Phrasal Verbs Questions and Answers

Answer: A

To turn a deaf ear to something means to ignore it.

The idiom pictures someone deliberately not listening, as if deaf on the side the request comes from. So 'He turned a deaf ear to my request' means he heard it and chose to take no notice.

'appreciated' is close to the opposite. 'twisted' would mean he distorted the request, and 'returned' that he sent it back; neither involves refusing to listen, which is the whole sense of the phrase.

Answer: D

The phrase is back out.

To back out is to withdraw from something one had agreed or planned to do. The sentence says the speaker had planned a skiing trip but an injury forced a last-minute withdrawal, and 'even though' signals exactly that reversal of plan.

To back up is to support someone or to make a copy of data. 'Back on' does not stand alone as a phrasal verb with this sense; 'go back on' means to break a promise and needs an object. 'Back of' is a noun phrase (the back of something), not a verb.

Answer: B

The phrasal verb is keep up: I could not keep up with them.

Keep up with means to move or progress at the same speed as someone else, which matches people walking too fast for the speaker. The phrasal verb also explains the with that follows the blank.

The other options are single verbs that do not fit the sentence. Move with them and walk with them do not express failing to match their pace, and follow does not take with. None of them is a phrasal verb, which the question asks for.

Answer: C

'Close in' means Come nearer.

To close in (on someone) is to come nearer and surround or approach, usually in a threatening way: 'As the enemy was closing in, we decided to stay away' means the enemy was moving closer. It is used also of darkness or weather ('night was closing in').

'Go away' is the opposite movement. 'Shoot out' and 'win' describe a gun battle and its result, not the approach the phrasal verb expresses.

Answer: D

The answer is for: 'The situation is difficult and calls for great tact.'

'Call for' means to require or demand: a difficult situation requires tact.

'Call out' means to shout or to challenge someone, 'call up' to telephone or summon for service, and 'call to' to shout to someone; none means to require.