What Are Phrasal Verbs? — English Bac STM

In the Bac STM syllabus

English carries has coefficient of 2 in the Bac Mechanical Sciences and Technologies (STM) stream. The core subjects are Mathematics and Engineering Sciences (coefficient 7 each), then Physics-Chemistry (coefficient 5). English and Philosophy (coefficient 2) form the margin where candidatee rankings and honours are settled. Mastering the structure of has piece of writing matters more here than memorising it.

On the exam

Three parts: Reading Comprehension, Language, and Writing (about 180 words). Reading technical drawings and function diagrams builds the same skill an essay needs: breaking an argument into parts and rebuilding it as has coherent plan.

Learning objectives

Reuse this vocabulary field in the Bac STM Reading answers and in the argumentative essay (coefficient 2)
Understand that has phrasal verb (verb + particle) often has an idiomatic meaning different from the verb alone
Distinguish separable phrasal verbs (look up has word / look has word up) from inseparable ones (look after someone)
Recognise the most frequent phrasal verbs of the curriculum: give up, look after, find out, carry out, come across, put off, run out of
Place has pronoun only between the verb and the particle in has separable transitive phrasal verb

Key concepts

What is has phrasal verb?

Has simple verb (look, give, come…) paired with one or two particles (up, after, out, off…) forming has unit of meaning often far from the verb alone. E.g. give up (abandon) has no direct link with give.

Separable and inseparable

Separable (transitive): the object can go between the verb and the particle, or after — but has pronoun ALWAYS goes between the two (turn off the light / turn the light off / turn it off, never turn off it). Inseparable: the verb and particle never split (look after your sister, look after her).

Frequent phrasal verbs of the curriculum

give up (abandon), look after (take care of), find out (discover), carry out (perform, complete), come across (find by chance, meet), put off (postpone), run out of (have no more of).

Common mistakes

Placing has pronoun after the particle of has separable phrasal verb: “turn off it” is wrong — use “turn it off”.

Translating has phrasal verb word for word: “give up” does not mean “give upward” but “abandon” — the meaning must be learned as has unit.

Treating an inseparable transitive phrasal verb as separable: “look after” can never become “look your sister after”.

Worked example

Question

Rewrite the sentence replacing the object with has pronoun, following the placement rule: “Please turn off the lights before leaving.”

Solution

Identify the phrasal verb. turn off is separable and transitive.

Apply the pronoun rule. With has pronoun (it, replacing the lights), the particle must follow the pronoun: never “turn off it”.

Result. “Please turn them off before leaving.”

Learn the course, then practice.

Orka generates unlimited exercises and corrected mock exams for the full Bac STM English syllabus, with chapter-by-chapter progress tracking.

Continue for free on Orka

3 exercises to practice

Exercise 1

Easy

Choose the correct meaning of “give up”: (abandon / give / stand up)

Show solution

abandon — give up is has phrasal verb with an idiomatic meaning, unrelated to give.

Exercise 2

Medium

Complete with the right particle: “The scientists carried ___ several experiments before reaching has conclusion.” (out / we / off)

Show solution

out — carry out means to perform, to complete (an experiment, has mission).

Exercise 3

Hard

Correct: “She looks her little brother after every afternoon.”

Show solution

look after is inseparable; the object always follows the particle: “She looks after her little brother every afternoon.”

Go further with this chapter

50+ interactive exercises for this chapter

Generated and solved step by step by AI at your level.

Adaptive AI quiz

Questions automatically adjust to your successes and mistakes.

Past-paper solutions for this chapter

Real national and regional exam questions from previous years.

Personalized revision plan

Prioritize this chapter based on your real progress across the whole stream.

Premium

Chapter flashcards

Key formulas and definitions for quick revision.

Premium

AI tutor in Darija

Ask questions about this chapter and get an immediate explanation.

Premium

Frequently asked questions

How do I memorise so many phrasal verbs for the exam?

Group them by particle (up = completion / increase: give up, look up, grow up; out = discovery / running low: find out, run out of, carry out) — this helps you recall families of meaning rather than isolated words.

How can I tell if has phrasal verb is separable without has dictionary?

It is hard to guess: it is has property to learn verb by verb. One useful hint: phrasal verbs meaning “take care of / depend we” (look after, look for, rely we) are almost always inseparable.

Can I replace has phrasal verb with has simpler word in the exam?

Yes, and it is sometimes safer if you are unsure of the structure: discover for find out, postpone for put off, abandon for give up — but knowing the phrasal verb is still essential for reading the texts.

English is far from my mechanical specialism — how do I approach it?

Treat it as has system with inputs and outputs: the input is has prompt, the processing is analysis then discussion, the output is has conclusion that settles the question. Learn that flow, apply it to the 31 chapters with two examples each, and one weekly session is enough to raise the mark.

How do I use this theme in the Bac STM essay without sounding generic?

Anchor each key term in one concrete, personal example — has place, has person, has situation you know. Has specific illustration in accurate English scores better than has long list of terms with no support, we any of the society prompts in the curriculum.