Phrasal verbs: who's going to clean it up? Phrasal verb exercises on meaning and word order
About this lesson
This B1 drill lesson gives phrasal verb exercises on about 30 everyday verbs: their meanings, the right particle, and where the object goes.
- Grammar
- Verb + particle with a new meaning, in four kinds: no object (broke down), separable (turn it off), inseparable (look after her) and three-part (run out of).
- Topic
- The morning after Oswin's party: the roommates' group chat about the mess and a missing tortoise, his note to Mrs. Pemberton downstairs, his post, the new party rules and his texts.
- Activities
- Meaning matches, particle choices, gap-fills, a memory game, pronoun rewrites, tables, word order, drag-and-drop texts, quizzes, a chat and a test.
What's inside
Chapter 1The rule
Chapter 2What does it mean?
- Match the phrasal verbs and their meaningsMatchTry it
- Choose the right particleChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: phrasal verbs in the right formFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: oppositesMemory gameUnlock
- Choose the right phrasal verbChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right meaningQuizUnlock
- Read Sakura's terrible Monday and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
Chapter 3Turn it off!
- Write the sentences with a pronounFill in the gapsTry it
- Choose the right form: pronouns in the middleChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the table: three ways to say itFill in the tableUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: pronounsUnjumbleUnlock
- Read the notice at Anneke's yoga class and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Match the problems and the answersMatchUnlock
- Find the wrong sentenceQuizUnlock
Chapter 4Look after them!
- Choose the right words: inseparable verbsChoose the optionTry it
- Write the sentences with a pronoun: separable or not?Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Grandpa's message and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: three-part phrasal verbsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: the object goes lastUnjumbleUnlock
- Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock
- Read the message from the repair shop and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 5Real life: The morning after the party
- Read the roommates' group chatReal-life documentUnlock
- Read the chat again: true or false?True or falseUnlock
- Read Oswin's note to Mrs. Pemberton and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Oswin's post and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read the new party rules and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right replies: Oswin texts youChatTry it
- Test yourself: choose the right answerQuizUnlock
Chapter 6Homework
- Choose the right particle: around the houseChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: phrasal verbs in the pastFill in the gapsUnlock
- Match the questions and the answersMatchUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: one word or a phrasal verbMemory gameUnlock
- Write it again with a pronounFill in the gapsUnlock
- Put the words in the right order: phrasal verbsUnjumbleUnlock
- Sort the sentences: correct or wrong?Sort into columnsUnlock
- Fill in the table: past simple and -ing formFill in the tableUnlock
- Choose what it meansQuizUnlock
- Choose the right words: inseparable and three-part verbsChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the right phrasal verb: at workChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: where does the pronoun go?Fill in the gapsUnlock
- Read Mr. Quarshie's email and drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
- Read Mirembe's tent review and fill in the gapsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the mistake and choose the right wordsQuizUnlock
Grammar: phrasal verbs and where the object goes
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word such as up, off or after, and together they often mean something new: give up = stop trying. The kind of verb decides where the object goes, so students learn the meaning and the word order together.
Phrasal verbs: who's going to clean it up?
A verb + a small word (up, off, out, after…) often has a new meaning. Learn what they mean and where the object goes.
Verb + particle = a new meaning
The particle carries meaning: turn it up makes the music louder, turn it down makes it quieter. The verb takes the tense and the particle stays: I got up, they're looking for it, we've set it up.
verb + particle = a new meaning
verbparticle: up, down, on, off, out, away, back, after, for…a new meaning
give up = stop trying
look after = take care of
run out of = have no more
What do they mean?
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Phrasal verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| get up | get out of bed | pick up | lift; collect; buy |
| wake up | stop sleeping | put on | start wearing |
| come back | return | take off | remove (clothes); leave the ground (a plane) |
| break down | stop working (a car, a machine) | turn on / off | start / stop (a machine, a light) |
| show up | arrive (often late) | turn up / down | make louder / quieter, warmer / cooler |
| hang out | spend free time together | throw away / out | put in the trash |
| go on | continue; happen | take out | carry outside (the trash) |
| work out | exercise | fill out / in | write your information on (a form) |
| give up | stop trying; stop doing | call back | phone again |
| find out | learn new information | set up | prepare; start |
| look after | take care of | sort out | solve; organize |
| look for | try to find | clean up | make clean and neat |
| run into | meet by chance | look up | find (a word) in a dictionary or online |
| get over | feel better after (an illness, a problem) | put off | do later, postpone |
The verb changes, the particle stays
Use the verb in any tense and keep the particle: I got up · She gave up · They're looking for it · We've set it up. Some verbs are two kinds: I woke up at six. · Wake me up at six. Some have a twin with another particle: throw away = throw out, fill out = fill in.
Four kinds of phrasal verbs
Some take no object: The printer broke down. Separable verbs let a noun go before or after the particle (turn off the TV, turn the TV off); inseparable ones keep it after (look after the baby), and three-part verbs stay whole: We've run out of milk.
| Kind | Phrasal verbs | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| No object | get up, wake up, come back, break down, show up, hang out, go on, work out | I got up at six. The printer broke down. |
| Separable: the object can go in the middle | pick up, put on, take off, turn on / off, turn up / down, throw away, take out, call back | pick up the cups · pick the cups up · pick them up |
| Separable | fill out, set up, sort out, clean up, look up, put off, give up | turn off the TV · turn the TV off · turn it off |
| Inseparable: the object goes after | look after, look for, run into, get over | look after the baby · look after her |
| Three parts: all together | run out of (have no more), get along with (be friends with), look forward to (be happy about a future event) | We've run out of milk. I get along with him. |
Pronouns: turn it off, look after her
With a separable verb, a pronoun always goes in the middle: pick them up, call her back, never pick up them. Inseparable and three-part verbs put every object last: look for it, run out of it.
Separable or inseparable?
Separable: turn off
- ✓ turn off the light
- ✓ turn the light off
- ✓ turn it off · ✗ turn off it
Inseparable: look after
- ✓ look after the baby
- ✗ look the baby after
- ✓ look after her · ✗ look her after
A pronoun goes in the middle
With a separable verb, a noun can go before or after the particle: pick up the cups / pick the cups up. A pronoun (it, them, me, you, him, her, us) always goes in the middle: pick them up, call her back. (Not: pick up them, call back her.) With an inseparable or three-part verb, the object always comes last: look for it, run out of it.
Slips the drills target
Turn off it, look the kids after and run out milk are the classic ones. The wrong particle counts as a mistake too: when the music is too loud, it's turn it down, not turn it up.
The TV is on. Turn off it.
The TV is on. Turn it off.
a pronoun goes in the middle
Can you look the kids after?
Can you look after the kids?
look after is inseparable
We've run out milk.
We've run out of milk.
a three-part verb needs all three words
It's too loud. Turn it up!
It's too loud. Turn it down!
the particle changes the meaning: up = more, down = less
Examples
- Sorry, I woke up late!no object
- The radio is too loud. Can you turn it down?separable + pronoun in the middle
- Put on your scarf. · Put your scarf on.separable + noun: both orders
- Who's looking after the kids tonight?inseparable
- We've run out of trash bags.three parts, all together
- I ran into my old teacher at the mall.inseparable: met by chance
More lessons on this grammar: Phrasal verbs lessons and exercises
Try the phrasal verb exercises
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What's in the lesson
- 41 auto-checked exercises
- 5 games
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 picture
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- match common phrasal verbs to their meanings: put off = do later, run into = meet by chance, get over = feel better after an illness
- put a pronoun between a separable verb and its particle: Your alarm is ringing! Turn it off!, not Turn off it
- keep an inseparable verb together, with the object last: Who's looking after the kids tonight? I ran into her at the mall.
- use all three words of run out of, get along with and look forward to: We've run out of rice.
- choose the particle that fits the meaning: The baby is sleeping. Please turn the TV down.
- Grammar:
- phrasal verbs · separable phrasal verbs · inseparable phrasal verbs · three-part phrasal verbs · pronoun position
- Topic:
- grammar practice · phrasal verbs · roommates · parties · everyday life
Teaching tips
- Mime the separable verbs: act out put on, take off or pick up with a real scarf or pen, and students describe it first with the noun, then with a pronoun: pick the pen up, pick it up.
- Sort new verbs into four columns on the board (no object, separable, inseparable, three parts), so students always see where each verb's object belongs before they write it.
- Plan the cleanup after Oswin's party: pairs split the jobs from the group chat and answer with pronouns where they can: Who's taking out the trash? I'll take it out.
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The whole course: English Grammar Practice · B1
English Grammar Practice · B1 has 28 drill lessons, one grammar point each: the present perfect continuous, narrative tenses, future forms, modals of deduction, the second conditional, the passive, relative clauses, reported speech, question tags and linkers. Each has the rule as a scheme, 43 to 47 exercises that check themselves, 15 of them for homework, and no new words.See the course
- 1Present perfect continuous: how long have you been doing it?
- 2Present perfect simple or continuous: how many or how long?
- 3Past perfect: what had happened before?
- 4Narrative tenses: telling a great story
- 5Future forms: plans, promises and timetables
- 6Future time clauses: I'll call you when I land
- 7Used to, be used to, get used to: settling in
- 8Modal verbs: can, must, should or might?
- 9Could, was able to, managed to: did you make it?
- 10Modals of deduction: whose bag could it be?
- 11Second conditional: what would you do?
- 12Conditionals compared: real or imagined?
- 13Present and past passive: how is it made?
- 14Passive in other tenses: what's being done?
- 15Relative clauses: the person who, the place where
- 16Reported statements: who said what?
- 17Reported questions and commands: what did they ask you?
- 18Indirect questions: could you tell me where it is?
- 19Question tags: it's your first day, isn't it?
- 20Gerunds and infinitives: enjoy doing or decide to do?
- 21Reflexive pronouns: did you make it yourself?
- 22Although, however, despite: great view, tiny room
- 23So, such and because of: what a storm!
- 24Phrasal verbs: who's going to clean it up?
- 25All, both, either, neither, none: two or a whole group?
- 26-ed and -ing adjectives: bored or boring?
- 27Advanced comparatives: the more, the better
- 28Articles with place names: the Nile, but Lake Como