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Phrasal verbs: ESL lesson plans and exercises

Levels A2 to C1 7 lesson plans · 1 drill lesson Exercises that check themselves

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word such as on, up or into, often with a new meaning: pick up Swift means learn it. Below are 7 ready-made phrasal verbs lessons from the edio.ai library, levels A2 to C1, from turning on a TV to rolling out a release. Try exercises from them, see the rules for where the object goes in their grammar schemes, and pick a lesson by level. All the phrasal verbs lessons are interactive and written in American English.

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Phrasal verbs lesson plans and drills

7 lesson plans and 1 drill lesson, A2 to C1. Lesson plans are whole lessons with reading, listening and speaking; drill lessons are 46 self-checking exercises with no new words.

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One exercise from each of 6 lessons. These are the same exercises your students do in edio.

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Phrasal verbs explained

We use phrasal verbs all the time in speech, chats and meetings: Turn on the TV, I'll look into it. Learners need their meanings and their word order. A pronoun goes between the verb and the particle in separable verbs (turn it on), but after the whole verb in inseparable ones (look into it). Reports and policies often prefer a one-word verb.

Everyday verbs: turn on, plug in, put away

The first phrasal verbs are about things we handle every day: turn on a machine, plug in a projector, put away the cables, try on a sweater, take off your sneakers. The table pairs each phrasal verb with its meaning and an example.

VerbIt means…Example
turn on / turn offstart / stop a machineTurn on the TV. Turn the lights off.
plug inconnect to electric powerPlug in the projector.
set upmake it ready to useWe set up the screen.
pick uptake it from the floor or a tablePick up the remote.
put awayput it back in its placePut the cables away.
try onwear clothes for a short time to check themTry on this sweater.
take offremove clothes or shoesTake off your sneakers.

From the lesson Turn it on, turn it off (English A2.2)

A noun or it: where the object goes

A noun can go after the small word or in the middle: Turn on the TV = Turn the TV on. A pronoun such as it, them or him only goes in the middle: Plug them in, never Plug in them.

ObjectWhere does it go?Examples
a noun: the TV, the cablesafter the little word OR in the middleTurn on the TV. = Turn the TV on. Plug in the cables. = Plug the cables in.
it, them (and me, you, him, her, us)ONLY in the middleTurn it on. Plug them in. Biscuit is tired. Pick him up!

From the lesson Turn it on, turn it off (English A2.2)

Separable, inseparable or no object

Separable verbs such as take on and pick up split around a pronoun: take it on. Inseparable ones like look into, and three-part verbs like keep up with, keep the object at the end: sign up for it. Some, like step up, take no object at all.

Separable: take on, pick up (also turn down, hand over)

  • a noun after or in the middle: take on the project / take the project on
  • a pronoun always in the middle: take it on, pick it up, turn it down

Inseparable: look into and all three-part verbs

  • look into the crash → look into it
  • keep up with them, sign up for it, follow up on it, catch up on them

No object: step up, move on, branch out

  • Nobody owned it, so I stepped up.
  • Before an object, add a preposition: step up to a role, move on to a new team, branch out into data work.

From the lesson Your next level (English for IT B2)

Verb or noun: roll out, a rollout

Many phrasal verbs have a noun form written as one word or with a hyphen: a rollout, a kickoff, a sign-off. The verb itself stays two or three words, so it's We'll roll out the fix, not We'll rollout the fix.

Verb: two or three wordsNoun: one word or a hyphenIn a sentence
roll outa rolloutThe rollout starts at 9:00.
roll backa rollbackThe rollback took less than a minute.
kick offa kickoffSee you at the kickoff call.
tear downa teardownThe test cluster's teardown took ten minutes.
fall back ona fallbackThe old dashboard is our fallback.
sign off ona sign-offWe need Daniel's sign-off.

From the lesson Release Day: Rolling Out and Rolling Back (English for IT C1)

Phrasal verb or one-word verb?

For formal texts, there's often a one-word partner: look into and investigate, hold off on and postpone, roll back and revert. Both are correct, but the phrasal verb sounds natural in a chat or a call, and the single verb in a report.

Phrasal verbMeaningMore formal
roll out · roll backrelease, often step by step · return to the previous versionrelease, deploy · revert
spin up · tear downcreate · remove (a server, an environment)provision · decommission
kick off · wind downstart · reduce slowly, then stopbegin · –
scale upadd capacityexpand
phase outstop using something graduallydiscontinue
carry overmove to the next sprint or period–
figure outunderstand, solvedetermine
look intoexamine the facts about somethinginvestigate
run intomeet (a problem) unexpectedlyencounter
sign off ongive the official OKapprove
hold off onwait before doing somethingpostpone
back out ofleave a plan or deal you agreed towithdraw from
fall back onuse as a backup when plan A failsrely on

From the lesson Release Day: Rolling Out and Rolling Back (English for IT C1)

Questions about phrasal verbs

What are phrasal verbs?
Verbs made of two or three words. A verb joins one or two particles such as on, off, up or into: turn off, pick up, keep up with. Some meanings are easy to guess (put the chairs away), others are new: step up means act or lead when it's needed. Only the verb changes for tense: ran into, spun up, held off on.
What's the difference between separable and inseparable phrasal verbs?
Only separable verbs can have the object in the middle. With take on, roll out or turn down, you can say take on the project or take the project on, and with a pronoun it's always take it on. With look into or run into, the object follows the whole verb: look into the crash, look into it. Three-part verbs such as keep up with never split.
Is it turn it on or turn on it?
Turn it on. With separable verbs, it and them go between the verb and the small word: Set it up, Put them away, Pick him up! A noun can go either way (turn on the TV or turn the TV on), but a long one sounds best at the end: roll out the new merchant dashboard.
Is it roll out or rollout?
Roll out is the verb; a rollout is the noun. The verb is two words (We'll roll out the fix at 9:00), and the noun is one word or has a hyphen: a rollback, a kickoff, a sign-off. American English writes rollout and kickoff; British English often uses roll-out and kick-off. The same pattern gives set up and a setup.
Which phrasal verbs should beginners learn first?
Everyday verbs for things at home and in class. Turn on, turn off, plug in, set up, pick up, put away, try on and take off can all be shown with real objects. They are the set in the English A2.2 lesson on TV remotes, together with the rule for it and them: Turn it off, not Turn off it.
How do I teach phrasal verbs to ESL students?
A few at a time, in context. A long list is hard to learn, while a TV remote, a career plan or a release day gives each verb a job. Teach where it goes early, because turn on it is a very common mistake. At B2 and C1, the English for IT lessons add three-part verbs, noun forms like rollout and formal partners like investigate.
What are good phrasal verbs games and activities?
Games where students act out instructions. Give commands with things in the room (Pick it up, Turn it off, Put them away), let students carry them out, then swap roles. At B2, learners can talk about their own career plans with take on, pick up and step up. For speaking, every phrasal verbs lesson has a chat and a game, such as a memory game or Open the box.
Are there interactive phrasal verbs exercises?
Yes, try some phrasal verbs exercises above. The lessons themselves hold the full set: drag-and-drop, gap-fills, tables to complete and quizzes on phrasal verbs. Students work in their own edio.ai accounts, and every answer on phrasal verbs is checked straight away. A free trial gives you every phrasal verbs lesson, plus the rest of the library.
Should you use phrasal verbs in formal writing?
Often a one-word verb fits a formal text better. Both are correct, and phrasal verbs sound natural in chats, calls and stand-ups: Let's hold off on stage 3. In a report or a policy, a single verb usually reads better: Stage 3 was postponed. The English for IT C1 lesson on release day pairs most of its phrasal verbs with a formal one, such as look into and investigate.
Do these phrasal verbs lessons work one-to-one?
Yes, live or between classes. Live, the student opens the lesson in their own account and moves through it in sync with you; acting out turn it on or talking through real career plans works well with one student. Between classes, the phrasal verbs lesson works as homework, with self-checking drills and some tasks for you to look over.

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