Most Common Phrasal Verbs in English

go up

increase or rise (Ex. One of the primary problems in cities is land prices that ___________ every year.)

run into

meet by accident/chance (Ex. It's always nice to _________________ old friends on the street or in the shop.)

take place

occur, happen (Ex. The Olympics usually _______________________ every four years.)

stick out

protrude ; to be prominent (Ex. He has ears that _________________from his head.)

go over

review (Ex. It's important to ________________ your work after you finish to make sure you made no mistakes.)

spell out

state in more detail (Ex. The contract ___________ the terms of his employment.

go after

to follow someone / try to achieve something (Ex. Candidates should _____________ the jobs they dream of.)

set up

arrange (Ex. I usually will _____________________ a plan to meet with someone.)

take over

assume control (Ex. Who will _______________________ the company when the CEO resigns?)

keep on

continue doing sth (Ex. Everyone should _________________ trying to do their best in life.)

carry on

continue doing sth (Ex. Many people can often ___________ ______ working when there is noise, like in a coffee shop, but I need a quiet place.)

go on

continue, happen (Ex. People are retiring later and later these days, and some even ___________ to work until they are past eighty years old.)

go down

decrease (Ex. The price of flight tickets continues to ________________ these days!)

throw away

discard, get rid of, dispose of (Ex. ___________ing __________ garbage in the correct bin is important for recycling.)

find out

discover (Ex. You can __________________ all the information about that subject in the library.) (Ex. I recently ____________________ that my mother had lost her job.)

rule out

eliminate, exclude (Ex. Most farmers _______________ many kinds of agriculture in the mountainous landscape of Taiwan.)

look over

examine (Ex. Teachers help students when they _____________ their work for them after its done.)

leave out

exclude; omit (Ex. Education should _______________ any student as everyone deserves an fair chance in life.)

go through

experience (Ex. Many people who ______________________ a difficult situation or crisis benefit from talking to someone.)

run across

find accidentally (Ex. I sometimes ___________________ people I haven't heard from in ages on Facebook.)

come across

find by chance or encounter (Ex. I often __________________ difficulties when speaking English.) (Ex. I _________________ an old diary in my desk.)

look up

find information about (Ex. It's necessary to __________________ new words in a dictionary in order to learn them well.)

make up

invent, compose (Ex. Customers from Korea __________________ 25% of total sales of global cellphones.)

look into

investigate (Ex. The police will _________________ the murder and report their findings over the next week.)

keep up

maintain a required pace or level (Ex. It is difficult to __________________ a fast running pace for more than a few minutes.)

touch on

mention briefly (Ex. The teacher always ______________ed _______ the topic at the start of the class, but didn't mention it again.)

put off

postpone, delay doing sth (Ex. Many students _________________ doing their work until the night before it is due.)

go before

precede (at an earlier time) (Ex. Breakfast usually _____________________ having lunch.)

come out with

publish; produce (Ex. This book is an old edition. Cambridge just ___________________________ a new edition of this book.)

think through

reason (v) (Ex. The students will usually ______________________ a question first before attempting to answer it.)

write up

report (Ex. At the end of a graduate study course, all students must ________________ their thesis.)

stand for

represent or mean (Ex. What does ATM _________________?) (Ex. What ideals or morals does that political party _____________________ nowadays?

look like

resemble (Ex. Twins often ______________________ each other.)

look for

seek, search for (Ex. Mankind should always _____________ solutions to the world's problems.)

try out

test (Ex. Before I buy this car, I would like to ________ it ______ first.)

show up

to arrive unexpectedly, to suddenly turn up (Ex. When a student _________________ late, the teacher will be unhappy.)

bring about

to cause to happen; (Ex. I was worried that the heavy rain would ______ ______ a landslide.)

pick out

to choose, select (Ex. There are so much product choice nowadays, it can hard to ______________________ what you want.)

clear up

to clarify, explain (Ex. Could you help me to ___________ ______ this matter/issue?)

take into account

to consider, think about (Ex. Educators should __________________________ th needs of all their students when teaching classes.)

turn up

to discover, find out (Ex. Some interesting exhibits often _____________ at an art gallery.) (Ex. I couldn't find my watch, then it _______________ed up on my shelf.)

point out

to draw attention to something or someone (Ex. Teachers shouldn't always _____________________ students' mistakes, but should encourage instead.)

give off

to emit (Ex. Pollution should be disposed of correctly as it can often _______________ a bad smell if untreated.)

work out

to exercise, be active (Ex. Everyone should stay fit and _____________ every day in order to keep physically active and stay healthy.)

fall through

to fail to happen or be completed (plans, arrangements, schemes, etc.) (Ex. I had planned to meet with a friend, but the plan ___________________ because I became sick.)

come by

to find accidentally, obtain, acquire (Ex. Jobs are hard to ______________ in this economy.)

wind up

to finish, end up (Ex. The earth should ________________ its dependence on fossil fuels.) (Ex. Although I started out in an engineering job, I ____________________ in the teaching profession.)

carry out

to fulfill or perform (instructions / a duty / an order / a threat / a trial / etc.) (Ex. I always __________ ______ whatever is expected of me at work.)

come about

to happen (Ex. The meeting ___________________because both sides were sick of fighting.) (Ex. Dave's idea to start his own business _________ _______ after he lost his job.)

cut down on

to reduce (Ex. The world should ____________ on its dependence on non-renewable resources like oil, coal and gas.)

look up to

to respect (someone); to admire (someone) (Ex. Most children ________________________ their parents as role models.)

go back

to return (not "back" which is Chinese) (Ex. After living overseas for many years, the expat decided to ________________ to her home country.)

come up with

to think of; to produce. an idea / a plan / a suggestion etc. (Ex. Employees should ______________________ new ideas to improve their company's products.)

put up with

to tolerate (Ex. I can't _____________________ all the air pollution in my city. It's hardly breathable.)

turn into

to transform, change into (Ex. Society should _________________ one that runs on renewable energy.) (Ex. The caterpillar will __________________ a butterfly.)

figure out

to understand (or '*work out*') (Ex. There are many difficult problems on this earth that scientists are working to _____________________.) (Ex. I can't ____________________ the answer to this difficult problem.)

make out

understand with difficulty (Ex. The sound was very unclear, so I couldn't __________________ what they were saying.)