Question

Pick out the phrasal verb(s):

• A. a beautiful doll
• B. break open
• C. break up
• D. bear to

Answer 1

Answer: (B), (C)

break up
break open

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with an adverb or preposition (or both) to provide a variety of meanings. From the options, 'break open' is a phrasal verb made of a verb (break) + adverb (open and )'break up' means 'disintegrate into fragments' or 'end of a relationship'. It's a phrasal verb because it's of the form verb (break) + adverb (up), hence options B and C are correct. 'A beautiful doll' is a noun phrase, containing the head noun 'doll'. Hence it's not a phrasal verb and option A is incorrect. 'Bear to' is a combination of a verb (bear) and preposition (to) but it's not a phrasal verb, because 'to' isn't the correct preposition with 'bear', 'bear' goes with 'with' and 'up' (bear with, bear up). In statements like 'bear to hear', 'bear to' is not a phrasal verb but 'to hear' is an infinitive, hence option D is incorrect.