How to learn Phrasal Verbs Effectively

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If you’re like most English learners, you hate phrasal verbs. And I don’t blame you. Memorizing these peculiar verbs isn’t easy. So many English students get frustrated and lose hope because they just can’t figure out how to learn them. 

The good news is: if you’re reading this post, then you haven’t given up yet! That’s probably because you know that learning phrasal verbs can drastically improve your English speaking and comprehension skills.

There are some tips to help you:

Don’t group them by verb.
Not only is this the worst way to learn phrasal verbs, but it’s also the fastest way to make yourself hate them. Why? Because you’re trying to memorize a bunch of words that all look the same but have completely different meanings.

Group them by particle (up, off, out, away, etc.)

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 understand these tendencies, it’ll make learning phrasal verbs a bit easier. 

Group them by topic.

An even better way to learn phrasal verbs is to organize them by subject. For example, you could create a phrasal verb list for expressing emotions, describing friends or talking about love and relationships. This has worked really well for my students because:

1. There is a link between the different verbs.
2. Organizing them by topic makes them more relatable and interesting to learn
3. You are learning how to use them in your everyday life and not just memorizing their abstract meanings

Learn them in context.

This is the method I use the most in my lessons. Learning phrasal verbs in context by watching YouTube videos, listening to songs or reading any authentic content is so powerful because you can see how we use them in real life. For example, when you’re watching your favourite TV show you can:

1. Look for the written transcript on Google.
2. Write down the phrasal verbs you find in the transcript.
3. Look up their meanings in the dictionary.
4. Read some example sentences on Phrasal Verb Demon.
5. Practice making your own sentences.

Use them in a story

Another effective way to learn and practice phrasal verbs is to create a story with them. If you like writing fiction, you can create a short story using a few phrasal verbs. If not, then you can simply write a paragraph related to your life. This will help you create connections between the words and your experiences. For example one student created this story to remember phrasal verbs in relation with describing relationship:

“Yesterday, I ran into Mathilde, an old friend from high school. We grew apart but I remember nothing could come between us. We’ve never let each other down. She has always stuck up for me. I heard from Michel she’s still single. Maybe I should try to fix her up with my brother.“

Extracted from In English with Love.