay aside	Reserve	Lay aside something for old age.
Lay by	store up for future use	Lay by something for old age.
Lay down		No such rules are laid down in the book.
Lay out		The garden is well laid out.
Lay up	confined to bed	I am laid up with fever.
Lay out	invested	He laid out his all in business.
Lay on	Put/apply	He laid his hand on my shoulder.
Lay with	cover	He laid the floor with a carpet.
Lay up with	Be confined to bed	He was laid up with pneumonia.
Lay in	store	The potatoes were laid in for the off-season.
Lay off	Dismiss temporarily	The workers were laid off for three months.
Lay before	Place something	He laid the facts before the committee.

Look

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Look after	take care	He will look after my boy.
Look down upon	deride	Don’t look down upon the poor.
Look for	search	Look for the letter in the box.
Look forward to	search	We look forward to his visit.
Look in	pay a short visit	I shall look in when I pass by his house.
Look into	enquire into	I shall look into the matter.
Look upon	regard	I look upon you as my best friend.
Look out	on the watch for	The eagle is looking out for prey.
Look over	examine	Please look over this application.
Look through	examined carefully	I have looked through the book.
Look to	rely on	I look to you for help.
Look up	visit	Please look me up on your way to the office.

Make

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Make after	pursued	The dog made after the hare.
Make off	ran away	The man made off with my bag.
Make of	composed of	This table is made of teak wood.
Make out	understand	I cannot make out what you say.
Make over	delivered	He made over charge to me.
Make up	settled	We made up our quarrel.

Pass

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Pass away	died	He passed away at night.
Pass by	overlooked	He passed by my faults.
Pass for		He passed for a rich man there.
Pass off	ceased	The rain has passed off gradually.
Pass on	proceed	Let us pass on to another subject.
Pass over	neglected	My claim was passed over.

Pull

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Pull down	demolish	We decided to pull down the old building.
Pull in	entered the platform	The train pulled in on time.
Pull off	removed	The children pulled off the cover of the pocket.
Pull together	work in harmony	They are pulling together nicely.
Pull up	reprimanded	He was pulled up for his bad behaviour.

Put

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Put down	write	Put down your name on this paper.
Put in	submitted	I have put in my claim.
Put off	postpone	Don’t put off your work.
Put out	stretched out	He put out his hand.
Put up		Put up a fence round the garden.
Put on	wear	Put on your clothes.

Run

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Run after	pursued	They all ran after the thief.
Run at	attacked	The dog ran at the hare.
Run away	stole	My servant ran away with my watch.
Run down	sickly	He looks much run down.
Run off		The thief saw me and ran off.
Run out	were exhausted	The garrison did not surrender until provisions ran out.
Run over	overflowed	The water of the river ran over its banks.
Run through	glanced over hastily	I ran through the book in an hour.

See

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
See off	To bid goodbye	I went to the station to see of my friend.
See through	understand	I have seen through his plan.

Send

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Send for	Summon	Please send for a doctor.
Send up	Recommended for competition	Three candidates have been sent up for the competition.

Set

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Set about	begin	Set about your task immediately.
Set aside/apart		He set aside / apart some money for me.
Set in	began	The rain set in.
Set off	started	He set off for Mumbai.
Set out	started	He has set out for England.
Set up	established	He set up a school there.

Sit

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Sit for	Appear in	He sat for IIT JAM.
Sit up	Continue to sit	His mother sat up the whole night.

Stand

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Stand for	represent	The letter “X” stands for ten.
Stand off	kept aloof	I stood off from the quarrel.
Stand by	supported	The chief stood by the king.
Stand to	stick to	I shall stand to my promise.
Stand against	oppose	They stood against their common enemy.
Stand over	Be postpone	Let this matter stand over till the next meeting.
Stand out	Be prominent	His work stand out from others.

Take

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Take after	resembles	The child takes after its father.
Take back	withdraw	I cannot take back my word.
Take down	record	Take down the notes.
Take for	regarded as	I took him for a doctor.
Take in	understand	I cannot take in the meaning of the passage.
Take off	remove	Take off your coat.
Take out		Take out the aching tooth.
Take over	Accept	He will take over charge tomorrow.
Take to	habituated himself to	He has taken to gambling.
Take upon		He took upon himself the burden of the family.
Takt by	catch	He took the man by his neck.
Take off	Put off	Tale off your shirt.

Talk

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Talk over	discuss	They are talking over the matter.

Tell

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Tell of	Describe	He told of his plan in details.
Tell on/upon	Affect	Over eating may tell on(upon) your health.

Turn

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Turn away	Keep away	The sight pained me and I turned away.
Turn back		Don’t turn back a beggar from your door.
Turn down	rejected	He turned down my proposal.
Turn in	went to bed	I turned in early last night.
Turn on		Turn on the switch.
Turn out	driven out	The boy was turned out for misconduct.
Turn up	Appear	He did not turn up in time.
Turn aside	Deviate from	We should not turn aside from the path of virtue.
Turn against	Become hostile	They soon turned against us.
Turn into	Change into	Turn the sentence into English.
Turn off	stop	Turn off the switch before leaving the room.
Turn to	Engage oneself	I advised him to turn to the study of medicine.

Work

Phrasal Verbs	Meaning	Examples
Work at	Be engage in	The carpenter is working at the chair.
Work on	continued	They worked on till sunset.
Work out	solve	Work out this sum.
Work up	excite	Antony worked up the feeling of Roman mob by his speech.

Worked Out Examples on Phrasal Verbs

Replace the bold faced words in the following sentences with appropriate group verbs given within boxes below, changing their forms where necessary.

(a) (i) My servant escaped with all my money.
(ii) You must solve this problem.
(iii) The proposal failed as nobody supported it.
(iv) Please invite a doctor, I am sick.
(v) Do not always chase after money.
List –  run after, fall through, call in, work out, run away.

(b) (i) Please examine this paper.
(ii) Extinguish the lamp, please.
(iii) Remove the cover immediately.
(iv) You should not reject this offer.
(v) You must wear this beautiful dress tonight.
List – put off, put on, take out, turn down, look over.

(c) (i) You must obey the order.
(ii) The enemy retreated on the face of constant shelling.
(iii) A prisoner escaped from the police custody yesterday.
(iv) I do not know how it happened.
(v) The meeting was postponed as it was raining.
List come about, fell back, got away, called off, carry out.

(d) I shall continue the work till I finish it.
(ii) This child has none to take care of him.
(iii) You must write whatever you have to say.
(iv) The monsoon will start within a fortnight.
(v) All the rules have been written in this book.
List – put down, look after, set in, lay down, carry on.

(e) (i) I shall visit you tomorrow morning.
(ii) Please pass on this paper to Runu.
(iii) I met him accidentally today.
(iv) Prices of everything have increased.
(v) Try to minimise your expenses.
List – hand on, gone up, keep down, come across, call on.

Answer

(a) (i) ran away, (ii) work out, (iii) fell through, (iv) call in, (v) run after.
(b) (i) look over, (ii) put off, (iii) take out, (iv) turn down, (v) put on.
(c) (i) carry out, (ii) fell back, (iii) got away, (iv) came about, (v) called off.
(d) (i) carry on, (ii) look after, (iii) put down, (iv) set in, (v) laid down.
(e) (i) call on, (ii) hand on, (iii) came across (iv) gone up, (v) keep down.

Phrasal Verb	Exercises
Examples