Students sometimes prefer to use a single word verb rather than a phrasal verb because they think it is easier. This is especially tempting if the one word verb is similar to a verb in their own language.
However, there are several phrasal verbs that are much more common than their one-word synonyms, so your English will sound more natural if you use them. In some exams, you may even lose marks if you use the less common one-word verb in a context that is not deliberately formal.
Here are 10 useful examples:
calculate / work out
‘Calculate’ isn’t a particularly formal verb, but it’s more formal than ‘work out’, and sounds more mathematical. Use ‘work out’ in everyday situations:
- I’m trying to work out how much six pizzas will cost.
- Can you work out which drinks are cheapest?
replace / put back
Again, ‘replace’ isn’t particularly formal, but ‘put back’ would sound much more natural in everyday situations:
- You can borrow the scissors, but make sure you put them back.
discard / throw away
You might see the verb ‘discard’ for example on packaging, or in formal writing, but it would sound very strange to use the single word verb in ordinary speech:
- Don’t throw away your plastic bottles – you can recycle them.
increase, decrease / go up, go down
A double one here! You won’t lose marks for ‘increase’ and ‘decrease’, but in informal speech, ‘go up’ and – especially – ‘go down’ are more common:
- Prices keep going up.
- The temperature usually goes down at night.
extinguish / put out
This is a very clear example where ‘extinguish’ is much more formal than ‘put out’.
- It took them hours to put out the fire completely.
omit / leave out
‘Omit’ is quite a lot more formal than ‘leave out’:
- He told me the story, but he left out the bit about his dog.
arise / come up
In formal English, a situation, opportunity etc. ‘arises’, but in everyday contexts, we are much more likely to say it ‘comes up’:
- When the chance to work in France came up, I took it.
rebuke, reprimand / tell off
Another clear one: ‘rebuke’ and ‘reprimand’ are distinctly formal. In everyday speech, we say ‘tell off’:
- Mum told me off for leaving the door unlocked.
protrude / stick out
It would be very unusual to say ‘protrude’ in informal speech – ‘stick out’ is the normal way to say it:
- A wire stuck out from behind the machine.
tolerate / put up with
This is a common mistake because ‘tolerate’ has similar equivalents in several languages. However, it is a formal word: in informal situations you should use ‘put up with’:
- Greg is so rude. I don’t know how you put up with him.
- I loved Singapore, but I couldn’t put up with the heat.
For more information on phrasal verbs, see our post Everything you need to know about phrasal verbs
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