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100 of the Most
Useful Phrasal Verbs in English (With Meaning & Examples)Useful English Phrasal Verbs with “BE”
- Be after – Try to find or get
E.g. The police are after him because of the theft. - Be along – Arrive
E.g. The next bus should be along in the next quarter of an hour or so. - Be away – Be elsewhere; on holiday,…
E.g. She ‘s away on business for three weeks. - Be down on – Have negative feelings toward someone
E.g. After the argument, James is down on his boss. - Be down with – Be ill
E.g. I didn’t go to work because I was down with the flu. - Be fed up – Be bored, upset or sick of something
E.g. I am fed up of his complaints. - Be in – Be at home or at work
E.g. They are never in ; I always get their answerphone. - Be in – Be submitted, arrive
E.g. The application form must be in by 3pm on Friday. - Be in on – Be involved in
E.g. Susan was the only one who
wasn’t in on the plan.
Phrasal Verbs with “UP”
- Blow up – Explode
E.g. The car blew up after it crashed into the wall. - Build up – Increase in amount, size or intensity
E.g. We have built up the business over the years and it now employs over 20 people. - Burn up – Have a high temperature
E.g. You’re burning up—have you seen a doctor? - Call up – Telephone
E.g. I’m going to call up and cancel my subscription. - Check up – To make sure that somebody is doing what they should be doing
E.g. My mother is always checking up on me. - Come up – Happen unexpectedly
E.g. I’m afraid I can’t make the meeting tomorrow. Something has come up. - Divide up – Distribute
E.g. We can divide up the commission among the sales staff. - Drive up – Force up the prices or costs
E.g. The uncertainty in the markets is
driving up labour costs. - Do up – Fasten up
E.g. Do you know how to do up your seat belt?
Phrasal Verbs with BREAK
- Break off – To stop (temporarily)
E.g. He broke off in the middle of a sentence. - Break off – To become separate
E.g. The back section of the train had
broken off. - Break out – To begin suddenly (of war, fire, conflict, etc.)
E.g. They’re worried that war will break out . - Break through – To successfully deal with smt that is stopping you making progress
E.g. She attempts to break through prejudice in the workplace. - Break up – Break into many pieces
E.g. The cup broke up when he dropped it on the floor. - Break out in – “Sweat heavily, develop skin sores or irritation”
E.g. The measles caused me to break out in a rash. - Break out of – Escape
E.g. Two dangerous prisoners broke out of Dark Prison last night.
English Phrasal Verbs with “OUT”
- Act out – Perform something with actions and gestures
E.g. They acted out the story on stage. - Act out – Express an emotion in your behaviour
E.g. Their anger is acted out in their antisocial behaviour. - Back out of – Not keep an agreement / arrangement
E.g. We’re hoping that no one will back out of the deal. - Check out – Leave a hotel
E.g. Joan had already checked out of the hotel. - Cut out – Remove completely
E.g. He’s cut out all the fat from his diet and he’s a lot slimmer. - Draw out – To persuade someone to express their thoughts
E.g. Can you draw out the plans? - Find out – Discover some information
E.g. Did she find out about the party? - Hand out – Distribute, to give, pass out
E.g. The teacher handed out the English books to the students.
Phrasal Verbs with “OVER”
- Carry over – To transport over by carrying
E.g. We carried this house model over the bridge. - Carry over – To transfer (something)
to a later point in time
E.g. The rent was carried over to December. - Change over – To make a transition from one system to another
E.g. The farm has changed over to organic methods. - Fall over – To stop working suddenly
E.g. My computer keeps falling over. - Hand over – Give something to somebody with your hands
E.g. The captured thief was ordered to
hand over his gun. - Make over – To convert to a different use
E.g. We’re going to make over the garage into a guest suite. - Pass over – To by pass or skip (something)
E.g. They chose to pass over her rude remarks. - Pull over – Drive to the side of the road and stop your car
E.g. When she noticed the police car behind her, she pulled over.
Phrasal Verbs with ‘FALL’ in English
- Fall about – Laugh so much that one’s entire body moves somewhat uncontrollably
E.g. Every time he performed the trick people would fall about laughing. - Fall apart – Disintegrate
E.g. My old briefcase is falling apart. I’ll have to buy a new one. - Fall away – Cease to support a person or cause
E.g. After the divorce, all his friends fell away one by one. - Fall back on – Use something for support in a difficult situation
E.g. I have $10000 in my savings to fall back on. - Fall behind – Be late (for a regular event)
E.g. You’re falling behind with the rent. - Fall down – Fall to the ground, to collapse
E.g. The beams supporting the roof had rotted, causing the entire house to fall down . - Fall for – Fall in love with someone
E.g. He really fell for the attractive waitress at his favorite restaurant. - Fall in – Collapse inwards
E.g. The heavy rain caused the roof to
fall in. - Fall into – Be classified as; to fall under
E.g. That falls into three categories. - Fall off – Become detached or to drop from
E.g. A button fell off my coat.
Phrasal Verbs with PUT
- Put across – Explain or state something clearly and understandably
E.g. All good communicators try to use popular, well-understood examples to
put across complex ideas - Put aside – Save (money)
E.g. I try to put a few dollars aside each week, just in case I need money in an emergency - Put away – Take a large lead in a game, especially enough to guarantee victory
E.g. They put the game away by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter - Put back – Return something to its original place
E.g. He carefully put the vase back on the shelf - Put by – Preserve food by canning, freezing, drying, …
E.g. Our family has been putting food
by for generations
Phrasal Verbs with BRING
- Bring about – Make something happen
E.g. Social changes that have been
brought about by new technology. - Bring along – Bring someone or something to certain place
E.g. You can bring your friends along if you like. - Bring around – Bring something with you when you visit
E.g. He brought some books around when he came last night. - Bring down – Make something cheaper/ to reduce
E.g. The improvements in technology have brought the prices of computers
down considerably. - Bring forth – Remove something from where it is kept or hidden
E.g. She brought forth the diary and showed it to us. - Bring forward – Make something happen earlier than originally planned
E.g. The meeting has been brought foward to this Friday instead of next week.
Phrasal Verbs with the Word LOOK
- Look after – Watch or protect; to keep safe
E.g. He asked me to look after his daughter while he was away - Look to – Seek inspiration or advice or reward from someone
E.g. Whenever I’m upset, I look to Mary to cheer me up. - Look for – Search for; to seek
E.g. He spent his life looking for the truth - Look into – Investigate, explore, or consider
E.g. If you are buying a new car, you might want to look into getting a hybrid or other high-efficiency vehicle - Look out – Look from within to the outside
E.g. Look out , and you will see the rain has stopped.
Phrasal Verbs with PULL
- Pull Away – Gain in distance
E.g. She pulled away just as he was about to kiss her. - Pull Down – demolish
E.g. They pulled down the old sports stadium to build a new one. - Pull For – support; especially teams
E.g. Who are you pulling for in the cup finals? - Pull In – train or bus arrival at a station
E.g. The train pulled in right on time. - Pull Off – manage to do
E.g. The Yankees pulled off a great upset in the finals. - Pull Over – stop a vehicle by the side of the road
E.g. We pulled over to check our tires as something was making a funny sound on the car. - Pull Through – recover from and illness
E.g. We didn’t know if he was going to
pull through but in the end he did.
