PHRASAL VERBS BREAK Exercises Keys

PHRASAL VERBS WITH “BREAK”
I. Fill in the gaps using an appropriate preposition.
1. The boss wants these expenses to be broken....still further. He says that they are not
very detailed.
2. The Japanese company has broken....many of the technological barriers that we are
meeting in developing our computers.
3. He is a new clerk and the boss wants to break him....gently.
4. I expect the meeting to break....at seven in the evening.
5. Please, don't keep on breaking....while someone else is talking.
6. There was some fighting between the hooligans in the football ground, and the police
had to be called to break it....
7. Having discovered the truth, the detective broke....Mr Quy's alibi.
8. When she saw his corpse, she broke....in loud weeping.
9. There were serious problems on the flight when one of the engines broke....
10. He was very enthusiastic before he realised that his plans had broken....
11. He broke....from the sentries and disappeared into the fog.
12. Those animals are not difficult to break....
13. A gang of thugs broke....the church and damaged the altar.
14. When we told her that her husband was dead, she broke....tears.
15. They seemed to be a happy couple, but they argued bitterly and broke....their
engagement.
16. A fire has broken....in the woods. People think that the person responsible is a
pyromaniac.
17. Three dangerous murderers have broken....of prison and are somewhere in the area.
18. The Second World War broke....in 1939.
19. That old ship is going to be broken....
20. They can't stand each other and so their marriage has broken....
21. The lecture will probably break....at eight o'clock.
22. He's very late, his car must have broken....
23. The first world war broke....in 1914.
24. Some hooligans broke....the football ground during the match.

25. He's very impolite and he often breaks....other people's conversations.
II. Replace the following phrasal verbs with another word or phrase of the same
meaning.
1. He should break away from his old habits.
2. About seven members of the Labour Party have broken away to form a splinter
group.
3. In Canada, the province of Quebec wants to break away and form a new country.
4. They were torturing him, hoping that his resistance would break down.
5. The machinery broke down because of a mechanical fault.
6. After three years in India, his health had broken down.
7. The dictator wants to break down all resistance and opposition.
8. The boss wants you to break down all the statistical material.

9. Burglars had broken into the local bank and stolen the money.
10. Please don't break in when we are speaking.
11. A tramp broke into the church looking for shelter.
12. When she heard the joke she broke into a loud laugh.
13. Work has once again broken into my leisure time.
14. Let's break off for a few minutes and have some tea.
15. I wasvery surprised when I heard that they had broken off their engagement.
16. The war broke out as a result of a lack of negotiations.
17. Several jailbirds broke out of prison during the night.
18. His face broke out in a rash.
19. The sun broke through the clouds.
20. The meeting broke up in disorder.
21. His health broke down when he stayed in the Middle East.
22. In the middle of the class they broke off for a few minutes to have a chat.
23. The island of Corsica wants to break away from France.
24. The manager told the clerk to break down the figures.
25. They broke off their engagement when she found out that he had been married

before.
III. Replace the words in italics with an appropriate phrasal verb.
1. You say that 18,000 people use this toothpaste. Could you classify them into agegroups?
2. They had to remove the door to get into the house.
3. He was overcome by sorrow when telling me about his mother's death.
4. After years of heavy toil his health was ruined and he had to retire.
5. The car stopped working when we were in the middle of the lane.
6. The negotiations were discontinued because neither side would compromise.
7. A gang of thugs entered by force and damaged the rooms.
8. As I wasspeaking he kept interrupting all the time.
9. Indian horses are very difficult to train.
10. James has terminated his engagement to Mary.
11. They were in the middle of an argument but stopped talking when the landlord
came into the room.
12. The great fire began in August.
13. They locked the murderer up in a room but he smashed the door and escaped.
14. Divorce disintegrates families.
15. The meeting terminated in agreement.
16. The old ship will be dismantled in the drydock.
17. If they don't reach an agreement, the negotiations will be terminated.
18. She always weeps when I mention anything about her son's tragic death.
19. Could you sub-divide these classes into age groups?
20. We were chatting about small, unimportant things when he suddenly interrupted.
21. The Rusitanian war began in 1959.
22. The firemen removed the door and managed to save the old woman.


23. Negotiations between the U.K. and Argentina terminated with the Falkland war.
24. Those pets are very difficult to train.
25. The car stopped as I was driving on the motorway.

IV. Fill in the gaps using one of the following phrasal verbs.
break down, break in/into, break off, break out
break up, break away, break even
1. Thieves broke....the warehouse and stole some valuable furniture.
2. The house was broken....when the owners were asleep.
3. These animals are not very difficult to break
4. Please, remember to break those figures....That's the way the boss likes them.
5. The police broke....the door to get into the building.
6. He broke....when telling me about his divorce.
7. At first he did not want to say that he knew, but then broke....and confessed.
8. He has been working as a miner for twenty years, and his health has not
broken....yet.
9. The car is acting up again! It has broken....three times this month.
10. Mary has broken....her engagement to Jerry.
11. The first World War broke....in 1914.
12. He was locked in a room but managed to break....
13. The school broke....on 30 July.
14. If the boat stays there, it will be broken....by the waves.
15. The gathering broke....in a nice atmosphere.
16. The boys broke....the abandoned house.
17. After 14 years living together, their marriage has broken
18. He used to break....in tears when speaking about the war.
19. Unless he stops smoking at once, his health will break....
20. The Korean War broke....in 25 June,1950.
21. He broke....from the policemen and disappeared.
22. We won the same amount as we lost and so we broke....
23. An epidemic has broken....
24. Our school broke....in June.
25. The business was broken....into several branches.

ANSWER KEYS
KEY TO I

9. down

18. out

1. down
2. through
3. in
4. up
5. in
6. up
7. down
8. down

10. down
11. away
12. in
13. into
14. into
15. off
16. out
17. out

19. up
20. up
21. up
22. down
23. out

24. into
25. into/in on

KEY TO II
1. abandon
2. separated
3. separate
4. collapse
5. stopped working
6. deteriorated
7. eliminate
8. detail

9. entered
10. interrupt
11.entered
12. gave out
13. interrupted
14. pause
15. terminated
16. started
17. escaped from

18. irrupted
19. pierced among
20. fell into disarray
21. deteriorated
22. stopped
23. disengage
24. detail

25. terminated

KEY TO III
1. break them down
2. break down
3. broke down
4. broke down
5. broke down
6. broke off
7. broke in
8. breaking in
9. break in

10. broken off
11. broke off
12. broke out
13. broke out
14. breaks up
15. broke up
16. broken up
17. broken off

18. breaks down
19. break down
20. broke in
21. broke out
22. broke down
23. broke down
24. break in
25. broke down

KEY TO IV
1. into
2. into
3. in
4. down
5. down
6. down
7. down
8. down

9. down
10. off
11. out
12. out
13. up
14. up
15. up
16. into
17. up/up

18. down
19. down
20. out
21. away
22. even
23. out
24. up
25. up

Notes:
* The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), also known as the Falklands Conflict, Falklands
Crisis, South Atlantic Conflict, and the Guerra del Atlántico Sur (Spanish for "South Atlantic War"), was a
ten-week war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the


South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It began on
Friday, 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands (and, the following day,
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it had claimed
over them. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy
and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended
with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649
Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders died during the
hostilities.
* Corsica (/ˈkɔːrsɪkə/; French: Corse [kɔʁs]; Corsica in Corsican and Italian, pronounced [ˈkorsiga] and
[ˈkɔrsika] respectively, is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is
located southeast of the French mainland and west of the Italian Peninsula, with the nearest land mass
being the Italian island of Sardinia to the immediate south. A single chain of mountains makes up twothirds of the island.
While being part of Metropolitan France, Corsica is also designated as a territorial collectivity (collectivité
territoriale) by law. As a territorial collectivity, Corsica enjoys a greater degree of autonomy than other
French regions; for example, the Corsican Assembly is able to exercise limited executive powers.
* Quebec (/kwɪˈbɛk/ (About this sound listen), /kɪ-/; French: Québec [kebɛk] (About this sound listen))[9]
is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of
Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay; to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava
Bay; to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and to
the south by the province of New Brunswick and the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and
New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is
Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of
Nunavut is larger. It is historically and politically considered to be part of Central Canada (with Ontario).
Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada, after Ontario. It is the only one to have a

predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Most
inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the
capital.

Island Of Corsica

Part Of Quebec, Canada

Falklands