Phrasal verb
keep at
Definition
phrasal verb. to continue doing something difficult or boring without stopping.
phrasal verb. to persist in a course of action or a specific task despite difficulty, fatigue, or lack of immediate progress.
Examples
“Learning guitar is hard, but you must keep at it.”
“If you keep at your studies every night, you will eventually pass the exam.”
“The researchers decided to keep at the experiment for another year, hoping that a larger data set would finally yield a significant result.”
Examples
simple
“Learning guitar is hard, but you must keep at it.”
contextual
“If you keep at your studies every night, you will eventually pass the exam.”
complex
“The researchers decided to keep at the experiment for another year, hoping that a larger data set would finally yield a significant result.”
Usage
usually followed by 'it' or a noun phrase representing a task or goal.
Teaching tip
contrast with 'keep on' (which focuses on repetition of an action) versus 'keep at' (which focuses on persistence with a specific task).
Pitfall
You should keep at to practice.
You should keep at it.
the phrase requires a noun or pronoun object; it cannot be followed directly by an infinitive verb.
Phrasal verb
Particles
at
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
keep + at + object