These questions ask you to distinguish phrasal verbs built with break and fall. Start with what changes in the situation, then choose the complete verb whose meaning matches that change.
Sort the situation into a meaning family
Do not translate the main verb and particle separately. First identify the meaning family: did something stop functioning, separate, begin, fail, lose pace or deceive someone? Then check whether the phrasal is intransitive, takes an object, or is followed by a preposition such as into or for.
| Meaning signal | Form to use |
|---|---|
| A machine stops working; a relationship ends; fire, war or disease begins suddenly | Use break down, break up or break out. Example: The lift broke down between floors. |
| Forced entry; an abrupt ending; separation from a group | Use break into, break off or break away. Break into keeps into before its object. Example: One runner broke away from the pack. |
| Loss of balance; a quarrel; a plan that never happens | Use fall over, fall out or fall through. Example: A loose cable made the stagehand fall over. |
| Loss of pace; disintegration or collapse; deception by a trick | Use fall behind, fall apart or fall for. Fall for keeps for before its object. Example: The old binding fell apart in my hands. |
Tense belongs on the main verb: break becomes broke and fall becomes fell in the simple past, while the particle stays unchanged. Also check the grammar around the gap. Break off can take the thing being ended, whereas break down, break up in the relationship sense, break out and break away usually describe what the subject itself does.
The traps
| Tempting confusion | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Treating every change involving break as mechanical failure | Break down is specifically loss of function. A sudden beginning needs break out, while an abrupt end needs break off; postponing, continuing or reviewing does not mean ending. |
| Using break up whenever something separates | For people ending a romantic relationship, break up fits. Separation from a larger group needs break away; dividing a class, breaking ice and losing a clear phone signal are other senses and do not express that relationship meaning. |
| Choosing a fall phrasal from physical movement alone | Fall over is loss of balance to the ground. Fall behind is loss of pace, fall through is failure of a plan to happen, and fall for is deception rather than literal movement. |
| Reading fall out only as something physically dropping out | In this topic, fall out describes people who quarrel and stop being friendly. Look for damaged relations, not loose material leaving a place. |
| Confusing collapse with a change of position | Fall apart means that something disintegrates or an arrangement collapses. Fall over leaves the thing as one piece but changes its position; fall behind concerns progress instead. |
Try it
A thief forced a window and entered the pharmacy to steal medicine. Using break, complete: The thief ___ the pharmacy.
Using fall, write the two-word phrasal verb whose specific meaning is for a planned event to fail to happen, not for an existing arrangement to collapse.
The message promised a free laptop, and Luis was deceived by the trick. Using fall, complete: Luis ___ the trick.