Level: intermediate
Two-part verbs
Some verbs are two-part verbs. They consist of a verb and a particle:
grow + up
The children are growing up.
Often this gives the verb a new meaning:
take + after
She takes after her mother.
(= She looks like her mother or she behaves like her mother.)count + on
I know I can count on you.
(= I know I can trust you or I know I can believe you.)
Some two-part verbs have only one pattern:
| Subject | Verb | Particle | Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| The children | are growing | up. | – |
| She | takes | after | her mother. |
| I | can count | on | you. |
- Two-part verbs 1
- Two-part verbs 2
But other two-part verbs have two different patterns. The usual pattern is:
| Noun (subject) | Verb | Noun (object) | Particle |
|---|---|---|---|
| She | gave | the money | back. |
| He | knocked | the glass | over. |
| We | will be leaving | our friends | behind. |
but sometimes these verbs have the pattern:
| Noun (subject) | Verb | Particle | Noun (object) |
|---|---|---|---|
| She | gave | back | the money. |
| He | knocked | over | the glass. |
| We | will be leaving | behind | our friends. |
When the object is a personal pronoun, phrasal verbs always have the first pattern:
She gave it back. (NOT
She gave back it.)He knocked it over. (NOT
He knocked over it.)We will be leaving them behind. (NOT
We will be leaving behind them.)
- Two-part verbs 3
- Two-part verbs 4
Common verbs with their most frequent particles are:
| bring | about, along, back, forward, in, off, out, round, up |
| buy | out, up |
| call | off, up |
| carry | off, out |
| cut | back, down, off, out, up |
| give | away, back, off |
| hand | back, down, in, on, out, over, round |
| knock | down, out, over |
| leave | behind, out |
| let | down, in, off, out |
| pass | down, over, round |
| point | out |
| push | about, around, over |
| put | across, away, down, forward, off, on, out, through, together, up |
| read | out |
| set | apart, aside, back, down |
| shut | away, in, off, out |
| take | apart, away, back, down, in, on, up, over |
| think | over, through, up |
Three-part verbs
Some verbs are made up of three parts: a verb and two particles. They have the pattern:
| Noun (subject) | Verb | Particle | Particle | Noun (object) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| His girlfriend | walked | out | on | him. |
| She | caught | up | with | the other runners. |
| Children | should look | up | to | their parents. |
Common three-part verbs are:
| catch up with | get on with | look up to | stick up for |
| face up to | look forward to | put up with | walk out on |
| get away with | look down on | run away with | watch out for |
A few verbs have the pattern:
| Noun (subject) | Verb | Noun (object of verb) | Particle | Particle | Noun (object of particle) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| We | talked | them | out | of | leaving. |
| She | put | his mistakes | down | to | inexperience. |
Verbs like this are:
| do out of | put down to | take out on |
| let it on | put up to | talk out of |
- Three-part verbs 1
- Three-part verbs 2