Complex & Idiomatic Phrasal Verbs (B2)
About Phrasal Verbs exercises
Phrasal verbs combine a main verb with one or more particles (prepositions or adverbs) to create new meanings that are often unrelated to the original verb: give up (stop), look after (care for), put off (postpone). English has thousands of phrasal verbs, and they are essential for natural, fluent speech at B1 level and above.
The challenge is that many are idiomatic (the meaning cannot be guessed from the parts), separable vs. inseparable rules vary, and the same particle appears with multiple verbs at different meanings. These exercises focus on the high-frequency phrasal verbs tested in IELTS, B2 First, and everyday communication — grouped by verb and meaning category for efficient learning.
Each exercise presents a phrasal verb in a complete sentence and asks you to select the correct particle, identify the meaning, or replace the phrasal verb with a single-word synonym. Sets are available from B1 through C1 level, with difficulty increasing as less transparent phrasal verbs are introduced.
- High-frequency phrasal verbs (get, give, put, take, come, go)
- Separable vs. inseparable phrasal verbs
- Phrasal verbs in formal vs. informal register
- Phrasal verbs grouped by particle meaning (up, out, off, on)
- Phrasal verbs in context — replacing with one-word synonyms
- Three-word phrasal verbs (come up with, look forward to)