Phrasal Verbs

Snapshot

• A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word (a particle such as up, off, out, over) that together mean something the parts do not: put off is "postpone", not "place away".
• CUET asks you to give the meaning of a phrasal verb in a sentence, to choose the right particle for a gap, or to pick the sentence where the phrasal verb is used correctly.
• The idea that cracks it: learn the 60 most frequent forms cold, then use the base verb and the particle's usual force to reason out the rest, and always reject the literal meaning.
• Scoring is +5 / −1, so an unfamiliar phrasal verb is worth a reasoned guess once you have removed the literal option.

Part 1 — What a phrasal verb is and why the meaning shifts

Written and reviewed by Omveer Thakur, English & Languages faculty at UniDrill (M.A. English, University of Delhi · 9 years teaching). Prepared for the CUET UG English paper.

A phrasal verb is a verb + particle (sometimes verb + particle + preposition) that behaves as one unit of meaning. In The car broke down, the words broke and down do not describe a car breaking and going downwards; together they mean "stopped working". That is the whole difficulty: the unit has an idiomatic meaning that you cannot add up from its parts.

Why does English work like this? Over centuries the language kept a small set of very common verbs (get, put, take, look, come, go, give, turn, make, run, break, set) and learnt to stretch each of them with a handful of particles instead of inventing new verbs. The particle is not decoration. It carries a direction or an idea of completion (up often means "finish or increase", off often means "separate or stop"), and that is why the same verb gives such different meanings with different particles. It is also why a wrong particle changes the whole meaning, and why CUET can build a question around one letter-sized word.

Before you learn the lists, know the four grammatical types, because they decide where the object can go and which sentences are correct.

One point from the last row is tested again and again: in look forward to, the word to is a preposition, so what follows is a noun or an -ing form. We say I look forward to meeting you, not to meet you.

Why it matters. Because an object pronoun must sit in the middle of a separable verb (turn it down, not turn down it), a question that asks "which sentence is correct?" is often testing nothing but this rule.

Part 2 — The question types CUET uses

Phrasal verbs show up in more than one disguise. Learn to recognise the format first; the method differs slightly for each.

The common thread is that you are always matching meaning to context. The literal meaning is nearly always one of the options, planted as the trap.

Part 3 — The method

Use the same five moves for every phrasal verb question, and do them quickly.

Part 4 — The core bank: learn these cold

These are the forms that recur most. Read each example aloud once; the sentence will hold the meaning better than the bare definition.

Part 5 — Families: one base verb, many meanings

Grouping by base verb is the efficient way to widen the bank beyond the table above. Each line below is a family; notice how the particle changes the sense.

Part 6 — What each particle tends to add

When a phrasal verb is new to you, the particle's usual force can still get you close to the meaning. These are tendencies, not laws, but they are reliable enough to remove a wrong option.

Part 7 — Worked examples with the reasoning

Example 1. The organisers called off the rally because of heavy rain. Options: cancelled, postponed, started, advertised. The particle off signals stopping, and "because of heavy rain" gives a reason to stop. Cancelled. Postponed is the trap; that is put off, where the event is only moved to another time.

Example 2. Meena takes after her grandmother, with the same smile and the same stubbornness. The traits being shared point to family resemblance. Resembles. The close pair take over (assume control) has nothing to do with family.

Example 3. After weeks of talks, the negotiators finally ___ and accepted the terms. Options: gave in, gave up, gave out, gave off. Accepting terms after resistance means yielding. Gave in. Gave up means abandoning the effort altogether, which does not fit "accepted the terms".

Example 4. The inspector will ___ the complaint before taking action. Options: look after, look into, look up to, look down on. Before taking action you examine facts. Look into. Look after is "take care of", look up to is "admire".

Example 5. I am looking forward to ___ you at the reunion. Options: meet, meeting, have met, to meet. In look forward to, the word to is a preposition and needs an -ing form or noun. Meeting.

Example 6. Which sentence is correct? (a) Please turn down it. (b) Please turn it down. The object is a pronoun, and turn down is separable, so the pronoun must come between the verb and the particle. (b).

Example 7. When the war broke out, thousands left the city. The idea is sudden beginning of something violent. Began suddenly. The literal "broke outside" makes no sense.

Example 8. She cannot put up with rude behaviour. Compare put up (accommodate): "The hotel put up the guests". Here the object is behaviour, which is endured rather than housed. Tolerate.

Example 9. We hoped to launch in March, but the plan fell through for lack of funds. A plan that cannot happen for lack of money has failed. Failed. Fell alone would suggest dropping; the particle through here means "all the way to nothing".

Example 10. Where did you come across this old coin? The question asks about finding something unexpectedly. Found by chance. Beware come by (obtain) and come up with (think of), both near-misses.

Example 11. By the time the police arrived, the thieves had made off with the jewellery. The thieves left quickly and took the goods. Escaped with. Notice the grammar too: had made off because the thieves left earlier than the police arrived.

Example 12. The government decided to abolish the old tax. Replace the underlined verb with a phrasal verb: options are do away with, put up with, hold up, set up. Do away with. It is the only one that means "get rid of".

Example 13. Her sudden illness brought about a change in the schedule. The illness caused the change. Caused. Do not confuse it with bring up (raise or mention).

Example 14. It turned out that the message was a hoax. Meaning: proved to be, in the end. Proved to be. The literal sense "went outside" is the planted wrong option.

Part 8 — Common traps

Part 9 — Rapid-fire practice with answers

Cover the right-hand column, decide, then check.

Part 10 — A timed routine that builds the bank

Spend ten minutes a day, not an hour once a week. Phrasal verbs live in recognition memory, and recognition needs spaced repetition.

In the exam, give a phrasal verb question about 30 seconds. If you do not recognise it, cross out the literal option, use the particle's usual idea, and move on. A reasoned guess at +5 / −1 is worth taking; a blind one is not.

Part 11 — Where this connects

Phrasal verbs sit between grammar and vocabulary. Their idiomatic meanings link to Idioms and Phrases, the choice of particle links to Prepositions, and reading them inside a gap sentence is the skill of Fill in the Blanks. For meaning in context across a whole sentence, also see Vocabulary in Context.

One-line revision: a phrasal verb means something idiomatic, so reject the literal reading, watch the particle in close pairs, and split a separable verb around a pronoun.