Primary English | Phrasal Verbs Prep Guide (for tutors) — three groups, pronoun position rule, ten-item check

2026-11-14

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Primary English

A student writes Turn on it because he treats on as the switch. This lesson skips the long list and teaches one sorting question: can the pronoun go inside? The answer decides the whole sentence.

Objectives — By the end students can: (1) sort 12 phrasal verbs into separable, inseparable and three-part groups (5 plus 4 plus 3); (2) apply the pronoun rule to write Turn it off and explain why look him after is wrong; (3) score at least 40 out of 50, that is 80%, on the ten-item check.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Object pronouns	What kind of words are him, it and them	Object pronouns, placed after the verb
Present simple	Complete Please ___ the light	turn on the light
Word class	What are up, off and after	Particles: prepositions or adverbs

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Two contrast sentences	Write Turn off the light and Turn it off, then ask what differs	Point out where it sits
5-15 min	Three groups	Give 12 examples and build three columns with counts	Copy the examples and recount
15-25 min	Pronoun rule	Model separable groups (pronoun inside) and inseparable groups (pronoun after)	Rewrite six sentences and name the group first
25-34 min	Three-part groups	Teach put up with and look forward to; the meaning cannot be guessed	Draw a box round the whole group
34-41 min	Ten-item check	Hand out 10 items at 5 marks each, six minutes	Answer, self-mark, label the broken group
41-45 min	Exit check	Ask three oral items	Answer and repeat the rule

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Three groups: 12 examples are enough

Give 12 examples, never a long list: separable 5 (turn off, put on, give up, take off, pick up), inseparable 4 (look after, look for, wait for, listen to), three-part 3 (put up with, look forward to, get on with). 5 plus 4 plus 3 is 12.

The sorting question is always the same: can it go between the verb and the particle? If yes, the group is separable.

Ask whether it can go inside; if yes, the verb is separable

Scene 2: Pronoun position: one question, two results

Separable groups allow Turn the light off, but a pronoun must go inside: Turn it off, never Turn off it.

Students do: rewrite six sentences, say the group name out loud before writing, then check the pronoun sits inside for separable verbs and after the particle for inseparable ones such as look after him.

Separable keeps the pronoun inside; inseparable keeps it after

Scene 3: Three-part groups: one unit, one meaning

put up with, look forward to and get on with cannot be split and take no pronoun inside. The meaning does not come from the parts: put up with means tolerate, not place upwards.

Students do: box the whole group in the sentence, then write the meaning next to the box, so the group is seen as one word.

Three-part groups are learned whole; the meaning cannot be guessed

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Sorting	Classify look after, turn off and put up with	Ask whether it fits inside; three-part groups never split	Inseparable, separable, three-part
Rewrite	Rewrite Turn off the light with a pronoun	The pronoun goes between verb and particle	Turn it off
Error spot	Is look him after correct	look after is inseparable	No, write look after him
Multiple choice	What does up do in give up smoking	Up joins give as one unit, it does not mean upwards	The pair means to quit

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity check: %d phrasal verbs split into %d plus %d plus %d, which is exactly %d; ten items at %d marks make %d marks, so %d marks is %d%%; only the separable group ever takes a pronoun inside, so the rules never contradict each other; no Latin one-word synonyms are introduced; every example appears in P5 and P6 reading.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Sort five new verbs	Classify five new examples	Check whether wait for was called separable
Rewrite with a pronoun	Rewrite Pick up the books with them	Check that them sits inside
Box the group	Box three phrasal verbs in a paragraph	Check whether the particle was included

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Pronoun left at the end	Please turn off it	The pronoun goes inside for switch verbs. Keep it between turn and off.
Splitting an inseparable verb	I look him after	Look after works as one unit, so the pronoun stays after it.
Boxing only the verb	Circling look and calling it the phrasal verb	The particle is the ID card. Box after with the verb.
Guessing from the parts	Reading put up with as placed upwards	Three-part groups are learned whole. Put up with means tolerate.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Primary English chapter index — All chapters in one table
Prep guide master index — Same format for other subjects
Redo this ten-item check — One item per question type plus six rewrites

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Group counts	State 5 plus 4 plus 3 is 12	Wrong count means repeating act one
Pronoun position	Turn it off is right, Turn off it is wrong	Reversing this means redoing the six rewrites
Three-part meaning	put up with means tolerate	Missing it means repeating act three

09 Tutor FAQ

How many phrasal verbs must be memorised?

Only the 12 in this lesson. The rest are collected while reading, not from one long list.

What if a student asks about throw away?

It is separable: throw it away. Answer with the same question rather than adding a new rule.

Can I say both word orders are always correct?

No. Only separable verbs allow two orders; the other groups have one correct form.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.