Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Phrasal verbs
Work out what a verb plus a small word means together, and put the object in the right place.
A phrasal verb is an ordinary verb with a small word stuck to it — up, off, out, after, on. Together they mean something the two words alone would never tell you. Look after has nothing to do with looking, and give up has nothing to do with giving.
The whole thing is one word's worth of meaning
Treat give up as a single item to be learned, exactly like the word surrender. Trying to work it out from give plus up will send you the wrong way almost every time.
One verb, many phrasal verbs
Run into means meet by chance. Run out means have none left. Run over means read through quickly. Run away means escape. The verb is the same in all four; the small word carries the meaning.
Separable ones let the object sit in the middle
Switch off the light and switch the light off are both correct. But when the object is a pronoun — it, them, him — it must go in the middle: switch it off, never switch off it.
Inseparable ones never split
Look after the baby and look after her — the object always comes last. You cannot say look the baby after. If you are unsure, keeping the two words together is the safer guess.
Worked example
What does "put off" mean in "They put the picnic off until Sunday"?
Ignore what put and off mean on their own.
The pair has its own meaning, and reading them separately is what leads people astray.
Try it together
Let us finish three phrasal verbs.
Each answer is one small word — the part that finishes the phrasal verb.
1.The plane will take ____ at nine o'clock. Write the missing word.
Have a go
What does "give up" mean in "He gave up chess after school"?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.