To get an overview of the productivity of this type of combination, view the table below by Francis (1958) containing eight verbs and three short adverbs. The combining of each verb with each short adverb will yield a total of 24 new phrasal verbs. For example, the verb make yields make out, make up, and make over.
make
take
put
throw (out)
hold (up)
give (over)
get
play
Components of Phrasal Verbs
The number of verbs that can form phrasal verbs in English is limitless. But the number of short adverbs and prepositions that can accommodate this structure is much smaller. They include more or less the words in the two columns below, most of which serve as both adverbs and prepositions:
Short Adverbs, Prepositions
about, about
across, across
around, around
down, down
by, by
in, in
off, off
on, on
out, out
over, over
through, through
to, to
aside, at
away, for
back, from
together, of
into