Put up with, come up with

  • B2 · Upper-intermediate
  • Grammar lesson
  • 60 min
  • three-part phrasal verbs

Verbs with two small words: put up with, come up with, run out of, catch up on, get away with. They never split (put up with it), and they stay together at the end of a question or a relative clause (What did you come up with?). The student hears a long voice message to an old friend, chooses and builds the right order, joins sentences, fixes the usual mistakes, and catches up with the teacher.

Teach this lessonDownload PDF

Free, no card needed. The PDF has every slide, the homework and an answer key.

put up withcome up withrun out of

What's in the lesson

  1. 1Warm-up
  2. 2In this lesson
  3. 3Listen: Jacinta's messageListening comprehension
  4. 4What does it mean?Grammar exercise
  5. 5Find the verbsGrammar exercise
  6. 6Verbs with two small wordsGrammar rule
  7. 7Which is right?Grammar exercise
  8. 8Join the sentencesGrammar exercise
  9. 9Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
  10. 10Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
  11. 11Say it naturallySpeaking practice
  12. 12Catching upSpeaking practice
  13. 13About youGrammar exercise
  14. 14Wrap-up

Homework

  1. 1Homework: which sentence is correct?Grammar exercise
  2. 2Homework: with or without the last word?Grammar exercise
  3. 3Homework: build the questionsGrammar exercise
  4. 4Homework: a message to an old friendDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

  1. Do you prefer voice messages, texts or phone calls? Why?
  2. Is there an old friend you would love to see again? Who?
  3. What do you usually do when you finally have a free weekend?

Grammar rule

Verbs with two small words

Verb + a small word + a preposition

put up with (accept something bad) · come up with (think of: an idea, a plan, a name) · run out of (have none left) · catch up on (do what you didn't have time for) · get away with (do something wrong and not be punished)

Example
+ a nounWe're looking forward to the trip.
+ it / them / her…We're looking forward to it. (not looking it forward to)
+ -ingI'm looking forward to meeting her.
a questionWhat are you looking forward to?
a relative clausethe teacher I look up to

They never split

  • The object always comes after the last small word, even when it is a pronoun: keep up with them (not keep them up with, keep up them with).
  • In questions and relative clauses, the object goes to the front, and the three words stay together at the end: Who do you look up to? the people I look up to.
  • Don't move the last small word to the front with which or whom: the teacher I look up to (not the teacher to whom I look up).
  • Don't leave an extra it or them at the end: the class I can't keep up with (not keep up with it).
  • The last word is a preposition, so a verb after it takes -ing: We can't keep up with answering every email.

With or without the last word

  • run out and catch up can stand alone when there is no object: Our time ran out. Let's catch up soon! With an object, keep the last word: We ran out of time.
  • put up with, come up with and get away with always need it: without it, the meaning changes (put up a shelf = hang it on a wall; get away = escape).
A few three-part verbs have a second object in the middle (take someone up on an offer); the five in this lesson never split. The first small word is stressed: put UP with, run OUT of.

Teach it live with video and a whiteboard, or print it: the PDF has every slide, the homework and the answers.

Teach this lesson
← Unit 6A great deal of, hardly any