Verb patterns · CEFR B1 · Independent
Phrasal verbs — English verb patterns
A verb plus a small word, with a new meaning together.
The shape
verb + particle (look for, give up)
Use the two-word verbs people actually say.
In Hindi
क्रिया के साथ छोटा शब्द — दोनों मिलकर नया अर्थ बनाते हैं।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
Please switch off it. | Please switch it off. A pronoun goes in the middle, not at the end. |
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- turn it off, look after itB2Know where the object goes in a phrasal verb
- Verb + prepositionB1Stop dropping the preposition after common verbs
Questions people ask
- What is the phrasal verbs used for?
- A verb plus a small word, with a new meaning together. In practice: use the two-word verbs people actually say.
- How do you form the phrasal verbs?
- verb + particle (look for, give up).
- What is the most common mistake with the phrasal verbs?
- Saying “Please switch off it.” instead of “Please switch it off.”. A pronoun goes in the middle, not at the end.
Where phrasal verbs fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Phrasal verbs is a CEFR B1 structure — the independent band — and it belongs to verb patterns. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
Practise the phrasal verbs →