 Regular verbs versus phrasal verbs from espressoenglish.net. A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition that has a specific meaning. Sometimes the meaning of the phrasal verb is quite different from the meaning of the regular verb by itself. I often see students make mistakes by mixing up regular verbs and phrasal verbs. Here are some common verbs and phrasal verbs in English and the situations in which each one should be used. If you'd like to learn 500 phrasal verbs, check out my course, Phrasal Verbs in Conversation. Click on the link in the video to find out more. Grow versus Grow Up. The verb grow is used when things increase in size and development. For example, the country's economy is growing. Many different kinds of flowers grow in my garden. The phrasal verb grow up is used specifically for children becoming older and more mature. For example, my five-year-old son wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. I'm very thankful that I grew up in a loving family. There's one more situation where you can use grow up. If you say an adult needs to grow up, it means he or she is acting immature, like a child, and should act more mature, like an adult. Find versus find out. The verb find is used when you locate an object or person. It can be by accident or on purpose. Find is usually followed by a noun. For example, after searching for an hour, I found my keys under the bed. Today's my lucky day. I found a dollar on the sidewalk. I'm trying to find Barbara. Have you seen her anywhere? The phrasal verb find out is used specifically for discovering information. Again, it can be by accident or on purpose. Find out is usually followed by a subject verb or a question word. For example, don't let your husband find out that we're planning a surprise party for him. I finally found out why the TV remote wasn't working. The batteries were dead. Find out can often be replaced in the sentence with discover, but in everyday English it's more common to say find out for discovering information. Break versus break down. If something breaks, it means it separates into two or more pieces. For example, if the wine glass falls off the table, it will break. He broke his leg in the car accident. In this case it refers to breaking the bone inside his leg. The phrasal verb break down is used specifically for when a car or another machine stops functioning. For example, my car broke down on the highway and I had to call for help. A poorly maintained machine is more likely to break down. You might also hear someone say that a person broke down. This means the person suddenly became very emotionally upset. Give versus give away. The verb give refers to transferring something to someone else. For example, Jen missed class yesterday. I'll give her my notes so she can study. My best friend gave me a pair of headphones for my birthday. The phrasal verb give away means to give for free something that would probably cost money in a normal situation. For example, when I bought a new computer I gave away the old one. This means I gave it to someone for free instead of selling it for money. The radio station is giving away two tickets to the rock concert. Again, these tickets would normally cost money, but the radio station is giving them away for free. Use versus use up. If you use something, it means you utilize it. You do an activity with it. For example, you should use a sharp knife to cut those vegetables. I used a lot of sugar to make this cake. The phrasal verb use up means to consume something completely so that nothing remains. In the picture you can see that someone used up all the toilet paper. There is none left. Here are a couple more examples. I used up my cell phone battery and now I need to recharge it. Let's make spaghetti so we can use up this leftover tomato sauce. Drop versus drop by. If you drop something it means you let it fall down from your hand. For example, oops I dropped my fork on the floor. Please don't drop those boxes. Their contents are fragile. The phrasal verb drop by has a totally different definition. It means to visit a place quickly and informally. For example, my friend is sick. I think I'll drop by and see how she's doing. This means visit her house quickly and spontaneously. I've just moved into a new apartment. You should drop by sometime. That's a way of inviting the person to visit. Show versus show off. If you show something to someone it means you display it so the other person can see it. For example, David showed me his new watch. Let me show you how to use the coffee machine. In this second sentence, show refers to demonstrating a skill so that you can see and learn it. The phrasal verb show off means to act in an arrogant way as if you are superior to others. You want to call attention to how great you are. For example, David bought an expensive watch and now he's showing it off. In the previous sentence, David showed me his watch. That's neutral. But in this sentence, David is showing off his expensive watch. It means he is doing it arrogantly. He did a backflip on the beach to show off in front of some girls. Again, show off means he wants to call attention to himself and how great he is. Pick versus pick up. The verb pick has several meanings, but one of the most common is an informal word for choosing or selecting. For example, when you order ice cream, you pick which flavor you want. The company picked the best candidate for the job. Pick up means to take something and lift it up physically. For example, your dirty clothes are on the floor. Please pick them up. He picked up a book and started to read. We can also use pick up for taking people in your car. For example, I pick up my kids from school every day at three o'clock. My car is being repaired, so my friend picked me up from work and took me home. One of the best ways to learn phrasal verbs is in context. My phrasal verbs in conversation course can help you do that. Click on the link in the video to take a free sample lesson. And if you like it, you can sign up for the course. Thanks for joining me today, and I hope you've enjoyed learning about these verbs and phrasal verbs.