These questions ask you to choose among workplace actions that may involve the same document, meeting or task. Focus on the purpose of the action and the relationship between the person, object and result.
Name the workplace action first
Before choosing a particle, replace the gap with a precise action word such as mention, cause, return, continue, perform, submit, distribute, transfer, highlight, cancel, complete or arrange. Then select the matching phrasal and check its object pattern. With separable forms, a noun may often appear after the particle or between the two parts, but a pronoun belongs in the middle: hand it in, point it out and call it off.
| Action family | Form and a fresh example |
|---|---|
| Mention a topic, cause a result, or return something | Use bring up, bring about or bring back. Example: Noor brought up the delivery date. |
| Continue despite difficulty or perform and complete assigned work | Use carry on or carry out. Example: The crew carried out the repairs overnight. |
| Submit one item, distribute items to a group, or transfer possession or control | Use hand in, hand out or hand over. Example: The guide handed out maps at the entrance. |
| Highlight a fact, cancel an event, complete a field, or arrange something for use | Use point out, call off, fill in or set up. Example: Mira pointed out a missing date. |
Objects help separate close meanings. Carry out normally takes the task being performed; carry on can stand without such an object. Hand in focuses on submission to a receiving authority, hand out on group distribution, and hand over on a transfer to another holder. Fill in can take a particular blank or requested detail; set up takes the meeting, organisation or equipment being arranged.
The traps
| Tempting confusion | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Confusing mention, cause and return after bring | Bring up introduces a topic for discussion, bring about causes a change, and bring back returns something or revives a memory. Reviewing an existing topic is a different action from first mentioning it. |
| Using carry on for a task performed to completion | Carry on means continue, often despite an obstacle. Carry out means perform or complete a task, order, test or piece of research; literal transport is neither workplace sense. |
| Treating all hand phrasals as simple giving | Hand in is submission, hand out is organised distribution to a group, and hand over transfers possession or control. Hand back specifically returns something to a previous holder. |
| Choosing an action that changes the work instead of the schedule or attention | Point out directs attention to a detail, call off cancels an event, and set up arranges something so it is ready. Carrying out a request, submitting a document, setting out reasons or setting off on a journey answers a different purpose. |
Try it
After checking the borrowed tablet, the technician returned it to the design team. Using bring, complete: The technician ___ the tablet.
At the end of her shift, the supervisor gave control of the warehouse keys to Omar. Using hand, complete: The supervisor ___ the keys to Omar.
Using fill and the particle in, complete the instruction on a visitor form: Please ___ your surname in the box marked Family name.