A BETTER WAY TO LEARN PHRASAL

VERBS
For many learners, learning phrasal verbs is difficult. Not only
is it a completely new concept for some, but also the
traditional ways of teaching phrasal verbs are ineffective . 

For example, the most common method for teaching phrasal

verbs is to group them by a particular verb (look up, look after,
look into, etc.). 

But this method is confusing and here’s why: you’re trying to

learn words that all look the same but have entirely different
meanings. Our brains need connections to retain information .
So your brain desperately tries to find a logical relationship
between these words when there isn’t one.

So, what’s a better way to learn phrasal verbs?

Instead of grouping them by verb, organizing phrasal verbs by
particle can help you make relevant connections between
them. That’s because the particles have tendencies, and if you
become familiar with these tendencies, it’ll make learning
phrasal verbs easier.

What’s a particle?
Each phrasal verb is composed of a verb and a particle. Let’s
look at the phrasal verb speak up as an example:

verb + particle

speak + up

In this example, up indicates an increase in intensity, but in

different contexts, up could signify other things. In this post,
we’re going to focus on the different meanings and tendencies
of the particle up when used as part of a phrasal verb. Some of
these meanings are literal, but many are figurative. 

Understanding phrasal verbs with UP

The particle “up” is often used in these ways:

1. BECOME MORE ATTRACTIVE OR MORE EXCITING:

Dress up & Spice up
2. INCREASE IN DEGREE OR INTENSITY:
Warm up & Speak up
3. REVEAL OR DISCOVER INFORMATION:
Dig up & Look up
4. DELAY OR OBSTRUCT:
Hold up & Back up
5. IMAGINE OR INVENT SOMETHING:
Dream up & Make up
6. JOIN OR PUT PEOPLE INTO GROUPS:
Team up & Meet up

1. Up to mean more attractive or exciting

Dress up
We use the phrasal verb dress up when we put on clothes that
are more formal than the clothes we normally wear. We often
use dress up when we put on special clothes to look more
attractive or appealing.

Let’s say a friend invites you to an event and you’re not sure if
the event is formal or casual, you could ask, “Do I need to
dress up?”
We also commonly use this phrasal verb as an adjective. So we
can say, “Why are you dressed up? Are you going somewhere
special?”

Examples

 It’s a small casual party – you don’t have to dress up.

 He’s always so dressed up.
 I absolutely hate dressing up.

Spice up
The phrasal verb spice up is used when we want to make
something more interesting or more exciting.

For example, you could spice up your life with a trip to an

exotic country, or you might spice up a relationship by trying
something new together.

We can also use the phrasal verb spice up in a literal sense

when talking about food. In this context, we mean that we
want to give food more flavor by adding spices. So we might
say, “You can spice up the dish by adding a little garlic.”

Examples

 Growing herbs is an easy way to spice up your meals.

 They’re looking for ways to spice up their sex life.

2. UP to mean an increase in intensity or degree

Warm up
The phrasal verb warm up can mean “to make something
warmer.”

If you’re outside on a cold day, you might blow on your hands

to warm them up. And the weather usually warms up when it’s
spring and it’s getting closer to summer.
Examples

 The morning sun warmed up the room.

 I’ve put the food in the oven to warm it up.

Speak up
We use the phrasal verb speak up to mean “talk louder.”

So, if you’re talking to someone and you can barely hear them,
you might say, “Can you please speak up?”

Examples

 I’m sorry I can’t hear you very well. Could you speak up?
 You have to speak up. The people in the back can’t hear
you.

3. UP to reveal or discover information

Dig up
The phrasal verb dig up literally means “to remove something
from the ground that has been buried or planted.”

For example, we can say, “You need to dig up that plant and
move it.”

But we also use the phrasal verb dig up when we find hidden
information or facts by searching carefully.

So, the media might dig up something from a politician’s past

to ruin his chances of being elected. And if you google
someone’s name, you might dig up some interesting facts
about them.

Examples
  They found my Facebook page and dug up a 20-year old
photo of me holding a beer.
 When we investigated their background, we dug up
some surprising facts.

Look up
We use the phrasal verb look up when we try to find a
particular piece of information in a dictionary or on the
internet.

You might look up a word in the dictionary if you don’t know

what it means, and when cooking a dish for the first time, you
might look up the recipe online.

We usually omit the word “online” when we use the phrasal

verb look up, because let’s face it, where else do we look up
information nowadays?

Examples

 I looked up the meaning of the expression.

 I’ll look up the information and I’ll let you know.
 I looked up my symptoms and got really scared.

4. UP when there’s a delay or obstruction

Hold up
The phrasal verb hold up means: to cause a delay, to make
someone late or to stop something from happening.

Let’s say you’re stuck in traffic, you could ask, “What’s holding
up the traffic?”

This phrasal verb is often used in the passive form. For

example, if you show up to dinner late you might say, “Sorry
I’m late, I was held up at work.” 
Examples

 My train was held up.

 Corruption is holding up the country’s progress.

Back up
We use the phrasal verb back up to say that something
(usually traffic or an order) was obstructed or delayed. Back up
is often used in the passive form.

For instance, if there was an accident that obstructed traffic,

you could say, “Traffic was backed up for miles.”

And if you order something from an online store and they

inform you that they’re unusually busy this month, so you’ll be
receiving your order late, they might tell you, “We’re sorry but
orders are really backed up this month.”

Examples

 Please be patient. Our online orders are backed up this

month.
 Traffic was starting to back up in both directions.

5. UP to imagine or invent things

Dream up
The phrasal verb dream up means: to invent a new plan or an
idea by using a lot of imagination.

Let’s say one of your colleagues is always late to work, and his
reasons for being late are strange and unrealistic. So, if he’s
late again today you might say, “I’m curious what excuse he’ll
dream up today.”

Examples
  When we break promises, we’re really good at dreaming
up excuses.
 The police can’t just dream up a reason to arrest them.

Make up
We use the phrasal verb make up when we invent a story,
excuse or explanation in order to deceive someone. 

For example, if I told you a story and you think it’s a lie, you
could say, “I don’t believe you. You’re making it up.”

And if I had no reason to lie to you, I might say, “But why

would I make it up?”

Examples

 They admitted that they made the whole thing up.

 The story he told wasn’t true. He just made it up.

6. UP to join or put people into groups

Team up
The phrasal verb team up means: to join two people or groups
together to work on a project or a goal.

A teacher might team you up with a classmate to work on a

presentation, and a company could team up with a team of
experts to develop a new product.

Examples

 You can team up with another colleague if you want.

 We teamed up with a photographer who took us around
the city for a picture session.

Meet up
We use the phrasal verb meet up when two or more people
come together unexpectedly or as planned.

You might meet up with a friend for a quick coffee before

going to work, and if you’re planning to go to a bar with some
friends on the weekend, you could say, “I’m meeting up with
some friends for drinks this weekend.”

Examples

 I have to go now, but I’ll meet up with you later.

 Are we still meeting up today?

Why is learning phrasal verbs important?

Learning phrasal verbs and using them confidently will not
only give you more freedom to express yourself but it will also
help build your confidence in English.

How is learning phrasal verbs related to more confidence in

English?
Look at it this way: If you can explain or describe something in
a variety of ways, then you won’t get stuck in conversations.

Also, there are so many situations where a phrasal verb is

simply the best and most accurate way to express an idea.

In other words, if you don’t know the phrasal verb, or if you

know it but aren’t sure how to use it, then you won’t be able
to express yourself precisely in some contexts.

Many of my students avoided using phrasal verbs in the past,

and instead used their one-word alternative. If you’re doing
the same thing, then you probably sound overly formal when
speaking in English.

For example, you might say “I reprimanded him for lying to

me.” instead of saying, “I told him off for lying to me.”
Using the phrasal “tell off ” here would sound a lot of more
natural and less formal than “reprimand.”

Remember, the more ways you are able to describe or explain

something, the more comfortable, natural and confident you
will be when speaking in English.

Final Thoughts
I encourage you to dedicate some time today to practice
writing sentences with these phrasal verbs. Studying them all
at once might be too much, so divide them into two or three
groups, and practice them regularly. I suggest going to Phrasal
Verb Demon for some sentence ideas and inspiration, then
share your examples with us below. 

If you use today’s tips and work on including phrasal verbs in

your practice routine , I guarantee you that with time you will
lose your fear of phrasal verbs and you will start using them
with confidence!