Fill in the blank with most appropriate phrasal verb:
The teacher asked the students to ___ their assignments.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Correct Answer
hand in
Explanation
The sentence describes a scenario where a teacher is instructing students to submit their completed homework or tasks. To solve this quickly for an exam, differentiate between phrasal verbs that start with the same root verb but mean the opposite.
The phrasal verb "hand in" specifically means to submit or give work (like an assignment, test, or report) to a person in authority, such as a teacher or boss.
Let's look at why the other options do not fit the context:
"hand out" means to distribute items to a group of people (e.g., the teacher hands out the blank worksheets). This is the exact opposite of what the students are doing.
"hand over" means to yield control or give up possession of something, often reluctantly or under duress (e.g., handing over a wallet to a thief).
"hand off" means to pass a responsibility or an item to someone else, commonly used in sports like rugby or American football, or in business projects.
Since the students are submitting finished schoolwork, "hand in" is the correct idiomatic phrase. Therefore, Option 1 is the correct choice.
Key Points
Selecting the correct phrasal verb requires distinguishing between the direction of an action, such as submitting work to an authority versus distributing items to a group.
The phrase "hand in" is the standard educational and professional idiom explicitly designated for the submission of tasks or documents.