v3. phrasal verbs

8/12/2019 V3. Phrasal Verbs

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Phrasal Verbs

There are more than 2,000 phrasal verbs in the English language with over 3,500 definitions. Below

are roughly 100 carefully picked phrasal verbs that can easily be applied to different situations. Becareful to use them correctly though as some have other and completely different meanings.

Compare go down with:

I think my idea went down with management really well.

Mike isnt in today because hes gone down withthe flu.

Acceptance and Agreement

Stick to (what you say) stand by

e.g. Im going to stand by what I said before about the sky being blue.

Persuade a person to accept bring round to

e.g. They brought me round to their idea about panda fighting.

Compensate for make up for

e.g. Her boyfriend made up for forgetting her birthday by giving her flowers.

Agree, be in accord with fall in with

e.g. He fell in with the wrong crowd and started taking drugs.

Indulge in, adopt go in for

e.g. I could really go in for an ice cream about now.

Begin to be adopted catch on

e.g. I really think this sport will catch on in Britain.

Be received (by) go down (with)

e.g. Do you think this will go down with your boss?

Accept/follow a decision/rule Abide by

e.g. We have to abide by the law.

Adhere to keep to

e.g. We have to keep to the plan.

Pass unnoticed get by


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e.g. I dont these mistakes will get by the director.

Begin a habit take to

e.g. The girls really taken to ballet.

Adopt take up

e.g. The committee have taken up the idea of reviewing the budget.

Reject, refuse turn down

e.g. She turned down his marriage proposal.

Not take notice of Brush off/aside

e.g. They brushed aside my new idea.

Behaviour

Take great trouble put oneself out

e.g. S1: I got you a Christmas present.

S2: You didnt need to put yourself out.

Suppress put down

e.g. The dictator put down the rebellion.

Be over anxious (to help) fall over oneself

e.g. They fell over themselves trying to impress the new boss.

Not vomit keep down

e.g. She drank so much that she struggled to keep it down.

Take care of look after

e.g. I look after my pets/children/company.

Sacrifice lay down (life)

e.g. He laid down his life for his country.

Behave better turn over a new leaf

e.g. Realising how rude I was to my mother, I decided to turn over a new leaf and start treating her

properly.

Betray a secret give away


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e.g. Scott didnt give anything away about the Birthday party.

Murder do in

e.g. He spoke to the police so the crime syndicate did him in.

Cheat something off someone do out of

e.g. That conman has done me out of five pounds.

Kill painlessly put down

e.g. The dog had become so old that the only kind thing to do was to put it down.

Attack (physically) go for

e.g. In anger, Jorge went for Jesus. Luckily, the two were separated before either were hurt.

Attack (physically or verbally) lay into

e.g. They laid into him over the low quarterly sales figures.

Attack (physically or verbally) turn on

e.g. The dog turned on its mater.

Deceive take in

e.g. The government has taken us in yet again.

Be tricked by fall for

e.g. I completely fell for their joke.

Pretend make out

e.g. He made out as if he was a fantastic dancer but truth be told, he didnt even have any rhythm.

Pretend to be pass (oneself) off as

e.g. He passed himself off as a fantastic dancer but truth be told, he didnt even have any rhythm.

Spend money lay out

e.g. They laid out thousands of pounds for the wedding.

Fell cut down

e.g. I cut down a huge tree because I was bored.

Prove superior to get the better of

E.g. The attacker got the better of the defender with a nice turn.


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Life and Health

Succeed rapidly take off

e.g. The new product took off fantastically.

Fail to reach the mark fall short

e.g. The arrow fell short of its target.

Succeed in, clinch, achieve pull off

e.g. I dont know how he managed to pull off such a beautiful girlfriend.

Fail to materialize, collapse fall through

e.g. All my hopes and dreams are slowly but surely falling through.

Accomplish successfully bring off

e.g. After many setbacks, she finally brought it off.

Fail, prove unsatisfactory fall down

e.g. The argument fell down around the new criticism.

Attempt successfully carry off

e.g. She carried off the first prize.

Sacrifice give up

e.g. He gave up the race. (transitive)

Surrender, yield give up/in

e.g. He gave up/in. (intransitive)

Turn out to be successful come off

e.g. He came off well from the whole adventure.

Find easy/being to like take to

e.g. She took to skiing surprisingly quickly.

Reduce the value of something Detract from

e.g. That new skyscraper really detracts from the beauty of the city.

Progress get along

e.g. Hes getting along with his homework nicely.


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e.g. Hearing his profanities put her off him completely.

Quarrel fall out

e.g. She fell out with her friend over a boy.

End a quarrel make up

e.g. They decided their friendship was more important and made up.

Upset cut up

e.g. She was really cut up still about the boy though.

Bear, tolerate Put up with

e.g. She couldnt change anything now so she would just have to put off with not being with him.

Travel and Visits

Approach (go) go towards

e.g. We were going towards the castle when we the storm started.

Visit come round

e.g. My friends came over yesterday for a party.

Approach ( come ) come up to

e.g. We came up to the castle and parked.

Visit for a short time look in

e.g. We looked in on our way home

Go towards make for

e.g. I made for my home as fast as I could to get away from the zombies.

Pay a visit to someone look up

e.g. When I arrived in Zaragoza, I looked up an old friend.

Reach get to

e.g. When we got to the beach, we realised it was too crowded to park.

Receive take in

e.g. I owe them everythingwhen I was poor, they took me in and fed me.


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Stop (park) pull in

e.g. I pulled up by the curb and got out my car.

Stop (traffic) hold up

e.g. There was a huge hold up because of the road works.

Arrive (in) get in(to)

e.g. Lets get in before it starts to rain.

Stop (with intent to rob) hold up

e.g. Three armed men came in and held up the bank.

Disembark get off

e.g. I got off the train.

Meet by chance come across

e.g. I came across a new sweet shop yesterday when I was on a random stroll.

Begin to move away from pull out of

e.g. I decided it wasnt for me and pulled out of the contract negotiations.

Meet by chance fall in with

e.g. I fell in with a new group of friends when I arrived in Zaragoza.

Leave quickly/abruptly pull away

e.g. The car pulled away from the lights at high speed.

Travel get about

e.g. My job lets me get about.

Walk get about

e.g. She doesnt get about much because of her age.

Leave the ground take off

e.g. The plane took off.

Sink go down

e.g. The plane was hit by a missile and went down.


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Time and Progress

Introduce bring in

e.g. Were bringing in some new policies next week.

Continue doing something get on

e.g. The teacher asked the students to get on with their work quietly.

Make progress with something get on

e.g. How are you getting on with your English lessons?

Manage make do with

e.g. Well just have to make down with a conservative government.

Almost, nearly getting on for

e.g. Ive been running for getting on for two hours now.

Handle, manage get along

e.g. Im getting along nicely with my work.

Delay hold up

e.g. The traffic was being held up by a four-car pile-up.

Manage get by

e.g. He gets by on just 50 a week. How does he afford to pay his bills?

Postpone put off

e.g. I put off doing my homework until after the football.

Maintain keep up

e.g. Im struggling to keep up my exercise regime I just dont have the time.

Continue carry on

e.g. Lets carry on reading the phrasal verb listwere almost at the end of the list now.

Continue without interruption go on

e.g. He went on and on and on. I couldnt get a word in.

Take place, follow a plan go off

e.g. The plan went off without a hitch.


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Wait hold on

e.g. Could you hold on for a minute while I finish my cigarette?

Cease doing something give over

e.g. He kept talking rubbish so I told him to give over.

Recover from problems/shock get over

e.g. Eventually he got over the flu/shock of losing his girlfriend.

Finish something unpleasant get over with

e.g. I couldnt wait to get that exam over with.

Transpire turn out

e.g. I had thought that they were the bad guys but it turned out, we were.

v3. phrasal verbs

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