How to learn phrasal verbs

5 Secrets to Learning Phrasal Verbs

If you’re like most English learners, you hate phrasal verbs. And I don’t blame you. Mastering these peculiar verbs isn’t easy. So many English students get frustrated and lose hope because they just can’t figure out how to learn them.

The good news is: if you’re reading this post, then you haven’t given up yet! That’s probably because you know that learning phrasal verbs can drastically improve your English speaking and comprehension skills.

Now, what if I told you that learning how to use phrasal verbs in your conversations is entirely possible? It’s simply the result of using the right techniques. I’m not saying that the methods I’m going to show you are the only ones out there. But over the years I’ve spent time studying the best ways to teach phrasal verbs and today I want to share with you 5 secrets I’ve learned from my experience and research.

USEFUL TIPS FOR LEARNING PHRASAL VERBS

1. Don’t group them by verb.

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The most common method I’ve seen in textbooks, classrooms and online is to group the phrasal verbs by a particular verb. For example, you might have searched Google for a list of phrasal verbs with get and found a list that looks like this:

Not only is this the worst way to learn phrasal verbs, but it’s also the fastest way to make yourself hate them. Why? Because you’re trying to memorize a bunch of words that all look the same but have completely different meanings. And that’s confusing! There is absolutely no logical connection between these words, but our brains need connections to comprehend and absorb information properly. So, what’s a better way to learn them?

2. Group them by particle (up, off, out, away, etc.)

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Now that we know what NOT to do when learning phrasal verbs, let’s look at a four other methods that are more effective.

Instead of grouping them by verb, organizing phrasal verbs by particle can help you make relevant connections between them. That’s because the particles have tendencies, and if you understand these tendencies, it’ll make learning phrasal verbs a bit easier.

So, you might be wondering: “What’s a particle?”

Each phrasal verb is composed of a verb and a particle. Let’s look at the phrasal verb sell out as an example:

The particle out can signify a few things. For example, we tend to use it when there is no more of something. So if you go to the bakery and you find out that they sold all their bread, you can say,

“They sold out of bread.” or “They’re out of bread.”

Out can also imply that something stopped existing, ended or disappeared. To illustrate, let’s look at a couple of examples with the phrasal verb go out:

“If you don’t add wood, the fire will go out.”

Which means: If you don’t add wood, the fire will stop burning.

“There was a storm last night, and the power went out in the whole city.”

Which means: There was a storm last night, and the power stopped working in the whole city.

So do you see why understanding the particles and their possible meanings is so important? This will take time and practice because out has many different tendencies, but it’s definitely worth your time and effort. It will at least give you an idea of what the phrasal verb could mean.

You can learn more about particles and their tendencies from a good phrasal verb dictionary. My personal favorite is Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Plus because: it’s easy to use, it highlights the most frequently used English phrasal verbs, and it has detailed information about each particle and their different uses and meanings.

3. Group them by topic

An even better way to learn phrasal verbs is to organize them by subject. For example, you could create a phrasal verb list for expressing emotions, describing friends or talking about love and relationships. This has worked really well for my students because:

There is a link between the different verbs.

Organizing them by topic makes them more relatable and interesting to learn

You are learning how to use them in your everyday life and not just memorizing their abstract meanings

4. Learn them in context

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This is the method I use the most in my lessons. Learning phrasal verbs in context by watching YouTube videos, listening to songs or reading any authentic content is so powerful because you can see how we use them in real life.

For example, when you’re watching your favorite TV show you can:

Look for the written transcript on Google.

Write down the phrasal verbs you find in the transcript.

Look up their meanings in the dictionary.

Read some example sentences on Phrasal Verb Demon.

Practice making your own sentences.

Create flashcards and test yourself regularly.

5. Use them in a story

Another effective way to learn and practice phrasal verbs is to create a story with them. If you like writing fiction, you can create a short story using a few phrasal verbs. If not, then you can simply write a paragraph related to your life. This will help you create connections between the words and your experiences and as we mentioned earlier, it’ll help you immensely in remembering them.

If you need some inspiration, here is an example from Marina, one of my students. She created this little story to practice using phrasal verbs to describe friends in context:

“Yesterday, I ran into Mathilde, an old friend from high school. We grew apart but I remember nothing could come between us. We’ve never let each other down. She has always stuck up for me. I heard from Michel she’s still single. Maybe I should try to fix her up with my brother.“

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How To Learn And Use More Phrasal Verbs in English?

Table of Contents

Why are phrasal verbs so difficult to learn?

Many English learners consider learning phrasal verbs as a big obstacle to them. What are the reasons? The most important cause may be because there are so many phrasal verbs that we can not learn by heart. Moreover, they’re so commonly used that they can become overwhelming. Not to mention the fact that one phrasal verb can have multiple meanings.

Besides, many phrasal verbs are idiomatic as well, so their meaning is not always as the individual words suggest.

The phrasal verb “look up to someone” can mean that you respect them. You don’t actually have to be shorter than someone and physically looking up to them to be able to use this phrasal verb.

No wonder phrasal verbs are so frustrating! If you’re determined to understand more about phrasal verbs, then this lesson is for you. In the writing today, Learn English Fun Way is going to share with you six things that you need to know about phrasal verbs.

Now, let’s get started!

6 Things You Need To Know About Phrasal Verbs

1, What is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a standard verb such as ‘put’, ‘go’, or ‘take’, etc., plus one or two particles.

So, what is a particle? A particle in a phrasal verb is either a preposition or an adverb.

These are prepositions and these are adverbs.

There is always a wide range of phrasal verbs that really makes it hard for English learners to remember all of them,

2, Transitive or Intransitive?

Once you know how to recognise a phrasal verb, you need to learn how to use it correctly. And one of the first things that you need to find out is whether it is a transitive or an intransitive phrasal verb.

The phrasal verb “look up to”, which means to respect or admire someone. This phrasal verb always has to be followed by a person, by someone. You can’t just say “I really look up to”. You need to answer “Who do you look up to?”

“Look up to” is a transitive phrasal verb. You need to have someone after the phrasal verb to make it make sense.

But some phrasal verbs are intransitive, which means they work fine on their own.

More especially, some phrasal verbs are either transitive or intransitive, depending on the meaning.

So take the example “come over”, which has two meanings.

So whether a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, it’s important to know because it helps you to understand how to use it correctly.

3, Separable or Inseparable?

Let’s go back to the example “look up to”. This is a transitive phrasal verb. Besides it’s also an inseparable phrasal verb. You can’t separate the words in the phrasal verb. It’s not possible to say “look someone up to” or “look up someone to”. It just doesn’t work because it’s inseparable.

Learning whether a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive or separable or inseparable right from the start will help you to use it correctly from now on.

So when you learn a new phrasal verb, it’s really important that you write it down. Write down a few awesome sentences of your own just to practise using the phrasal verb and applying the rules that we have just mentioned.

4, Phrasal verbs are multi-word verbs.

Phrasal verbs are multi-word verbs, and they need to be treated like any other verb in a sentence. They need to show us which tense is being used and they need to match the subject that they’re being used with.

Read the above example sentences and see how the verb changes each time with the tense.

5, Find the right phrasal verbs to practise.

Firstly, don’t type “phrasal verbs” into Google and then wait for a big list to appear and try to memorise them. This will completely overwhelm you!

You need to look for and find the phrasal verbs that are relevant to you and that are commonly used because there are thousands of phrasal verbs in English, and you will never need to know all of them! But you will need to know the ones that are coming up in your life, the important ones for you.

So you need to look for them. You can find them by reading the news, reading blogs that you love, reading the transcripts of TEDTalks, reading magazines and articles that are related to your profession.

Take a blog post from your favourite English blog about English or just written in English. Go through it and highlight all of the phrasal verbs that you see. Study how they’re used.

Another great way to look for how phrasal verbs are used is to use Google or any other search engine to search for specific phrasal verbs in the news search tab.

These are all different ways that this phrasal verb can be used. Anyway the point is you’re exploring which phrasal verbs are commonly used in recently written documents online. You’re learning them in context and often in a context that’s interesting to you!

6, Practice using phrasal verbs.

Practise using phrasal verbs in the right way! Focus on topics, not on alphabetical lists because that is how you’re going to use phrasal verbs while writing or talking about a topic or issue.

And if you don’t know all the phrasal verbs that you might need, then try looking at a blog post about the topic to inspire you, or search YouTube for a lesson that can help you to learn this vocabulary, or go to a list of phrasal verbs and see which ones will be helpful to talk about travel. But don’t forget to pay attention to whether they’re transient or intransient, separable or inseparable.

Another great way to practise is to start with a list of phrasal verbs – about ten would be perfect. They could be the ones that you highlighted earlier from the blog post. Try to write your own story using these phrasal verbs. You can use a dictionary if you need to check the meaning, and to check whether they are transitive or intransitive, or separable or inseparable. The dictionary will certainly tell you that!

Now, take these phrasal verbs: Hang out, look after, take over, put away, clean up. We can write a paragraph with them.

So we just have built a really simple story about this list of phrasal verbs. It doesn’t have to be true and it doesn’t have to be really intelligent, but it challenges you to think creatively and to use these phrasal verbs.

This is the end of our lesson today! Those are top tips for learning and using English phrasal verbs. Do you have any other tips that you want to share with us? Add them to the comments, we would love to see your suggestions.

In order to get further explanation and practice your listening skills also, watch the video below. Thank you for reading and see you in the next writing!

Credit: Youtube Channel “mmmEnglish”

How to Learn Phrasal Verbs in English Quickly

How to Learn Phrasal Verbs in English Quickly

Today, I would like to share with you 6 tips to learn Phrasal Verbs in English quickly, this lesson was written by LINDSAY DOW

Let’s get started!

I’ve been teaching English for close to a decade. It’s never long before students start asking “How can I sound more like a native speaker?”

I’ve realised that a big gap for English learners is phrasal verbs. Teaching phrasal verbs has enabled my students to feel more confident and comfortable using English. It’s also been a great help for me as a language learner.

That’s why I’ve decided to share with you my best tips for learning phrasal verbs in English. If you’re learning English, I’m sure you’ll love these. And if you’re a native English speaker, knowing about phrasal verbs can be a big help with your language learning.

What is a Phrasal Verb?

Firstly, let’s outline briefly what a phrasal verb actually is!

Have you ever noticed how when you sometimes add a seemingly tiny word like a preposition or an adverb after a verb, the meaning can completely change? Crazy, huh? That’s phrasal verbs. They’re a little bit wacky.

Read more:

Look at some phrasal verbs in conversations below

Verb: Pick

“Pick” is just a normal verb, not a phrasal verb. Well, not yet at least. It can mean a few things. Let’s focus on one meaning for our example: to select or choose.

We need to pick which meal we’d like to eat.

But look what happens to ‘pick’ when we add the word ‘up’.

Phrasal Verb: Pick Up

Now, as if by some kind of wordplay magic, “pick” has become a phrasal verb. To ‘pick up’ can actually, mean many different things. We’ll look at just four of the possible meanings in this post: to improve, to collect someone or something, and to acquire knowledge.

Phew! Who’d have thought that the addition of the tiny word ‘up’ could make such a difference?

Ready to learn some more? Here are my top tips to learn phrasal verbs in English.

1. Transitive or Intransitive

I hate to start by throwing these grammar words at you, but it helps a lot if you can understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs when learning phrasal verbs.

For example, the phrasal verb ‘bump into’ means “to meet someone unexpectedly” and always has to be followed by the person you weren’t expecting to meet. You can’t just say, “Yesterday, I bumped into. Haven’t seen her in years!” You have to say instead something like this: “Yesterday, I bumped into Sarah. Haven’t seen her in years!”

The exception to this would be if it were a statement that didn’t reveal ‘who’ you ‘bumped into’. For example, “I went to town yesterday. You’ll never guess who I bumped into.” Even here though, ‘who’ is the someone that you met unexpectedly. In the answer, this ‘who’ will change into someone’s name and be placed after ‘bumped into’; it just happens to appear earlier in the sentence.

Something worth noting here is that some phrasal verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. For example, ‘wake up’, as I’m sure you know, means “to awaken”. If you want to say that you awaken, you simply say “I wake up”.

However, “I wake up Sarah” is an example of real English, but it means that you go into Sarah’s bedroom and shake her and blow an airhorn into her ear and throw water on her and scream until she opens her eyes. Or, you know, it just means that you gently tap her and say her name to ease her into the day. (If it’s the former, it’s fair to say Sarah needs to find new friends.)

2. Separable or Inseparable

As well as having to consider whether or not a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, we also have to become familiar with the idea of separable and inseparable.

Let’s go back to poor old sleepy Sarah. When we’re talking about ‘waking someone else up’, the phrasal verb ‘wake up’ takes an object because we’ve added ‘someone else’. It is also separable because that ‘someone else’ can go between the verb ‘wake’ and the word ‘up’ and it still sounds ok, the meaning doesn’t change, and you won’t get any confused looks when you speak to native speakers. Hooray!

So as well as being able to say ‘I wake up Sarah’, we can also say ‘I wake Sarah up’, which means exactly the same thing. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, I hope you like that bit because not all phrasal verbs are that accommodating. Some are strictly separable and must be kept separate at all times like a pair of angry divorcees. For example, ‘keep something around’ means to keep something close to you. However, you can’t ‘keep around something’.

I always keep my phone around when I’m waiting for you to call.

Others are strictly inseparable. For example, ‘look up to someone’, which means to admire and respect someone. We can’t say ‘look someone up to’ or even ‘look up someone to’. Here’s an example of how it would work.

I really look up to my older sister.

Learning whether a phrasal verb is transitive/intransitive and separable/inseparable from the start will really help you to use it correctly as you go forward. I’d recommend writing a few example sentences showing off how it’s used to help you to remember. But where do you get these phrasal verbs from to begin with?

3. Context: A Simple Trick for Memorising Phrasal Verbs

It’s pretty easy to find list after list of phrasal verbs on the Internet and in grammar books, but that may not be the best way to learn them. Instead, try focusing on topics.

Imagine you’re watching a Formula One race. There are going to be lots of phrasal verbs you can use here involving ‘pull’ because many are to do with driving.

For example, Hamilton pulled up at the pit stop, Vettel is pulling away slowly, and Rosberg is pulling ahead. You can almost smell the petrol fumes.

Now think of an airport. There are as many phrasal verbs as suitcases here!

For example, we have to check in, the plane takes off in 10 minutes, don’t forget to look after your luggage.

A great way to do this would be to start with a list of phrasal verbs and a blank notebook. Write one topic or situation at the centre of a page in your notebook, for example, “in the classroom”. Now browse your list of phrasal verbs until you come across something that you might hear “in the classroom”. Add it to your list with an example and repeat. Oh yes, and don’t forget to note whether each is transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable. It’s much easier to embed this in your memory as you learn each phrasal verb rather than struggle along later.

4. Use Stories to Lodge Phrasal Verbs in Your Memory

Once you’ve created your mind maps, you can take it one step further and create your own stories linked to a particular phrasal verb. Everyone loves a good story, right?

Stories make for more familiar, engaging, interesting, and memorable learning resources. If you’re creating them yourself, then even better.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself a writer! Here are a few reasons why. Number one, no one has to read them if you don’t want them to. Number two, you don’t even have to write them down. Which skill is the most important for you to make stronger? Speaking? Why not try recording yourself saying your stories aloud as they come to you? Again, no one has to hear them if you don’t want to share. I promise I won’t tell.

5. Use Music to Discover How Phrasal Verbs are Used

Of course, there’s plenty of good advice about using music in language learning. Similarly to why stories are so great, music creates a memorable attachment and gives context.

To get started, try searching for the phrasal verb you’re learning in speech marks with the word ‘lyrics’ on YouTube. For example, [“carry on”] (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fun/carryon.html) lyrics. If you’re searching a separable phrasal verb, then you can perhaps try inserting pronouns too. For example, “wake me up” lyrics.

If you’ve got a huge list of phrasal verbs and don’t have time to do that for each one, I’ve put together this playlist to get you started. You’re welcome, friend!

6. Check Current Use of Phrasal Verbs by Reading the News

Once you’ve lost your voice from all the singing, head back to Google, but this time, instead of searching for lyrics, check out the news tab and try searching for your phrasal verbs.

I use this technique all the time with my students (and myself) when learning different languages. Not only does it give you a range of sources and therefore potentially a wide variety of language use, but it also brings you examples of current usage.

One thing you might spot from this exercise is how some phrasal verbs are used as nouns too. For example, when I searched ‘pick up’ for research for this post, this is what I got.

In the first example, the phrasal verb ‘pick up’ is being used to mean collect…

We’ve also got examples of it as a noun…

And as a noun with a different meaning…

Finally, check out this one…

Another verb, but with a different meaning. Here it means ‘to improve.

You don’t even have to go on to read all of these articles if you don’t want to. Google has given you exactly what you need on the first page. Thanks, Google.

By using these tips to take your phrasal verb knowledge further, you’ll not only enjoy the process more than simple rote learning, but you’ll also be creating longer-lasting memories of the words. Win-win.

Feeling inspired? I’ve recently released my first online course. Yay! It’s called Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story and is perfect for you if you’re looking for something to give you exposure to over 500 phrasal verbs and a chance to create your own stories as part of the learning process. Find out more here.

Image credit: Rennett Stowe.

Source: LINDSAY DOW

How to learn phrasal verbs easily

Native English speakers use phrasal verbs all the time. So, if you want to learn English, you’re going to have to learn them too. But what’s the best way to learn phrasal verbs?

As you probably know, a phrasal verb is formed by a verb and a particle. This particle is usually a short word or preposition: up, with, to, out, in…

However, the meaning of the phrasal verb is often different to the meaning of each individual word within the phrasal verb. And this is what makes some of them so difficult. For example, you may understand the verb to make and the preposition up, but the phrasal verb to make up often means to invent.

So, what can you do to learn phrasal verbs? Here are SIX tricks to help you. [Please see the table at the end of this article for the meaning of any phrasal verbs in bold.]

1.The particle!

You can understand many phrasal verbs from the particle alone. For example, what do you think the phrasal verbs in bold mean?
a) House prices are going up.
b) She got over the cold after a few days’ rest.
Once you know the basic meaning of these particles, they can really help you understand the phrasal verbs. In this case, up means to go to a higher level, so to go up means to increase in this case; and over means to go from one state, level or stage to another, so to get over an illness means to recover from it in this case.

2. The verb!

In many cases, the particle doesn’t contribute much – it only changes the meaning in a very small way. So, sometimes it’s the verb that can help. For example, what do you think these phrasal verbs in bold mean?
a) My car broke down as I was driving along the motorway.
b) They were running about in the garden.
You could probably guess the meaning of these phrasal verbs just from the verbs. The particles are just extras!

3.Context!

Another thing to look at is the context. What are the people talking about? What’s the topic of conversation? Once you know this, you’ll find it easier to work out the meaning of the phrasal verb. For example, what do you think the phrasal verb to put up means in this sentence?
“You are rude and disrespectful and you’ve got a really bad attitude. Either you change or you’re out! I refuse to put up with it any longer!”

4. Guess!

Once you know the context, the best thing is to guess the meaning of any phrasal verbs. This is what native speakers do. In fact, if you asked a native English speaker for a definition of many phrasal verbs, they might not be able to help; however, if they saw or heard the phrasal verb in a conversation, they’d understand its meaning easily.

5. Read & listen!

You can learn many phrasal verbs passively by reading and listening to English. No one really sits down to learn phrasal verbs in their own language – they pick them up over time after hearing them or reading them in context. And this is what you should do. Above all, don’t try to learn lists of phrasal verbs with their definitions. Always learn them in context: in sentences, in paragraphs or in complete texts! Another good way to learn them is by grouping them into topic areas: phrasal verbs for the phone, meetings, travel…

6.No rules!

There are lots of complicated rules about the use of phrasal verbs. Is the particle a preposition or an adverb? Is the phrasal verb separable or inseparable? However, the best way to learn how to use a phrasl verb is by seeing or hearing it several times. Then, you can copy the way they’re used when you’re speaking or writing. For example, if you see or hear the phrase “I made it up” several times, you’ll start using it yourself soon. And remember, when you’re speaking or writing English, you don’t necessarily need to use phrasal verbs as there’s usually an alternative way of expressing the idea. For example:

“You made up that story, didn’t you?” = “You invented that story, didn’t you?”

Have fun learning phrasal verbs!

Phrasal Verb Guide:

6 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs in English

written by
Lindsay Dow

A big gap for many English learners is phrasal verbs.

I’ve been teaching English for close to 10 years. It’s never long before students start asking “How can I sound more like a native speaker?”

Phrasal verbs have enabled my students to feel more confident and comfortable using English. It’s also been a great help for me as a language learner.

That’s why I’ve decided to share with you my best tips for learning phrasal verbs in English.

Table of contents

If you’re learning English, I’m sure you’ll love these tips. And if you’re a native English speaker, knowing about phrasal verbs can be a big help with your language learning.

What is a Phrasal Verb?

Firstly, let’s outline briefly what a phrasal verb actually is!

Have you ever noticed how when you sometimes add a seemingly tiny word like a preposition or an adverb after a verb, the meaning can completely change? Crazy, huh? That’s phrasal verbs.

They’re a little bit wacky.

Let’s look at some examples.

Verb: “To Pick”

“To Pick” is just a normal verb, not a phrasal verb. Well, not yet, at least. It can mean a few things.

Let’s focus on one meaning for our example: to select or choose.

We need to pick which meal we’d like to eat.

But look what happens to ‘pick’ when we add the word ‘up’.

Phrasal Verb: “To Pick Up”

Now, as if by some kind of wordplay magic, “to pick” has become a phrasal verb. To ”pick up” can actually mean many different things.

We’ll look at just four of the possible meanings in this post: to improve, to collect someone or something, and to acquire knowledge.

Let’s look at an example for each of these:

Phew! Who’d have thought that the addition of the tiny word “up” could make such a difference?

Ready to learn some more? Here are my top tips to learn phrasal verbs in English.

1. Is the Phrasal Verb Transitive or Intransitive?

I hate to start by throwing these grammar words at you, but it helps a lot if you can understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs when learning phrasal verbs.

You may already be familiar with these words, but if not, here’s the jargon-free explanation:

Transitive Phrasal Verbs

The phrasal verb ”to bump into” means “to meet someone unexpectedly”.

It always has to be followed by the person you weren’t expecting to meet. You can’t just say, “Yesterday, I bumped into. Haven’t seen her in years!”

You have to say instead something like this: “Yesterday, I bumped into Sarah. Haven’t seen her in years!”

The exception to this would be if it were a statement that didn’t reveal ‘who’ you ‘bumped into’. For example, “I went to town yesterday. You’ll never guess who I bumped into.”

Even here though, ‘who’ is the someone that you met unexpectedly. In the answer, this ‘who’ will change into someone’s name and be placed after ‘bumped into’; it just happens to appear earlier in the sentence.

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

However, some phrasal verbs are intransitive, which means they work fine on their own.

For example, ’grow up’ means “to mature”. You never add an object. Here are a few examples of how this works.

Something worth noting here is that some phrasal verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. For example, ”to wake up”, as I’m sure you know, means “to awaken”. If you want to say that you awaken, you simply say “I wake up”.

However, “I wake up Sarah” is an example of real English, but it means that you go into Sarah’s bedroom and shake her and blow an air horn into her ear and throw water on her and scream until she opens her eyes.

Or, you know, it just means that you gently tap her and say her name to ease her into the day.

(If it’s the former, it’s fair to say Sarah needs to find new friends.)

2. Is the Phrasal Verb Separable or Inseparable?

As well as having to consider whether or not a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, we also have to become familiar with the idea of separable and inseparable.

Here’s a jargon-free explanation, as you asked so nicely:

Let’s go back to poor old sleepy Sarah.

When we’re talking about ”waking someone else up”, the phrasal verb “to wake up” takes an object because we’ve added ‘someone else’. It is also separable because that ‘someone else’ can go between the verb ‘wake’ and the word ‘up’ and it still sounds ok.

The meaning doesn’t change, and you won’t get any confused looks when you speak to native speakers. Hooray!

So as well as being able to say ’I wake up Sarah’, we can also say ‘I wake Sarah up’, which means exactly the same thing. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, I hope you like that bit because not all phrasal verbs are that accommodating. Some are strictly separable and must be kept separate at all times like a pair of angry divorcees.

For example, “to keep something around” means to keep something close to you. However, you can’t “keep around something”.

I always keep my phone around when I’m waiting for you to call.

Others are strictly inseparable. For example, ”to look up to someone”, which means to admire and respect someone. We can’t say “look someone up to” or even “look up someone to”.

Here’s an example of how it would work.

I really look up to my older sister.

Learning whether a phrasal verb is transitive/intransitive and separable/inseparable from the start will really help you to use it correctly as you go forward. I’d recommend writing a few example sentences showing off how it’s used to help you to remember.

But where do you get these phrasal verbs from to begin with?

3. Context: A Simple Trick for Memorising Phrasal Verbs

It’s pretty easy to find list after list of phrasal verbs on the Internet and in grammar books, but that may not be the best way to learn them. Instead, try focusing on topics.

Imagine you’re watching a Formula One race. There are going to be lots of phrasal verbs you can use here involving ‘pull’ because many are to do with driving.

For example, Hamilton pulled up at the pit stop, Vettel is pulling away slowly, Rosberg is pulling ahead. You can almost smell the petrol fumes.

Now think of an airport. There are as many phrasal verbs as suitcases here!

For example, We have to check in, the plane takes off in 10 minutes, don’t forget to look after your luggage.

A great way to do this would be to start with a list of phrasal verbs and a blank notebook.

Write one topic or situation at the centre of a page in your notebook, for example, “in the classroom”. Now browse your list of phrasal verbs until you come across something that you might hear “in the classroom”. Add it to your list with an example and repeat.

Oh yes, and don’t forget to note whether each is transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable. It’s much easier to embed this in your memory as you learn each phrasal verb rather than struggle along later.

4. Use Stories to Lodge Phrasal Verbs in Your Memory

Once you’ve created your mind maps, you can take it one step further and create your own stories linked to a particular phrasal verb.

Everyone loves a good story, right?

Stories make for more familiar, engaging, interesting, and memorable learning resources. If you’re creating them yourself, then even better.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself a writer! Here are a few reasons why.

Number one, no one has to read them if you don’t want them to.

Number two, you don’t even have to write them down.

Which skill is the most important for you to make stronger? Speaking? Why not try recording yourself saying your stories aloud as they come to you? Again, no one has to hear them if you don’t want to share.

I promise I won’t tell.

5. Use Music to Discover How Phrasal Verbs are Used

Of course, there’s plenty of good advice about using music in language learning. Similarly to why stories are so great, music creates a memorable attachment and gives context.

To get started, try searching for the phrasal verb you’re learning in speech marks with the word ‘lyrics’ on YouTube. For example, carry on lyrics.

If you’re searching for a separable phrasal verb, then you can perhaps try inserting pronouns too. For example, “wake me up” lyrics.

If you’ve got a huge list of phrasal verbs and don’t have time to do that for each one, I’ve put together this playlist to get you started.

You’re welcome, friend!

6. Check Current Use of Phrasal Verbs by Reading the News

Once you’ve lost your voice from all the singing, head back to Google, but this time, instead of searching for lyrics, check out the news tab and try searching for your phrasal verbs.

I use this technique all the time with my students (and myself) when learning different languages. Not only does it give you a range of sources and therefore potentially a wide variety of language use, but it also brings you examples of current usage.

One thing you might spot from this exercise is how some phrasal verbs are used as nouns too. For example, when I searched ‘pick up’ for research for this post, this is what I got.

Another verb, but with a different meaning. Here it means ‘to improve’.

You don’t even have to go on to read all of these articles if you don’t want to. Google has given you exactly what you need on the first page. Thanks, Google.

Time to Learn Phrasal Verbs

By using these tips to take your phrasal verb knowledge further, you’ll not only enjoy the process more than simple rote learning, but you’ll also be creating longer lasting memories of the words. Win-win.

Feeling inspired? You should check out my online course Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story. It’s perfect for you if you’re looking for something to give you exposure to over 500 phrasal verbs and a chance to create your own stories as part of the learning process. Find out more here.

Original article by Lindsay Dow, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

Lindsay Dow

Language Tutor and Blogger

Lindsay Dow is an online language tutor from England. When she’s not teaching languages, she’s writing about them at Lindsay Does Languages.

Speaks: English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Japanese