10. Phrasal verbs: Learn and practice

Phrasal verbs

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What’s the difference? (1)

What’s the difference between wipe up and scrub off?

Click to show the answer. We use ‘wipe up’ or ‘wipe off’ when it’s something liquid and easy to clean. We use ‘scrub off’ when it’s something difficult to clean and you need to work harder to get it clean.

What’s the difference between sort out and dump out?

Click to show the answer. We use ‘sort out’ when we need to organize something and ‘dump out’ when we want to empty everything out of a space.

Noticing grammar

Look at these formal cleaning verbs and the phrasal verbs that have almost the same meaning. 

What's the difference? (2)

Look at the formal verb and the phrasal verbs of the first set (the first 9). What’s the difference between them?

Click to show the answer. They are almost the same. The phrasal verb just adds a particle.

How does that particle (down, up off, out) change the meaning?

Click to show the answer. The particle makes it mean “completely”. It adds emphasis. It doesn’t change the meaning very much.

Pay attention to the last two in the final set. What do you notice?

Click to show the answer. The last two have a different word as the formal verb.

Different kinds of phrasal verbs

There are several kinds of phrasal verbs:  

1. separable 
2. Inseparable 
3. Intransitive 

All of the cleaning verbs above are separable phrasal verbs.

Separable Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs that are separable can have the object before or after the particle like this:

? After you clean the room, you should take the trash out. 

? After you clean the room, you should take out the trash. 

However, if you use a pronoun (me, you, him/her/it, us, them, that, this, etc) it can only go between the verb and the particle.

? After you clean the room, you should take it out. 

? After you clean the room, you should take out it.