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GRAMMAR LESSON

Phrasal Verbs – Common Types, Usage, and Examples

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Verbs

UNDERSTAND THE PATTERN

The rule in plain English

Multi-word verbs combine a verb with a particle or preposition. Learn the meaning and the pattern together: turn off the light / turn the light off, but look after the baby. With a pronoun, a separable verb needs turn it off, not turn off it.

SEE HOW IT WORKS

Examples in context

  1. Please turn off the light. / Please turn it off.
  2. Mira looks after her younger brother.
  3. We will look into the problem.

MAKE IT STICK

Put the rule into practice

Try 3 questions. Read the explanation after each answer, then review any mistakes and try again.

Make it yours

Write one sentence about your life using this grammar.

Check your sentence

Multi-word verbs combine a verb with a particle or preposition. Learn the meaning and the pattern together: turn off the light / turn the light off, but look after the baby. With a pronoun, a separable verb needs turn it off, not turn off it.

Compare: Please turn off the light. / Please turn it off.

Check the sentence structure and whether your meaning fits the rule.

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GO DEEPER

Explore the full explanation

Learn the meaning and the pattern together

Multi-word verbs combine a verb with a particle or preposition. Courses often call this whole group phrasal verbs. More detailed grammar distinguishes particle verbs such as turn off, prepositional verbs such as look after, and combinations such as put up with.

The meaning may be idiomatic: Our printer broke down means it stopped working. Other meanings are more literal. Compare She ran into the room, an ordinary verb followed by a phrase showing direction, with She ran into her tutor, meaning she met the tutor by chance.

Where does the object go?

  • Separable: Turn off the lamp. / Turn the lamp off.
  • With a personal pronoun as object: Turn it off, not turn off it.
  • Inseparable: Mira looks after her brother. / Mira looks after him. Keep after before its object.
  • Some verbs have no object in the relevant meaning: The bus broke down.

For putting on a garment, say She put it on, not She put on it. The sentence She put her coat on it is grammatical too, but normally means that she placed her coat on another object.

Useful expressions in context

  • We checked in at the hotel before lunch.
  • Please fill in the missing address.
  • The organisers called off the picnic because of the storm.
  • We have run out of printer paper.
  • They carried out the inspection carefully.

Style and regional differences

Many phrasal verbs are common in conversation, but formal writing does not ban them. Choose the clearest expression for your audience. Investigate can replace look into, while carry out research is ordinary in academic writing. The expression meet with difficulties is not restricted to American English.

Quick self-check

  1. Replace the lamp with it: Turn off the lamp.
  2. Use the past simple: Yesterday, I ___ (run into) my teacher at the market.
  3. Use the present simple: She ___ (get along with) her classmates.
Check the answers

1. Turn it off. The pronoun goes between the verb and particle. 2. Ran into. Ran is the past simple of run. 3. Gets along with. She takes gets in the present simple.

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