Phrasal Verbs Quiz
12 multiple-choice questions on common English phrasal verbs in context: give up, look into, take off, break down, put off and more. B1–B2 level.
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Phrasal Verbs — FAQ
A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and one or more particles (prepositions or adverbs) that together have a meaning different from the individual words. For example, 'give up' means to stop trying, 'look into' means to investigate, and 'take off' means remove clothing or a plane departing. Phrasal verbs are extremely common in everyday spoken and written English.
Separable phrasal verbs allow the object between the verb and particle: 'Turn the music down' or 'Turn down the music'. If the object is a pronoun, it must go in the middle: 'Turn it down' (NOT 'Turn down it'). Inseparable phrasal verbs must keep verb and particle together: 'Look into the problem' (NOT 'Look the problem into').
Most common phrasal verbs: get up, get on/off, go on, come back, look for (search), look up (find in reference), find out (discover), take off (remove; plane leaving), break down (stop working), put off (postpone), turn up (arrive; increase volume), run out of (exhaust the supply), carry on (continue), and give up (stop trying).
Phrasal verbs are challenging because: the same particle can change meaning with different verbs; a single phrasal verb often has multiple meanings ('take off' = remove clothing, plane departing, become suddenly successful); meaning is usually idiomatic; native speakers use them constantly; and many have formal single-word equivalents (give up = abandon, look into = investigate).
'Look up' = find information in a reference (Look up the word in a dictionary) or to improve (Business is looking up). 'Look for' = search for something or someone (I'm looking for my keys). 'Look into' = investigate or examine more closely (The police are looking into the matter). These three phrasal verbs must be learned separately.
Common 'get' phrasal verbs: get up (rise from bed), get on (progress; board a vehicle), get off (leave a vehicle), get over (recover from illness or disappointment), get along/on with (have a good relationship), get away with (escape punishment), get into (enter; become interested in), get through (finish; make contact by phone), get rid of (dispose of), and get back (return).
Common 'put' phrasal verbs: put off (postpone; discourage), put on (wear clothing; start playing music), put up with (tolerate), put out (extinguish a fire), put through (connect by phone), put down (write down; criticise), put forward (propose an idea), and put back (return something to its place; postpone).
Yes. Many phrasal verbs have formal equivalents: give up → abandon/quit, look into → investigate, put off → postpone, carry out → conduct/implement, come up with → devise, turn down → refuse/decline, find out → discover, break down → collapse/analyse, run out of → exhaust/deplete. In formal writing (IELTS essays), single-word equivalents are usually preferred.
In IELTS Writing Task 2, phrasal verbs should generally be avoided in favour of more formal single-word equivalents: 'investigate' instead of 'look into', 'postpone' instead of 'put off'. In IELTS Speaking, phrasal verbs are natural and appropriate — using them correctly demonstrates a good vocabulary range. In Task 1, avoid casual verbs like 'went up' — use 'increased' or 'rose'.
Focus on: pick up (collect; learn informally), hang on (wait), turn up (arrive unexpectedly), wear out (exhaust; become worn), catch up (reach the same level), work out (calculate; exercise; result successfully), calm down (become less agitated), sort out (solve or organise), and cheer up (become happier). Learning these in context through films and podcasts is most effective.