Speak conversational English
I can understand and use phrasal verbs without taking them apart into pieces.
Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.
Grammar
16 minIn A2 #22 you learnt what a phrasal verb is: a verb plus a small word (on, up, off, out…), and together they mean something new — turn on "make a machine start working", hang up "end a phone call". There you also met the main word-order rule: a pronoun goes in the middle — Turn it on. Now let's see how different phrasal verbs behave, why the "in the middle" rule does not work for all of them, and why conversational English without them sounds like an official letter.
Type 1. Separable: the object can go in the middle or after.
| Turn on the light. = Turn the light on. | a noun — anywhere |
| Turn it on. | a pronoun — only in the middle |
| Fill in the form that I sent you yesterday. | a long object — after |
This group includes turn on / turn off, put on (start wearing), take off (stop wearing), pick up (lift; collect), fill in (write the information on a form), throw away (put in the bin), give back (return), look up (find in a dictionary or on the internet), put off (move to a later time), turn down (say no to; make quieter).
Type 2. Inseparable: the object always goes after, even a pronoun.
| Who's going to look after the children? | ✗ look the children after |
| Who's going to look after them? | ✗ look them after |
| I ran into an old friend yesterday. | met by chance |
| She's dealing with the problem. | is doing what is needed to solve it |
This group also includes look for (try to find), get on / get off (board a bus, leave it), look into (try to learn the facts), come across (find by chance). The rule "a pronoun goes in the middle" does not apply to them: here the small word behaves like a preposition and stands before the object.
Type 3. No object: nothing is needed after the verb.
| The car broke down. | stopped working |
| I grew up in a small town. | became an adult |
| He turned up an hour late. | arrived, came |
| We set off at six. | started the journey |
| Students don't earn much, but they get by. | manage, have just enough money to live |
Type 4. Three parts: a verb and two small words, always together and always before the object.
| I'm looking forward to the holidays. | wait with pleasure, can't wait |
| I can't put up with the noise. | accept something unpleasant |
| We've run out of milk. | have none left, used it all |
| I get on with my colleagues. | have a good relationship |
| She came up with a great idea. | thought of |
look forward to + -ing. Here to is a preposition, as in be used to (B1 #33), so after it comes the -ing form or a noun: I'm looking forward to seeing you. — "I'm happy that we'll meet soon and I'm waiting for it". Not ✗ to see you. In letters this is a fixed ending: I look forward to hearing from you.
How to know the type. You can't guess it from the meaning — the type is given in the dictionary. It is usually written like this: turn something on (a place for the object in the middle — the verb is separable), look after somebody (the object after — inseparable), break down (no object). Learn a phrasal verb together with this pattern, not on its own.
One verb — several meanings and different types. This is normal, and the type often changes together with the meaning:
| Take off your shoes. — Take them off. | remove (type 1) |
| The plane took off at ten. | left the ground (type 3) |
| I'll pick you up at seven. | come by car and collect you (type 1) |
| Could you turn the music up? | make louder (type 1) |
| Nobody turned up. | nobody came (type 3) |
The conversational verb and its formal partner. Many phrasal verbs have a one-word synonym. It sounds more official — that is how documents and the news are written. In conversation a British speaker will almost always choose the phrasal verb:
| in conversation | in an official text | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| find out | discover | learn a fact |
| put off | postpone | move to a later time |
| turn down | refuse, reject | say no to |
| go on | continue | not stop |
| come back | return | come to a place again |
| look into | investigate | try to learn the facts |
To say We have postponed the party in a pub is grammatically correct, but it sounds like an announcement. We've put off the party — that's how friends talk.
More examples:
| Can you look up his number? | Find his number (on the internet). |
| I threw the old newspapers away. | I put the old newspapers in the bin. |
| The meeting has been put off until Friday. | The meeting has been moved to Friday. |
| How did you find out? | How did you learn about it? |
Don't say this. ✗ I'm looking for it forward — the parts of a three-part verb don't come apart: ✓ I'm looking forward to it.
Check yourself. Replace the TV with a pronoun: Switch off the TV. And now the dog in Can you look after the dog? You are meeting a friend next week, and you are very happy about it. How do you tell them?
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Common learner errors
written for your languageThe pronoun after a separable verb
✗ Turn on it, ✗ I'll pick up you at seven → ✓ Turn it on, ✓ I'll pick you up at seven. A learner who knows pick up as one block puts the object after it, as after any other verb. This is the most stubborn mistake of the topic, from A2 #22 on.
The pronoun inside an inseparable verb
✗ Who will look the children after?
✗ look them after
✓ look after them
This is the other side of the first mistake: once you have learnt "the pronoun goes in the middle", it is easy to carry it over to every phrasal verb. German speakers make it even with a noun: in German the small part of such a verb goes to the end (Wer passt auf die Kinder auf?).
look forward to + the base form
✗ I'm looking forward to see you
✓ I'm looking forward to seeing you
Spanish tengo ganas de verte, French j'ai hâte de te voir and German ich freue mich, dich zu sehen have an infinitive here, and to looks like the particle before a verb. But it is a preposition, and after it comes -ing.
The last part missing
✗ I can't put up the noise → ✓ I can't put up with the noise; ✗ We've run out milk → ✓ We've run out of milk. French supporter le bruit, Spanish aguantar el ruido and German den Lärm ertragen take the noun straight after one verb, so the third part seems unnecessary. But without it the verb means something else: put up is "hang on a wall" or "lift".
Formal verbs in conversation
Speakers of French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese often say continue, return, postpone, discover: these look like their own continuer, retornar, posponer, descobrir and feel safer than a phrasal verb. They are correct, but in a chat with friends they sound like an official letter: go on, come back, put off, find out.
Pronunciation
4 minThe stress falls on the small word, not on the verb:
Turn it off. I grew up in Leeds. He turned up late. The car broke down.
In three-part verbs the stress is on the first of the two small words: in put up with on up, in run out of on out, in get on with on on. In look forward to it is on for: /lʊk ˈfɔːwəd tə/.
This makes a phrasal verb different from a verb with a preposition: in I looked at the picture the stress is on the main verb looked, and at is unstressed. But in Look out! — "Be careful!" — the stress is on out, because it is a phrasal verb.
Linking. The consonant at the end of the verb joins the vowel of the small word or of the pronoun: turn it on sounds like /tɜːnɪˈtɒn/, pick it up like /pɪkɪˈtʌp/, fill it in like /fɪlɪˈtɪn/. Don't pause between the parts: a phrasal verb is said like one word.
Text
5 minLast Monday our washing machine broke down in the middle of a wash. There was water everywhere, so I turned the machine off at the wall and looked up a repair service online. I filled in a form on their website, and they promised to send someone on Wednesday.
On Wednesday I waited all morning, but nobody turned up. I rang them, and a very polite woman said she would look into it. In the end the engineer came on Thursday. He found out what was wrong in five minutes, dealt with it in half an hour, and I paid him on the spot.
The washing machine isn't our only problem. We get on well with most of our neighbours, but I can't put up with the music from the flat above any longer. They turn it up every night at eleven. Last week I ran into the owner on the stairs and asked him to turn it down. He said he would, but nothing has changed.
So we've decided to move. Our contract runs out in September, and we've already found a little house near the park. I'm really looking forward to moving out — and to buying a new washing machine.
Exercises
32 min1. Replace
- Turn off the TV.
- Can you pick up the children at four?
- I'll look after your cat.
- Please fill in this form.
- I ran into Mark yesterday.
- Don't throw away those letters.
- She's dealing with the problem.
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2. Put in
- The car broke on the motorway
- We've run milk. Can you buy some?
- I'm looking forward seeing you
- I can't put up his jokes any longer
- He turned an hour late, as usual
- Could you turn the music ? It's too loud
- I grew in a small town near Bristol
- Who's going to look the dog while we're away?
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3. Matching.
- put off
- turn down
- find out
- come up with
- get on with
- run into
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4. Rewrite in a more conversational way:
- We've postponed the meeting until Friday. (put off)
- She refused the job offer. (turn down)
- Please continue. (go on)
- I discovered the truth last week. (find out)
- When will you return? (come back)
- The police are investigating the accident. (look into)
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5. Error correction.
- Can you turn on it?
- I'm looking forward to see you.
- Who will look the children after?
- I can't put up the noise any more.
- We've run out milk.
- I'll pick up you at the station.
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6. Say it in English.
Each line describes a situation in simple words. Say it with the phrasal verbs of this lesson. 1) You will come to your friend's house by car at seven and take them with you. Tell them. 2) You and your neighbours have a very good relationship. Say this. 3) You wanted to make a sandwich, but there is no bread left at home. Say this. 4) Your holiday starts next week, and you are really happy when you think about it. Say this. 5) A company offered your friend a job, but she said no. Say what she did.
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Summary
Covered
- four types of phrasal verbs and the word order in each
- the pronoun in the middle of a separable verb and after an inseparable one
- look forward to + -ing
- the type from the dictionary pattern
- several meanings of one verb
- the conversational verb versus its formal synonym
Next — lesson 35: showing change and comparing.
End of the core
The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.
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Vocabulary for your deck
16 words- break down /ˌbreɪk ˈdaʊn/ to stop working (about a car or a machine)
- turn up /ˌtɜːn ˈʌp/ to arrive, to come (often late or when not expected)
- fill in /ˌfɪl ˈɪn/ to write the information needed on a form
- look up /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ to find information in a dictionary or on the internet
- deal with /ˈdiːl wɪð/ to do what is needed to solve a problem
- look into /ˌlʊk ˈɪntuː/ to try to learn the facts about a problem
- find out /ˌfaɪnd ˈaʊt/ to learn a fact or some information
- put off /ˌpʊt ˈɒf/ to move something to a later time
- turn down /ˌtɜːn ˈdaʊn/ to say no to an offer; to make music or a machine quieter
- run into /ˌrʌn ˈɪntuː/ to meet someone by chance
- put up with /ˌpʊt ˈʌp wɪð/ to accept something unpleasant without complaining
- get on with /ˌɡet ˈɒn wɪð/ to have a friendly relationship with someone
- come up with /ˌkʌm ˈʌp wɪð/ to think of an idea or a plan
- look forward to /ˌlʊk ˈfɔːwəd tə/ to wait for something with pleasure
- run out /ˌrʌn ˈaʊt/ to be used up; to come to an end (a contract, a ticket)
- on the spot /ˌɒn ðə ˈspɒt/ right there, at once
Writing
Six sentences about a problem at home and how you solved it. Use at least five phrasal verbs, among them one inseparable verb with a pronoun and one three-part verb.
Example
Last month my laptop broke down. I looked up a repair shop and took it there. They said they would look into it, but nobody rang me for a week. In the end I went back and found out that they had lost my form. I filled it in again, and they dealt with the problem the next day. I can't put up with bad service, but they apologised, so I'm not angry.
Checklist
Practise this lesson in the other sections
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