GUÍA ÚTIL DE
PHRASAL VERBS para presumir de nivel de inglés
Ya tienes en tus manos una herramienta que te va a permitir presumir de nivel de inglés. Saber utilizar los phrasal verbs es una buena manera de demostrar tus conocimientos y marcar la diferencia cuando hablas y escribes.
¿LOS DESCUBRIMOS YA?
PHRASAL VERBS
• Phrasal verbs are usually considered informal and colloquial. Using single-word latinate alternatives or other expressions is considered more appropriate in formal contexts. • Phrasal verbs are grouped by categories: A Verb + adverb particle (non-separable) B Verb + object + adverb particle (optionally separable) C Verb + adverb particle + preposition + object (non-separable) D Verb + preposition + object (non-separable) In B (separable verbs), when the object is a pronoun, it has to go between the verb and the particle: I will back up your proposal. / I will back your proposal up. BUT: I will back it up.
PHRASAL VERBS
A · Verb + adverb particle (non-separable)
blow up: explode The water heater blew up and caused a flood in the basement.
break down: malfunction My car broke down on the motorway today.
break out: start World War II broke out in 1939.
break up: end a relationship Karen and Bob broke up last week.
come apart: separate The two pieces are coming apart.
fall apart: break into pieces Oh no! My shoes are falling apart.
give up: surrender The terrorists finally gave up and set the hostages free.
PHRASAL VERBS
B · Verb + object + adverb particle (optionally separable)
back sth / sb up: support Everyone backed Joe up on his proposal to work four days instead of five.
blow sth up: inflate, cause to explode The tyres need to be blown up before the plane can take off.
bring sb down: depress The high rate of unemployment is starting to bring many people down.
bring sb up: raise, educate James was brought up in Liverpool but now lives in London.
call sth off: cancel The referee called the match off due to the weather.
check sth out: try, investigate The police are checking out the man’s credentials to make sure that everything is in order.
cross sth out: delete, eliminate Nancy crossed the wrong answers out.
figure sth out: understand, solve It took the government two days to figure out what was going on in the stock market.
give sth away: reveal Marines are trained not to give away any secrets if they are caught by the enemy.
put sth off: postpone The meeting has been put off until tomorrow.
put sth out: extinguish The firefighters put out the fire in two hours.
put sth together: assemble They put together the table in record time.
set sth up: arrange, organise They are setting up a whole new department to take care of image issues.
sort sth out: organise, solve (a problem) The receptionist sorted out the problems with the booking and we had a very pleasant stay.
throw sth away: dispose of Please throw the empty bag away when you are finished.
work sth out: calculate I am 34 years old: you can work out the year I was born in.
turn sth / sb down: reject, refuse I turned down the job because the pay wasn’t what I had expected.
PHRASAL VERBS
C · Verb + adverb particle + preposition + object (non-separable)
break out of sth: escape from The prisoner broke out of his cell through the air duct.
cut back on sth: consume less The doctor told me that I needed to cut back on caffeine.
cut down on sth: consume less My father needs to cut down on cigarettes.
do away with sth: eliminate, discard The government has done away with the restrictions on petrol consumption.
keep on with sth: continue Paul is going to keep on with his yoga class although he doesn’t enjoy it much.
put up with sth / sb: tolerate I’m not going to put up with anyone’s bad behaviour.
PHRASAL VERBS
D · Verb + preposition + object (non-separable)
count on sb: trust You can count on me to help you with that problem.
get over sth: overcome, recover It is taking Sarah a long time to get over the flu.
go over sth: review We recommend going over your exam paper before giving it to the teacher.
look into sth: investigate The police are looking into the murder as we speak.
PHRASAL VERBS Activities
ACTIVITY 1 Match the phrasal verbs (1-6) to the meanings (a-f). 1. count on
a. shock
2. look into
b. meet
3. take aback
c. stop
4. get together
d. understand
5. give up
e. depend / rely on
6. work out
f. investigate
ACTIVITY 2 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the phrasal verbs from activity 1. 1. How does other people’s rude behaviour make you feel: are you ...? 2. A re you good at ... what other people are feeling? 3. W ould you be interested in ... your family history? 4. What’s your favourite way of ... with friends? 5. H ave you ever ... a sport or hobby? If so, why? 6. Who do you ... when you need help?
ACTIVITY 3 Complete the sentences with the words from the box. aback • down • into • on • out • together • up • up
1. How was the meeting? Did you bring ... the issue of late arrivals, or wasn’t there time to mention it? 2. I think he’ll get a shock when he sees the results. I was certainly taken ... by them. 3. Call me any time. You know you can count ... me if you have any difficulties. 4. Before you make a decision you should look ... all other possibilities. 5. I’m hopeless at maths. I can never work ... the answer to the questions. 6. We must get ... after the holidays. It’s been such a long time since we had a chat. 7. I hate my course. I’m thinking of giving it ... at the end of the year. 8. My washing machine has broken ... so I’ll have to call the technician.
Answer key: Activity 1: 1 e, 2 f, 3 a, 4 b, 5 c, 6 d. Activity 2: 1 taken aback / 2 working out / 3 looking into / 4 getting together / 5 given up / 6 count on Activity 3: 1 up / 2 aback / 3 on / 4 into / 5 out / 6 together / 7 up / 8 down
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