Different kinds of phrasal verbs
 

The murder suspect broke away from his guards.

Phrasal verbs consist of two or three words. They can be classified into three groups. In the first category a verb is followed by an adverb. In the second category a verb is followed by a preposition. In the third category a verb is followed by an adverb and a preposition. Phrasal verbs have different meanings and there is no easy way to learn them.

Let us have a look at some of the phrasal verbs which consist of an intransitive verb and an adverb. The meaning is given within brackets.

Soma backed away from the elephant. (moved backwards because of fear)

The politician proved that he was innocent of the bribery charges and his critics had to back down. (withdraw their claim)

It is too late to back out of the agreement now. (withdraw from an agreement)

If the voters do not believe you, somebody has to back you up. (support)

The principal barged in when the students were planning their holiday tour. (interrupted rudely)

He was sure that other witnesses would bear up what he said. (support)

Please bear with me during this difficult period. (be patient)

The original programme has been boiled down to fifteen minutes. (summarised)

Some people face misfortunes, but bounce back easily. (recover)

The chairman bowed out of the new recruitment scheme. (withdrew)

Finally, she had to bow to his opinion. (accept)

The lorry in front of us suddenly branched off to the right. (turned)

The company has branched out into information technology. (expanded)

The murder suspect broke away from his guards. (escaped suddenly)

The garbage collection system has broken down in certain cities. (stopped working)

The police used tear gas to break down resistance from strikers. (overcome)

Burglars had broken in when the inmates were away. (entered using force)

The speaker broke off in the middle of a sentence. (stopped speaking)

Fighting broke out in different parts of the country. (started suddenly)

The wound will take some time to close up.

He tried to butt in on my conversation. (interrupt)

Anula cast about desperately for something to say. (tried to find)

You must not cast aside your old friends when you are successful in life. (abandon)

Prema is very quick to catch on. (understand)

You go ahead, I’ll soon catch up with you. (reach)

None of us can change back to our childhood. (return)

Some countries have changed over from military to civilian rule. (changed from one system to another)

Passengers checked in for the next flight to London. (registered)

The Police are checking up on him. (investigating)

Shyama chipped in with some interesting episodes. (joined a conversation)

The miser’s hands closed over the money.(surrounded)

Some radio stations close down at midnight. (stop broadcasting)

The wound will take some time to close up. (heal)

It started to cloud over in the morning. (to be covered with clouds).

They clubbed together to put up a hospital ward. (made separate contributions)

Nobody knew how the accident had come about. (happened)

When the right opportunity comes along, you must take it. (arrives)

My brother came back very late last night. (returned)

Jobs are hard to come by these days. (obtain)

The whole building came down after the storm. (collapsed)

The boss is in an angry mood; wait till he cools down a bit. (becomes less excited)

A large number of mistakes has crept in. (happened)

All kinds of administrative problems have cropped up in the Department. (occurred unexpectedly)

People are crying out for free elections. (demanding)

Mary cuddled up to her mother. (sat close and comfortably)

The attacker cut at him with a sword. (wounded)

The child was cut down by pneumonia. (killed)

Madhu kept cutting in on our conversation. (interrupting)

The noise of the train died away in the distance. (became weak)