PHRASAL VERBS

This is a compilation of the most useful everyday phrasal-verbs you need to study.

Adapted from M. Vince's ADVANCED LANGUAGE PRACTICE

PHRASAL VERB	MEANING	EXAMPLES
Add up	Make sense	Her evidence just doesn’t add up.	A
Ask after	Inquire about	Jim was asking after you
Back down	Yield in an argument	Sheila was right, so Paul had to back down.	B
Bargain for	Take into account	We hadn’t bargained for there being so much traffic, and we missed the plane.
Bear out	Confirm the truth	Helen’s alibi was borne out by her sister.
Break down	Lose control of the emotions	David broke down and wept when he heard the news.
Break off	Stop talking	He broke off to answer the phone
Break up	Come to an end	The party finally broke up at 3.00am.
Bring about	Cause to happen	The crisis was brought about by Brenda’s resignation
Bring off	Succeed in doing something	The team tried for years to win the competition and they finally brought it off.
Bring on	Cause the onset of an illness	Sitting in the damp brought on his rheumatism.
Bring on/upon	Cause trouble to happen to oneself	You have brought this on/upon yourself!
Bring around	Influence someone to your point of view	After much discussion, I brought the committee round to my point of view.
Bring up	Mention	I feel I ought to bring up another small matter.
Call up	Mobilise for military service	Mark was called up when the war broke up.	C
Carry off	Complete successfully – perhaps despite a problem	Jane had a difficult role to play, but she carried it off.
Carry out	Complete a plan	The attack was successfully carried out
Catch on	Become popular – colloquial	This new hairstyle is beginning to catch on.
Come about	Happen	Let me explain how the situation came about.
Come down to	Be in the end, a matter of	It all comes down to whether you are prepared to accept less money.
Come in for	Receive – especially criticism, blame	The government has come in for a lot of criticism over the decision.
Come off	Take place successfully	I’m afraid that deal didn’t come off after all.
Come out	Appear	All the flowers have come out. When the news came out, everyone was shocked. My photos didn’t come out very well.
Come up	Occur – usually a problem – colloquial	Look, something has come up, and I can’t meet you.
Come up against	Meet a difficulty	We’ve come up against a bit of problems.
Come up to	Equal – especially expectations, standard	The play didn’t come up to expectations.
Come up with	Think of – especially an answer, a plan, a solution	We still haven’t come up with a solution to the problem.
Count on	Rely on	Don’t worry, you can count on me.
Crop up	Happen unexpectedly - colloquial	I can’t come to your party, something has cropped up.
Do away with	Abolish - colloquial	Dog licenses have been done away with.	D
Do away with	Murder - colloquial	What if they do away with the old man?
Do up	Decorate - colloquial	We are having our living room done up.
Draw up	Come to a stop	A white sports car drew up outside the door.
Draw up	Organise – especially a document	The contract is being drawn up at the moment.
Drop in	Pay a visit - colloquial	Drop in any time you’re passing.
Drop off	Fall asleep - colloquial	The baby has just dropped off.
End up	Finish in a certain way, or place	We ended up staying there for lunch. The car ended up in a ditch.	E
Face up to	Have courage to deal with – especially responsibilities	You have to face up to your responsibilities.	F
Fall about	Show amusement – especially laughing - colloquial	Everyone fell about when Jane told her joke.
Fall back on	Use as a last resort	If the worst comes to the worst, we’ve got our savings to fall back on.
Fall for	Be deceived by - colloquial	It was an unlikely story but he fell for it.
PHRASAL VERB	MEANING	EXAMPLES
Fall for	Fall in love - colloquial	I fell for you the moment I saw you.
Fall out with	Quarrel with	Peter has fallen out with his boss.
Fall through	Fail to come to completion	The plan fell through at the last minute.
Feel up to	Feel capable of doing	Old Mr Smith didn’t feel up to walking all that way.
Follow up	Act upon a suggestion	Thanks for the information about that book. I’ll follow it up.
Follow up	Take more action	We’ll follow up this lesson next week.
Get across	Be understood – especially get an idea across	I had the feeling I wasn’t getting across.	G
Get at	Imply – about personal matters – colloquial	What are you getting at exactly?
Get down	Make to feel depressed - colloquial	This cold weather really gets me down.
Get down to	Begin to seriously deal with	It’s time we got down to some real work.
Get off with	Avoid punishment	They were lucky to get off with such light sentences.
Get on for	Approach a certain age/time/number	He must be getting on for seventy.
Get on	Make progress – especially in life	Sue is getting on very well in her new job.
Get over	Be surprised	I couldn’t get over how well she looked.
Get over with	Come to the end of something, usually unpleasant	I’ll be glad to get this awful business over with.
Get round to	Fill time to do – also around	Sorry, but I haven’t got round to fixing the tap yet.
Get up to	Do something – usually bad when about children - colloquial	The children are getting up to something in the garden. What have you been getting up to lately?
Give away	Betray	His false identity papers gave him away.
Give off	Send of a smell – liquid or gas	The cheese had begun to give off a strange smell.
Give out	Be exhausted	When our money gave out we had to borrow.
Give over	Abandon, devote	The rest of the time was given over to playing cards.
Give over	Stop - colloquial	Why don’t you give over! You’re getting on my nerves!
Give up	Surrender	The escaped prisoner gave herself up.
Give up	Believed to be dead or lost	After ten days the ship was given up for lost.
Go back on	Break a promise	The management has gone back on its promise.
Go in for	Make a habit of	I don’t go in for that kind of thing.
Go in for	Enter a competition	Are you thinking of going in for the race?
Go off	Become bad - food	This milk has gone off.
Go on	Happen – usually negative	Something funny is going on.
Go round	Be enough	There weren’t enough life jackets to go round.
Go through with	Complete a promise or plan – usually unwillingly	When it came to actually stealing the money, Nora couldn’t go through with us.
Grow on	Become more liked - colloquial	This new record is growing on me.
Hang onto	Keep - colloquial	I think we should hang onto the car until next year.	H
Have it in for	Be deliberately unkind to someone – also as have got	My teacher has (got) it in for me.
Have it out with	Express feelings so as to settle a problem	I put up with the problem for a while but in the end I had it out with hers.
Have someone on	Deceive – colloquial	I don’t believe you. You’re having me on.
Hit it off	Get on well with - colloquial	Mark and Sarah really hit it off at the party.
Hit upon/on	Discover by chance – often an idea	They hit upon the solution quite by chance.
Hold out	Offer – especially with hope	We don’t hold out much hope that the price will fall.
Hold up	Delay	Sorry I’m late, I was held up in the traffic
Hold up	Use as an example-i.e. A model of good behaviour	John was always held up as an example to me.
Hold with	Agree with – an idea	I don’t hold with the idea of using force.
Keep up	Continue	Well done! Keep up the good work!	K
Lay down	State a rule-especially lay down the law	The company has laid down strict procedures for this kind of situation.	L
Let down	Disappoint, break a promise.	Sorry to let you down, but I can’t give you a lift today.
Let it on	Allow being part of a secret	We haven’t let Tina in on the plans yet.
Let off	Excuse from punishment	As Dave was young, the judge let him off with a fine.
PHRASAL VERB	MEANING	EXAMPLES
Let on	Inform about a secret - colloquial	We’re planning a surprise for Helen, but don’t let on.
(not) Live down	Suffer a loss of reputation	If City lose, they’ll never live it down.
Live up to	Reach an expected standard	The play quite lived up to my expectations.
Look into	Investigate	The police have promised to look into the problem.
Look on	Consider	We look on this town as our real home.
Look someone up	Visit when in the area	If you’re passing through Athens, look me up.
Make for	Result in	The power steering makes for easier parking.	M
Make off with	Run away with	The thief made off with a valuable necklace.
Make out	Pretend	Tim made out that that he hadn’t seen the No Smoking sign.
Make out	Manage to see or understand	I couldn’t quite make out what the notice said.
Make someone out	Understand someone’s behaviour	Janet is really odd. I can’t make her out.
Make up	Invent	I think you made up the whole story!
Make up for	Compensate for	Our success makes up for all the hard times.
Miss out	Fail to include	You have missed out a word here.
Miss out	Lose a chance - colloquial	Five people got promoted, but I missed out again.
Own up	Confess - colloquial	None of the children would own up to breaking the window.	O
Pack in	Stop an activity - colloquial	John has packed in his job.	P
Pay back	Take revenge - colloquial	She paid him back for all his insults.
Pick up	Improve - colloquial	The weather seems to be picking up.
Pin someone down	Force to give a clear statement	I asked Jim to name a suitable day, but I couldn’t pin him down.
Play up	Behave or work badly	The car is playing up again. It won’t start.
Point out	Draw attention to a fact	I pointed out that I would be on holiday anyway.
Put off	Manage to succeed	It was a tricky plan, but we pulled it off.
Push on	Continue with some effort - colloquial	Let’s push on and try to reach the coast by tonight.
Put across	Communicate ideas	Harry is clever but he can’t put his ideas across.
Put down to	Explain the cause of	Diane’s poor performance was put down to nerves.
Put in for	Apply for a job	Sue has put in for a teaching job.
Put oneself out	Take trouble – to help someone	Please don’t put yourself out making a meal. A sandwich will do.
Put off	Discourage - upset	The crowd put the gymnast off, and he fell.
Put up	Offer accommodation	We can put you up for a few days.
Put up with	Tolerate - bear	I can’t put up with all this noise!
Rip off	Charge too much - colloquial	You paid £50? They really ripped you off!	R
Run down	Criticise	She’s always running down her husband.
Run down	Lose power - allow to decline	I think the batteries are running down.
Run into	Meet	Guess who I run into at the supermarket!
Run to	Have enough money	I don’t think we can run to a holiday abroad this year.
Run over	Check – also run through	Let’s run over the plan once more.
Run up	A bill – let a bill get longer without paying	I ran up a huge telephone bill at the hotel.
Run up against	Encounter – usually a problem	We’ve run up against a slight problem.
See someone off	Go to station, airport, etc to say goodbye to someone	I went to the station to see them off.	S
See through	Realise the truth about	I saw through his intentions at once.
Send up	Make fun of by imitating	Jean is always sending up the French teacher.
Set about	Start working	We must set about re-organising the office.
Set in	Establish itself – especially weather	I think this rain has set in for the day.
Set out	Give in detail in writing	This document sets out all the Union demands.
Set out	Arrange	I’ve set out the refreshments in the hall.
Set out	Start an action	Sue set out to write a biography but it became a novel.
Set up	Establish	An inquiry into the accident has been set up.
Set (up)on	Attack	We were set upon by a gang of hooligans.
Sink in	Realise slowly – colloquial intransitive	Slowly the realisation that I had won began to sink in.
PHRASAL VERB	MEANING	EXAMPLES
Slip up	Make a mistake - colloquial	Someone slipped up and my application was lost.
Sort out	Find a solution - colloquial	Don’t worry, Mary will sort out your problem.
Stand by	Keep to an agreement	The company agreed to stand by its original commitment.
Stand for	Represent – initials	E.g. stands for exempli gratia, it’s Latin.
Stand for	Tolerate	I will not stand for this kind of behaviour in my house!
Stand in for	Take the place of	Carol has kindly agreed to stand in for Graham at the monthly meeting.
Stand up to	Resist – bear stress	The engine won’t stand up to the strain.
Step down	Resign – colloquial	The Chairman has stepped down after criticism from shareholders.
Step up	Increase	Production at the Leeds plant has been stepped up.
Stick up for	Defend – especially yourself, your rights - colloquial	You must learn to stick up for yourself.
Take in	Deceive	Don’t be taken in by her apparent shyness.	T
Take (it) out on	Make someone else suffer because of one’s own sufferings	I know you are unhappy, but don’t take it out on me!
Take off	Imitate – colloquial	Dave takes off the Prime Minister really well.
Take on	Acquire a new characteristic	My grandmother has taken on a new lease of life since her operation.
Take on	Do something extra	She has taken on too much with a full-time job as well.
Take out	Insurance – sign an insurance agreement	Ann has taken out life insurance.
Take over	Gain control of	The army tried to take over the country.
Take to someone	Develop a liking for	You’ll soon take to your new boss, I’m sure.
Take up	Time – occupy time	The meeting took up a whole morning.
Talk out of or into	Dissuade from - persuade into	Paul talked me into going skiing, against my better judgement.
Tell off	Scold – colloquial	Our teacher told us off for being late.
Tie in with	Be in agreement with	I’m afraid your party doesn’t quite tie in with our arrangements
Track down	Trace the whereabouts of	The police tracked down the killer and arrested him.
Try out	Test – a machine	Let’s try out the new washing machine.
Turn down	Reject an offer	Another company offered me a job but I turned them down.
Turn out	Happen to be in the end	He turned out to be an old friend of Helen’s.
Turn out	Come to a meeting or to form a crowd	Thousands of fans turned out to welcome the team.
Turn up	Be discovered by chance	Don’t worry about that missing book, it’s bound to turn up sooner or later.
Turn up	Arrive – often unexpectedly	Not many people turned up for the lessons.
Wear off	Lose effect – especially a drug	These painkillers wear off after about two hours.	W
Work out	Calculate – also work out at for specific amounts	The hotel bill worked out at over £500.

Gracias a Juan-Pedro Garrido Mendoza
C.P. Ntra. Sra. de Los Dolores
Cartagena
jgarrido@roble.pntic.mec.es