Learning Idioms and Phrasal Verbs - the Easy Way

Malcolm Corbin
29 sept
3 Min. de lectura

Look at this list of phrasal verbs and idioms. What do they mean?

give up	run out of
take off	hit the nail on the head
break down	put off

Confused?

Well, you're not alone. Many of my students come to me saying that they struggle learning English phrasal verbs and idioms and so they avoid using them, vastly limiting their expressiveness and conversational ability. This post will show you that these expressions are nothing to worry about and how you can start dominating them, starting now.

Why Are Idioms and Phrasal Verbs So Difficult?

Students treat them as separate words. Let's look at“give up” for example. Learners often think “give” (offer) + “up” (direction) should equal the meaning. But of course, it doesn’t. Together, “give up” means "to stop doing something before you have finished it, usually because it is too difficult"
Students expect the verb to guide the meaning. Because students make the first mistake, they expect the main verb to suggest a meaning of the whole expression. For example, with “take off”, learners expect the verb “take” to help. But depending on the context, "take off" can mean "remove clothes", "become successful", or even "when an aeroplane leaves the ground."

Ooof! That's confusing. How can I know which meaning is being used in any moment?

That's what we'll see now.

How You SHOULD Learn Them

Think of them as a single word. Forget breaking them into parts. Imagine “give up” = "giveup". Just as "run" is one word with one meaning, "give up" is one word with one meaning. "giveup"
Learn them in context. Context tells you which meaning applies. For example:
- “The plane took off at 8 a.m.” = left the ground
- “Her business really took off last year.” = became successful
- "The man took off his shoe" = removed
Applying this with the first trick, you should think of each sentence as:
- “The plane tookoff at 8 a.m.”
- “Her business really tookoff last year.”
- "The man tookoff his shoe"
Visualise the situation. Picture the aeroplane leaving the runway, someone’s business growing rapidly or a boy removing his socks. The mental image fixes the meaning in your memory. Combine all three techniques:
Try to use them when you speak! If you don't use them, you will never remember them!

“The plane tookoff at 8 a.m.”

“Her business really tookoff last year.”

"The man tookoff his shoe"

More Examples

Break down
- “My car broke down on the motorway.” = stopped working (machine failure)
Run out of
- “We ran out of food this morning.” = used all of something
Hit the nail on the head
- “You really hit the nail on the head with that comment.” = said exactly the right thing (It was perfect)