The spaceship is taking off tomorrow.
Overview of Phrasal Verbs (From Grammar 11-3)
Phrasal verbs are mainly used in spoken English and informal texts.
Phrasal verbs are verbs used with a particle (a preposition or an adverb).
Examples of Particles:
- in
- out
- on
- off
- up
- down
- away
- back
Some meanings of phrasal verbs are easy to guess:
- Put On
- I need to put on my jacket if we're going outside.
- Sit Down
- Could everyone please sit down!
Sometimes, the meaning(s) of a phrasal verb can be very different from the verb's original meaning:
- Hold Up = to cause a delay or to rob
- Traffic held me up.
- The criminal held up the bank.
- Throw Away = to put something in the garbage
- Just throw away your coffee if it is too sweet.
If a phrasal verb takes an object, there are usually two possible places to say the object. We can put the object between the verb and the particle or after the particle:
- Put On
- I need to put on my jacket. I'm cold.
- I need to put my jacket on. I'm cold.
- Wake Up
- Please be quiet. Let's not wake up the baby.
- Please be quiet. Let's not wake the baby up.
- Throw Away
- Could you do me a favour and throw away the garbage?
- Could you do me a favour and throw the garbage away?
If the object is a pronoun (me, you, him, her, it, them, us, this, that, something, etc.), then you must put the pronoun between the verb and the particle:
| Normal Object | Pronoun As Object |
|---|---|
|
"Could you do me a favour and throw away the garbage?" "Could you do me a favour and throw the garbage away?" |
"What should I do with the garbage?" "Could you please throw it away?" |
|
"Is it okay with you if I turn off the music?" "Is it okay with you if I turn the music off?" |
"Do you like this music?" "No, it's terrible. Turn it off." |
Sometimes a phrasal verb is followed by a preposition:
When are you coming back to Canada? We'll miss you!
My wife always tells me to stay away from casinos.
Let's get out of here. I want to go home.
Phrasal Verbs with On and Off
On and off can be used to talk about clothes, make-up, glasses, etc:
- I need to put on my jacket. I'm cold.
- If he takes off his glasses, he won't be able to see.
- The wind blew off my hat.
- May I try on these shoes in a size 9 and a half?
- Before I go to bed, I need to go to the bathroom and wash off my make-up.
- You don't have to take off your shoes. You can leave them on.
They can also be used to talk about power (for lights, machines, etc.):
Why are the lights off? It's so dark! Who turned them off?
When I arrive at school, the first thing I always do is turn / switch on my computer.
You shouldn't leave the engine on when you stop the car. You should turn / switch it off to reduce pollution.
They can be used with the verb get to describe entering and exiting large vehicles, such as airplanes, ships, buses, and trains:
- The bus is here. Let's get on.
- At which train station are you getting off?
- When we got off of the airplane, we immediately felt the humidity in the air.
Note the difference between on and onto as well as off and off of:
- Let's get on.
- Let's get onto the bus.
- Let's get off.
- Let's get off of the bus.
Other Phrasal Verbs with On
- Go On = To happen or continue (no object)
- What's going on for your birthday this year? Last year, the party was really fun!
- The meeting went on until 3 PM.
- Carry On = Continue something
- I don't think we should carry on this conversation. I'm too upset.
- Keep On (Doing Something) = To continue or repeat doing something
- I thought I fixed the problem, but the car kept on making the strange noise.
- She keeps on making the same mistakes.
Other Phrasal Verbs with Off
- Call Off = To cancel something
- The game was called off because of bad weather.
- Put Off (Doing Something) = To delay or postpone doing something.
- The teacher decided to put off doing the test until next week.
- Take Off = When an airplane leaves the ground
- Our plane took off three hours late.
- Our plane took off three hours late.
Phrasal Verbs with Up and Down
Sometimes, up and down are referring to physical movement or direction:
| Up | Down |
|---|---|
|
|
Other Phrasal Verbs with Up
- Go / Come / Walk / Drive Up (To) = To come near / approach
- The man walked up to me and introduced himself.
- Set Up = To organize, plan, or start something such as an event or system
- Let's set up a time to meet and discuss this more.
- I helped my mother to set up her new email account.
- Grow Up = To change from child to an adult
- I was born in Toronto, but I grew up in Vancouver.
- Clean / Tidy Up = To make a place look nicer by putting things in the right place
- My office is such a mess. I really need to tidy up.
- Give Up (Doing Something) = To quit something your do regularly or to stop doing something that you are trying hard to do
- We gave up after the other team scored their fifth goal.
- I gave up smoking two years ago.
- Come Up (With) = To think of an idea or plan
- Where did you come up with that idea? It's crazy!
- Use Up = To use all of something
- We should take a break; otherwise we will use up all of our energy.
- Break Up (With) = When a relationship ends
- Jen broke up with Charlie when she found out he was lying to her.
- Hurry Up = To increase the speed of something
- We should hurry up if we want to leave here before 5 PM.
Other Phrasal Verbs with Down
- Slow Down = To reduce the speed of something.
- Slow down! You are speaking too fast. I can't understand you.
- Calm Down = To become or make someone feel more relaxed and less emotional
- I was really upset for a few hours, but I calmed down later in the evening.
- Write Down = To write something on a piece of paper usually so that you don't forget information.
- I need to write that down before I forget it.
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.