Phrasal Verbs With Meanings & Examples In Sentences
A phrasal verbs is a fixed expression with two parts. It consists of a verb followed by an adverb, a preposition, or both an adverb and a preposition. That is, a phrasal verb is a specific phrase whose first part will have a verb and the second part will have an adverb, or a preposition, or an adverb and a preposition. For example, Verb + adverb = look out. Verb + preposition look for.
Phrasal Verbs That Start With “P”
| Phrasal Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pack away | Put something where it belongs. | I packed away the suitcases in the loft after we had emptied them. |
| Pack in | Stop doing something. | I’m trying to pack in smoking. |
| Pack in | End a relationship. | She packed her boyfriend in. |
| Pack in | Fill a venue. | They really pack them in at the club; it was so crowded it was impossible to move. |
| Pack in | Break down, stop working. | The photocopier has packed in again. |
| Pack it in | Stop doing something (used as an imperative). | The kids were making a fuss, so I told them to pack it in. |
| Pack off | Send someone away. | His boss packed him off to a regional office. |
| Pack out | Fill a venue. | The stadium was packed out. |
| Pack up | Stop doing something. | You should pack up smoking. |
| Pack up | Finish work. | We had nothing left to do, so we packed up early. |
| Pack up | Break down, stop working. | My printer packed up last night; I’ll have to get a new one. |
| Pack up | Collect things and put them where you keep them. | At the end of the presentation, I packed up my laptop. |
| Pad down | Sleep somewhere for the night. | I’m too tired to come home; can I pad down here tonight? |
| Pad out | Make a text longer by including extra content, often not particularly relevant. | I couldn’t think of much to write, so I padded the essay out with a few lengthy quotes. |
| Pair off | Begin a romantic relationship. | They paired off shortly after starting university. |
| Pair off | Introduce people, hoping they will start a relationship. | I tried to pair him off with my sister. |
| Pair off | Form pairs. | The class paired off to practice the exam interviews. |
| Pair off with | Form a pair with someone. | I paired off with Trish for the test. |
| Pair up | Form a pair. | We paired up for the last activity. |
| Pal about | Be friendly and spend time with someone. | We used to pal about when we were at school. |
| Pal around | Be friendly and spend time with someone. | We palled around at university. |
| Pal up | Become friends. | We palled up when I started working with her. |
| Palm off | Get someone to accept something that isn’t true. | He tried to palm me off with a pathetic excuse. |
| Palm off | Pretend something is better than it is in order to sell it. | He tried to palm off his computer as the latest model. |
| Pan out | The way a situation develops. | I don’t know how things will pan out now the company’s been taken over. |
| Paper over | Try to conceal a problem without really fixing it. | The government tried to paper over the problems in the proposal, but the press were critical. |
| Pare back | Reduce the size or numbers of something. | They have had to pare back the services they offer as their funding was reduced. |
| Pare down | Reduce, decrease. | They have pared down the number of employees as they haven’t been doing well. |
| Part with | Give something away, especially when you don’t want to. | I found it very hard to part with my old CDs when I digitized my collection. |
| Pass around | Give out to everybody there. | The teacher passed around the handout. |
| Pass as | Be believed to be something. | Although not qualified, he managed to pass as a doctor for years. |
| Pass away | Die. | Sadly, Georgia’s uncle passed away yesterday after a short illness. |
| Pass back | Return. | I felt awful when the teacher started to pass back the exam papers. |
| Pass by | Go past without stopping. | I was just passing by when I saw the accident. |
| Pass by | Visit briefly. | I was passing by her house the other day when I heard about it. |
| Pass by | Miss an opportunity. | The chance for promotion passed me by. |
| Pass down | Transmit information or give property to younger generations. | The tales were passed down for centuries without changing any of the words. |
| Pass for | Be accepted as something, usually when not. | You’d be surprised at what passes for good cooking in many restaurants. |
| Pass off | Convince someone that something is real. | I managed to pass off the fake money in the market. |
| Pass off | Happen in a certain way. | The demonstration passed off peacefully. |
| Pass on | Give a message to someone. | I’ll pass the message on when she gets here. |
| Pass on | Decline an invitation or opportunity. | I think I’ll pass on dinner tonight – I’m not hungry. |
| Pass on | Die. | Her husband passed on last year. |
| Pass on to | Change topic or subject. | Let’s pass on to the next item on the agenda. |
| Pass out | Faint, lose consciousness. | He got so drunk that he passed out. |
| Pass out | Distribute. | The protesters passed out leaflets to the growing crowd. |
| Pass over | Ignore someone and give a job, reward, etc, to someone more junior. | They passed him over and made his assistant the new director. |
| Pass over | Ignore, refuse to discuss. | Let’s pass over what they said and get on. |
| Pass round | Distribute, give to people present. | They passed round copies of the handbook. |
| Pass through | Visit a place without stopping or only stopping briefly. | I didn’t see much as I was only passing through the town. |
| Pass to | Give ownership or responsibility to someone. | The shares passed to his daughter when he died. |
| Pass to | Become owner of or responsible for something. | The property will pass to her when they die. |
| Pass up | Decline a chance. | She passed up the opportunity to go to university because she’d been offered a job. |
| Pat down | Search or frisk someone. | The police patted them down for weapons but found nothing. |
| Patch together | Create or assemble something quickly without much planning. | They patched together a coalition after the election. |
| Patch up | Fix or make things better. | I tried to patch things up after the argument, but they wouldn’t speak to me. |
| Give an injured person basic medical treatment. | After the accident, they patched her up and sent her to hospital. | |
| Pay back | Repay money borrowed. | I paid back the twenty pounds I’d borrowed. |
| Take revenge on. | I’m going to pay him back for that insult. | |
| Pay down | Pay a debt over time. | The British government can’t pay down the national debt. |
| Pay for | Purchase. | I paid twenty pounds for the book. |
| Pay into | Deposit money. | I paid the cash into my account. |
| Pay off | Completely repay a debt. | The mortgage will be paid off in twenty-five years. |
| Produce a profitable or successful result. | Their patience paid off when he finally showed up and signed the contract. | |
| Peck at | Eat very small amounts. | The food wasn’t very nice, so I pecked at it to look polite. |
| Peel away | Leave a group by moving in a different direction. | Some of the crowd peeled away to get out of the crush. |
| Peel away from | Leave a group by moving in a different direction. | They peeled away from the crowd and went down a side road. |
| Peel off | Leave a group by moving in a different direction. | When the police blocked the road, a few protesters peeled off and left the march. |
| Peel off from | Leave a group by moving in a different direction. | They peeled off from the demonstration when the police arrived. |
| Peel out | Accelerate rapidly from stationary. | Fearing the police, he peeled out in a cloud of tire smoke. |
| Peg away | Keep working at something. | I pegged away for weeks before my exams. |
| Peg down | Fasten something to the ground. | We pegged the tent down to stop the wind blowing it about. |
| Peg it | Die. | After a long illness, she finally pegged it yesterday. |
| Peg out | Put washing outside to dry. | I pegged the washing out after it stopped raining. |
| Die. | He pegged out last night from a heart attack. | |
| Pencil in | Make a provisional appointment. | I’ll pencil Thursday night in, but if anything comes up, give me a ring. |
| Pep up | Make something more interesting. | You need to pep your writing up. |
| Make someone more enthusiastic. | Her talk pepped us up. |
| Perk up | Feel better or happier, make someone feel better or happier. | She was ill in bed with flu, but she perked up a bit when some friends dropped by. |
| Peter out | Lose impetus and stop. | Everyone was keen at first, but the enthusiasm petered out when they saw how long it would take. |
| Phase in | Introduce gradually. | They are phasing in the reforms over the next two years. |
| Phase out | Remove gradually. | They have introduced a compact edition of the newspaper and are phasing out the broadsheet edition over the next few months. |
| Pick at | Eat unwillingly. | I wasn’t very hungry so I just picked at my food. |
| Pick at | Criticise. | There were a few problems that could be picked at, but it was generally good. |
| Pick off | Target individuals to change a group. | There were many rebels against the policy, but the government picked off the leaders. |
| Pick on | Bother, annoy, criticize, or make fun of someone. | My friends always pick on me because I don’t sing well. |
| Pick out | Choose. | She picked out the ones she wanted to take and left the rest. |
| Pick out | Identify from a picture. | The victim couldn’t pick out her attacker from the photos the police showed her. |
| Pick through | Search something that is disordered for something. | The police have been picking through the wreckage for clues. |
| Pick up | Improve. | Sales picked up a bit during the Christmas period. |
| Pick up | Learn quickly. | She picked up Spanish in six months. |
| Pick up | Collect. | While you’re in town, can you pick up my trousers from the Dry Cleaner? |
| Pick up | Receive (a broadcast). | When we rent a holiday cottage in Cornwall, we can’t pick up Channel 5. |
| Pick up | Collect (a person). | i) Can you pick me up and take me to The George when you go to the party? ii) Can you pick up some friends of mine on your way to the party? They’re going too. |
| Pick up after | Tidy a mess someone else has made. | I always have to pick up after him because he leaves things all over the office. |
| Pick up on | Correct someone when they say something wrong. | My teacher picks up on any mistake I make and corrects me. |
| Pick up on | Notice something that most people don’t. | He’s very quick to pick up on new trends. |
| Pick up on | React to something; take notice of something. | The government has picked up on the reports in the media. |
| Pick up on | Comment on something said earlier in a conversation. | I’d like to pick up on the point that Jill made. |
| Pick yourself up | Recover from a fall or problem. | It took him a long time to pick himself up after his wife left him. |
| Pig off | Used to tell someone to get lost or leave you alone. | He told them to pig off and leave him in peace. |
| Pig out | Eat a lot. | The food was great, so I really pigged out. |
| Pile in | Enter a place quickly, in a disorganized way. | The coach stopped and we all piled in. |
| Pile into | Enter a place quickly, in a disorganized way. | We piled into the shop when it opened. |
| Pile on | Add or give more of something, especially pressure. | Work’s crazy – they keep piling on the pressure. |
| Pile on | Exaggerate or talk in a way to affect someone’s feelings. | It wasn’t very serious, but they piled on the guilt. |
| Pile out | Leave a place quickly, in a disorganized way. | The train eventually arrived and we all piled out. |
| Pile up | Accumulate, especially in a pile or heap. | Work just keeps on piling up and I really can’t manage to get it all done. |
| Pile up | Accumulate; become more numerous. | The ironing’s piling up as I hate doing it. |
| Pin down | Get a fixed idea, opinion, etc., from someone. | I’ve asked him to set a date, but he’s a hard man to pin down and won’t give a definite answer. |
| Pin down | Discover exact details about something. | The government can’t pin down where the leak came from. |
| Pin on | Attach the blame to someone. | The police tried to pin the crime on him. |
| Pin up | Fix something to a wall or other vertical surface with a pin. | I pinned the notice up on the board. |
| Pine away | Suffer physically because of grief, stress, worry, etc. | He’s been pining away since his wife died and is a shadow of his former self. |
| Pipe down | Be quiet (often as an imperative). | The lecturer asked the students to pipe down and pay attention. |
| Pipe up | Speak, raise your voice. | At first, no one answered, then finally someone piped up. |
| Pit against | Compete or force to compete. | The war pitted neighbor against neighbor. |
| Pit out | Go into the pits (car racing). | He pitted out in the twentieth lap. |
| Pitch for | Try to persuade someone to give your work, business, a job, etc. | He pitched for the job, but they gave it to someone else. |
| Pitch in | Work together to help achieve an objective. | We were behind schedule, but the others pitched in and we got it done in time. |
| Pitch into | Criticise severely or attack someone. | The shareholders pitched into the management about their pay rises at the meeting. |
| Plant out | Put a young plant that has been grown in a pot or greenhouse into the ground. | They need to be planted out in the spring. |
| Plate up | Put food onto a plate to serve. | Plate up and drizzle with salsa verde. |
| Play along | Pretend to agree or accept something in order to keep someone happy or to get more information. | I disagreed with the idea but I had to play along because everyone else liked it. |
| Play around | Be silly. | The children were playing around and being annoying. |
| Play around | Be sexually promiscuous or unfaithful. | I played around a lot at college. |
| Play at | Pretend to be something. | He just plays at being a lawyer; he never wins a case. |
| Play away | Be sexually unfaithful when away from home. | He travels abroad a lot and his wife thinks he plays away. |
| Play back | Listen to or watch something you’ve recorded. | We played the recording back to see if it was OK. |
| Play down | Try to make something seem less important. | The government has tried to play down the importance of the minister’s resignation. |
| Play off | Play a game to decide who the winner is. | As both teams had the same points, they played off to decide the winner. |
| Play off | Make people compete against each other so that you benefit. | He played them off against each other to get the best deal. |
| Play on | Continue playing a sport though there might be a reason to stop. | It looked like a foul, but the referee told them to play on. |
| Play on | Continue playing music. | The band played on for another hour. |
| Play on | Exploit a weakness. | They are just playing on our fears to get us to do what they want. |
| Play on | Pun. | The advert plays on the slogan. |
| Play out | Progress, often until it finishes. | Let’s see how things play out. |
| Play out | Pretend that something is real and reduce its effect. | Computer games allow people to play out their violent urges. |
| Play out | Play something to the end. | Rain stopped them playing the game out. |
| Play out | Unwind (e.g., fishing line). | When he hooked the swordfish, his line rapidly played out. |
| Play up | Behave badly. | The children played up all evening and drove the babysitter mad. |
| Play up to | Flatter someone. | I’m playing up to my boss at the moment because I want the promotion. |
| Play up to | Behave in a way expected. | He’s got a reputation for being trouble and plays up to it. |
| Play upon | Exploit a weakness. | They are playing upon people’s concerns to get their way. |
| Play with | Touch and move something to occupy your hands. | He can’t stop playing with his beard. |
| Play with | Not eat much of a meal. | I wasn’t hungry, so I just played with the food. |
| Play with | Consider something, but not seriously. | We played with the idea, but decided against it. |
| Plead out | Plead guilty to get a reduced sentence or fine. | The CEO pleaded out and blamed the CFO for the fraud. |
| Plough back | Re-invest money you have made into a business. | We ploughed back all the profits to grow the company. |
| Plough into | Collide into at speed. | The bus skidded and ploughed into the bus stop. |
| Plough on | Continue doing something you don’t want to. | It was really boring, but we ploughed on. |
| Plough through | Eat a big meal. | We ploughed through all seven courses. |
| Plough through | Read something that is difficult or takes a lot of time. | It took me ages to plough through ‘Ulysses’. |
| Plough through | Move through somewhere where there are obstacles. | The boat had to plough through the ice. |
| Plough up | Break the surface of soil. | The tractor ploughed up the field so they could sow the seed. |
| Plow back | Re-invest money you have made into a business. | We plowed back all the profits to grow the company. |
| Plow into | Collide into at speed. | The bus skidded and plowed into the bus stop. |
| Plow on | Continue doing something you don’t want to. | It was really boring, but we plowed on. |
| Plow through | Eat a big meal. | We plowed through all eight courses. |
| Plow through | Read something that is difficult or takes a lot of time. | It takes me ages to plow through any of Henry James’ novels. |
| Plow through | Move through somewhere where there are obstacles. | The police car had to plow through the crowd. |
| Plow up | Break the surface of soil. | The tractor plowed up the field so they could sow the crop. |
| Pluck at | Pull or fiddle with something nervously. | He was plucking at his cuffs during the interview. |
| Pluck up | Muster, acquire, gather courage. | They plucked up the courage to complain. |
| Plug in | Connect machines to the electricity supply. | He plugged in the TV and turned it on full blast. |
| Plump down | Put something in a place without taking care. | He plumped his bag down and kicked his shoes off. |
| Plump for | Choose. | I plumped for the steak frites. |
| Plump up | Make something like a cushion bigger and softer by shaking it. | I plumped up the pillow and lay down. |
| Plump down | Sit down heavily. | She plumped herself down next to me and started asking me what had happened. |
| Point out | Make someone aware of something. | He pointed out that I only had two weeks to get the whole thing finished. |
| Poke about | Move things around or search in a casual way. | I poked about in my CD collection to see if I could find it. |
| Poke around | Move things around or search in a casual way. | I poked around in my desk to see if the letter was there. |
| Polish off | Finish, consume. | She polishes off half a bottle of gin every night. |
| Polish up | Improve something quickly. | I need to polish up my French before I go to Paris. |
| Pony up | Pay for something. | I had to pony up fifty dollars for the meal. |
| Poop out | Get too tired to do something. | I was going to write my essay, but I pooped out and went to bed instead. |
| Poop out on | Fail to keep an appointment. | We were supposed to meet yesterday, but she pooped out on me at the last minute. |
| Pootle along | Travel in a leisurely way. | We were pootling along at thirty miles an hour. |
| Pop in | Visit for a short time. | He popped in for a coffee on his way home. |
| Pop off | Talk loudly, complain. | He’s always popping off when things don’t suit him. |
| Pop off | Go out for a short time. | He’s just popped off for a break but should be back in a few minutes. |
| Pop out | Go out for a short time. | I’m just popping out to the shops. Do you need anything while I’m out? |
| Pop up | Appear, like windows and boxes opening on a computer screen. | The dialogue box popped up when I pressed Enter. |
| Pop up | Appear unexpectedly. | I’m going to have to work late tonight because something has popped up. |
| Pore over | Read, look at or study carefully. | She pored over the report looking for mistakes. |
| Potter about | Spend time doing little things for pleasure. | On Saturday mornings, I potter about the garden if the weather’s fine. |
| Potter around | Spend some time doing little things for pleasure. | I pottered around, sorting out my CDs and a few other things. |
| Pour down | Rain hard. | It poured down all day so we had to remain indoors. |
| Pour forth | Emerge from a place in large numbers. | Useless statistics poured forth from him. |
| Power down | Cut the electricity supply to a computer or electronic device. | I powered down my computer and went for lunch. |
| Power off | Cut the electricity to a computer or device to turn it off. | You mustn’t power it off while it is updating. |
| Power up | Turn a computer or electronic device on so that it is ready to use. | I powered up my laptop and started work. |
| Prattle on | Talk too much. | Geoff just prattled on instead of giving a straight answer. |
| Press ahead | Continue with something. | They pressed ahead with the elections despite the violence. |
| Press for | Apply pressure to get permission or to obtain something. | The workers are pressing for better pay and conditions. |
| Press forward with | Continue or go ahead with a project, process, plan, etc. | The government is pressing forward with the new law. |
| Press into | Bring or force into use. | When the line was breached, reserve troops were pressed into service. |
| Press on | Continue with something. | We pressed on to get to our destination before night fell. |
| Press upon | Pressure someone to accept something offered. | The invitations were pressed upon us and it was hard to say no. |
| Prey on | Catch and kill an animal for food. | Spiders prey on insects. |
| Exploit or harm. | They prey on older people. | |
| Prey upon | Catch and kill an animal for food. | Cats prey upon birds and mice. |
| Exploit or harm. | They prey upon people’s fears about immigration. | |
| Price in | Include the affects of possible future events when assessing the value of something. | Speculators have priced in the risk of a war breaking out. |
| Price up | Charge more for something. | In rural areas where they have a monopoly, some garages price up fuel because there’s nowhere else to buy it. |
| Print out | Make a hard copy of a computer document. | He printed out the letter and checked through it carefully. |
| Prop up | Support something, both physically and financially, politically, etc. | The council have propped up the museum for years with grants. |
| Psych out | Work out or anticipate someone’s intentions. | We have to try to psych out our rivals. |
| Make someone less confident. | Boxers try to psych their opponents out before the fight to gain an advantage. | |
| Psych up | Prepare someone mentally. | I psyched myself up for the exam. |
| Pucker up | Move your lips into position to receive a kiss. | She puckered up when he leaned forwards to kiss her. |
| Pull ahead | Overtake, move in front. | The lorry was going slowly but we managed to pull ahead. |
| Pull apart | Destroy an argument, theory, etc. | My tutor pulled my essay apart. |
| Stop people or animals fighting. | A fight broke out in the pub and it was hard to pull the people involved apart. | |
| Make someone unhappy or upset. | It pulled me apart to see them arguing so much. |
| Pull away | When a vehicle moves from a place. | The car pulled away from the lights at high speed. |
| Pull back | Score a goal or point when losing. | They were two-nil down until five minutes before the end, when they pulled back a goal. |
| Pull back | Move away from a place, especially when talking about soldiers. | They have pulled back the troops from the front line. |
| Pull back | Move away from someone. | She pulled back when he tried to kiss her. |
| Pull back | Decide not to do something or not to be involved with it any longer. | They pulled back from the deal. |
| Pull down | Demolish. | They pulled down the old cinema to build a new shopping mall. |
| Pull down | Make someone depressed. | Losing her job pulled her down. |
| Pull down | Earn. | He’s pulling down a fortune. |
| Pull for | Support. | Who will you be pulling for in the final? |
| Pull in | When a train arrives at a station. | The train pulled in and we rushed to meet her as she got off. |
| Pull in | Attract. | Their last tour pulled in millions of fans. |
| Pull in | Stop a car by the side of the road. | I pulled in to let the passengers out. |
| Pull in | Arrest or take someone to a police station for questioning. | The police pulled them in after the trouble. |
| Pull off | Manage to do something difficult or tricky. | No-one thought that she would be able to do it, but she pulled it off in the end. |
| Pull off | Start moving (vehicles). | When the lights turned green, the car pulled off. |
| Pull on | Put clothes on. | I pulled on a jumper when the sun went in. |
| Pull out | Start moving (train). | The train was pulling out when I got there. |
| Pull out | Move into traffic. | The traffic was so bad that it took me ages to pull out. |
| Pull out | Withdraw. | The project was going badly and they decided to pull out. |
| Pull out | Remove soldiers from an area. | People want the government to pull the troops out. |
| Pull over | Stop by the side of the road. | The police pulled the car over. |
| Pull over | Make a vehicle stop. | The police pulled the car over and tested the driver for alcohol. |
| Pull through | Recover from an illness or problem. | At one stage it looked as if she was going to die, but she pulled through in the end. |
| Pull to | Close a door or window that has been left open. | Could you pull the door to, please? |
| Pull together | Work together as a team. | If we all pull together, we’ll have it finished in no time. |
| Pull up | Slow and stop a car. | The cab pulled up outside my house and I got out. |
| Pull up | Inform someone that they are wrong. | He pulled me up because I had got my facts wrong. |
| Pull yourself together | Become calm or regain control of your emotions. | He was so angry that he couldn’t pull himself together. |
| Push in | Get in a queue without waiting. | She just pushed in the queue in front of me at the supermarket checkout. |
| Put across | Communicate, convey a message. | He found it difficult to put across what he wanted to say at the meeting. |
| Put away | Put something back in the correct place. | He put the dictionary back on the shelf after he’d finished the crossword. |
| Put away | Put someone in prison. | The judge put him away for ten years for robbery. |
| Put back | Rearrange something for a later time. | The AGM has been put back until July the seventeenth. |
| Put by | Save for the future. | I try to put some money by every month towards our summer holiday. |
| Put down | Kill an animal because it’s old, ill, etc. | He had his dog put down because it was in a lot of pain from its tumors. |
| Put down | Stop holding (but withdraw support gently). | Put the gun down slowly and keep your hands where I can see them. |
| Put down for | Commit to make a payment. | Put me down for 50p per mile. |
| Put down to | Give as an explanation. | He didn’t score many, but we can put that down to inexperience. |
| Put in | Install. | They had to put in a whole new central heating system because the house was so cold. |
| Put in for | Make a request. | He put in for a transfer to the new branch. |
| Put off | Postpone. | The concert’s been put off until next month because the singer’s got a throat infection. |
| Put off | Stop liking something or somebody. | I was really put off by the way he eats with his mouth open. |
| Put on | Get fat. | He’s put on a lot of weight since he gave up smoking. |
| Put on | Deceive, lie. | I am not putting you on. |
| Put on | Start wearing. | I put my coat on before we went out. |
| Put out | Broadcast. | Several charities put out an appeal on TV for money for the victims of the flooding. |
| Put out | Disturb or trouble someone. | Would it be putting you out greatly if I asked to change to another day? |
See More “Phrasal Verbs That Start With N & O”
| Put out | Extinguish a cigarette, fire, etc. | He put out his cigarette before entering the building. |
| Put over | Successfully execute (a scam, trick, etc.) | They put over a clever practical joke on us. |
| Put through | Connect someone by phone. | Could you put me through to extension 259 please? |
| Put towards | Make a financial contribution. | She put $250 towards the cost of the repairs, and we had to pay the rest. |
| Put up | Allow someone to stay at your house for a night or a few days. | She put me up for the night because I’d missed the last bus. |
| Put up | Increase prices, taxes, duties, etc. | The government has put up tuition fees for undergraduate students again. |
| Put up | Show skill or determination in a contest, competition, fight, etc. | They put up a great fight but lost. |
| Put up to | Encourage someone to do something. | His friends put him up to stealing it. |
| Put up with | Tolerate. | I can’t put up with my neighbor’s noise any longer; it’s driving me mad. |
Some Most FAQ with Answer about “Phrasal Verbs”
- What are phrasal verbs?
- Phrasal verbs are combinations of verbs and one or more particles (prepositions or adverbs) that create a meaning different from the original verb.
- How many types of phrasal verbs are there?
- There are mainly two types of phrasal verbs: separable and inseparable.
- Why are phrasal verbs important in English?
- Phrasal verbs are important because they are commonly used in everyday English, especially in informal speech and writing.
- Can you give an example of a separable phrasal verbs?
- An example of a separable phrasal verbs is “turn off,” as in “Please turn off the lights.”
- What is an inseparable phrasal verbs?
- An inseparable phrasal verbs is one where the verb and the particle cannot be separated, such as “look after,” as in “She will look after the children.”
- How can I learn phrasal verbs effectively?
- To learn phrasal verbs effectively, practice using them in sentences, study their meanings in context, and use flashcards or apps designed for vocabulary building.
- Are phrasal verbs used in formal writing?
- Phrasal verbs are more common in informal speech and writing, but they can be used in formal writing if appropriately suited to the context.
- What are some common phrasal verbs in English?
- Some common phrasal verbs include “give up,” “take off,” “put on,” and “get along.”
- Do phrasal verbs have multiple meanings?
- Yes, many phrasal verbs have multiple meanings depending on the context, such as “take off,” which can mean to remove something or to leave quickly.
- What is the difference between a phrasal verbs and a prepositional verb?
- A phrasal verbs changes the meaning of the original verb, while a prepositional verbs includes a preposition that does not change the verb’s core meaning but adds detail.