Phrasal Verbs Exercises 41-45
Do you want to learn useful phrasal verbs?
Be aware that some phrasal verbs can have more than one meaning. In the following exercises, only one option is considered.
For questions, please write a comment at the bottom after the exercises or reach me through the contact form.
Do you want to learn useful phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs are very common in English. But they do not exist in other languages. Because of that, phrasal verbs are sometimes challenging for English language learners.
Some students try to avoid them. Others get over-obsessed with them. The best approach is to think about phrasal verbs as if they were like any common verb. Although phrasal verbs are just verbs, they have two peculiarities:
1) Verbs are usually a single word, while phrasal verbs are made of two or more words. For example, look up, break out, run out of, and come on in.
2) The meaning of a phrasal verb is not always transparent as it happens with common verbs. For example, ‘run out of’ and ‘fall out’ have nothing to do with running or physically falling. They mean ‘to finish your supply of something’ and ‘to argue with someone’. Also, for example, ‘break up’, ‘break down’ and ‘break in’ also have opaque meanings. In the three cases, you break something, but ‘up’, ‘down’ and ‘in’ mark the difference: a relationship (break up), a machine or a car (break down), and a door or a window with the aim of stealing (break into).
Because of that, you need to approach and learn phrasal verbs as you learn common verbs. Do not try to group them according to the verb (stand up, stand out, stand for) or to assemble them according to the particle (do up, fill up, speak up). Most of the time, they are not related.
You need not fear phrasal verbs in the same way that you do not fear common verbs. And even though almost all phrasal verbs can be interchanged with a common verb, you have to use phrasal verbs in informal interactions if you want to sound natural to English native speakers. That is why it is a good idea to learn basic English phrasal verbs?