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Level: intermediate
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. |
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.)
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 |
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 |