- The phrasal verb is neither a finite verb nor a non-finite verb but a kind of compound word which is made up mostly of a finite verb and an adverb.
- This poses a problem because the meaning of the words in combination offers no clue as to the meaning of the construction.
- The different types of phrasal verbs include:
- simple phrasal verbs,
- complex phrasal verbs,
- multiple phrasal.
Simple Phrasal Verbs
- These consist of a verb and one participle which may be an adverb or a preposition
- For example:
- Drop out – withdraws
- Drop by, in, over, round – visit
- Drop off – diminish/deliver
- Come after – pursue
- Come across – find unexpectedly/by chance
- Come off – separate, happen, occur
- Come forward – offer/present
- Come round – visit
- Come through – succeed/survive
- Come up – arise/appear
- Come upon – chance on/attack
- Come down – descend
- Come over – take possession of/happen
- Come off – descend from/result from
- Go about – move about/busy with/mind one’s business
- Go over – examine/rehearse/repeat
- Go by – to pass/be guided by
- Go through – to undergo/suffer/examine
- Go into – investigate/join/examine thoroughly
- Go off – explode/discharge/depart/leave
- Go under – succumb/sink/overwhelm/conquer
- Go ahead – proceed, make progress/advance
- Go against – oppose/act contrary to
- Go along – agree/carry on/escort/cooperate
- Take off – remove/rise/move/rescue
- Take up – accept/acquire/lift
- Take on – handle/deal with/employ/accept
- Take to – practice/like or conceive liking for/disappear
- Take stock – consider/estimate
- Take in – become pregnant/understand/absorb/reduce
- Take after – resemble
- Take heed – pay attention
- Take heart – gain courage/confidence
- Take over – assume control/accept
- Take down – write, dismantle, pull down
- Give in – surrender/submit/hand over/yield
- Give rise – cause/result in
- Give up – surrender/abandon/stop/desist
- Give over – stop/abandon/cease opposition
- Give birth – to bear/to originate
- Give away – bestow as a gift/hand over/reveal
- Give way – collapse/concede/yield/bend over
- Give off – emit/send forth/made known
- Give tongue – to bark/bay (hunting dog)
- Make up – to falsify/fabricate/compose
- Make believe – feign/pretence/unreal
- Make off (with) – hurry away/escape
- Make for – move in the direction of/rush
- Make out – discern/see/understand
- Make away (with) – carry off/steal/kill/destroy
- Make after – pursue/chase
- Make at – move aggressively towards
- Make of – understand/interpret
- Die down – lessen, subside/become less violent
- Die hard – obstinate/strong resistance/resilience
- Let down – disappoint/fail to help/put down
- Let alone – to say nothing of/no to mention
- Let loose – free/release from restraints
- Let in (into) – allow to enter
- Do up – fasten/wrap/tie up/clean/repair
- Do away with – discard/throw/abolish
- Do in – kill
- Do without – to get along/exist without
Complex Phrasal Verbs
- These are made up of a verb and two participles
- For example:
- Do away with – abolish/get rid off
- Put up with – endure without protest/bear patiently
- Look forward – anticipate
- Get down to – to begin to act on/investigate to
- Stand up to – face/confront courageously to
- Stand up for – side with/take part of
- Come in for – to get/be eligible to receive/acquire
Multiple Phrasal Verbs
- These consist of a verb and more than three participle.
- For example:
- Put one’s house in order – to tidy up one’s personal self or business affairs
- Feather one’s nest – to enrich oneself
- Demand/give an eye for an eye – to punish as severe as the injury
- Die with one’s boots on – to die while still working
- Die in one’s boots – to die not in bed
- Give someone the boot – to dismiss
- Turn the table on one’s opponent – to thwart opponent’s action
- Turn an honest penny – to earn money honestly
- Give a run for one’s money – to compete
- Come to terms with – reach an agreement
- Have the time of one’s life – to enjoy one’s life completely
- To do time – to serve a prison sentence
- Pull wool over one’s eye – deceive/trick
- To smell a rat – become suspicious/suspect
- To nip in the bud – to prevent from happening especially at the beginning stage
- Cut of one’s nose to – to damage one’s own
- Spit the face – interest in a bid to revenge
- Talk with one’s tongue – to joke, to be insincere
- Tighten one’s belt – to practice thrift/to eat less food
- Blow one’s trumpet – to praise oneself
- Gird one’s lions – to be on full alert/to prepare for action
- Be generous to a fault – to be excessively generous
- Back a wrong horse – to support a loser in a contest
- Look a gift horse in the mouth – to accept a gift ungratefully
- Tell the gospel truth – to tell the whole truth
- Be on the horns of dilemma – to be faced with a choice between two unpleasant/undesirable alternatives
- Beg the question – to avoid the real issue
- Hang on by the eyelids – to have a very slight and insecure hold
- Count one’s chicken before – to rely on something that is uncertain
- Bury the hatchet – to stop quarreling
- Take up the hatchet – to start up hostilities
- Be out of bounds – to be restricted/not open to all
- Eat one’s words – to deny what one had earlier said
- Talk through one’s hat – to talk nonsense/to bluff
- Act under/before one’s eye – in one’s presence/in front of
- Make one tear one’s hair out – to make one feel very worried
- Be swept off one’s feet – to be overcome by feeling/filled with enthusiasm
- Hang in the balance – not certain
- Have other fish to fry – have more important business to attend to