30 Useful Phrasal Verbs for the TOEFL Exam

Phrasal verbs are created by combining a verb with another word, usually a preposition or an adverb. This forms a new expression whose meaning is distinct from the original verb. As the TOEFL involves academic writing, you will encounter and need to use many of these practical verbs.

This blog post will teach you 30 phrasal verbs useful for the TOEFL, complete with their definitions and practical examples.

Handy Phrasal Verbs to Help You Succeed on the TOEFL Exam

The list below includes 30 phrasal verbs that are appropriate for both neutral and formal situations, making them suitable for academic settings such as the TOEFL exam.

For a more extensive list of phrasal verbs to help you sound more natural, you can explore this blog post featuring over 210 common phrasal verbs:

1. Account for

Meaning: To explain the reason for

Type: Inseparable

Example: Increased pollution may account for climate change.

2. Adhere to

Meaning: Obey

Type: Inseparable

Example: You must adhere to the terms of the contract.

3. Allude to

Meaning: Mention in an indirect way

Type: Inseparable

Example: She kept alluding to our agreement, but she didn’t want to reveal it.

4. Bring on

Meaning: To cause something bad to happen, especially illness

Type: Separable

Example: His heart condition was brought on by his diet.

5. Bring up

Meaning: To start discussing a subject

Type: Separable

Example: She brought the matter up very late so they didn’t have time to discuss it properly.

6. Come about

Meaning: To happen, especially by chance

Type: Inseparable

Example: Increased unemployment has come about through automated production.

7. Cut back

Meaning: To reduce

Type: Inseparable

Example: They are cutting back expenses.

8. Do without

Meaning: To succeed in living or working without

Type: Inseparable

Example: We can do without help from you.

9. Embark on

Meaning: To start a new project or activity, usually one that will be difficult or take time

Type: Inseparable

Example: After graduating from university, she embarked on a career in banking.

10. Follow through

Meaning: To continue doing something until it has been completed

Type: Inseparable

Example: You will need to follow through with some reading if you want to master the subject.

11. Frown upon

Meaning: To not approve of something

Type: Inseparable

Example: Failure to attend classes is frowned upon .

12. Get across

Meaning: To make people understand something

Type: Separable

Example: The teacher managed to get across how important it was to attend lectures.

13. Get around

Meaning: To be heard by a lot of people

Type: Inseparable

Example: News of his promotion got around very fast.

14. Get at

Meaning: To try to suggest something without saying it directly

Type: Inseparable

Example: What are you getting at ? Was my presentation too long?

15. Get back

Meaning: To start doing something again after not doing it for a period of time.

Type: Inseparable.

Example: Let’s get back to discussing how this happened.

16. Look forward to

Meaning: To feel happy about something that is going to happen

Type: Inseparable

Example: I’m looking forward to meeting you later.

17. Look into

Meaning: To try to discover facts about something

Type: Inseparable

Example: After several customers complained about late deliveries, they decided to look into the matter.

18. Make of

Meaning: To understand someone or something in a certain way

Type: Inseparable

Example: What do you make of the teacher’s decision to shorten this course?

19. Map out

Meaning: To plan in detail how something will happen

Type: Separable

Example: Her career was mapped out for her when she decided to take that job.

20. Meet up

Meaning: To come together with someone

Type: Inseparable

Example: Let’s meet up and discuss how we are going to go about this project.

21. Narrow down

Meaning: To reduce the number of possibilities

Type: Separable

Example: The detectives narrowed down the list of suspects to just two.

22. Put forward

Meaning: To suggest an idea, opinion so that it can be discussed

Type: Separable

Example: The proposals were put forward last week, but the committee didn’t have time to discuss them.

23. Put off

Meaning: To delay doing something especially when you don’t want to do it

Type: Separable

Example: Are you putting off writing that essay because you can’t concentrate right now?

24. Resort to

Meaning: To do something unpleasant in order to solve a problem

Type: Inseparable

Example: We must resort to legal action if they don’t offer compensation.

25. Rule out

Meaning: To stop considering something as a possibility

Type: Separable

Example: The CEO said that yearly bonuses can be ruled out in light of the financial crisis.

26. Run by

Meaning: To tell someone your ideas so they can give you their opinion

Type: Separable

Example: I have a few ideas for tomorrow’s meeting. Can I run them by you?

27. Talk out of

Meaning: To persuade someone not to do something

Type: Separable

Example: Her parents talked her out of living in a rented flat.

28. Think over

Meaning: To consider a problem carefully

Type: Separable

Example: You should think it over before handing in your resignation.

29. Turn out

Meaning: To develop in a particular way

Type: Inseparable

Example: The presentation turned out well, considering how little you prepared for it.

30. Verge on

Meaning: To almost be in a particular state

Type: Inseparable

Example: His speech was so good, it was verging on genius.

Learning phrasal verbs is often most effective when you see them used in real-life contexts and dialogues. Be sure to watch this video to discover common phrasal verbs illustrated with various real-world examples:

How Can Phrasal Verbs Help You on the TOEFL Exam?

Since phrasal verbs are common in everyday English, knowing them will assist you in the listening and speaking parts of the TOEFL exam, where you hear people conversing.

Many conversations in the TOEFL's speaking and listening sections involve students talking about campus life. These dialogues tend to be neutral to informal, so you are likely to encounter several phrasal verbs.

You might consider using neutral to formal phrasal verbs in your writing for both the independent and integrated tasks, and possibly in speaking too. It's best to avoid very informal ones since the TOEFL exam maintains an academic tone. This is why the phrasal verbs listed here are appropriate for both neutral and formal English.

How to Use Phrasal Verbs Correctly

When you choose to use phrasal verbs in speech or writing, ensure you use them properly.

Phrasal verbs are either separable or inseparable, which determines if other words can come between the verb and the particle. With separable phrasal verbs, you can place other words between them, but with inseparable ones, you cannot.

Examples:

Look the word up ! ( look up is a separable phrasal verb)

You should look into the matter. ( look into is an inseparable phrasal verb)

Phrasal verbs can also be transitive or intransitive, based on whether they can take an object. Transitive verbs have an object, while intransitive verbs do not.

Examples:

I made that story up . ( story is the object of the phrasal verb made up )

My car broke down . ( broke down is intransitive, it cannot take an object)

For transitive verbs with particularly long objects, we can place the object between the verb and the particle if we substitute the object with a shorter word. This is known as shifting.

Example:

She made up a very funny story. ( a very funny story is a long object)

She made a very funny story up . (correct, but the object is too long to comfortably place it between the verb and the particle)

She made it up . (we replace the object, a very funny story, with it and we can move it between the verb and the particle)

Learning and using phrasal verbs effectively are excellent methods for making your English sound more natural and fluent.

Once you begin incorporating phrasal verbs into your TOEFL exam responses, you might find yourself feeling more assured about your language skills.