Phrasal Verbs Made Manageable
There are thousands of phrasal verbs. You need a few hundred, and grouping them makes them easier.
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a particle whose meaning is not obvious from the parts: 'give up' has nothing to do with giving.
Group by particle rather than by verb. 'Up' often means completion ('finish up', 'eat up', 'use up'); 'out' often means removal or distribution ('throw out', 'hand out', 'sort out').
Watch separability. 'Turn off the light' and 'turn the light off' are both fine, but pronouns must go in the middle: 'turn it off', never 'turn off it'.
Some phrasal verbs cannot be separated: 'look after the children', never 'look the children after'.
In formal writing, a single-word equivalent is often better: 'postpone' rather than 'put off', 'tolerate' rather than 'put up with'.