Phrasal verbs are one of the trickiest features of English grammar. They are widely used in Spoken English and often can be replaced with synonmyns in Written Academic English. They are verbs that consist of two or more words. Generally, we can say that a phrasal verb is made up of a verb and one or more particles. Particles may appear to be prepositions, but they are filling a different role here.

Phrasal verbs can either be seperable or non-seperable. Seperable phrasal verbs can have an object between the verb and particle, like so:

She looked the word up in the dictionary.

The above sentence can also be written with the object placed after the particle:

She looked up the word in the dictionary.

If the object of the seperable phrasal verb is a pronoun, it must be placed between the verb and the particle.

X She looked up it in the dictionary. (incorrect)

She looked it up in the dictionary. (correct)

Non-Seperable phrasal verbs cannot be seperated.

X I'm looking my keys for. (incorrect)

I'm looking for my keys. (correct)

Like all verbs, phrasal verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs take an object while intransitive verbs do not. Since seperable phrasal verbs can always take objects, they are always transitive. Non-seperable phrasal can be either transitive or intransitive.

Transitive: The mechanic looked at my car.
Intransitive: The travelers walked into the hotel and looked around.

The best way to remember phrasal verbs is to use them as much as possible. Keeping a list can help you remember common verbs. Click the link below to access the list.

List of Phrasal Verbs