10.23 intransitive phrasal verbs

Many intransitive phrasal verbs can be used in the passive. The verbs are followed by a preposition and a noun group referring to the thing affected by the action the verb describes. The object of the preposition can be made the subject of the passive form of the verb. The preposition remains after the verb, with no object after it.

• In some households, the man was referred to as 'the master'.
• Two people at the head of the line were being dealt with by a couple of clerks.
• The performance had been paid for by a local cultural society.
• Sanders asked if such men could be relied on to keep their mouths shut.

The following is a list of intransitive phrasal verbs which are quite often used in the passive:

• accede to, account for, act on, adhere to, aim at, allow for, allude to, approve of, ask for, aspire to, attend to, bargain for, bite into, break into, budget for, build on, call for, call on, care for, cater for, count on, deal with, decide on, despair of, dictate to, dispense with, dispose of, enter into, frown upon, fuss over, get at, get round, gloss over, guess at, hear of, hint at, hope for, impose on, improve on, indulge in, inquire into, insist on, jump on, keep to, laugh at, lean on, leap on, light upon, listen to, long for, look after, look at, look into, look through, look to, meddle with, minister to, mourn for, object to, operate on, pander to, paper over, pay for, pick on, plan for, plan on, play with, plot against, point to, pore over, pounce on, preside over, prevail on, prey on, provide for, put upon, puzzle over, reason with, refer to, rely on, remark on, resort to, rush into, see through, see to, seize on, send for, set on, settle on, shoot at, skate over, stamp on, stare at, subscribe to, talk about, talk to, tamper with, tinker with, touch on, trample on, trifle with, wait on, watch over, wonder at, work on

A few phrasal verbs which consist of an intransitive verb, an adverb, and a preposition are used in the passive.

• The farm labourer used to be looked down on.
• I was afraid of being done away with.

The following list contains three-word phrasal verbs used in the passive:

do away with, live up to, look down on, look forward to, look out for, look up to, play around with, talk down to