SPI English · Idioms and Phrases

Phrasal Verbs and Prepositions

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word such as off, over or up, and that small word changes the meaning; an idiom's preposition is fixed in the same way.

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Why this matters

Three questions in the bank, two MODERATE and one HARD, the hardest in the chapter. Each turns on one small word: get off against get over, bear up against put up with, to the bitter end. You cannot work these out from the verb, so learn each one as a new word.

Concept 1 of 2: Phrasal verbs with get and bear

Get and bear are ordinary verbs, but add off, over, up or with and you get a new verb with its own meaning. The options in these questions are usually the same verb with four different small words.

Definition

How to use this table:

Read the sentence and decide what happened: someone escaped, recovered, stayed strong, waited patiently.
Then pick the phrasal verb that means exactly that.
Bear alone, and put up with, mean to tolerate. Bear up is different: it means to stay strong.

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
get off (with)	escape with only a light punishment	The thief got off lightly as it was his first offence.
get over	recover from	She got over her fever in a week.
get through	pass, or reach the end of	He got through the interview.
get back	return	We got back home at night.
get along (with)	be friendly with	The two cousins get along well.
bear up	stay strong in a hard time	She is bearing up well after the loss.
bear with	be patient with	Please bear with me for a minute.
bear out	show to be true, confirm	The report bears out his story.
put up with	tolerate	I cannot put up with this noise.

Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a practice question:

Practice questionModerate

Example 1 · Idioms and Phrases · Phrasal Verbs and Prepositions

Fill in the blank by choosing the correct option. His offence was grave but he ____ with a fine.

One small word changes the whole verb

Get off, get over, get through and get back are four different verbs: escape, recover, pass, return. Treat each as a word of its own, not as 'get' plus a direction.

Bear up is not put up with

Bear up means to stay strong in a hard time. Put up with means to tolerate something. Students mix them up because 'bear' on its own also means to tolerate.

Drill 1 more on phrasal verbs with get and bear

Concept 2 of 2: The fixed small word inside an idiom

Many idioms hold a preposition that cannot be changed: at the eleventh hour, never in the eleventh hour. A fill-in question gives the idiom with that word missing and four prepositions to choose from.

Definition

How to use this table:

Learn the idiom whole, with its preposition, the way you learn a word's spelling.
In a question, say each option inside the idiom aloud. The right one is the only one you have heard before.
The meaning gives no clue to the preposition, so there is no rule to fall back on.

Idiom	Meaning
to the bitter end	right to the finish, however hard it gets
at the eleventh hour	at the last possible moment
in the long run	over a long time, in the end
by and large	on the whole, generally
on cloud nine	extremely happy
out of the blue	suddenly, without warning
in hot water	in trouble

Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a practice question:

Practice questionModerate

Example 2 · Idioms and Phrases · Phrasal Verbs and Prepositions

Nabila will take it ____ the bitter end.

Do not swap the preposition

The small word in an idiom is fixed. 'In the eleventh hour' and 'at the long run' are wrong even though each preposition is correct English elsewhere.

In the long run is about time

In the long run means over a long time, in the end. It has nothing to do with running or with distance.

Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance

A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.

Reference tables (2)

Phrasal verbs with get and bear9 rows

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
get off (with)	escape with only a light punishment	The thief got off lightly as it was his first offence.
get over	recover from	She got over her fever in a week.
get through	pass, or reach the end of	He got through the interview.
get back	return	We got back home at night.
get along (with)	be friendly with	The two cousins get along well.
bear up	stay strong in a hard time	She is bearing up well after the loss.
bear with	be patient with	Please bear with me for a minute.
bear out	show to be true, confirm	The report bears out his story.
put up with	tolerate	I cannot put up with this noise.

The fixed small word inside an idiom7 rows

Idiom	Meaning
to the bitter end	right to the finish, however hard it gets
at the eleventh hour	at the last possible moment
in the long run	over a long time, in the end
by and large	on the whole, generally
on cloud nine	extremely happy
out of the blue	suddenly, without warning
in hot water	in trouble

Watch out for (4)

One small word changes the whole verb
→ Phrasal verbs with get and bear
Bear up is not put up with
→ Phrasal verbs with get and bear
Do not swap the preposition
→ The fixed small word inside an idiom
In the long run is about time
→ The fixed small word inside an idiom

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