Phrasal Verbs in Speech
Definition
Phrasal verbs are multi-word verbs made up of a base verb and one or more particles (prepositions or adverbs like up, out, on, off, in, away, down). Their meaning is often completely different from the literal meaning of the words combined. Phrasal verbs are extremely common in spoken American English — native speakers use them constantly instead of more formal single-word verbs.
Key Rules
Rule 1: Phrasal verbs often have formal equivalents: ‘figure out’ = discover/determine, ‘give up’ = surrender/quit, ‘put off’ = postpone, ‘bring up’ = mention, ‘get over’ = recover from.
Rule 2: Separable phrasal verbs can have an object placed between the verb and particle: ‘turn it off’ (correct) vs. ‘turn off it’ (incorrect with pronouns). With nouns, both positions work: ‘turn off the TV’ or ‘turn the TV off.’
Rule 3: Inseparable phrasal verbs must keep the verb and particle together: ‘look after the baby’ — never ‘look the baby after.’
Rule 4: Some phrasal verbs have multiple meanings: ‘take off’ can mean to remove clothing, for a plane to depart, or a business to grow quickly.
Rule 5: Learn phrasal verbs in context and in groups — group ‘out’ verbs (find out, run out, burn out), ‘up’ verbs (give up, show up, end up, grow up), etc.
Examples
| Example 1: ‘Can you figure out how to use this app? I can’t work it out.’ → ‘Figure out’ and ‘work out’ both mean to find a solution — common alternatives to ‘solve’ or ‘determine.’ |
| Example 2: ‘She brought up the promotion idea in the meeting, but her boss shot it down.’ → ‘Brought up’ = mentioned; ‘shot down’ = rejected. Vivid, natural speech. |
| Example 3: ‘I’m really looking forward to the holidays. I need to get away.’ → ‘Looking forward to’ = anticipating with pleasure; ‘get away’ = take a break/travel. |
| Example 4: ‘He put off studying until the last minute, and it caught up with him.’ → ‘Put off’ = postponed; ‘caught up with’ = consequences arrived. |
| Example 5: ‘Could you turn it down? The music is too loud.’ → ‘Turn it down’ = reduce the volume. The pronoun ‘it’ goes between the verb and particle. |
Extensive Dialogue
Setting: Sam (American) and his coworker Fiona (French) discuss a work project. Sam uses phrasal verbs naturally, and Fiona asks about them.
| 📢 DIALOGUE Setting: An office break room during lunch. Sam: Hey Fiona, did you figure out the issue with the quarterly report? Fiona: I think so. But Sam — ‘figure out’ — what does that mean exactly? I hear it constantly. Sam: Oh! ‘Figure out’ means to find the answer or solution to something. Like ‘I can’t figure out why my computer is slow’ — I can’t find the reason. Fiona: Ah! So it means ‘understand’ or ‘solve.’ Sam: Exactly. It’s also like ‘work out’ — ‘I worked out how to do it’ means I figured it out. Fiona: Okay. So in the report, I worked out that the numbers weren’t adding up. Sam: Great use! You’re catching on fast. Fiona: ‘Catching on’ — is that another one? Sam: Ha! Yes! ‘Catch on’ means to begin to understand. ‘She’s catching on’ means she’s starting to get it. You can also say ‘pick up on’ — ‘you’re picking up on the language quickly.’ Fiona: I love these. Okay — what about my boss? He keeps ‘putting things off.’ Is that bad? Sam: Yeah, ‘put off’ means to delay or postpone. So he keeps putting off decisions — not making them when he should. It can be a problem. Fiona: He put off the meeting three times. We had to push it back to next week. Sam: ‘Push back’ is the same idea — to move something to a later time. ‘They pushed back the deadline.’ Fiona: And what does ‘bring up’ mean? My colleague said the boss brought up a new policy. Sam: ‘Bring up’ means to mention or raise a topic. So the boss introduced the idea of a new policy in the conversation. You can also ‘raise’ an issue, but ‘bring up’ is more casual. Fiona: What if someone doesn’t want to talk about something? Like they avoid it? Sam: You could say they ‘brush it off’ — dismiss it quickly — or ‘shut it down’ — stop the conversation entirely. Or if they pretend not to notice, they ‘let it slide.’ Fiona: My boss lets a lot of things slide. Sam: Ha! Sounds like it. Well, keep bringing these up — it’s a great way to learn. Fiona: I will. And Sam — thank you for not dumbing it down for me. I like real explanations. Sam: ‘Dumb it down’ — to make something simpler! Another great one. No worries — you don’t need it dumbed down at all. Fiona: I’m going to write these all down after lunch. Sam: Great idea. Once you start picking up on phrasal verbs, you’ll hear them everywhere and it all starts to click. Fiona: ‘Click’ — like everything makes sense suddenly? Sam: Exactly. ‘It clicked’ — it all came together in your mind. You’re going to be fine, Fiona. |
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