15 Must-Use Phrasal Verbs for Fluency | English Vocabulary Lesson

Hello and welcome everyone to this lesson  which is based on a very common question  

I get about phrasal verbs. Let me share my  screen and show you what the question is:  

'Which phrasal verbs are important to use  for better fluency?' Now, I have always said,  

as you know, that phrasal verbs are an  important part of English vocabulary,  

and you need to learn them primarily to improve  your reading and listening comprehension. I have  

insisted that you don't need to use them yourself  that often. The question always comes back:  

'But do I need to make an effort to use all of  them to be more fluent?' And my answer is: 'No,  

not all of them, but some of them, yes.' So, let's  have a look at the ones that I personally feel you  

don't need to use necessarily, and that is when  a phrasal verb has a one-word synonym that's  

not too formal. I have three examples here  for you: For example: 'give up', 'call off',  

'put off'. The synonyms, the ordinary synonyms,  for these three verbs are: 'quit', 'cancel',  

'postpone'. Now, 'quit', 'cancel', and 'postpone'  are everyday words that we use very often. They  

are as fluent if you use them as 'give up', 'call  off', and 'put off'. So, in this case, there's no  

need to make a huge effort to remember you should  say 'call off' instead of 'cancel'. No point. You  

can say: 'She gave up smoking ages ago.' or 'She  quit smoking ages ago.' You can say: 'They may  

call off their trip.' or 'They may call off ... or  sorry: 'They may cancel their trip.' You can say:  

'Can we put off our meeting until next week or  postpone our meeting until next week?' Right,  

so when there is a one-word synonym - a common  one-word synonym - there is no need to make a  

huge effort to use them, but of course you need  to understand them. So, let's look at when it is  

a bit more necessary, a bit better, to use phrasal  verbs. There are three categories that I'd like  

to mention here to you. The first one is... It's  when a phrasal verb has a long definition because  

in English the shorter your sentence the better.  So, I've chosen about eight of these that I would  

recommend you focus on activating in your own  speech. The first one is 'get on' or 'get along',  

which is to 'have a good relationship with  someone'. For example: 'She gets on well  

with her cousins.' A good one to activate and  use. Let's look at the second one that I would  

recommend you activate: 'come across'. It's a very  handy and common phrasal verb, and you know that  

it means 'to find by chance'. So for example: 'I  came across a very interesting article the other  

day.' Number 3 that I would recommend you use  actively is 'look up'. And that is ... I'm sure  

you understand these verbs, but the point now is  to try to actively use them. 'look up' is 'find  

information in a book or online': 'Let's look up  Prince Harry's date of birth.' is my example here.  

number 4: 'bring forward' - an important one.  'bring forward' is the opposite of 'postpone',  

and it means... 'postpone' is to 'change to a  later date', and 'bring forward' is to 'change  

to an earlier date': 'Can we bring forward our  meeting to this week?' Number 5: 'take out',  

'take out' in the meaning of 'arranging Insurance,  loan, subscription, etc. with a company,  

with a bank, with an organisation'. For example:  'Why don't you take out a short-term loan?' That's  

a good one to activate. Next one I've chosen  is 'run out', and that is to 'exhaust supply  

of something that you've been using'. Again a  long definition, a complex idea, and it can be  

shortened to 'run out': 'I can't make sandwiches  because we've run out of bread.' Next one: 'stand  

for'. I don't often hear you use this, and it's  an important one, and that is when something is  

the abbreviation or acronym of something. So, I've  got two examples here for you: The first one is an  

acronym: NATO. 'What does NATO stand for?' And,  the second one is an abbreviation: MP. 'What does  

MP stand for? And, I think the last one in this  group - yeah, in the group where there's a long  

definition - the ones I've chosen for you are:  'show up' or 'turn up', and that is to 'arrive to  

join a group of people'. For example: 'He said he  was joining us for dinner but never showed up, or  

never turned up.' So, I think that's clear. When  you have to say something very long to put your  

meaning across, the phrasal verb is the better  choice. Right! Now, the next reason for using  

a phrasal verb is when the non-phrasal synonym is  too formal for an everyday context. So, there is  

a one-word synonym, an ordinary verb, but it's  too formal, and then the register changes. So,  

the first example is 'put out', which is a synonym  for 'extinguish'. Now, if you're telling a story,  

it's okay to use 'extinguish': 'The fireman  extinguished the blaze.' But, in a day-to-day  

conversation, you wouldn't say: 'I extinguished  my cigarette.' That just doesn't work. It's too  

formal. The register is wrong. So here, you  have to put ... If you want to sound natural,  

you have to use the phrasal verb 'put out'. I've  got three more examples in this category, the ones  

I've chosen to share with you today. The other one  is 'go ahead'. Again, there is a one-word synonym:  

'proceed', but it's too formal. For example, in  a court context, yes 'proceed' works perfectly:  

'With the judge's permission, the witness  proceeded to give evidence.' No problem!  

But in a daily conversation, if someone says  to you: 'May I sit here?' If you say, 'Sure,  

proceed.' you would... that would sound really  really strange. The register is wrong: far too  

formal. You have to use the phrasal synonym:  'Sure, go ahead.' And two other examples here in  

the same context are to do with public transport.  So, 'embark', 'disembark'. Very formal: 'The ferry  

passengers embarked and disembarked in an orderly  fashion.' No problem! But, talking about your own  

experiences or in a dialogue, we can't use these  verbs. You have to go towards the phrasal verb:  

'We ... not 'embarked on the train at midnight',  but 'We got on the train at midnight.' Or not  

'Let's disembark at this station.' 'Let's get off  at this station.' And finally, the third category  

where it's better to use a phrasal verb is when  the synonym is in the Passive Voice because the  

Active Voice is always easier to formulate and  less formal in English. Three verbs I'm going  

to share with you in this category: 'come  up' is to 'get mentioned'. So, you can say:  

'This subject keeps getting mentioned.' But, you  can already hear how formal this structure and  

this utterance is. It's better to use the phrasal  verb: 'This subject keeps coming up.' Two more:  

'go off' - we're talking about alarms - is to 'get  activated', or a bell. So again, you can say: 'The  

fire alarm got activated during the presentation.'  But, it's much better to use the phrasal synonym:  

'The fire alarm went off during the presentation.'  And last one: 'get through' is to 'get connected  

on the phone'. Again a Passive structure. I would  recommend you use 'get through': 'I couldn't get  

connected to James.' Okay, but more natural is to  say: 'I couldn't get through to James.' So, these  

are the 15 verbs phrasal verbs that I'd recommend  you work with and activate into your own speech.  

Well, that's the end of the lesson. I hope it's  been helpful. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.  

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