THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

MASTERING
PHRASAL
VERBS

BY YOUR
ENGLISH PRACTICE
YOUR ENGLISH PRACTICE 01

UNDERSTANDING
PHRASAL VERBS
Hi there English Learner, Javier here!
As you read through the following pages you will learn one
great piece of advice, with seven examples, that should help
you get familiar and use Phrasal Verbs without any problem.
I know Phrasal Verbs can be a pain to learn and I can tell you,
in my experience of living abroad for almost two years, that it
takes a long time to memorise them and use them properly!
I know it may sound like bad news at first and, I must say,
most of the time there are no shortcuts.
Well, what if I told you there might be a system behind all the
madness... a light on the dark tunnel.
Through this short eBook you will learn a new approach to
Phrasal Verbs that I hope helps you a lot improving your
English!
Although this approach you will learn here is not a rule, and
you will certainly not be able to use it as if e-ve-ry single
time, it should help you use new phrasal verbs in
conversation with less effort.
You should also be able to understand a lot more from what
people are saying and, who knows, maybe you won't need a
dictionary anymore!
The technique consists in focusing on on the PREPOSITION
at the end of each verb.
 PHRASAL VERBS

FOCUS ON THE
PREPOSITION

OFF UP

ON OUT...

When I was a beginner learning English, I remember how hard it was to try memorizing all of
the Phrasal Verbs alphabetically, sometimes mixing them up or without context.
The main strategy I will show you here consists in understanding the nature of the
preposition at the end of each verb. For example, understanding the function of the
particle UP from a phrasal verb like PICK UP.
Knowing the function of the particles or prepositions, additional top the main verb itself,
should boost your capabilities to remember them!
We will start with Phrasal Verbs which have the preposition DOWN:
 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

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W
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PHRASAL VERBS 01

PREPOSITION: DOWN
How can you remember the particle DOWN?
DOWN can refer to both "become calmer" or "get smaller".
Try to remember this and you will master the phrasal verbs
with this preposition. Here are some examples:
1- "You are dancing like crazy! This is only a concert, calm
down."
Notice that on this example we say "calm down" and not just
"calm".
This comes from what I mentioned before, the word "down"
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can relax an specific situation.

Down is the RELAXER , let's put it that way.
It's all about getting calmer, quieter, smaller or more relaxed.
2- "We should wait for the rain to die down before we
leave. What do you think?”
Die down = for a sound or an activity to become quieter or
calmer.
3- “I don’t think he’ll ever settle down. He’s just not that
kind of guy.”
Settle down = calm down / get married, maybe have kids, get
into the routine of life and stop being so spontaneous.
4- “The government did a really good job of playing
down the scandal. No one talks about it anymore.”
Play down = make something seem less important

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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

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O
F
F

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PHRASAL VERBS 02

PREPOSITION: OFF
The preposition OFF is easy to remember. It often means
away.
I will show you some traditional examples below, then some
others (not very polite), next ;)
Remember, on this ones OFF means AWAY or something
related:
1- “How rude! I was talking to him about my new kitchen
extension, and he just walked off while I was still mid-
sentence. Unbelievable!”
Walk off = walk away
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2- “Sorry — I’ve got to rush off. See you!”

Rush off = leave quickly
3- “Where’s Ruth?”, "I don’t know. She was here but just
sort of … wandered off.”
Wander off = walk away without much direction or purpose
4- “He started talking about the economy with such
confidence but after a couple of minutes his voice sort
of trailed off. He really doesn’t know what he’s talking
about.”
Trail off = slowly get quieter and disappear
You could also use the following (caution: they are actually
not polite at all! )
5- “Sod off*, will you? We asked you several times to leave
us alone. We don’t want to buy your insurance!”
5.2- “Piss off*, man! I’m trying to balance these rocks. You’re
not helping!”
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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

U
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PHRASAL VERBS 03

PREPOSITION: UP
The preposition UP is commonly used in phrasal verbs and
can mean "fully" or "completely" .
Check out the next example:
1- "Ok, I'm going to give up this really bad smoking habit!"
And by the way, what's better than saying goodbye
COMPLETELY to something? Specially when it is a bad habit.
2- “OK. Just give me a couple of minutes to finish up here,
and I’ll be with you.”
Finish up = finish whatever it is that you’re doing. But really
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finish it. Completely. Until it’s finished. Really finished.

3- “Come on — drink up! We’ll miss the beginning.”
Drink up = finish your drink
4- “Sami usually locks up, but he’s on holiday this week.
Can you do it?”
Lock up = lock a building securely so everyone can leave for
the night and no one is going to break in and steal all the
chairs. This is usually used for an office, a factory or another
place of work.
5- “Oh please shut up about the flat earth thing again.
You’re making a fool out of yourself.”
Shut up = Stop talking! (Warning: very rude!)

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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

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PHRASAL VERBS 04

PREPOSITION: OUT
Check out the following example with OUT . It has a very
direct meaning which is: "out of the house"
1- "I am bored. Can we eat out tonight?"
This can simply mean "publicly" as they want to do
something outside.
We also use OUT when we talk about lots of the same thing
going to different people.
Just like a toy factory would make toys, then they go to lots
of different shops in your town. Also, when your teacher
gives everyone in the class the same photocopy.
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In other words, it can mean "to distribute".

2- “Oh no — them again! Wherever I go, they’re
there giving out their leaflets about how the earth is
flat.”
Give out = give something to a lot of people
3- “I just want to take this opportunity to speak
out against the ridiculous new idea for a flying cafe. Why
are we spending all this money when there are people
sleeping in the streets?”
Speak out = give your opinion about something honestly and
directly. This is usually for something that “needs to be
said.” Perhaps it’s something that a lot of people aren’t
talking about — stuff that people don’t want to talk about.
4- “OK, before we hand out the prizes, let’s announce the
winners!”
Hand out = give something to people in a particular group.
This can be students in a classroom, people in the audience
at the theatre or the people in your tennis team.
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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

A
R

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D
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PHRASAL VERBS 05

PREPOSITION: AROUND
The word AROUND is interesting when used by itself and you
can see it in examples like the following:
"Is there a good traditional supermarket around here"
or
"Is Claudia around? I haven't seen her all day."
Based on this, we can say AROUND in these examples is used
to mean "in this area".
So it is not about going in a particular direction. It is about
not really going anywhere at all.
That’s why “around” often has a feeling of pointlessness or
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purposelessness.
In a nutshell, AROUND means "in the area" or "without an
aim".
Let's see some examples of this preposition used as Phrasal
Verb now:
1- “Well, the film doesn’t start until 8. Let’s not hang
around here … pub?”
Hang around = spend time somewhere but without really
doing anything in particular. Think about bored teenagers in
town. With nowhere to go, they just sort of hang around —
looking cool and being unnecessarily noisy, usually.
2- “The first thing I’d like to do when we arrive is just
wander around town and get a feel for the place.”
Wander around = walk somewhere with no particular reason
or destination. Just for the fun of walking in a particular
place. Think about the high street on a Sunday afternoon.

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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

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PHRASAL VERBS 06

PREPOSITION: ON

There are a couple of ways we can use ON ; both of them have

a feeling of continuing.
Sometimes it simply means “continue what you were doing.”
And sometimes it means “this person won’t stop, and I really
want them to stop. But they just continue.”
1- "He just keeps going on and on and on... Make him stop!"
Phrasal Verbs with ON could mean "continuously".
2- “The ship was going down, but the band played on till
the very end.”
Play on = keep playing
3- “The cops had already warned him, but he just carried
on dancing in the fountain. Everyone loved it!”
Carry on = keep doing whatever you were doing before
4- “Nothing to see here! Move on now…”
Move on = continue going where you were going before you
stopped.
5- “Oh, I have no idea what he said. I stopped listening
while he was moaning on and on about the trains.”
Moan on = You know those people who love to complain?
They just complain without stopping. Forever. This one’s for
them.

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 PHRASAL VERB
PREPOSITION

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W
A
Y

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PHRASAL VERBS 07

PREPOSITION: AWAY
Finally, let’s end with a positive preposition.
“ AWAY ” is the preposition of freedom.
You know that feeling when you don’t care what other people
think about you?
When you can just do something happily without worrying
about doing it right. Just doing something because it comes
completely naturally.
1- "Look at him. Just dancing away!"
Phrasal Verbs with AWAY can mean "freely". Check out the
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following examples:
2- “When they first met a few minutes ago they didn’t
know what to say to each other, but now they’re
just chatting away.”
Chat away = Don’t you love it when you meet someone and
you just “click” with them — you just become friends, and
conversation with them is easy and effortless? That’s what
this means!
3- “Look at you smiling away. Did you go elephant riding
at midnight again last night? You did, didn’t you?”
Smile away = when you or someone has a big, beautiful smile
on their face!
In fact, you can add “away” to almost any verb, and it
would have a similar meaning:
“The musicians played away into the night.”
“As soon as he gets home, he gets out his paper and pens
and is drawing away until dinner.”
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 THANK YOU VERY
MUCH FOR READING
THIS GUIDE!

Make sure to keep it close for future reference and I hope these tricks will
help you remember Phrasal Verbs a bit better!

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WRITTEN BY DAVID JONES

THANKS AGAIN
FOR READING

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ENGLISH
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