Phrasal Verbs: Pick

Learn common English phrasal verbs with pick. Learning phrasal verbs in English will help improve your English reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. There are many phrasal verbs in English and sometimes learning them can seem very challenging, which is why we have made learning phrasal verbs easy!

After you have learned some common phrasal verbs with pick you can download this free English lesson with exercises.

Phrasal Verbs: Pick

Pick at

*to eat slowly

Mauro picks at his food.  He eats like a bird.

*to irritate, to bother

If you have a mosquito bite, you shouldn’t pick at it.

Pick off

to remove

Toni picked the hairs off her sweater one by one.

Pick on

*to bully or to single one person out

Teenagers always pick on the new kid in school.

Pick up

to lift

He picked up his book and left the room.

to learn through experience

I picked up a little Korean when I lived in Seoul.

*to speed up or become busy

Miami Beach really picks up in March because of Spring Break.

to get somebody by car

Larry always picks me up when I fly into Philadelphia.

to buy or get something

Please pick some milk up when you go to the store.

*to pay a bill for somebody else

Anastasia picked up our tab at the bar.

to continue something at a later date

Let’s finish this for the day and pick it up again tomorrow.

*to receive a signal

I think she likes me.  I am picking up a lot of signals.

Pick up on

*to become aware of something

Roberto is very clever.  He picks up on new grammar points easily.

Pick out

to choose something

I told Gina to pick out a new pair of shoes for her birthday present.

The phrasal verbs with an asterisk (*) are inseparable.When the direct object is a pronoun, it must be placed in the middle of a two-word phrasal verb. Example: Larry picked her up. NOT: Larry picked up her.

Download this FREE English lesson with exercises!
Free English Lesson PDF Download

Phrasal Verbs: Pick
Exercises and Practice

A. Phrasal Verbs: Pick. Fill in the blank with the preposition(s) that make the most sense:

1. She picked me______ after my English class.
2. Stop picking ______ him! Can’t you see he doesn’t like it?
3. I had to pick the tomatoes ______ Scott’s burger. He doesn’t like tomatoes.
4. I wish my girl friend would pick ______ the bill sometimes. Going out is really expensive.
5. I don’t have service on my cell phone. I am not picking ______ any wifi signal.
6. I am going to take you to buy a new pair of sunglasses for your birthday. You can pick ______ the ones you like.
7. I’ll run down to the store to pick ______ some new batteries.
8. Can you pick ______ your feet for a second. You are standing on my shoe lace.
9. My daughter doesn’t eat much. She just picks ______ her food.
10. I hope I pick ______ some new phrasal verbs from this free English lesson!

B.Phrasal Verbs: Pick. Complete the sentences using the best take phrasal verb in the correct form:

1. The mother waited while her daughter ________________________  the toy that she wanted.
2. I have to go run some errands, but I ________________________ you later tonight.
3. My big brother always used to ________________________  me when I was a kid.
4. Suzanne ________________________ the kids at a friend’s house after going out to dinner with her husband.
5. Business really ________________________ after they advertised their products on television.

Download this FREE English lesson with exercises!
Free English Lesson PDF Download

If you have any questions, please email me or even better just comment below. Remember, these are only some of the most common English phrasal verbs with pick. If you would like to add more phrasal verbs with pick to our list please let me know.

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