Practice
English practice: common phrasal verbs
Sign in to saveYou can wake up early, put off a task, and run out of milk before breakfast. The small word after the verb changes what the whole phrase means.
Understand six common phrasal verbs in context and use their usual word order in a sentence.
Read and practice
Read the examples and try the written questions in this guide. Listening recordings are not available for this lesson yet.
Try the written questions
We put it off until Friday. /wi pʊt ɪt ɒf ənˈtɪl ˈfraɪdeɪ/
The short answer
Learn a phrasal verb as one unit, then notice its meaning, object pattern, and an example from everyday life.
I put the meeting off until Friday.
Why it works: Put off means delay. The meeting can also come between put and off.
6 more examples
-
I woke up before my alarm this morning.
Wake up means stop sleeping. Woke is the past form of wake.
Not this:The alarm
woke my brother upat six. What changes: When wake up has a person as its object, the noun can go between wake and up. -
We put off the picnic because of the rain.
Put off means delay something until later.
Not this:We
put it offbecause of the rain. What changes: With a pronoun object, put it between put and off. -
Maya looks after her neighbour's cat on weekends.
Look after means take care of a person or animal.
Not this:Maya
looks after the catevery Saturday. What changes: Look after stays together before its object. -
I found out about the course from a friend.
Find out means discover information.
Not this:We need to
find out whenthe library closes. What changes: The phrase can introduce the information you want to discover. -
They ran out of batteries during the trip.
Run out of means use all of something so none remains.
Not this:We are
running out of time. What changes: Use the phrase for supplies, time, or other things that are becoming unavailable. -
Do you get along with your new colleagues?
Get along with means have a friendly relationship with someone.
Not this:Sam
gets along withpeople from many different teams. What changes: With a singular subject in the present, use gets along with.
Read the full guide
This practice lesson uses six common phrases: wake up, put off, look after, find out, run out of, and get along with. Read each one with the words around it. The context tells you which meaning is needed and helps you remember how the phrase works.
Read the whole phrase for meaning
The small word in a phrasal verb matters. Put means place in many contexts, but put off means delay. Find usually means discover by looking, while find out means discover information. Read the words as a group before you choose a meaning.
The guide helped us find out where the last bus leaves from.
Find out is not about physically locating the bus. It is about learning a piece of information.
Which phrase means delay an appointment?
Use put off: We had to put off the appointment.
Use wake up for the end of sleep
Wake up can describe a person stopping sleeping: I wake up at seven. It can also mean cause someone else to stop sleeping: The noise woke the baby up. In the second use, wake up can separate around a noun object.
I usually wake up before the rest of my family.
Here the speaker wakes without an object, so the phrase remains together.
Please do not wake the baby up.
The noun object the baby comes between wake and up in this natural order.
Put off can separate around its object
Use put off when you delay a plan, decision, task, or event. With a noun, both positions are possible: put off the call and put the call off. With a short pronoun, put the pronoun in the middle.
Could we put the call off until tomorrow?
The noun the call comes between put and off. Put off the call would also be correct.
Where does it go in We cannot put ___ off?
Write it: We cannot put it off.
Keep look after and get along with together
Look after needs its object after the full phrase. It means take care of. Get along with also stays together before the person or people involved. It means have a reasonably friendly relationship with them.
Can you look after my plants while I am away?
My plants follows look after. Do not split the phrase as look my plants after.
Lena gets along with her flatmates.
Her flatmates follows the complete phrase get along with.
Use run out of when nothing remains
Run out of tells someone that a supply is finished or almost finished. The noun comes after of: run out of bread, run out of patience, or run out of time. The phrase is useful when the shortage affects a plan.
We ran out of paper, so the printer stopped.
Paper is the thing that has finished, so it follows out of.
How can you say that very little time remains?
Say: We are running out of time.
Build a useful revision note
For each new phrasal verb, write the complete phrase, a plain meaning, one sentence, and its object pattern. A note such as put it off shows more than a single translation: it records where a pronoun belongs.
find out; discover information; I found out that the museum is closed on Mondays.
The sentence supplies a real information gap, which makes the meaning easier to recall.
What should a revision note include besides a translation?
Include a complete example and the phrase's grammar pattern.
Before you go
Remember this
Use wake up for ending sleep, put off for delaying, look after for caring for someone or something, find out for discovering information, run out of for having none left, and get along with for a friendly relationship. Keep an inseparable phrase together and place a pronoun inside a separable one.
Practice with the written examples
You can practice with the written questions in the Learn tab. Each answer includes an explanation.
Try the written questionsListening test not available yet
This lesson does not have the recordings needed for a listening test. Use the written questions in the guide to check your understanding.
Try the written questionsQuestions about "English practice: common phrasal verbs"
What is a phrasal verb?
A phrasal verb combines a verb with a short word or words, and the complete phrase has its own meaning. For example, find out means discover information, while run out of means have none left.
I woke up before my alarm this morning.
How should I learn a common phrasal verb?
Learn the complete phrase with a plain meaning, a natural sentence, and its grammar pattern. A note such as put it off shows both the meaning delay and the position of a pronoun object.
The alarm woke my brother up at six.
Can I separate every phrasal verb?
No. Put off can separate around a noun object, but look after, run out of, and get along with stay together before what follows. Check the pattern for each phrase instead of guessing.
We put off the picnic because of the rain.
Where does a pronoun go in a separable phrasal verb?
Put a short pronoun between the verb and particle. Say put it off or wake him up. Do not place the pronoun after the particle in these separable patterns.
We put it off because of the rain.
What does run out of mean?
Run out of means use all of a supply so that none remains. You can run out of food, paper, time, or patience. The item that is finished follows the word of.
Maya looks after her neighbour's cat on weekends.