This document discusses phrasal verbs, which are verbs combined with particles that can change the verb's meaning. Phrasal verbs are mainly used in informal English. Examples are provided of common phrasal verbs like "look up," "break down," "bring up," and "get off." The meanings of these phrasal verbs in different contexts are explained in 1-2 sentences for each one. Resources for further information on phrasal verbs are listed at the end.

1. Phrasal Verbs
Workshop Grammar is Fun
Mtra. Patricia Salgado N. Facultad de Lenguas – BUAP Summer 2017

2. Phrasal verbs:
 Are mainly used in spoken English and informal texts. The more formal a
conversation or text is, the less phrasal verbs are found.
 Consist of a verb and a particle (preposition, adverb or both).
 The particle can change the meaning of the verb completely.
For example:
look + up = consult a reference book
look + for = seek
look + forward = anticipate with pleasure

3. Break down
 To stop working (machinery, vehicle).
His car has broken down in the middle of the road.

4. Break in
 To interrupt when someone is talking.
As she was talking, he suddenly broke in, saying, “it’s a lie”.

5. Break up
 To end a relationship or marriage (romance),
 To stop classes and start holidays,
 To stop being heard.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have broken up after having been together for a long
time.

6. Bring up
 To raise a child,
 To start talking about a particular subject,
 To vomit something.
A parents’ responsability is to bring up good humans and citizens.

7. Call out
 To speak loudly,
 To officially order that a military unit become ready for action.
The teacher had to call the students’names out.

8. Come back
 To return to a place
 If a style or a fashion comes back, it becomes popular again after being
unpopular for a period of time
She cried and said: “Please, babe don’t go. Come back”.

9. Do up
 To fasten something or become fastened
 To repair or decorate a building so that it looks attractive
 Wrap something in paper
The little boy is learning to do his shirt up.

10. Fall for
 To suddenly have strong romantic feelings about someone
He fell for her from the very first time he met her.

11. Get off
 To leave a place, usually to start a journey
 To leave work with permission, usually at the end of the day
If we can get off by seven o’clock, the roads will be clearer.

12. Go down
 To move down to a lower level or place
 To reach or go as far as
 When the sun goes down, it moves down in the sky until it cannot be seen
 To be reduce in price, value, amount, quality, level, size
 To be remembered or recorded in a particular way
 To be received in a particular way
The temperature went down to minus ten last night.

13. Keep on
 To continue to talk in an annoying way about something
She kept on at me about the money, even though I told her I hadn’t got it.

14. Look after
 To take care of or be in charge of someone or something
I look after my little niece when her parents go out at night.

15. Make for
 To result in or make posible
Having faster computers would make for a more efficient system.

16. Put on
 To make a device operate, or to cause a device to play something, such as a
CD or DVD, by pressing a switch
 To cover part of the body with clothes, shoes, make-up, or something similar
 If people or animals put weight on, they become heavier
Put your raincoat on before we leave. It’s raining.

17. Run away
 To leave a place or person secretly and suddenly
 To avoid dealing with a problema or difficult situation
They ran away from home when the political situation got worst in the country.

18. Take off
 If an aircraft, bird, or insect takes off, it leaves the ground and begins to fly
 To suddenly start to be successful or popular
The plane took off at 8:30 a.m.

19. Set off
 To start on a trip
 To cause a device to explode or a signal to start
I accidentally set the fire alarm off

20. Some resources:
 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/phrasal-verbs/list#turn
 https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm
 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/phrasal-verbs
 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/es/english-grammar/verbs/phrasal-
verbs