Learning English

Free worksheet
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Watch all episodes
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about learning and education

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

Georgie teaches you some phrasal verbs that can be used to talk about education. 

Phrasal verbs mentioned

be into (something)
have an interest in something

• Many teenagers nowadays are into gaming and spend hours playing with friends.

take (something) up
start participating in an activity

• During retirement, Mr Johnson took up gardening to stay active and spend time outdoors.

read up on (something)
learn about something through reading

• Before starting his business, Jack spent weeks reading up on entrepreneurship.

brush up on (something)
improve your existing skills that may be a bit weak

• Mark did a refresher course to brush up on his accounting skills before starting his new job.

work on (something)
put effort and concentration into doing something

• She needs to work on her time management so she can meet deadlines more easily.

fall behind
progress more slowly than others doing the same activity

• Because of her illness, Sarah fell behind in her coursework.

catch up (on something)
spend extra time doing something because you did not do it earlier

• Once Sarah recovered from her illness, she took some time to catch up on her coursework.

hand (something) in
give a finished project to the person or people who need to see it

• Once Sarah had caught up on her coursework, she handed it in to her teacher.

TOP TIPS!

• If you see the word ‘something’, it usually means the verb requires an object.
• If ‘something’ is in the middle of the phrasal verb, it means that it can be separated by the object (but doesn’t have to be).
• If ‘something’ is at the end of the phrasal verb, it means it cannot be separated.

To do

Practise by using the worksheet on this page.

NEXT

Watch Tenses with Georgie

Watch Prepositions with Georgie

Try some of our other grammar programmes.