Page 286 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
137 Phrasal verbs 1 Introduction

A We often use verbs with:
in on up away by about over round or around
out off down back through along forward

So you can say look out / get on / take off / run away etc. These are phrasal verbs.
We often use on/off/out etc. with verbs of movement. For example:
get on The bus was full. We couldn’t get on.
drive off A woman got into the car and drove off.
come back Sarah is leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday.
turn round When I touched him on the shoulder, he turned round.

B Often the second word (on/off/out etc.) gives a special meaning to the verb. For example:
break down Sorry I’m late. The car broke down. (= the engine stopped working)
find out I never found out who sent me the flowers. (= I never discovered)
take off It was my first flight. I was nervous as the plane took off. (= went into the air)
give up I tried many times to contact her. In the end I gave up. (= stopped trying)
get on How was the exam? How did you get on? (= How did you do?)
get by My French isn’t good, but it’s enough to get by. (= enough to manage)
For more phrasal verbs, see Units 138–145.

C Sometimes a phrasal verb is followed by a preposition. For example:
phrasal verb preposition
look up at We looked up at the plane as it flew above us.
run away from Why did you run away from me?
keep up with You’re walking too fast. I can’t keep up with you.
look forward to Are you looking forward to your trip?

D Sometimes a phrasal verb has an object. For example:
I turned on the light. (the light is the object)
Usually there are two possible positions for the object. You can say:
I turned on the light. or I turned the light on.
object object
But if the object is a pronoun (it/them/me/him etc.), only one position is possible:
I turned it on. (not I turned on it)

In the same way, you can say:
⎧ take off my shoes.
I’m going to ⎨
⎩ take my shoes off.
but These shoes are uncomfortable. I’m going to take them off. (not take off them)
⎧ wake up the baby.
Don’t ⎨
⎩ wake the baby up.
but The baby is asleep. Don’t wake her up. (not wake up her)
⎧ throw away this box.
Don’t ⎨
⎩ throw this box away.
but I want to keep this box, so don’t throw it away. (not throw away it)

274 Phrasal verbs 2–9 ➜ Units 138–145 American English ➜ Appendix 7