Phrasal Verbs English Vocabulary
Hi, I’m Daniel.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can find out about English
phrasal verbs.
Are you looking for a lesson which helps you
to understand and use English phrasal verbs?
We’ll go through several useful tips in
this lesson.
Before we go on, let’s think about why phrasal
verbs are so important in English.
In spoken English, people use phrasal verbs
all the time.
In fact, you’ve already come across five
phrasal verbs in this video!
Did you notice them?
Go back to the start and try to find them
if you want.
Let’s start with some basic information
about English phrasal verbs
Hi, Maria!
Glad you could come along!
Sorry for turning up so late.
I got on the wrong bus and then I was wandering
around for ages looking for your street.
Don’t worry about it.
Should I take my shoes off?
If you don’t mind.
Would you like something to drink before we
head off?
Tea?
Coffee?
I’m dying for a cup of coffee!
Oh no!
We’ve run out of coffee!
I’ll pop out to the shop and pick up some
more.
Don’t be silly!
We can stop by at the café on the way and
I’ll get a cup to go.
Good idea!
Let’s go now, then.
Give me a minute to put my shoes back on…
There were many phrasal verbs in the dialogue.
In fact, there are thirteen.
How many did you hear?
Could you write them down?
Do you know what they mean?
If you want to practice more, go back and
listen again.
Try to write down all thirteen phrasal verbs.
The phrasal verbs you heard were:
come along
turn up
get on
wander around
look for
take off
head off
be dying for
run out of
pop out
pick up
stop by
put on
Did you get them all?
Next: what makes these verbs phrasal verbs?
Can explain what phrasal verbs are?
Phrasal verbs have two or more parts: a verb,
like come, turn, get or pop, and one or more
particles, like along, up, on, or around.
Some phrasal verbs exist as set phrases, like
be dying for.
You could argue that it isn’t really a phrasal
verb, but it behaves like one, so we’ve
included it here.
Most importantly, a phrasal verb has one meaning.
The verb and particle don’t have independent
meanings.
For example, in the verb turn up, the words
turn and up don’t have separate meanings.
The verb has two parts but one meaning.
What does turn up mean, by the way?
It means to arrive or appear.
It’s a very common verb you could use in
your spoken English!
Also, the meaning of a phrasal verb can be
totally different from the meaning of the
words which it’s made from.
For example, turn up has no connection with
the basic meaning of turn
Finally, many phrasal verbs have more than
one meaning.
Often, the two (or sometimes three) meanings
are completely separate.
With turn up, you can also turn up the radio,
the TV, or the volume on this video if you
want to make it louder!
So, now you know some basic information about
phrasal verbs.
But, what makes phrasal verbs different from
‘normal’ verbs?
Many English phrasal verbs have the same meaning
as another ‘normal’ one-word verb.
For example:
turn up –> arrive
head off –> leave
pick up –> buy or collect
Other phrasal verbs have a unique meaning.
For example, run out of, stop by or pop out
can’t be replaced with just one verb with
the exact same meaning.
Let’s practice.
Here are five phrasal verbs, and six one-word
verbs.
Can you match the phrasal verbs to the one-word
verbs with the same meanings?
Be careful, because there’s one extra verb,
which you don’t need!
We’ll give you the answers in a few seconds.
For now, pause the video if you want more
time to think about it.
Ready?
Here are the answers.
Even here, you need to be careful.
First, the phrasal verb and the one-word verb
might not be exactly the same.
For example, what does install mean?
What things can you install?
You can install household goods, like washing
machines or air conditioners.
You can also install software on your computer
or on your phone.
The phrasal verb put in only has the first
idea: you can put in a new washing machine,
but you can’t put in a new app or put in
a new operating system.
Secondly, the phrasal verb and the one-word
verb often have different registers.
What does that mean?
It means they’re used in very different
situations.
Let’s see why this matters:
Hi, Maria!
Glad you could attend!
Sorry for appearing so late.
I boarded the wrong bus and then I was wandering
for ages seeking your street.
Don’t worry about it.
Should I remove my shoes?
If you don’t mind.
Would you like something to drink before we
depart?
Tea?
Coffee?
That was part of the same dialogue you heard
before.
How was it different?
Did it sound natural to you?
This time, we used one-word verbs instead
of phrasal verbs in many places.
I hope you heard that the dialogue sounded
very strange and unnatural.
For example, a native speaker would almost
never say sentences like these:
The one-word verbs are too formal, and they
aren’t used in simple, spoken English like
this.
You need to use the phrasal verbs.
Even when phrasal verbs and one-word verbs
have the same meaning, you can’t always
use them in the same way.
Look for and seek have the same meaning, but
seek is much more formal and literary.
You wouldn’t use it often in conversational
English.
So, in spoken English, you often need to use
phrasal verbs to sound natural.
On the other hand, because many phrasal verbs
are more informal, they aren’t appropriate
in formal writing.
That said, many English learners think that
‘all phrasal verbs are informal’.
That isn’t true.
Phrasal verbs can be more formal or informal
like any other words.
For example, pop out is very informal; you
probably wouldn’t use it in written English.
Look for has a neutral tone, meaning you can
use it in any situation.
Some phrasal verbs, like draw upon, even sound
quite formal.
However, when you have a phrasal verb and
a one-word verb with the same meaning, like
turn up and arrive, the one-word verb is generally
more formal than the phrasal verb.
Now, you should know what phrasal verbs are,
how they’re different from ‘normal’
verbs, and when you should use phrasal verbs.
Next, let’s turn to a very important question:
how can you remember phrasal verbs?
We said before that the meaning of a phrasal
verb often has no connection to the words
which it’s made from.
For example, if you look up a new word in
the dictionary, there’s no direct connection
to the meaning of up
However, prepositions in phrasal verbs aren’t
totally random.
Often, the same preposition in different phrasal
verbs has a similar meaning.
Look at three verbs:
go down
cut down
turn down
The preposition down has a similar meaning
in these three verbs.
Do you know what connects them?
Perhaps it’ll be clearer if you see them
in full sentences:
Sales went down by 15% last year.
I’m trying to cut down on how much coffee
I drink.
Can you turn the TV down?
It’s too loud.
Can you see the connection now?
In these phrasal verbs, down has the idea
of something decreasing.
Let’s look at another example.
Here are three sentences:
He sent out hundreds of job applications.
They handed out immigration forms before we
landed.
The teacher gave out the worksheets.
These sentences contain phrasal verbs with
the preposition out.
Can you see what connects them?
These three phrasal verbs: send out, hand
out and give out all have the idea of ‘to
many people at one time.’
If he sent out hundreds of job applications,
then he sent many job applications, to many
different people, all at one time.
If the teacher gave out the worksheets, then
she gave out many worksheets to many students
at one time.
Again, you can see how one preposition can
have a similar meaning in different phrasal
verbs.
Learning more about prepositions and how they’re
used in phrasal verbs can help you to make
connections like these and remember phrasal
verbs more easily!
Let’s see one more practical tip to help
you learn and remember English phrasal verbs.
So far, you’ve seen that:
The meaning of a phrasal verb often has no
connection to the meaning of the words which
it’s made of.
Phrasal verbs can have more than one meaning.
And: Using phrasal verbs correctly depends
heavily on register, not just on meaning.
Why are these things important for remembering
phrasal verbs?
They’re important because it’s very hard
to learn and remember phrasal verbs without
context.
For example, if you learn vocabulary by writing
down the translation in your language, and
then trying to memorise the translation, you’ll
have big problems remembering and using phrasal
verbs.
Actually, this is true for all vocabulary
learning, but it’s especially true with
phrasal verbs.
You’ll end up with a list of verbs that
look very similar to you: look up, look up
to, look down on, look through, look around,
look after…
It’s too hard!
So, practice good vocabulary learning habits
with phrasal verbs.
Make sure you learn phrasal verbs in full
sentences.
If possible, the sentences should mean something
to you.
Try to take example sentences from things
you read or heard which were interesting for
you.
You could even take examples from conversations
you had in English, so long as you’re confident
you can remember the sentences correctly.
Let’s practice; here are three phrasal verbs
from this lesson:
come along
head off
pop out
Can you make an example sentence with each
verb?
Try to make something relevant to you and
your life.
Do it now; pause the video, and write down
your three sentences.
Ready?
Here are some suggestions.
Of course, your sentences will be different.
That’s fine.
However, if you’re not sure that your sentences
are correct, it’s important to check.
Ask a friend or a teacher.
Otherwise, you’ll learn the words wrong.
Here are our suggested sentences:
Do you want to come along to the cinema tonight?
It’s getting late, so I think I’ll head
off.
I think she’s popped out to get something
for lunch.
Now, you have your example sentences, and
hopefully you’ve checked that they’re
correct.
What next?
Use a digital flashcard app such as Quizlet,
or Anki.
Put your sentences in as questions with the
phrasal verbs replaced with gaps.
For example:
You can make the questions easier or more
difficult by removing fewer or more letters.
If you haven’t used Quizlet, Anki or anything
like that before, then we recommend checking
them out.
There are links below the video.
Also, we highly recommend making more than
one card for each verb.
For example:
Again, you can make some cards easier and
some cards more difficult.
Review your cards regularly, and you’ll
find it easy to remember English phrasal verbs,
because you’ll be learning them in context.
Remember that you can find more great free
English lessons on our website: Oxford Online
English dot com.
See you next time!
Thanks for watching!