What do Phrasal Verbs Mean?
Phrasal verbs are like shapeshifters. Their meaning can change – and often depends on the context of the sentence. It’s a good idea to learn phrasal verbs in context. Rather than memorising long lists of phrasal verbs, try to learn them in sentences or short dialogues. This way, you’ll understand how they are used in real-life situations.
Literal meaning:
Some common phrasal verbs have an obvious meaning (a literal meaning) which you can guess from the two parts. You should understand these examples if you know each individual word.
- Look out – to be inside something and look out of that thing
- E.g. – The cat looked out the window.
- Take out – to remove something inside something else
- E.g. – I took the books out of my bag.
Idiomatic meanings:
Most phrasal verb meanings are less obvious or impossible to guess from the individual words (but you might be able to guess from the context).
- Run out (of sth) – When something has finished and you need more of that thing.
- E.g. – We have run out of coffee.
- Go through – to search in / to suffer / to use up
- E.g. – I took the books out of my bag.
Both meanings:
To make things even more exciting, some phrasal verbs can have both literal and idiomatic meanings.
- Put in – To literally put something in a bag.
- E.g. – Theresa put the keys in her bag before leaving for work.
- Put in – To do an amount of work.
- E.g. – If you put in the work, you will see results!
Learning all of these meanings will make you a literal phrasal verb pro. Ready for some practice?
Phrasal verbs covered in these exercises:
- Leave out – to not include something / to be forgotten
- Get out – to leave or escape / for information to become known
- Get over – to recover from / to manage to make something understood
- Hang out – to spend time in a place or with someone
- Turn down – to say no, to refuse / to reduce the level (of light or noise)
- Catch up – to learn and discuss the newest facts about something / to come level with
- Go out – to leave a place to go somewhere else / to become extinguished / to date
- Throw away – to get rid of / to lose through lack of care or concern
- Bring up – to raise or educate / to introduce a matter for discussion
- Keep up – to stay with someone who is moving forward by moving as quickly as them / to be able to understand or deal with what is happening or changing at a fast rate.