B2 First Phrasal Verbs: List and Exercises

Here is a B2 First puzzle. Say tolerate in three words, and one of them has to be put. The answer is put up with, and it shows how phrasal verbs often work in B2 First Use of English Part 4: the first sentence has a one-word verb, and you write a phrasal verb with the same meaning in the second. In formal writing the swap often runs the other way, back to the one-word verb.

This post goes with our video on the same idea. Below: all sixteen swaps from our English B2 First Exam Kit as a free exercise, the list to keep, where the pronoun goes, and which phrasal verbs are fine in an essay. The rules of each Use of English part are in our post on what B2 First Use of English really tests, so this one sticks to the verbs.

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Chapters

1. 0:00Tolerate in three words
2. 0:33Three ways to test a phrasal verb
3. 0:51Part 4: one word in, phrasal verb out
4. 1:42The grammar moves too
5. 2:27Same verb, different small word
6. 3:11Formal writing: the other direction
7. 3:40Swap, then swap back

The swap runs both ways

Part 4 gives you a sentence, a key word and a second sentence with a gap. In the key word transformations deck of our kit, sixteen cards work the same way: a one-word verb becomes a phrasal verb. The first of them carries this note: "Part 4 often swaps a one-word verb for a phrasal verb. Keep the tense and voice of the original: 'was cancelled' → 'was called off'."

Cambridge's own sample papers have Part 4 answers that are phrasal verbs. In the B2 First Handbook for teachers, the answer key of sample paper 1 gives call off for one Part 4 question, and sample paper 2 turns "Paula can't wait to hear the band's new album" with the key word FORWARD into "Paula is really looking forward to hearing the band's new album."

Formal writing turns the arrow round. In our phrasal verbs deck, 19 card notes name a "formal swap", and in 18 of them the formal side is the one-word verb: tell off becomes reprimand, push back becomes postpone, pull out of becomes withdraw from. The note on put up with says: "In a formal complaint 'tolerate' sounds better: 'I am no longer prepared to tolerate…'." The nineteenth goes the other way. Bring about is itself formal, and its note calls it "A formal swap for 'cause' in essays."

So the useful question is not "is this phrasal verb right?" but "which way am I swapping?". Our advice: learn every phrasal verb with its one-word twin, and with a note on how formal it is.

B2 First phrasal verbs exercise: the 16 Part 4 swaps

Each item is one of the sixteen Part 4 swap cards in our kit (ten B2, six B1): the first sentence, the key word and the number of words as the card shows them, and the gapped second sentence. The exam itself only says "between two and five words"; the count here is the card's, and it keeps each answer unique. Write the missing words, then open the answers. Each answer gives the point the card's note makes: the tense, the voice or the pattern to keep.

Round 1

1. The match was cancelled because of the rain.
   CALLED (3 words)
   The match ________ because of the rain.
2. She resembles her mother.
   TAKES (3 words)
   She ________ mother.
3. Please continue working while I'm out.
   CARRY (3 words)
   Please ________ while I'm out.
4. We have no milk left.
   RUN (4 words)
   We ________ milk.

Round 2

5. The police are investigating the robbery.
   LOOKING (3 words)
   The police ________ the robbery.
6. I stopped eating sugar a year ago.
   GAVE (3 words)
   I ________ sugar a year ago.
7. The company rejected my application.
   TURNED (3 words)
   The company ________ application.
8. The meeting has been postponed until next week.
   OFF (4 words)
   The meeting ________ until next week.

Round 3

9. He invented an excuse for being late.
   MADE (2 words)
   He ________ an excuse for being late.
10. Sophie was raised by her grandparents.
    BROUGHT (4 words)
    Sophie ________ her grandparents.
11. I have a good relationship with my colleagues.
    ON (4 words)
    I ________ my colleagues.
12. My car stopped working on the motorway.
    BROKE (3 words)
    My car ________ the motorway.

Round 4

13. I can't tolerate his rudeness any longer.
    PUT (3 words)
    I can't ________ his rudeness any longer.
14. I'll collect you from the station at six.
    PICK (3 words)
    I'll ________ from the station at six.
15. We were expecting fifty guests, but only ten arrived.
    TURNED (2 words)
    We were expecting fifty guests, but only ten ________.
16. She thought of a brilliant idea for the project.
    CAME (3 words)
    She ________ a brilliant idea for the project.

If you got the meaning right but lost the tense, the voice or the word order, you have found the real Part 4 skill: almost every answer above turns on one of those three, not on the meaning.

B2 First phrasal verbs list (printable)

The sixteen Part 4 swaps as a list, with each card's key word. To keep it on paper, print this page or save it as a PDF from your browser's print menu.

And the 19 formal swaps named in the notes of our phrasal verbs deck, in the direction formal writing takes:

Put up with is not among the 19 because its note gives the swap in a sentence, not by name: in a formal complaint, tolerate.

How Cambridge tests a phrasal verb: three shapes

Cambridge's handbook lists phrasal verbs in the task focus for Part 1 (p. 9). Its preparation tips for Part 1 say how:

"Phrasal verbs are also tested here. They may be tested in three different ways: the whole of the phrasal verb, e.g. keep on, just the verb itself, e.g. keep, or just the preposition or adverb which follows the verb, e.g. on." (B2 First Handbook for teachers, p. 12)

The handbook says this about Part 1, but its sample papers show the same three shapes spread across Parts 1, 2 and 4:

Look at the Part 1 item: "Shoes of this type ... have turned ___ in archaeological excavations." The verb is given, so you need the small word, and here turned up means the shoes were found, not that someone arrived. In Part 4 it is the opposite: you write the whole phrasal verb yourself, in the right tense.

Separable or inseparable: where "it" goes

With some phrasal verbs the object can go between the verb and the small word, and a pronoun must go there. With others the two never split.

You cannot always tell from the verb. Think over and sit through look alike, yet the notes go opposite ways: "Separable, and a pronoun goes in the middle: 'think it over', never *think over it" against "Inseparable: 'sit through it', never *sit it through." So each card in our phrasal deck says which kind it is. Of the 247 notes, 98 call the verb separable and 67 inseparable; most of the rest are intransitive, with no object at all (the car broke down).

Two rules from the notes save you guessing. A three-part phrasal verb almost always stays together: put up with it, make up for it (the exception our deck flags, talk someone out of, puts the person in the middle). And a separable verb with a long noun usually puts the small word first: turned down my application, but turned it down.

Check yourself: put the words in order.

1. Thank you for the offer; I'd like to ___ before I give you an answer. (over / it / think)
2. The lecture was three hours long, but I had to ___. (it / sit / through)
3. She was offered the job, but she ___. (down / turned / it)
4. The council has promised to ___. (it / into / look)
5. If you don't know what a word means, ___ in a dictionary. (up / it / look)
6. It took me almost three weeks to ___. (it / get / over)

One verb, different small words

When only the small word is missing, the verb is no help. These families have notes that compare them, so learn them side by side (meanings from the cards):

The notes draw the lines in plain words. Back down is "Different from 'back up' (support) and 'back out' (withdraw from an agreement)." Stand up for is "Different from 'stand up to' (refuse to accept bad treatment from someone powerful)." And for food and habits: "'Cut down on' means reduce; 'cut out' means stop completely."

Check yourself: one small word per gap.

1. Make sure you back ___ your arguments with examples in your essay.
2. The buyer backed ___ of the deal just two days before we were due to move.
3. You should always stand up ___ what you believe in, even if others disagree.
4. It takes a lot of courage to stand up ___ a bully, especially at school.
5. We wanted a room with a sea view, but we had to settle ___ one overlooking the car park.
6. My doctor told me to cut ___ fried food completely for a few months.

Phrasal verbs in essays: which to keep, which to swap

Phrasal verbs are not banned from essays. Every card in our deck carries a register label, and only about half of the 247 are marked informal:

The formal ones include bring about, draw up and embark on. Many neutral ones fit a formal text too: the look into note suggests "I would be grateful if you could look into this matter" for a formal complaint (it sits in both lists: neutral enough for a formal letter, with investigate as the more formal option), and the look ahead note calls "Looking ahead,…" "a useful phrase to end a report."

The swaps are suggested mostly for the informal ones, either by name, as in the second list above, or in a sentence: for get ahead, "In a formal essay, 'succeed' or 'advance in your career' sounds better"; for come down with, "in a formal email say 'I have been ill with…'".

Our rule of thumb, not Cambridge's: in an essay, a report or a formal letter, keep the neutral and formal phrasal verbs, and when a verb is marked informal, check whether its card names a formal swap. In an email to a friend, the phrasal verb is often the more natural choice. Part 4 is a different matter: there you keep the meaning, and an informal answer such as turned up is exactly what the card asks for.

Practise the swaps and the small words

The sixteen swaps come from the key word transformations and grammar deck of our English B2 First Exam Kit. Its phrasal verbs deck has 247 cards (75 B1, 172 B2), each with the meaning, an example, the register and a note on word order or the usual mistake; 243 also list synonyms, so the one-word twin is on the card.

To meet phrasal verbs in a whole text, try our free Part 1 practice: eight gaps with four options each, three of them hiding phrasal verbs, about ten minutes, marked at once with every answer explained, no sign-up. We wrote it in the shape of the exam task; it is not an official test. The free word check gives you an estimate of how much of the kit you already know. For how many words B2 First takes overall, see how many words you need for B2 First.

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