Study the rules, look at the examples, then do the exercises.
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word called a particle (a preposition or an adverb, such as on, off, up, down, in, out, after, with). Together they often make a new meaning that you cannot always guess from the two words alone. For example, look means to use your eyes, but look after means "take care of", and look up means "search for information".
Phrasal verbs are everywhere in natural English, especially at work and at home. The hard part for B1 students is not the meaning but the grammar: does the verb take an object? Can you put a word between the verb and the particle? This unit answers exactly those questions.
Some phrasal verbs need an object (the thing the action happens to) — these are transitive. Others stand alone with no object — these are intransitive. Using them the wrong way is a very common mistake.
| Type | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| transitive | needs an object (a thing/person) | Can you turn off the TV? |
| intransitive | no object — the verb is complete | The engine broke down. |
| intransitive | no object | Please sit down and carry on. |
Many transitive phrasal verbs are separable: the object can go after the particle, OR between the verb and the particle. Both are correct when the object is a full noun. This is the most flexible group.
| Both correct | Structure | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| turn on the light / turn the light on | verb + particle + noun, OR verb + noun + particle | start the light |
| fill in the form / fill the form in | both orders are fine with a noun | complete the form |
| put off the meeting / put the meeting off | both orders are fine with a noun | postpone the meeting |
This is the single most important rule in the unit. With a separable phrasal verb, a pronoun object (it, them, him, her, us) must go between the verb and the particle. It can never go after the particle.
| Right ✓ | Wrong ✗ | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Turn it on. | Turn on it. | pronoun goes in the middle. |
| Fill it in. | Fill in it. | pronoun goes in the middle. |
| Throw them away. | Throw away them. | pronoun goes in the middle. |
Some transitive phrasal verbs are inseparable: the object — a noun OR a pronoun — always stays after the particle. You can never put it in the middle. Many of these have two words after the verb (verb + preposition).
| Phrasal verb | Right ✓ | Wrong ✗ |
|---|---|---|
| look after (= take care of) | She looks after them. | She looks them after. |
| deal with (= handle) | I'll deal with it. | I'll deal it with. |
| get on with (= have a good relationship) | He gets on with her. | He gets her on with. |
Here is a core set of phrasal verbs you will hear every day. Learn each one with its meaning and whether it is separable (S) or inseparable (I).
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| set up (S) | arrange / prepare / start | They set up a new office in Ankara. |
| sort out (S) | solve or organise | Can you sort out this problem? |
| hand in (S) | give to a person in charge | Please hand in your report today. |
| back up (S) | make a safety copy | Always back up your files. |
| run out of (I) | have none left | We ran out of paper. |
| carry on (I) | continue | He carried on working late. |
These are the errors B1 students make most often with phrasal verbs. Almost all of them come from the wrong word order or from adding/dropping an object.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Please turn on it. | Please turn it on. | a pronoun must go in the middle of a separable verb. |
| She looks them after every day. | She looks after them every day. | "look after" is inseparable → object stays after it. |
| The bus broke down the trip. | The bus broke down. | "break down" is intransitive → no object. |
| I will deal it with tomorrow. | I will deal with it tomorrow. | "deal with" is inseparable → object stays after it. |
| We ran out paper. | We ran out of paper. | "run out" needs "of" before the object. |
Two colleagues talk about a busy morning. Read it twice and notice how each phrasal verb works — where the pronoun goes, which verbs take an object, and which ones cannot be split.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the phrasal verbs, then use them — with the right word order — to talk about your day.
Write 8 sentences about a typical day at work or at home and how you get things done. Use at least 8 of the phrasal verbs above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Phrasal verbs to spot (from the Speaking section): turn on · set up · deal with · sort out · look after · back up · hand in · carry on
Leo was very nervous when he turned up for his first day at the marketing office. His new manager, Nadia, met him at the door and helped him settle in. "Don't worry," she said with a smile. "Everyone here will help you pick things up quickly, so just carry on and ask questions."
Leo had left college the year before, and he had been looking for a proper job for several months. He had sent off dozens of applications, and most companies had never even written back. When the marketing office finally rang him and offered him the job, he could hardly believe it. He had spent the whole weekend getting ready, laying out his clothes the night before and going over the bus times again and again. He did not want anything to go wrong on his very first morning.
On the day itself, Leo woke up early and set off long before he needed to. He got to the office half an hour ahead of time, so he waited in a small café across the road until it felt right to go in. The building was bigger than he had expected, with wide glass doors and a busy reception area. His heart was beating fast as he walked up to the desk and gave his name, but the friendly receptionist soon put him at ease and rang Nadia to come down.
Nadia took him on a short tour of the office and pointed out the meeting rooms, the kitchen and the fire exits. She introduced him to the rest of the team, who all looked up from their desks and said hello. There were about ten people in the department, and Leo tried hard to take in everyone's name at once. A cheerful colleague called Sam showed him where to hang up his coat and where the coffee machine was, and told him not to worry if he mixed up a few names during the first week.
Leo's first job was to set up his computer. He turned it on, but he could not log in, because he had forgotten his password. Nadia sorted it out in a minute and then showed him how to back up his files every evening, so that he would never lose his work again.
She also spent some time going through the main programs he would need. There was a system for keeping track of customers, another one for planning social media posts, and a shared calendar where the whole team wrote down their meetings. It was a lot to take in, and Leo made careful notes in a small notebook so that he could look things up later. Whenever he did not understand something, he remembered Nadia's advice and simply asked, and nobody seemed to mind at all.
In the afternoon, Leo had to fill in some forms and hand them in to the HR office. He also had to deal with a few emails from customers. One customer was angry because his order had not turned up on time, but Leo stayed calm, carried on politely, and promised to look into the problem straight away.
He read the message twice before he replied, so that he would not miss anything important. Then he went to find Sam, who explained how to check where the order was and what to say to the customer. Together they worked out that the parcel had been sent to the wrong address by mistake. Leo wrote back, said sorry for the delay, and arranged for a new order to be sent out the next day. A few hours later the customer replied with a short, friendly message to thank him, and Leo felt proud that he had turned a difficult moment into a good one.
The rest of the week carried on in much the same way. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Leo helped to write short posts for the company's social media pages and checked them carefully for mistakes. He was slow at first, but he was getting faster, and Nadia told him that his writing was clear and polite. On Thursday, he sat in on his first team meeting. He did not say very much, but he listened closely and wrote down the plans for the coming month, and by the end he felt like a real part of the group.
Each evening, before he switched off his computer, Leo went over what he had learned during the day. He wrote a short list of the things he wanted to remember and the questions he still wanted to ask. At home, he told his family about the office, the friendly team and the customer he had helped. They could all see how much happier he was than he had been during the long months when he was still looking for work. Little by little, the job that had once seemed so frightening was starting to feel like a place where he really belonged.
By Friday, Leo felt much better. He got on well with his new colleagues, and he no longer wanted to give up. When the office printer broke down, he did not panic. He simply asked a colleague for help and carried on with his other tasks. He even offered to look after the office plants while someone was away on holiday.
At the end of the afternoon, Nadia came over to his desk and told him he had made a really good start. She said the team had noticed how calm and polite he had been, especially with the angry customer. Sam invited him to join everyone for a quick coffee before they all went home, and Leo happily agreed. For the first time all week, he did not feel like the new person who did not belong; he felt like someone who could do the job well.
On the way home, Leo thought about his week. He had almost put off applying for this job because he was afraid of failing. Now, though, he was really glad he had not. "If you don't give up," he told himself quietly, "things usually pick up in the end."
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each phrasal verb with ONE missing particle (on, up, in, out, down...) from the text.
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. What problems did Leo have to deal with on his first day?
2. How did Leo react when the office printer broke down?
3. Why is Leo glad that he did not put off applying for the job?
Find these phrasal verbs in the text — each one appears at least once: turn up, pick up, set up, log in, sort out, back up, fill in, hand in, deal with, carry on, get on with, give up, break down, look after, put off. (You will use phrasal verbs like these in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Sarah and Todd talk about all the computers and phones they own.
You will hear two friends, Sarah and Todd, talking about the many computers and phones they own and why they keep so many. You will listen TWICE. First listen: answer questions 1-5. Second listen: answer questions 6-10. (Kaydı İKİ kez dinleyeceksin: ilk dinlemede 1-5, ikinci dinlemede 6-10.)
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
Native speakers use phrasal verbs all the time, especially when they describe daily actions. Writing that uses only "big" single verbs (establish, complete, postpone) can sound stiff. This unit gives you a set of everyday phrasal verbs — use them, and remember the golden rule about where the object goes.
| Phrasal verb | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| turn on / turn off | start / stop a device (separable) | I turn on my laptop and check my email. |
| set up | arrange or prepare (separable) | First I set up the meeting room. |
| deal with | handle a task or problem (inseparable) | Then I deal with the phone calls. |
| sort out | solve or organise (separable) | I sort out any problems quickly. |
| back up | make a safety copy (separable) | Every night I back up my files. |
| carry on | continue (intransitive) | After lunch I carry on with my work. |
| run out of | have none left (inseparable) | Sometimes we run out of paper. |
See the difference — the same day, written two ways:
| Stiff, plain verbs ✗ | Natural, with phrasal verbs ✓ |
|---|---|
| I start my computer. I complete the forms. I resolve the problems. I copy my files. I continue until five. | I turn on my computer and fill in the forms. I sort out any problems, then I back up my files and carry on until five. |
A "typical day" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same every time — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | Say what your day is like in one general sentence | My working day is busy, but I have a routine that keeps me organised. |
| 2. Body | The main things you do and any problems, using phrasal verbs (turn on, set up, deal with, sort out, back up). | First I turn on my computer and set up my desk. Then I deal with emails and sort out any problems. |
| 3. Closing | How the day ends, or how you feel about it | Before I leave, I back up my files and carry on until everything is done. |
Write about a typical day at work or at home and how you get things done. Describe your routine and any problems, using phrasal verbs.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + listening. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
İşaretlemediğin madde varsa ilgili bölüme dönüp tekrar çalış — soldaki menüden her bölüme geri dönebilirsin.
Oturum kontrol ediliyor...