These questions ask you to recognise and complete three-part phrasal verbs. You need both the correct meaning and the correct grammar after the final preposition.
Choose one complete three-word unit
First reduce the situation to a precise meaning such as tolerate, anticipate happily, avoid punishment, exhaust a supply, devise, admire, continue a task, close a gap, reduce or dispose of. Then choose the complete unit and place its object after the final preposition. Do not split the unit by moving the object into the middle.
| Meaning family | Form and a fresh example |
|---|---|
| Tolerate something; judge someone as inferior; admire someone | Use put up with, look down on or look up to. Example: I will not put up with constant shouting. |
| Anticipate happily; produce an idea or solution; continue doing a task | Use look forward to, come up with or get on with. Example: We look forward to meeting the new team. |
| Escape punishment; exhaust a supply; dispose of something unwanted | Use get away with, run out of or get rid of. Example: The vandals did not get away with the damage. |
| Reach the same position; stay at the same pace; reduce consumption | Use catch up with, keep up with or cut down on. Example: Bea walked faster to catch up with us. |
Two grammar checks prevent many errors. The final preposition must remain in the phrase, even before a pronoun: look up to her, not look her up to. After look forward to, use a noun or gerund because to is a preposition: look forward to the holiday or look forward to travelling.
The traps
| Tempting confusion | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Confusing tolerance with continuing or matching pace | Put up with means endure something unpleasant. Get on with means continue a task, while keep up with means remain at the same pace; neither expresses tolerance. |
| Reading look down on or look up to as physical eye direction | In these three-part units, look down on expresses a judgement of inferiority and look up to expresses admiration. Looking down from a height, looking upward or searching for information uses a literal or different construction. |
| Treating get away with as physical escape | Get away with is about avoiding punishment for wrongdoing. Get away from names movement away from a place or person, and getting something back means recovering it. |
| Mixing creation, continuation and closing a gap because each contains up with | Come up with produces an idea, get on with continues a task, and catch up with reaches the same level or position. Use the result described in the sentence to separate them. |
| Treating reduction and elimination as the same result | Cut down on means consume less while some may remain. Get rid of means remove or dispose of something, so it does not express a partial reduction. |
Try it
The printer stopped because no paper remained. Using run, complete with the three-word phrasal verb meaning use the entire supply: The office ___ paper.
While his colleagues debated, Eli ignored the distraction and never paused his work. Using get, complete: Eli ___ writing the audit report.
The landlord disposed of the broken chairs before the new tenants arrived. Using get, complete: The landlord ___ the broken chairs.