·Why they come up in the exam
Phrasal verbs. A phrasal verb is a verb plus a particle, like give up or look after, and the meaning can almost never be worked out from the two words separately. They appear in the Core, mostly in vocabulary and grammar, and in Writing and Speaking they mark the difference between a basic text and a precise one. In this video we look at the most frequent ones, which can be separated, which are suitable in formal register and what their one-word synonym is. The rules are AptisBot's own reading.
1/4The twenty most frequent
Twenty phrasal verbs worth having on automatic, with their meaning. Carry out, to perform. Come up with, to devise. Find out, to discover. Give up, to surrender. Look after, to take care of. Look for, to search for. Look forward to, to await eagerly. Put off, to postpone. Set up, to create or establish. Take off, to leave the ground or to remove clothing. Turn down, to reject. Work out, to solve or to exercise. Bring up, to raise a child or to raise a topic. Break down, to stop working. Get on with, to have a good relationship with. Go on, to continue. Make up, to invent. Point out, to indicate. Run out of, to have none left. And sort out, to resolve.
2/4Separable and inseparable
Some phrasal verbs can be separated and others cannot. Separable ones accept the noun in the middle or at the end: turn off the light, turn the light off. But with a pronoun, only in the middle: turn it off, never turn off it. Inseparable ones are never separated: look after the children, look after them. The same pattern holds for get on with, look for, come across. And there are phrasal verbs with two particles, like look forward to and run out of, which are also inseparable, and are followed by a noun or an ing form: I look forward to meeting you. Practical rule: does a pronoun fit in the middle? If it does, it is separable.
3/4Phrasal verbs in formal register
Many phrasal verbs are informal, but some are perfectly fine in a formal email or a C1 text. Carry out, for conducting research or a survey: we carried out a survey. Put forward, for presenting a proposal: the committee put forward a proposal. Bring about, for causing a change: the law brought about real change. Rule out, for excluding an option. Point out, for indicating. And set out, for presenting in detail. In a formal text, if you are unsure, replace the phrasal verb with its one-word synonym. And avoid very colloquial ones, like mess up or chill out.
4/4One-word synonyms
Every phrasal verb has a one-word synonym, and the Core asks you about them in the synonyms task. Find out, discover. Give up, quit or abandon. Put off, postpone. Turn down, reject or refuse. Carry out, perform or conduct. Come up with, devise or propose. Set up, establish. Work out, solve or calculate. Look into, investigate. Bring up, raise or mention. Notice that the synonyms are of Latin origin, longer and more formal. Learning the pairs helps you in both directions: understanding the phrasal verb, and raising the register of your Writing.
·Practice
For practice, choose ten phrasal verbs from the list and write a sentence of your own with each one. Note down its one-word synonym. With separable ones, try it and them in the middle. And if you write a formal email, swap two colloquial phrasal verbs for their synonym: you will see how the register of the text rises.