Interpret and use advanced phrasal and prepositional verbs as grammatical chunks, placing objects correctly and shifting to a more formal equivalent when context requires it.
≈ 70–80 minverb + particle patternsobject placementpolysemy, particle meaning and register18+ guided responses
NoticeObserve meaning in context.
DiscoverConnect form, meaning, and use.
BuildChoose and assemble accurate language.
DrillRepair errors and retrieve fluently.
CommunicateUse it for a real purpose.
ReflectCheck control and plan the next use.
Today’s central idea: Learn a multiword verb as meaning + grammar + object pattern + register. Particles offer useful clues: out often suggests completion or emergence, and up can suggest completion or increase. The complete chunk, not the particle alone, determines meaning.
Retrieval bridge
Say each answer before revealing it. The goal is to reactivate language that today’s lesson will extend.
Connect to what you already know
Place the pronoun: turn off + it.
Turn it off, not turn off it.
Explain one meaning of look after, give up, and find out.
Look after = care for; give up = stop trying/doing; find out = discover.
Shift register: We need to look into the complaint.
We need to investigate the complaint.
Notice before the rule
The particle helps build a meaning, but the whole chunk decides
A project lead describes recovery after a failed supplier relationship.
The original supplier backed out two weeks before launch, so we had to fall back on a smaller local company.
At first, the new team struggled to keep up with demand, but it gradually caught up and carried out every urgent order.
We have now drawn up a contingency plan to prevent one cancellation from bringing the whole operation to a standstill.
Which verb means withdraw from an agreement?
Which two verbs describe being behind and then reaching the required level?
Which expression means prepare a written plan?
Noticing check
What does “fall back on a smaller company” mean?
Discover the system
Learn a multiword verb as meaning + grammar + object pattern + register. Particles offer useful clues: out often suggests completion or emergence, and up can suggest completion or increase. The complete chunk, not the particle alone, determines meaning.
Pattern
Form
Example
separable transitive
verb + object + particle / verb + particle + noun
draw the plan up / draw up the plan; draw it up
inseparable transitive
verb + particle/preposition + object
look into the issue; come across an article
intransitive
verb + particle; no object
The deal fell through. Sales picked up.
three-part verb
verb + particle + preposition + object
We need to catch up with the schedule.
Meaning and choice
Speaker’s choice
Use it when…
Example
plan and execute
you prepare, begin, complete, or abandon action
draw up a plan; carry out a test; phase out a product
manage difficulty
you tolerate, recover, compensate, or use an alternative
put up with delays; bounce back; make up for lost time; fall back on reserves
investigate and discover
you examine, encounter, identify, or clarify
look into a claim; come across evidence; figure out a cause
change and progress
something improves, weakens, continues, or reaches a level
pick up; wear off; go on; catch up
register shift
you choose a phrasal or lexical verb for audience and tone
put off → postpone; carry out → conduct
Sound natural: In many verb–particle combinations, the particle is stressed: back OUT, catch UP, fall THROUGH. A preposition in an ordinary verb + preposition pattern is more often unstressed.
High-value repairs
Avoid
Use
Why
We drew up it yesterday.
We drew it up yesterday.
A pronoun object goes between a separable verb and particle.
I came an interesting article across.
I came across an interesting article.
Come across is inseparable.
The agreement fell through it.
The agreement fell through.
Fall through is intransitive in the meaning fail to happen.
We carried the survey out it.
We carried out the survey / carried the survey out.
Use one object position, not both.
Advanced multiword verbs by purpose
Group chunks around situations you actually discuss, and mark each as separable (S), inseparable (I), or intransitive (Ø).
Plan and implement
draw up (S)set out (S/I by meaning)carry out (S)follow through on (I)roll out (S)phase out (S)
Problems and alternatives
back out (Ø)fall through (Ø)fall back on (I)rule out (S)work around (I)put up with (I)
Investigate and understand
look into (I)come across (I)figure out (S)point out (S)narrow down (S)account for (I)
Progress and recovery
keep up with (I)catch up with/on (I)pick up (Ø/S by meaning)bounce back (Ø)make up for (I)wear off (Ø)
Interaction and responsibility
bring up (S)take on (S)step down (Ø)hand over (S)stand up for (I)come up with (I)
Read language doing real work
A delayed community research project
Track the project through planning, failure, investigation, and recovery.
The team drew up a survey and planned to roll it out in March. However, the original partnership fell through when the sponsor backed out.
Researchers looked into alternative funding and came across a smaller grant. It did not make up for the entire loss, so they narrowed the project down to two neighborhoods.
After a slow start, participation picked up. The team carried out the revised study, caught up on data entry, and followed through on its promise to share the findings locally.
Build controlled accuracy
Reusable practice routes
Choose today’s practice set
Choose the set that fits today’s learner. Each set contains different examples.
Core: Secure the central form-and-meaning decisions before increasing the pressure.
The planned merger did not happen. It ___.
We must compensate for the lost week. We need to ___ lost time.
Replace the noun with a pronoun: We ruled out the cheapest option.
I found an unexpected document by chance. I ___ it.
Contrast: Use the reading context to distinguish nearby meanings and prevent overgeneralization.
Why did the original plan fail?
How did the team adapt to less funding?
What does “followed through on its promise” show?
Which two chunks describe research rather than project failure or recovery?
Challenge: Apply the same system to less predictable contexts without repeating the Core examples.
The effects of the medication gradually disappeared. They ___.
Choose the formal equivalent of “carry out an investigation.”
The organization will gradually stop using the old platform. It will ___ the platform.
Which sentence places the pronoun correctly?
Core set selected.
Build the contingency response
Explain that the original arrangement failed, so an alternative resource was used.
Diagnose and repair
Find the precise problem. A useful correction includes the reason, not only the repaired sentence.
Repair pronoun placement
We need to draw up it before Friday.
Repair an inseparable verb
I came an important detail across in the archive.
Repair the three-part verb
She cannot keep the current workload up with.
Repair an unnecessary object
The arrangement fell through it after the supplier withdrew.
Fluency drill
Respond aloud first. Reveal the model only after you have committed to an answer; your wording can differ if the meaning and form are right.
Transform and expand
Describe a plan that failed and the alternative you used.
The original plan fell through, so we fell back on…
Explain an investigation from question to discovery.
We looked into… and came across…; eventually, we figured out…
Describe falling behind and recovering.
We struggled to keep up with…, but we caught up by…
Shift two phrasal verbs into a more formal report.
carry out → conduct; put off → postpone; look into → investigate; phase out → discontinue gradually
Play and practice
Games and a short reading that recycle this lesson. Use them as a warm-up, a fast finisher, or homework. Each one checks itself.
Read
Moving the Hillside Food Bank
Read once for meaning. Then read again and do the tasks below.
Volunteer newsletter195 wordsAbout 2 min
In January, the Hillside Food Bank learned that its landlord planned to sell the building. The board quickly drew up a plan to relocate near the bus station. Then the first moving company backed out a week before the move, and the whole schedule nearly fell through.
The volunteer coordinator, Amina Yusuf, looked into other options and came across a small family business that rented trucks on weekends. The trucks were old and slow, but the team decided to fall back on them rather than delay the move again.
The move took two Saturdays instead of one. At first, fewer visitors came because they had trouble finding the new location, but the numbers soon picked up again. By March, the food bank had caught up on its deliveries to older residents, and the new space was clearly better: it has a larger cold room and a proper loading area.
Amina says the experience changed how the board plans. “We had one supplier and no alternative,” she said. “Next time, we will have two quotes ready before we sign anything.” Volunteers who are available for the spring delivery schedule can contact her at the front desk.
Find it
Tap the first particle of each of the 8 multiword verbs (for example, out in carried out). In a three-part verb, tap only the first particle.
Check your understanding
1. Why did the moving plan almost fail?
2. How did the team find the truck rental business?
3. What happened to visitor numbers after the move?
Sort it
Separable, inseparable, or intransitive?
Sort each verb by the object pattern the lesson gives it: separable (S), inseparable (I), or intransitive (Ø). Press Check when the tray is empty.
Memory
Phrasal verb and formal partner
Flip two cards. If they belong together, they stay. Find every pair in as few turns as you can.
Crossword
Complete the particle
Click a clue or a square, then type. Press Check when you finish.
Across
Down
Choose the right amount of challenge
Communicate in three steps
The recovery briefing. Pick one starting point, then move up only if the learner is ready. True or invented details are equally acceptable.
1
Personal answer
Make the language yours
Use the lesson’s earlier example or invent a similar situation. The details do not need to be personal.
Tell the story of a project, trip, event, or personal plan that faced a setback and recovered. Use a timeline and at least six multiword verbs from different grammar patterns. Start with this cue: We drew up…
Next cues
… backed out / fell through.
We fell back on…
2
Guided role play
The recovery briefing
Tell the story of a project, trip, event, or personal plan that faced a setback and recovered. Use a timeline and at least six multiword verbs from different grammar patterns.
Role 1Project lead: explain the original plan, what fell through, what you looked into, the alternative, the recovery, and the follow-through.
Role 2Language analyst: track each multiword verb, check object placement and meaning, and request a formal equivalent for two of them.
Useful language
We drew up…
… backed out / fell through.
We fell back on…
We looked into…
3
Real-world challenge
Remove the support
Write a 150-word project update for colleagues. Explain what failed, what the team investigated, what alternative it used, and how it recovered.
B2 target: Sustain the exchange for 90 seconds, make one precise contrast, and reformulate one idea when challenged.
Include
Use at least six multiword verbs from three different grammar patterns.
Place every noun or pronoun object correctly.
Replace two phrasal verbs with formal lexical verbs in a final edited sentence.
Write for a real reader
Write a setback-and-recovery update
Write a 150-word project update for colleagues. Explain what failed, what the team investigated, what alternative it used, and how it recovered.
Your text must
Use at least six multiword verbs from three different grammar patterns.
Place every noun or pronoun object correctly.
Replace two phrasal verbs with formal lexical verbs in a final edited sentence.
Reveal a possible model only after you have drafted your own version.
Our original supplier backed out, so the launch plan fell through. We looked into three alternatives and came across a local provider with enough capacity. The team drew up a revised schedule and narrowed the first release down to two regions. Demand picked up faster than expected, but the provider kept up with the orders and helped us catch up on delayed deliveries. We have now followed through on every customer commitment. In a formal report, we could say that we investigated alternatives and prepared a revised schedule.
Reflect and transfer
Can you do this without the page?
Classify multiword verbs by object pattern.
Use pronoun objects in the correct position.
Learn related meanings and formal alternatives without word-for-word translation.
Your next use: Create four personal example cards: one separable, one inseparable, one intransitive, and one three-part verb, with the object pattern visibly marked. Return to the retrieval bridge next lesson.