An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. Today we are looking at another phrasal verb with the extremely common verb 'to get', namely 'get out'. It is likely that you are already familiar with this phrasal verb as it is frequently used by native speakers and in this post we will look at the various different meanings that it has in English, as well as the numerous expressions in which it makes an appearance. So without further ado, let's get started.... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'get out' 😊 TAKE OUT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings ​7 Past tense forms Got out / Got out - gotten out Separable? Sometimes MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To leave an enclosed or internal space The imperative 'get out!' To remove something To become publicly known To say something To go places and enjoy yourself To avoid a job, duty or task To feel the benefit of something Common idioms featuring 'get out' THE BASICS Photo: Pexels By way of an introduction to 'get out', let's first examine the words that it consists of and what they mean individually.... As a result of its many different meanings and high frequency of use, the verb 'to get' is one of the verbs that causes English learners the most headaches. You only need to listen to a conversation between native speakers for a couple of minutes to realise just how common it is. Luckily, we can forget about most of the meanings for this post as the relevant one for the phrasal verb 'get out' is 'to reach or arrive at a particular place'. What time will we get to London? Sarah got home late last night. The prepositional particle 'out' also has many meanings in English and can be used to express a large amount of different ideas and concepts. In this post we will focus on just one, namely 'to move from inside something to outside of it'. which leads us nicely to the first meaning of 'get out'.... MEANING 1: To leave an enclosed or internal space Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To leave, to vacate, to exit, to go out Separable? No If you are ever in a situation where an English-speaking person approaches you and tells you to 'get out!', you can be sure that they want you to leave the room or building. This is because perhaps the most common meaning of the phrasal verb 'get out' is this first one, which is 'to leave an enclosed or internal space'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... House / Room / Building Car Way Debt Road In this initial application, 'get out' is more of a literal meaning of the combination of 'get', referring to reaching or arriving at a place, and 'out', in the sense of no longer being inside something. In other words, it means to leave somewhere enclosed and end up outside of it. When used in this way, 'get out' tends either to be used in affirmative sentences with a modal verb, such as 'have to' or 'need to', or with 'let's' when offering a suggestion. I don't think that this building is very safe, let's get out of here. You shouldn't be in this room. You need to get out now! The teacher told me to get out of the classroom. It was too hot in that pub; I had to get out get some fresh air. Moreover, in negative sentences, it is often used to express when we are not able to leave somewhere or have difficulties leaving and is therefore often found in collocation with 'can't' or 'couldn't'. Helen has accidentally locked herself in her bathroom and can't get out. Arthur the cat got in the box and refused to get out of it again! My grandfather finds it difficult to get out of the bath. When I was younger, I was locked in my bedroom and I couldn't get out. Just to make things a bit more complicated, the use of 'get out' is not just limited to places that we are physically inside, but can also be used for any nouns with which we use the preposition 'in' without physically being inside them, such as way, road, trouble or debt. You need to follow these steps if you want to get out of debt. I will get of your way and let you do your work. How are you going to get out of this terrible situation? Please get out of the road. It's not safe to play there. Photo: Pexels THE IMPERATIVE GET OUT!! Moreover, as you can see from the examples above, 'get out!' is very useful in its imperative form and is therefore used very commonly in certain situations. However, I do think that this imperative form is somewhat negative in nature and can often come across as rude, impolite or even threatening. Nonetheless, sometimes it is necessary to use it, in order to prevent a problem or dangerous situation from happening as no other expression works as well in these situations. Get out of my way! What are you doing in my house? Get out or I will call the police! Get out right now! I don't want to see you here ever again! Get out of my pub! MEANING 2: To remove something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Advanced ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to pull out, to take out Separable? Yes This second meaning of 'get out' is actually very similar to the first meaning and is just a change in perspective from ourselves to something else. In the previous meaning, we talked about how it means to leave or exit an interior space and for this one we are removing something else from an interior space, i.e. an object or thing which we want to move so that it is no longer inside something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Nouns for food and drink Phone Books Plates / Glasses Photos Firstly, on a grammatical note, the main difference between this meaning and the previous one is that it is transitive and therefore needs a direct object, which needs to be placed between 'get' and 'out'. We tend to use this application for two reasons, with the first one being to remove something or someone from an internal space as we do not what it or them to be in there. Again, this usage stretches to cover any nouns for which we use the preposition 'in' and does not only refer to enclosed places or spaces. Can you get the spider out of the bath please? I've dropped my wedding ring down the sink and I can't get it out! The dog fell into the swimming pool and the lifeguard had to jump in and get it out. A wasp landed in my glass of wine and I was not sure how to get it out. Other, less obvious, things that you may want to get out from somewhere are ideas and songs from your head or stains and dirt from clothes and surfaces. Ever since you told me that story, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. This is song is too catchy. I can't get it out of my head!! Despite several washes, I have been able to get these grass stains out of my favourite jeans. Karen scrubbed the wall to get the dirt marks out. Furthermore, we can also apply this usage to people and 'get someone out'. Here, the direct object is a person, in which case it is used to mean either of the following... to help someone who is trapped or stuck in something to escape. to enable someone to escape from somewhere such as prison or captivity. Roger got Helen out of the bathroom by breaking down the locked door. Sarah believes that her husband was wrongly jailed and has been trying to get him out for years. Help, I'm locked in the bathroom. Can someone please come and get me out! The second reason that we use this application is in order to take something out of storage in order to use or consume it. The wine glasses are in that cupboard. Could you get them out for me? Can you get the ice cream out of the freezer please, I really want some. Andrew, would you mind getting the extra chairs out of the cupboard so that our guests can sit down. The cats need to go to the vets later, so I've got the carrier out of the cupboard. Is anyone hungry? I'll get some snacks out if you are. Whenever I visit my parents, they always get the photos of when I was a child out to show to my partner. Photo: Pexels EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE It is also possible to use a reflexive pronoun ('myself, yourself, etc.) as the direct object when talking about physically removing ourselves from an interior space or, perhaps more commonly, from a situation that we are in. I don't know how long it is going to take for me to get myself out of debt. Lisa got herself out of a toxic relationship last year and is now much happier. MEANING 3: To become publicly known Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To publish, to spread, to leak Separable? Yes The next meaning of 'get out' that we will consider means 'to become known'. This is not in the sense of becoming famous, but rather when secret or previously private information becomes known to people. Nouns commonly used with this application.... News Story Information Details Secret I think logically this application makes sense as we are talking here about private or censored information, which has 'escaped' and is 'out' of its imaginary confinement, meaning that it is now free and available to everyone. It is very common for this usage of 'get out' to be heard with the word 'word' instead of 'information'. Another way that you might come across this usage is in the construction 'it got out that...'. See the below examples. Somehow the secret about Helen's private party has got out and now everybody wants to come. We need to keep this from the press. If word gets out about this, it will destroy our reputation. Despite our best efforts to keep it a secret, the news of our engagement eventually got out. Once the truth got out, the company had no choice but to issue a public apology. Ryan was furious when he realised that his personal information had got out. Rumours about the celebrity breakup got out before the couple could make an official statement. The politician tried to cover up the scandal, but the word got out to the press. MEANING 4: To say something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To say, to speak, to spit out, to utter Separable? Yes Our fourth meaning of 'get out' is 'to say something' and is actually often used when we are not able to speak. When we use this application, we are referring specifically to language and the words that we use. 'To get words out' is just a lengthy way of saying 'to say'. We tend to use this application when the words that we are trying to say are difficult for some reason, meaning that we struggle to say them or we are not able to say them at all. This could be because you are physically unable to say the words due to a medical condition or it could be through stress or worry that you may offend someone or cause an argument. In spoken English, you are likely to hear this usage in the expressions 'get the words out' or the simpler version 'get it out'. Ben was so shocked by the news that he could barely get any words out. Emma took a deep breath and finally got the words out. I was struggling to get the words out through my tears. It was difficult, but he managed to get out the right words and his Mum hugged him. I knew Steve had something to say, but he just couldn’t seem to get it out. Becky stammered a few times before finally getting it out. Mike tried to explain, but he couldn’t get it out properly. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I just couldn’t get it out. Photo: Pexels EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE If we are ever in a situation where we want someone to give us information that is secret or withheld and the person is unwilling to give it, we can say that ' we are unable to get it out of them '. We only tend to use this expression when the information is not given freely by the person to begin with and so we need to encourage or pressure them to share it with us. The detectives questioned the suspect for six hours about who committed the crime but they were unable to get it out of him. My brother refused to tell me what my parents had got me for my birthday but I got it out of him in the end. MEANING 5: To go to places and enjoy yourself Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To go out Separable? No This next usage of 'get out' means to leave your house in order to go to places and have enjoyable experiences. It is quite similar to the phrasal verb 'go out', meaning to leave your house and / or socialise with people, however whilst we can use 'go out' to talk about specific times e.g. " I go out every Friday night ", we cannot use 'get out' here. The reason being is that this application of 'get out' is normally used to talk in a general way, rather than about specific instances. In other words, we use it to refer to the idea of going out to different places, rather than a specific time when you go to the cinema or to the beach. In terms of usage, this application of 'get out' tends to be used mostly in negative sentences and occasionally in questions. Moreover, from this, we get the common expression " I don't get out much ", which is often used in a humorous way when someone does something embarrassing or awkward in a social situation and they want to be self deprecating. Moreover, it is also quite common to add the additional words 'and about', giving us ' to get out and about' , which gives the added implication that the person moves around from place to place. Ever since I've had a baby, I've not got out much. You need to stop playing computer games and get out and about a bit more! After being stuck inside all week, I finally got out for a walk. Beth doesn’t get out much because of her busy work schedule. I need to get out of the house and clear my head. We decided to get out and explore the city over the weekend. It’s important to get out and about and meet new people. Now that the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, everyone is eager to get out again. If it's nice, I might get out for a walk later. MEANING 6: To avoid a job, duty or task Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To avoid, to shirk Separable? No I've purposely left these last two meanings of 'get out' to the end as they both require the additional preposition 'of' to achieve their meaning. Nouns & gerunds commonly used with this application.... Meeting Job / Work Housework / Chore Party Going / Working / Doing The first of these two means 'to avoid doing a job, duty or task that you are supposed to do'. This could be work, a social engagement, an event that you have been invited to or an action that you have to carry out. The idea here is that another person wants (or expects) you to do something, but you don't want to, so therefore you need to find an excuse for not doing it. On a grammatical note, this application of 'get out of' is either followed by a noun or by the a verb in its gerund ('ing) form. I'm so sorry that I can't come to your party tomorrow. I have an important work meeting and I can't get out of it. Is there any way you can get out of going to the the theatre tonight? Peter always finds a way to get out of doing the housework. Natalie pretended to be sick to get out of going to the meeting. I can’t believe you managed to get out of that boring family dinner! Bill tried to get out of paying the bill, but they caught him. Trudie made an excuse to get out of helping with the project. I wish I could get out of working this weekend but there's no way I'll be able to. Richard used a fake emergency to get out of a date that wasn't going very well. MEANING 7: To feel the benefit of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced ​Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To get pleasure from, to take pleasure in, to delight in Separable? Always This final usage of 'get out' that we will cover also requires the additional preposition 'of' and means to feel the benefit of doing something'. In other words, to obtain something good or positive as a result of performing an action. Another way that we could say this is 'to get something out of something'. Most frequently, this refers to a good feeling, burst of energy or pleasure that we get after performing an action. Some people, including me, get this from doing exercise, while others may get a lot out of giving presentations at work or helping to look after sick people. I don’t think Andrew got much out of the book because he wasn’t really paying attention while reading it. I still do yoga every day because I get a lot out of it. I quit my part time job as I stopped enjoying and apart from the extra money, I wasn't getting much out of it. This pleasurable sensation is sometimes called a 'buzz' or a 'kick', which gives us the common expressions 'to get a kick out of something' and 'to get a buzz out of something, which both mean 'to get a good feeling as a consequence of doing something'. My boss is so rude and horrible to all of us. I swear he gets a buzz out of it. I get a kick out of teaching English and watching their skills improve. My mum volunteers with a charity for elderly people and she really gets a kick out of helping them. In addition to positive feelings, this application of 'get out' is also used to talk about benefits and positive things that we get after as a result of doing something. These can range from knowledge and skills to confidence and peace of mind and I sincerely hope that you English learners get a lot out of my posts! Amy really got a lot out of that leadership seminar; it really boosted her confidence and skills. You’ll get more out of the course if you actively participate in discussions. I always get a sense of peace out of meditation—it helps me relax. They got so much out of their trip to Japan, both culturally and personally. Photo: Pexels IDIOM ALERT! Before we wrap up this blog post, there are a few very common expressions with 'get out' that I want to cover..... To get something out of the way - We use this expression when we have to do something unpleasant, boring or stressful in the future and we want it to be over, so that we can stop worrying about it. It could also be used in situations when we are looking forward to something and we want the time to pass quickly between now and then. Examples of this could be when you have a work meeting planned, which you are worried about and you want it to be over so that you can relax. Another would be that you are going on holiday next week, so you just want this week at work to pass quickly. I just need to get today out of the way and then I can go on vacation! Sandra can't wait to get her Dad's funeral out of the way, so she can begin to move on. To get out of hand - If a situation gets out of hand, it means that it has become difficult to control or it has become uncontrollable. The party was going well until a few people got too drunk and things started to get out of hand. A get-out clause - This is something that is often written into official agreements and contracts with the purpose of allowing someone to get out of doing something if a certain situation occurs. This is often used in business English but has also found its way into colloquial everyday English too. Is there a get-out clause in this contract? Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'set back' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained, we are focussing on the much overlooked phrasal verb 'set back'. In the post, I will explain three different applications that it has in English and provide you with lots of examples of each one in context. So, sit back (not set back 😉), relax and let's get started! Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'set back'. SET BACK: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Set back / Set back Separable? Yes MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To put something a distance away from something else To delay the progress of something The noun 'setback' To cost someone an amount of money Photo: Pexels THE BASICS The phrasal verb 'set back' is formed by combining the verb 'to set' with the prepositional particle 'back' and before we look at the different meanings that it has as a phrasal verb, let's first consider the meanings of these individual words. The word 'set' is distinguished in English as having the most meanings and uses in the entire language. To give you an example, when 'set' is used as a verb, it has more than 30 different uses and meanings! This may seem like a lot but many of them are very specific and I can guarantee that most native speakers do not use all of them. The definition of the verb 'to set' that you should be aware of for this post is 'to put something in a specific place or position'. John set the vase carefully on the table. The teacher set the books in a neat pile on her desk. We set the chairs around the dining table ready for dinner. The jeweller set the diamond into the engagement ring. Roger set his suitcase by the door, ready for his trip. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'back', which is primarily used to describe the notions of reversing or returning and both of these ideas are carried across into the phrasal verbs that it appears in (e.g. give back and turn back). Additionally, it can also add the ideas of delay ( hold back ) and resistance (fight back) to phrasal verbs. You should also note that when 'back' functions as an adverb, it can mean 'at a distance away from something' and this meaning will be key to understanding the first meaning of 'set back' that we will cover. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'set back'.... MEANING 1: To put something a distance away from something else Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To tuck away, to put back, to place at a distance Separable? Yes The first application of 'set back' that we will cover in the post is the literal meaning that we get when we combine the two words 'set' and 'back', which is 'to put something a distance away from something else'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... House / Building Fence Table / Chair Road / Street Wall We use this first application when we are talking about two different things and their spatial relation to one another. To put it another way, let's use an example and imagine that we have an object (X) and we want to talk about where it is situated compared to a second object (Y). If we take the meanings of the individual words that we looked at earlier, we arrive at the idea of placing or putting something (object X) at a distance away from something else (object Y). I should add here that the "distanced" object (X) is often considered to be in the background somewhere. Most commonly, you will will come across this literal application in reference to houses, buildings and man-made structures and their distance from a road or another place of interest such as a river or another building. It is important to note that the additional preposition 'from' is normally required to specify place Y. However, if the context is clear enough, specifying it may not be needed as it might have already been mentioned or is understood. The architects set the new library back from the street in order to create a spacious front garden. The builders set back the fence a few feet to comply with zoning regulations. We set the dining table back from the fireplace to make room for more seating. The developers set the apartment complex back a few more metres than originally planned to reduce noise from the busy road. Helen set back the chairs from the edge of the balcony for safety reasons. One other very common way that this application is used is in a passive sense when we talk about one place being situated a distance away from another. In some cases, 'set back' can function as an adjective here. The house is set back from the main road, providing a quiet and private environment. The new shopping centre is set back from the street to allow space for a large car park. The mansion was set back behind tall trees, making it barely visible from the entrance. The restaurant is set back from the beach, giving diners a peaceful view without the noise of the waves. The office building is set back a few metres from the pavement to create a welcoming entrance space. MEANING 2: To delay the progress of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To hinder, to impede, to delay, to obstruct, to hamper, to hold up Separable? Yes The second application of 'set back' is definitely the most commonly used of its three meanings and is simply 'to delay the progress of something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Project Plan Efforts Negotiations We are all very busy people with busy lives and many of us have plans and projects that are in progress, whether that be projects at work, wedding plans or efforts to lose weight and improve our fitness. As you will be aware though, life isn't always fair or on our side and oftentimes our plans and projects get delayed for reasons that are usually outside of our control. When these delays occur, we can use the phrasal verb 'set back' to describe them. This is often a time delay, used when the expected readiness or finish date of something is postponed. The project has been set back several times due to financial issues. The company’s expansion plans were set back due to financial difficulties. The loss of the crucial funding has set the development of the new vaccine back and we are now not sure when it will be ready. In addition, it can also be used for when plans do not go smoothly and we need to make changes and amendments to deal with unexpected situations that arise. Adam's ankle injury during training set him back just before the big match. The train strikes have set the government’s efforts to improve public transport back. Many people say that the new government's legislation has set back the rights of many minority groups. Moreover, when we use this application of 'set back', we want to let people know how late something is going to be as a consequence and it is common to use this with the preposition 'by' + the length of the delay. The unexpected storm set back the construction project by several weeks. We are very sorry to announce that a technical glitch has set back the product launch by at least a month. I had a bad cold, which set me back by a day or two, but my thesis is now ready to be submitted. Note that this application is a separable one and I would say that native speakers use it both separably and inseparably in roughly equal measure. Photo: Pexels THE NOUN 'SETBACK' At this point in the post, it is a really good idea to mention to you that the noun 'setback' also exists and is used just as much, if not even more commonly, than this second phrasal verb meaning. A setback is quite simply a hurdle or obstruction that delays or prevents a procedure or process. It can also be used to describe something bad that happens in your life and stops you from living the way that you wish to or doing something that you want to do. Her knee injury was a major setback for the athlete just before the championship. The project faced a serious setback when the funding was unexpectedly cut. Despite the early setback, the team managed to recover and win the match. The economic downturn was a significant setback for small businesses. Losing the court case was a major setback for our campaign. EXERCISE : Can you change the example sentences above from the noun 'setback' to the phrasal verb 'set back'. Write your example sentences in the comments section at the end of the post. MEANING 3: To cost someone an amount of money Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To cost, to fetch, to come to, to knock back, to be worth Separable? Always The third and final meaning of 'set back' is all about cold hard cash and means 'to cost someone an amount of money'. This application is an informal one that is always used in a separable way with the structure 'to set someone back + an amount of money'. As you will note, the name of the person who is to pay the cost or a pronoun needs to go between the words 'set' and 'back'. While this application can be used to talk about the cost of anything, it is common to use it when the amount of money that someone has to pay for something is high or surprisingly high or perhaps just when you want to complain about the high cost of something that you have bought. The luxury cruise around the Caribbean set me back nearly £5,000! If you want to upgrade to the latest smartphone, it will set you back at least £1,200. The repairs to Luke's car set him back a small fortune. Buying a house in London can easily set you back half a million pounds. That designer handbag set Simone back a few hundred quid. A meal at that fancy restaurant will set you back at least £100 per person. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'set back'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'set back'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'bring up' from a native speaker, with lots of example sentences Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'bring up', which has very varied and diverse meanings, especially compared to some of the recent phrasal verbs that I have covered such as ' look at ' and ' take over '. In this post we will consider the different meanings that it has and also look at some common expressions that it is used in. So let's not beat around the bush* any longer and let's get started.... *'To beat around the bush' is an idiom that means to talk about things that are not important and not get to the point. Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'bring up' 😊 BRING UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings ​7 Past tense forms Brought up / Brought up Separable? Yes MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) Literal To raise a child To introduce a topic into a conversation To vomit To cause to appear on a screen To come to a sudden stop To update or improve Idiom: To bring up the rear THE BASICS Photo: Pexels As I mentioned at the beginning, 'bring up' is a phrasal verb with very diverse meanings and consists of the verb 'to bring', meaning to take something to a place with you, and the prepositional particle 'up', meaning a movement in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. I know from experience of teaching English that the verb 'to bring' can often be confused with the related verb 'to take'. The difference between these two verbs is mainly to do with the position of the speaker and the direction of movement. Both verbs can mean to carry something to a place. If the object is carried towards them, we use 'to bring' and if the object is carried away from where they are when they are speaking, we use 'to take'. Can you bring me some water please? (Here the speaker is not moving and wants the water to come to them, where they are speaking.) I will take some sandwiches with me to work tomorrow. (Here, the speaker is going to move from where they are speaking to go to work and the sandwiches will go with them.) The above is just a brief overview of the differences between these two verbs and more detailed explanations are available elsewhere online. I just wanted to make you aware of the main differences here before we look at the phrasal verb meanings. So, without further ado, let's check them out.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take up, to bring, to take Separable? Yes To start things off, let's consider the literal meaning of the phrasal verb 'bring up', which is commonly used by native speakers to express the idea of transporting something to a place that is relatively higher than where they are. This application is typically used when someone is upstairs in a house or building or in a higher physical position than the person who they are talking to and they want him or her to bring them something. Could you bring up the boxes from the basement? I've asked Mike to bring up my suitcase to the attic. Linda brought up the laundry basket from the ground floor. The waiter brought up the food to our hotel room. We need to bring up the chairs from the storage room for the party. On a grammatical note, one thing to note here is that we normally insert the object pronoun such as me, him, her, them etc. between 'bring' and 'up'. I think this literal meaning is quite easy and straightforward to understand, so we'll move on to the next meanings but before we go, here are a couple of examples to illustrate usage.... Can you bring me up some water when you come to bed? As it is your birthday tomorrow, I will bring you up some breakfast in bed. MEANING 2: To raise a child Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To raise, to rear Separable? Yes The first non-literal meaning of 'bring up' that we will consider is similar to the common phrasal verb ' grow up ', but while 'grow up' simply refers to the process of growing from a child to an adult, we use 'bring up' to talk about how our parents (or primary caregivers), actively look after and teach a child during the growing up process. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Son / Daughter Child / Children Kid Grandson / Granddaughter / Children This can be used to talk about where we lived during our childhood, as well as the beliefs and values that we were taught during this time. It is used by native speakers commonly in both an active and a passive sense alike. In the active sense, we are talking about the parents or caregivers who are the subjects of the verb and in the passive sense we talk about ourselves or other people and what was taught and experienced during the growing up process. My parents brought me up to always say please and thank you and to treat everyone with respect. He was brought up in an orphanage and never knew his birth parents. Lisa managed to bring up four children all by herself after her husband tragically died. Mary worked hard to bring up her children on her own. John and Sue brought up their kids to be kind and respectful. Parents should bring up their children with good values. My friend was brought up in a strict household. Photo: Pexels EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE.... Did you know that there is a noun that is derived from this application of 'bring up'? The noun 'upbringing' is used to refer to how a person was treated, educated and shaped when they were growing up, or in other words, how they were brought up. I had a very strict upbringing and so I have tried to be a little more relaxed with my own children. What was your upbringing like? Kathy's strict upbringing instilled in her a strong sense of discipline and responsibility. Despite his humble upbringing, Jason worked hard and became a successful entrepreneur. In addition to this useful noun, there are also a couple of other expressions that feature this usage of 'bring up' that I want to make you aware of.... Were you brought up in a barn? This rhetorical question is a variation of " Were you born in a barn ?" and is used to criticise someone who leaves a door open in a room, particularly if it is cold or draughty. Were you brought up or dragged up? This is another rhetorical question which can be aimed at someone who doesn't behave well, implying that their parents did not teach them how to behave properly when they were growing up. Both of the above expressions are normally used in a humorous way and are not meant to cause offence, however it could be offensive if said in an unfriendly way, or if you do not have the right sort of relationship with the person, so I would recommend only using this with people with whom you have a good relationship. MEANING 3: To introduce into a topic into conversation Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To introduce, to raise, to mention Separable? Yes Our next meaning of 'bring up' is very different to the previous one that we've just looked at and means 'to introduce a topic or subject of discussion into a conversation'. Nous commonly used with this application.... Subject Topic Point Argument Issue The idea behind this is that the person who brings the subject up, does so intentionally, i.e. the subject did not enter into the discussion by chance but because somebody wanted to discuss it. (By the way, if a subject enters into a conversation naturally, then the phrasal verb 'come up' (link here ) would be applicable.) This can be heard often in business English, especially in reference to meetings and agendas for subjects that need to be discussed. It is also equally common to use it outside of the business world, when talking about general conversations or discussions. I've made a note of the issue and I will bring it up at the next management meeting. Why did you have to bring that up in front of my parents?! You know their views on the subject! I didn't want to bring up the funeral yesterday as I could see that you were already upset. Anna brought up an interesting point during the debate. I didn’t want to bring up the argument from yesterday, so I kept quiet. Nick always brings up politics at family dinners. The teacher brought up the importance of time management. Let’s not bring up that embarrassing story again! MEANING 4: To vomit Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Rare Separable Yes Potential synonyms To vomit, to puke, to throw up, to barf, to be sick, to cough up Separable? Yes Out fourth application of 'bring up' means 'to vomit or to be sick'*. Although this is not the most pleasant of meanings, it happens to us all at some point and is therefore worth covering! Nouns commonly used with this application.... Food / Drink Alcohol Blood Bile Phlegm When we use this application of 'bring up', the focus is not so much on the vomiting action itself, but rather on what is being expelled from the stomach and could be for example blood, poison or something that you have swallowed that you should not have. It is also possible to use 'bring up' in this sense with coughing, for example with phlegm. We can also use the more specific phrasal verb 'to cough up' here as a synonym. The baby brought up some milk after feeding. Kate had food poisoning and kept bringing up her dinner. After drinking too much, Jack ran to the bathroom to bring up his drinks. The motion sickness made Marianne bring up her breakfast. The dog was very sick and was bringing up lots of blood but luckily it was not life-threatening and he has made a full recovery now. My 3-year old son swallowed a small toy part but he brought it up again shortly afterwards before any harm was done. *As a side note, don't forget that 'to be sick' in English can mean to have an illness or disease and also to vomit. The context is key here to understand which one we mean. Meaning 5: To cause to appear on a screen Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To open Separable? Yes Our next meaning of 'bring up' is one that has become MUCH more widespread over the last few decades as it is used particularly with IT and computers and means 'to cause something to appear on your screen'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Document Spreadsheet File Picture Website Menu Results This application is normally used when we click on something to open it, such as a document or web page, but is also used extremely commonly when talking about the results of a search on a search engine (naming no names, you know the ones I'm talking about!). If you right click with your mouse, it will bring up a menu. Can you bring up the results of the test on your screen for me? When I looked up the question online it brought lots of irrelevant results up. Press this button to bring up the settings menu. Can you bring up the document on your laptop? Meaning 6: To come to a sudden stop Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stop, to halt, to pull over Separable? Yes This sixth meaning of 'bring up' is a rarer one than some of the meanings that we have already covered and means 'to cause a vehicle to come to a sudden stop'. This is especially used for cars, but could be used for all types of vehicles, including boats, where it is specifically used for dropping an anchor in order to stop it. They decided to bring up the ship in the harbour for the night due to the bad weather. The driver brought up the car just before the red light. IDIOM ALERT! I think that this is a good time to introduce an idiom with 'bring up' that is linked to this particular meaning. The idiom 'to bring someone up short' is a fairly common expression that is used to express when someone stops what they are doing because something has surprised or shocked them. I was having a productive day yesterday until an email from my boss brought me up short. MEANING 7: To update or improve Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To update, to modernise, to improve Separable? Yes This seventh and final meaning of 'bring up' that I wanted to include in the post is when it is used to describe the process of updating or improving something. This is typically expressed by way of two different set expressions: 'to bring someone up to date' and 'to bring someone up to speed'. When we use it to talk about updating (bring up to date), we can mean updating a machine, a product, a building or anything else which can be modernised so that it is as current as possible. Moreover, we can also use it to mean updating a person (bring up to speed), so that they have all of the most recent information about a given topic or situation. A third, rarer, set expression exists with this application, which is 'to bring something up to standard'. This can also be used in reference to improving something (often, incidentally, by modernising it) so that certain standards are met. The interior designers are planning to bring the interior of the castle up to date. I had a meeting with Roger earlier and he brought me up to speed with everything that I missed whilst I was on holiday. The teaching in the school was very poor, so a team was sent there to bring it up to standard. Can you bring me up to date on the latest project developments? The company is bringing its software up to date with new features. Kelly brought the team up to date on the changes in the schedule. I need to bring my knowledge up to date with the latest technology trends. The teacher brought the students up to date on the recent discoveries in science. Photo: Pexels IDIOM: TO BRING UP THE REAR Before I finish the post, I just want to give you a bonus expression featuring our phrasal verb of choice 'bring up'. The expression in question is 'to bring up the rear' and is quite appropriate to have at the end of this post as it means to be the last one of a group or category. This is most often used when talking about the last people in a queue, line or group of people who are going somewhere. The slowest hikers brought up the rear of the group. In the marathon, Jamie struggled but managed to bring up the rear. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on it and reading it. I hope that you found it useful and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'bring up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it with your English-learning friends. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'fall off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. Have you ever heard of the English phrasal verb 'fall off' before? I'm sure that you will have done as it is used fairly commonly in everyday English and in this post, I will explain to you the different ways in which it is used, including idioms and expressions that it features in. In addition, I will give you lots of example sentences in context for each meaning to show you typical situations in which we use it in order to help your English sound more fluent and natural. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'fall off' 😊 FALL OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 2 Past tense forms Fell off / Fallen off Separable? No MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To unintentionally drop towards the ground To decrease Some extra information for you Photo: Pexels THE BASICS Before we delve into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off', let's first consider what the individual words 'fall' and 'off' mean on their own. The verb 'to fall' is a common English verb whose main meaning is to drop from a higher place to a lower one, usually in an uncontrolled way. Furthermore, this meaning can apply to objects and people when they drop or collapse to the ground from an erect or standing position. Among its many other specific uses, one notable meaning of 'to fall' is to refer to something that decreases or becomes lower in some way. 'To fall' is an intransitive verb, meaning that it does not take a direct object, i.e. you cannot "fall something". I will catch you if you fall. Snow has been falling for over six hours now. John fainted and fell on the ground. The number of people going to the cinema has fallen in recent years. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'off', which functions as the natural opposite of the particle 'on' and has a huge number of uses in English, which include the idea of removal of something from a surface, a machine not working, or movement away from a particular place. 'Off' is commonly used in phrasal verb constructions and its inclusion can often imply the ideas of separation (cut off), completion (pay off), departure ( take off ) and deactivation (turn off), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off'.... MEANING 1: To unintentionally drop towards the ground Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fall, to fall out, to tumble off, to come off Separable? No Unlike many common English phrasal verbs, 'fall off' is a relatively easy as there are only two meanings: a literal one and a figurative one. This first application that we will cover is the literal meaning and simply means 'to unintentionally drop towards the ground'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Horse Bicycle / Bike / Motorbike Chair / Table / Worktop Ladder Roof / Balcony For this application, we are not just concerned with the concept of falling, but also we want to specify the place that we fell from. As I mentioned in the Basics section, 'off' is the reverse of the particle 'on' and so logically, before someone falls off something, they first need to be on it. Grammatically speaking, we can therefore use 'fall off' with any nouns that we can say that we are 'on', however of course in reality some of these would sound a bit strange. Arthur (before he fell off the step) If we talk about a person falling off something, typically we are referring to situations in which the unlucky individual unintentionally loses their balance, causing them to fall off the surface that is supporting them. This can also include animals too; one of my cats is very playful and often falls off chairs and surfaces whilst playing with his toys. The little boy fell off his bike and scraped his knee. Be careful while riding this horse— he is very unpredictable and you may fall off if you don’t hold on tight! Arthur the cat fell off the windowsill while trying to catch a bird. Steve lost his balance and fell off his ladder while painting the house. The monkey fell off the tree branch after losing its grip. Of course, 'fall off' can be applied to plants and non-living, inanimate objects too. This is usually when they become knocked or detached from the surface that supports them and then fall towards the ground. The book fell off the shelf when the door slammed shut. One of the wheels fell off Helen's suitcase while she was walking. Tim's hat fell off due to a particularly strong gust of wind. A button has fallen off my coat, and now I need to sew it back on. The picture frame fell off the wall during the earthquake. October is here and the leaves have started to fall off the trees. One other grammar point to note here is that it is possible to use the additional preposition 'of' to specify the surface from which someone or something falls, giving us the construction 'to fall off of something'. This is optional, however, and many native speakers do not use the 'of' version (including me), potentially because it is a bit of mouthful to pronounce 'off of'. Moreover, the 'off of' version does sound a little more American to my ears. The child fell off of the swing while playing at the park. My dog is always falling off of the couch while sleeping. Carly's phone fell off of the table when she accidentally bumped it. MEANING 2: To decrease Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To decrease, to reduce, to lower, to wane, to drop, to plummet, to dwindle, to diminish, to lessen, to drop off, to go down Separable? No The second and final meaning of 'fall off' that we will cover in this post is more of a figurative meaning, however it it still a fairly intuitive one and means to decrease. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Number / Amount Rate / Level Quality / Quantity Temperature Price In the previous application, our focus was on things falling to the ground due to the effects of gravity, however this time we are interested in a different type of falling that has nothing to do with gravitational force. We are now focussing on abstract nouns for things that can be measured by numerical or qualitative values. In other words, things that we cannot touch but we can observe through statistics and graphs. We use 'fall off' here to refer to when something that we can measure gets lower in value, number, quality or intensity. In today's world, we are very focussed on measuring and analysing all types of performance through numbers. Therefore, you can find this usage being applied in many different areas of life, from business and sales to natural phenomena. For example, when the temperature drops for a period of time or during the winter, we can say that 'the temperatures fall off'. Likewise, if you are a website owner, you may notice that the number of visitors to your site gets lower or falls off at certain times of the day. My company's sales usually fall off after the holiday season. Attendance at the gym falls off in the winter months. Phrasal Verb Inc's profits fell off sharply last quarter. The crime rate in London has fallen off since the new policies were introduced. The birth rate in many countries is falling off due to economic concerns. The number of job applications fell off after the company reduced salaries. Food production has fallen off due to poor weather conditions. Donations to the charity fell off during the economic downturn. The amount of traffic to my website fell off after the initial launch. This application does not just cover things that can be measured by numbers but also when there is a perceived reduction in the quality or level of something. Sam's enthusiasm for the project fell off when he realised how much work was involved. Robert's energy levels always fall off when he works long hours without a break The quality of the company's products has fallen off since they switched to cheaper materials. The service in this restaurant fell off after it was taken over by the new owners. CAN WE USE FALL-OFF AS A NOUN? Yes, we can also use 'fall-off' as a noun for this specific application to describe when there is a reduction or decline in the level, rate, or quantity of something. Additionally, the alternative noun 'falling-off' also exists. Whilst both of these can be used interchangeably, 'falling-off' tends to be used more when the fall or decrease is more gradual and less sudden, while 'fall-off' tends to be used for more sudden or abrupt decreases. There has been a significant fall-off in sales since the holiday season ended. A sudden fall-off in investor confidence caused stock prices to plummet. Scientists have noticed a falling-off in air quality due to increased pollution. The business suffered a falling-off in profits after the pandemic. Photo: Pexels SOME EXTRA INFORMATION FOR YOU.... When 'fall off' is used to describe a decrease in this way, it is possible (and common) to use adverbs to modify the decrease such as slightly, sharply, massively or unexpectedly. The company's stock price fell off slightly after the earnings report was released. Our sales fell off sharply after we raised our prices. After the promotional period ended, customer engagement fell off drastically. The number of active users on the platform fell off noticeably last month. Due to the bad weather, attendance at the event fell off considerably. Also, if you want to state that something has experienced a large, sudden or dramatic increase, it is possible to use the idiom ' to fall off a cliff '. After the scandal, the company’s stock price fell off a cliff and it lost 50% of its value overnight. Consumer spending has fallen off a cliff since the start of the economic recession. Sales of the once-popular smartphone fell off a cliff after a competitor released a better model. The public's interest in the TV show fell off a cliff after the main character was killed off. Photo: Pexels A LITTLE BIT MORE FOR YOU! Before I finish the post, there are some other uses and idioms linked to 'fall off' that I want to tell you about. To fall off the wagon One other idiom that features the phrasal verb 'fall off' is 'to fall off the wagon'. We use this expression specifically for people who start drinking alcohol again after having abstained from it (not drunk it) for a period of time. As you may infer from the idea of 'falling', this tends to be used when the person fails in their efforts to not drink, which is not what they had planned or wanted. Every time that Jane attempts to stop drinking, she ends up falling off the wagon. To lose weight When someone does stay on the wagon and manages to stop drinking alcohol for a period of time, one of the things that may happen to them is that they will lose weight. If someone loses a lot of weight, especially in a short space of time, we can say that the weight falls off them. I tried this new diet and the weight just fell off me in weeks. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'fall off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'fall off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'carry on' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post focuses on the phrasal verb 'carry on', which has a surprising number of meanings in English. In this post, I will explain each one and give you lots of example sentences to enable you to master them and impress your English-speaking friends with your amazing phrasal verb skills! So, without further ado, let's get started.... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'carry on' 😊 CARRY ON: KEY INFORMATION For an explanation of the terms in the table, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Separable Sometimes Past forms Carried on / Carried on MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one) Literal meaning To continue To misbehave To behave like nothing has happened To have an illicit sexual relationship Extras: Example sentences, speaking questions and Carry On movies Photo: Pexels THE BASICS Before we carry on with the meanings of 'carry on' (do you see what I did there 😉), let's first take a moment to consider what the individual words 'carry' and 'on' mean on their own. Firstly, we have the base verb 'to carry', which means to hold or support something or someone and transport it (or them) from one place to another. It is a regular verb that is also very frequently found in phrasal verb constructions such as carry on, carry out and carry off. I can't walk anymore, can you carry me? John carried his baby son home from the hospital. Sarah couldn't wave to her friend as she was carrying bags of shopping Who wants to help me to carry this sofa into the other room? Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'on', which is a word that you will all be familiar with as it is extremely widespread in English, with a huge number of different meanings and applications. When used in phrasal verbs, 'on' can convey various meanings, such as continuation ( keep on ), support (count on) and beginning (set on), among others. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's carry on with the post and look at the different meanings of 'carry on'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To bring on, to take on Separable? Yes We are going to start with a rarer meaning of 'carry on' as it is just the literal meaning of the two words combined i.e. 'to move or transport something with you whilst getting or moving on to something'. From my perspective as a native speaker, I would say that the use of this literal version in English is mainly limited to when we take or carry items with us on to public transport. If you have ever flown on an airplane, you may recognise the term 'carry-on luggage', to describe the bags or luggage that you are permitted to take with you to your seat or into the cabin. You should note that this only applies to public transport that we travel on . As English learners, you will know that English prepositions are rarely logical 😵‍💫, and public transport is a good example of this. In many other languages, the preposition 'in' is (logically) used to talk about most forms of public transport, however English is different and we tend to use 'on' for many of these (despite being physically inside!). To help you with this, I have included the table below, which shows which preposition we use for common types of transport: ​ON IN Bus Car Train ​Train carriage Airplane ​Airplane cabin Boat / Ship ​ Tram ​ Subway ​ As a general rule, if you can stand up and walk around on a mode of transport, we use 'on'. If we are not able to stand up and walk around, we say 'in'. You may have also heard the common variation 'to carry onto' being used here. This does mean the same thing, however it simply adds additional emphasis to the movement from the start and end points. From June 2024 all aeroplane passengers will be able to carry two-litre bottles of liquids on planes in their hand luggage. John's leg was broken, so his friends had to carry him onto the airplane. (the use of onto emphasises that his friends carried him from the ground up the steps and onto the plane). MEANING 2 : To Continue Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage ​Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To continue, to keep, to keep on, to persevere, to maintain, to keep going Separable? Sometimes Some of you may be familiar with the expression featured in the photo above "keep calm and carry on" as it is one that often appears on t-shirts, mugs and internet memes. To clarify, in case you are not sure, it means 'to keep calm and continue' as this second meaning of 'carry on' is exactly that. This second application is very common in spoken language and so if you have heard 'carry on' being used before by a native speaker, it is probable that it is this one. Grammatically, when used this way, 'carry on' is normally followed by a dynamic (action) verb, which needs to be in the 'ing' progressive form. Alternatively, it can also be followed by the preposition 'with' + a noun or a pronoun such as 'it' or 'this'. The President carried on answering the diplomat's questions until the end of the meeting. The team have to carry on playing even if it rains or snows. Despite the power cut, we carried on working as we wanted to get the job finished. The horror movie was so scary that I couldn't carry on watching it and had to leave the room. Do you want to carry on with the work tomorrow as it is getting late now? Ok everyone, we will have to carry on with this tomorrow as we are out of time. From my perspective as a native speaker, I would say that 'carry on' is less formal than continue and I would therefore recommend avoiding it in formal writing and official documents. In spoken English however, 'carry on' is perfectly acceptable to use in a business or work environment and is very common in both British and American English. John, can you please carry on working on the project this week because we need to present it to the board of directors next week. Lisa will be leaving the company at the end of the month but she has promised to carry on updating the website until her last day. IS THE IDIOMATIC VERSION SEPARABLE? 'Carry on' is a separable phrasal verb, however English speakers tend not to separate it very often. If the object of the verb is a pronoun, then the pronoun always goes between 'carry' and 'on'. In this case a verb in the continuous 'ing' form is not required. I have temporarily stopped doing yoga but I intend to carry it on after my holiday The most common pronoun with 'carry on' tends to be 'it', but others may be possible depending on the context. Apart from this, there is no difference in meaning if you use it separably or not; this is just at the speaker's discretion. I want to carry on learning English until I can speak like a native speaker. Do you want me to carry on writing this report? We will carry this conversation on later this evening. She first started taking acting lessons when she moved to Los Angeles but she hated it and had no intention of carrying it on. WHAT IF WE WANT TO USE IT AS AN IMPERATIVE? If you want to tell someone to continue what they are doing in the form of a command, "carry on!" is the more natural way to do this. Native speakers will often say this rather than "continue!", which sounds a bit colder and more formal. Alternatively, 'keep going!' is another natural sounding synonym to 'carry on' that you could use to sound like a native. MEANING 3 : To Misbehave Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To act up, to play up, to misbehave, to conduct Separable? No For those learners who want to go the extra mile* to learn as much English as humanly possible, there are another three, rarer meanings of carry on that I want to make you aware of in this post. The first of these means to behave (or to misbehave) in a way that other people disapprove of. This application is very informal is often used to describe people who are a bit too emotional, who talk too much or who get too drunk. Regardless of the particular activity, the idea behind it is that the speaker who is talking about the action is a bit irritated or annoyed by the person's behaviour. Sometimes, the behaviour isn't even specified; the use of 'carrying on' is just used to imply that the speaker disliked the person's behaviour and the listener is free to fill in the gaps! From a grammatical perspective, this usage is always used in the progressive form. She drank too much wine and started carrying on in front of my family. I was so embarrassed! Stop carrying on like a spoilt child and act your age! The neighbours were carrying on loudly all night, and no one could get any sleep. The children were carrying on so much at the restaurant that other diners began to leave. * To go the extra mile is an idiom meaning to make an extra effort in order to do or achieve a goal MEANING 4 : To behave like nothing has happened Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To behave Separable? No In the last section, we looked at how 'carry on' can mean to misbehave or act in a way that people may disapprove of, however in some contexts it can also serve as a synonym for the verb 'to behave'. Specifically, we often use it to describe when a significant change occurs in someone's life but they ignore it and continue to behave in the same way as they did before, often not acknowledging the change or life event. Typical examples of when native speakers would use this would be after receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness, after the death of a close relative or friend or after something stressful or unpleasant happens in general that would ordinarily be very stressful for the majority of people. Conversely, it is also possible to use it for good news, such as winning the lottery, although this is much rarer. When used this way carry on is normally followed by conjunctions 'like', 'as if' or 'as though'. Every time my husband and I have an argument, he carries on the next day as if nothing has ever happened, even if we haven't resolved the problem. Helen has recently been given some very bad news, however she carries on as if nothing ever changed. Simon and Doug carried on as if they hadn't just received terrible news. Jamie carried on as though he hadn't been insulted moments before. Susan carried on like nothing had changed at work, even after the big announcement about her promotion to CEO has been announced. MEANING 5: To have an illicit sexual relationship Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To have an affair, to see one another, to be unfaithful Separable? No The fifth and final meaning of 'carry on' that I want to make you aware of is to have a sexual relationship with someone, normally when it is forbidden or secretive. This is especially true if one or both of the people involved are already in a relationship with someone else or are married. Again, like with some of the other applications of 'carry on', this one is normally used to use in progressive or continuous (ing) tenses. Roger has been carrying on with Helen for several years now and they don't realise that everyone in the village knows about it, including Roger's wife and Helen's husband! We found out last week that Alan has been carrying on with his secretary for years. The gossip spread quickly when people discovered Linda had been carrying on with a married man. SPEAK LIKE A NATIVE: TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW 'TO CARRY ON' IS USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS If you can memorise some of the sentences below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker: If you carry on behaving like that, you will be in trouble (parent to child). I wish I'd carried on.... We didn't like the look of the restaurant so we carried on down the road to the next one. If I'd carried on learning [language] and not stopped, I would be fluent by now. At one point it was so hard and I thought I couldn't carry on but somehow I found the strength. We want to carry on the the traditions of our parents and grandparents. To get there, carry on down this road for [distance] and then turn left / right.... Photo: Pexels QUESTIONS FOR WRITING & SPEAKING PRACTICE: If you have a conversation with a shy person, what is the best way to carry it on when the other person stops speaking? Do you regret not carrying on learning something when you were younger e.g. a language or a musical instrument? Is there something that you started learning or doing when you were younger and had no intention of carrying on with it but which you are still learning or doing today? CULTURE REFERENCE POINT : CARRY ON MOVIES The Carry On movies were a series of 31 British comedy movies that were made between 1958 and 1992. Each movie had a different theme e.g. Carry on Doctor and Carry on Camping, with a separate storyline to the others, but many of the same actors starred in the films. Much of the comedy in the films was tongue-in-cheek* and involved sexual innuendo, word play and mocking traditional British institutions and customs. Some of the humour in the films is now a little outdated but despite this, they continue to be loved and laughed at by many people to this day. To learn more about these, visit this link: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/group/carry_on/ * Tongue-in-cheek means to come across as serious whilst making a joke Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'carry on'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'look into' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. Today's post is all about 'to look into', which is a nice and easy phrasal verb as it only has a relatively small number of meanings. I am sure you have heard at least one of them before, however in this post, I will explain exactly how to use them, with lots of example sentences. So, without further ado let's take a look at them.... Please like and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'look into' 😊 LOOK INTO: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings 2 Past tense forms Looked into / looked into ​Separable? No MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To look inside something To investigate THE BASICS As a starting point for this post, let's take a look at the basics and consider individual component words 'look' and 'into'. Firstly, we have the super common verb 'to look', which has a number of meanings in English, depending on which prepositional particle it is combined with. For this particular phrasal verb, we mean in the sense of directing our eyes in a direction in order to see something. Why are you looking at me like that? John looks around the room. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'into', which I know from my experience with English learners is not the easiest preposition to understand. All you need to remember with 'into' is that is describes a movement to an end point which is inside  something. MEANING 1 : To look inside something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To look at, to look, to peer into, to stare into Separable? No The first of the two meanings of 'look into' is the literal meaning of the combination of the two words, which is simply 'to look inside something'. To clarify, when we use 'to look into' literally, it means to look with our eyes towards the interior or inside of something. The speaker is normally (but not always) on the outside or exterior. We can look into anything that has a physical inside space, such as a house, a hole or a box. A robin was sitting on a tree and looking into my house. The curious cat looked into the box as he knew a mouse was hiding inside it. In addition to anything with an inside space, we can also use 'to look into' with all nouns with which we use 'in'. This includes anything that does not have a physical interior space, but with which we still use 'in', such as light, dark and the future. When I looked into her eyes, I knew she was telling the truth. Looking into the future, the outlook for treatment of the disease is very good. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE #1 It is common to combine 'to look into' with an additional preposition such as down, up or back, in order to add extra spatial information to what you are saying. The additional particle needs to go between look and into, e.g. 'to look up into' or 'to look down into'. Photo: Pexels The cat is looking down into the drain. She looked up into the night sky and was amazed by the amount of stars that she could see. The scientist was looking down into the volcano. I stood on my doorstep and looked back into my house one more time. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE #2 !!! Do not confuse 'look into' with 'look in' !!! Due to their similarity and closeness in meaning it can be very easy to confuse these two phrasal verbs. In some situations this is not a problem because ' look in' can mean the same as 'look into' but ' look in' is used more commonly by native speakers to say that they are searching for something in a place or inside an interior space e.g. in a bag or a in a room. LOOK IN: I can't find my keys! I've looked in my bag and in my room and they are definitely not there! In the above example, it would be incorrect to say "I've looked into my bag and my room " because this would only mean that you looked with your eyes and but did not search inside the room for the keys. MEANING 2: To investigate Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potentia, synonyms To investigate, to scrutinise, to explore Separable? No So now we come to the most common meaning of 'to look into' , which means to investigate or to examine information about a particular situation or problem, in order to establish what caused it or what needs to be done to resolve it. Nouns commonly used with this application: Matter Issue Claim Complaint Possibility Situation This is very common in business English when a problem has occurred and is also something that you may hear the police or other authority figures say when dealing with a problem. We promised the unhappy customer that we would look into the issue that they raised. The school is looking into reports of bullying. The team of top scientists has been looking into the effects of climate change on biodiversity in the region and will publish their findings next week. In terms of formality, I would say that 'look into' is less formal than ' investigate' , however 'look into' is frequently used in business English for things such as establishing what has caused a particular issue to arise. ' Investigate' tends to be used by the police when or in large scale formal investigations, however it is normally possibly to use these words interchangeably without causing any problems. Photo: Pexels SPEAK LIKE A NATIVE! TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW TO 'LOOK INTO' IS USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS BUSINESS: I don't have an answer right now. Can I look into it and come back to you? The [noun] is being looked into. The company is looking into the possibility of [verb + ing]....... I need you to urgently look into the matter and give me your feedback. PERSONAL: When I looked into his eyes, I knew he...... When I looked into the mirror*, I..... When his mother looked into the room, she..... The police are looking into the matter. After looking into it, we decided..... *With a mirror, it is also possible and common to say "look in a mirror". Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on it and reading it. I hope that you found it useful and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'look into'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'come across' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. 'Come across' is a really common English phrasal verb and is a great one for you to master and have in your active English vocabulary. You may have just come across this website online now or you may be a regular visitor but either way, I hope it comes across well! If you did not fully understand the last sentence, do not worry as I will explain all of the meanings of the phrasal verb 'come across' in this article. So, without further ado, let's go.... Please like and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'come across' 😊 COME ACROSS: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click here Usage Common Number of Meanings 3 Separable? No Past tense forms Came across / come across MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To move across something towards someone (literal) To find something unexpectedly To seem Photo: Pexels THE BASICS Before we look at the different ways that 'come across '  can be used, let's first look at the basics and consider its individual component words 'come' and 'across'. Firstly, we have the verb 'to come', meaning to move from a place in the direction of where the speaker is.  Alternatively, we can also use it to refer to movement towards where the speaker was in the past or will be in the future. Are you coming to my party later? John came to work in his best suit today. A red car was coming towards us. The second part of the construction is the prepositional particle 'across', meaning from one side of something to the other. 'Across' does not feature in a great many phrasal verbs but when it does it can add the ideas of discovery, communication and movement, all of which we will cover in this post as we look at the different meanings of 'come across', which we will do now.... MEANING 1: To move across something towards someone (literal) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Separable No Potential synonyms To come over, to cross Having looked at the meanings of the individual words 'come' and 'across', it brings us to our first meaning, which is the literal meaning of the combination of these two words: 'to move across something towards someone'. This could be a road, a field, a city, a room, a bridge a building, or anything else that a person or an object can move across from one side to the other. Remember that in order to use it though, the person or object must be moving towards where the speaker is (or where they were or will be in past and future tenses). Photo: Pexels She came across the room to tell me something. I've come across the city especially to see you. The horse is coming across the field towards me. Although this literal meaning of 'come across' is used relatively often by native speakers, we often use the synonym 'come over' (link here ) instead. So now we have looked at the literal meaning of 'come across', let's now move on to its idiomatic meanings.... MEANING 2 : To find something unexpectedly Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To find, to run into, to discover, to stumble across Separable? No The second meaning of 'come across' that we will cover in this post is perhaps the most common usage of it in English and means 'to find something by chance or by accident'. In other words, to find something without wanting, trying or meaning to do so. Typical nouns that this application is used with: Website Person Video / Image / Picture Book / Article To elaborate, we use this particular application when we want to express that we had no intention of finding what we found. This carries neither positive nor negative connotations; it is simply used to talk neutrally about an experience. As you can see from the table above, it is often used for information as well as sources of information, such as the internet, media or books. It is not uncommon for language learners like yourselves to use it when talking about discovering a new word in the language being learned. I've come across this Greek word and I don't know what it means. Are you able to help me? I was going through my emails today and I came across an important one from my boss that I had missed from last week.               Whilst Roger was studying English grammar earlier, he came across this interesting blog all about phrasal verbs!                                                             Furthermore, we can also use 'come across' to talk about people who we meet and in this sense, we can say that we come across someone, rather than something. In this case, it usually means that we see or meet the person by chance rather than finding them, although this could also be possible in the right context! I came across a man wearing a bright pink tracksuit in the park this morning. As we walked along the beach, we came across a group of surfers. Of course, this usage of 'come across' can be applied in reference to finding physical objects as well.... I've lost my wallet somewhere in the office today. If you come across it, please can you let me know.                                                                                                                                   After my father died, my mother and I were clearing out his things and we came across some old photos of him from when he was a young man. Although it is relatively informal, this application of 'come across' can be used in both business and everyday English and tends to be more commonly used than its non phrasal verb synonyms. In a negative sense, we use it to express that we have not seen or heard of something before and therefore this is typically in the present perfect tense. In my entire career, I have never come across anyone whose behaviour is as bad as yours! Have you ever come across this question in a job interview? MEANING 3 : To seem Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Transitive or Intransitive? Intransitive (no direct object) Separable No Potential synonyms To seem, to appear, to come over The next idiomatic meaning of 'to come across' that we are going to look at in this post has a very similar meaning to the verb 'to seem' and is used to express how someone or something is perceived by another person. This usage is often followed by a noun, an adjective or sometimes both! Adjectives used commonly with this application: Happy Friendly Rude Arrogant Nice Quiet When used this way, the conjunction ' as' should be used before the noun or adjective. You can also use a verb in this construction, however it must be in the gerund form. He comes across as a good guy but in reality he is not at all! The solicitor came across as professional. I John comes across as being highly motivated. It is common for native speakers to use 'come across' when expressing their first impressions of another person, especially if the first impression is a little controversial or negative. Alternatively, it is also used to talk about how someone was perceived in a particular situation, such as giving a presentation. I haven't spoken to my new manager much yet but to be honest he comes across as a bit arrogant! Well done, you have got the job. I have had some really good feedback from the interviewers who said that you came across really well in the interview! I had a date with a guy last night and he came across as a bit strange, so I don't think I want to see him again. In addition, if you really want to use 'come across' in an advanced way, then you should know that we also use it to express how emotions or ideas that are expressed in speech, music or films are felt or perceived by people. Used in this way, there is no direct object and so for this we either require the conjunction ' as' or a noun or adjective to follow afterwards. When the King was talking about the death of his mother, his sadness came across in his voice. He is a passionate teacher and that comes across when he is in the classroom. Photo: Pexels TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW 'TO COME ACROSS' IS USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS If you can memorise some of the sentences below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker: I've never come across [noun] before. I came across your [noun] online He / she comes across as [adjective] / a [noun]. If you go to [place], you're sure to come across....... This is the best [noun] I have ever come across. This is the worst [noun] I have ever come across. Photo: Pexels POTENTIAL IELTS QUESTIONS Describe the most polite person you have come across in your life What type of noise do you come across in your daily life? Discuss some of the most interesting people you have come across in your life Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on it and reading it. I hope that you found it useful and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'come across'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'look at' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. The focus of this post is the phrasal verb 'to look at', which is one that I find that I use a LOT on this blog and so I thought it would be a good idea to give it its own dedicated blog page. In this post we will explore the main meanings of 'look at' and also some typical situations in which it is used by native speakers. So without further ado, let's go..... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'look at' 😊 LOOK AT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Looked at / Looked at Separable? No MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) Literal meaning To examine something To consider something To view from a different perspective THE BASICS Photo: Pexels As is customary in each blog post, let's start by considering the basics.... In this case, we have the main verb 'to look' followed by the prepositional particle 'at'. The verb 'to look' is a very common verb which can be used either to talk about viewing something with your eyes or to talk about how something is perceived when somebody views it. In the first case, the prepositional particle 'at' is required to specify the person or object that we are viewing. 'At' is a preposition with many uses in English, but the meaning that is relevant here is "towards or in the direction of something". See the below examples.... Photo: Pexels The lady looked at the apple. Photo: Pexels The apple looked very fresh. One thing I notice with students is that they often confuse the verb 'to look' with other verbs of vision, such as 'to see' and 'to watch'. If you find it difficult to distinguish between these different verbs, I have put together the table below, which will give you some basic information regarding the differences.... Verb Meaning Example To see ​To perceive or notice something with your eyes. The action is passive. ​I can see a spider on the wall. To look To move or direct your eyes in a direction in order to see something. The action is active. I looked at the spider on the wall. To watch To focus on something and follow it with your eyes for a period of time. This is normally something that moves or changes. The action is active. I watched the spider walking across the wall. Now that we have covered the basics, the first meaning that we will look at should be a piece of cake..... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To glance, to peek, to view, to gaze, to stare, to check out Separable? Only with certain adverbs As you may have seen in the examples in the green table in the last section, we use the preposition 'at' after look, to specify the thing that we focus on with our eyes. This can be used either for when we direct our eyes and attention from one thing to another or it can be used just to talk about focusing on something with our eyes. It is possible to use 'look at' for both short and long periods of time. For short periods of time, potential synonyms could be verbs such as 'to peek' or 'to glance' and for longer periods of time the verbs 'to gaze' or 'to stare' could possibly be used. Regardless of the duration, a key element of 'look at' is that the person or object that we are viewing does not move and we do not need to follow it with our eyes; in that case we would then use the verbs 'to watch' or 'to observe'. Therefore, we do not say " I looked at a movie " or " I looked at the TV ", but rather " I watched a movie " or " I watched TV ". Literally speaking, if you say " I looked at the TV ", it will probably be understood by a native speaker to mean that you are looking at the TV equipment and not watching the programme or movie. Look at these old school photographs! How young do we look?! Helen was looking at her phone and so did not see the hole in the road. What are you looking at? Photo: Pexels EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER You may have seen in the tables above that 'look at' can sometimes be used separably. It should be noted that the object always follows 'at' and cannot be placed between the two words, however there are certain adverbs that we can insert between 'look' and 'at' to modify them. Some of the most common examples of these are: directly, closely & carefully. Alternatively, it is also possible to place these adverbs at the end of the sentence and sometimes before 'look at', but I personally think that inserting the adverb between them sounds better and would help to elevate your sentence. If you look directly at the sun, you will damage your eyesight. Look carefully at the picture and tell me what you can see. MEANING 2: To examine something Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Separable Only with certain adverbs ​Potential synonyms To examine Our next meaning of 'look at' is very much linked to the literal meaning that we have just considered and for all intents and purposes means the same thing. The only difference in this meaning is that we use 'look at' to describe when we carefully and methodically examine something. This is usually with the intention of determining the cause of a problem, finding out the nature of something (what it is) or checking something, such as a document, in order to make sure that it is all correct and in order. As you can imagine, we normally reserve this usage of 'look at' for experts or professionals within a particular field, such as doctors, lawyers or teachers. Your ankle looks really sore, you should get a doctor to look at it. There is something wrong with my car and I've taken it to the garage, so that a mechanic can look at it. I have asked my boss to look at the report I've written before I submit it to the shareholders. Photo: Pexels EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER There are a couple of common variations of this usage of 'look at', which I want to make you aware of. In both cases 'look' is used as a noun and alternative verbs are used: To take a look at something To have a look at something Both of these variations mean the same thing and are also often used to mean 'to examine something' in the same way as described above. Leave this with me, I will take a look at it later today and give you my feedback. Would you mind having a look at my resume? I'm not sure if I have included everything I need. You should note that it is also possible to use these in the literal form, especially when asking someone to direct their attention to something. Come here and take a look at this!! You won't believe it! Have a look at this and tell me what you think! MEANING 3: To consider something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Common Separable Only with adverbs Potential synonyms To consider, to think about The next meaning of 'look at' is to consider or think about something. This is a usage that I use a great deal on this blog, since the whole aim of the blog is to consider and explore phrasal verbs and their meanings and usage. Additionally, I think that it is a further progression of the two meanings that we have already covered in this post. When we use 'look at' in this way, we are talking about directing our thoughts or attention to a particular topic or issue, rather than our eyes. We often use it, like I do on this blog with different phrasal verb meanings, to take something in particular and think about it carefully in order to discuss or write about it. Alternatively, it can also be used to talk about when we consider specific problems or issues and how they can be resolved or when you have to make a decision and are considering different options. One particular way that 'look at' is used here is when we want to give an example in order to justify or support something that we are saying. We often give our initial opinion and follow this by saying " look at XYZ for example". In today's post, we are looking at 'to break down '... We are aware of the problem and we are looking at ways in which we can resolve it as quickly as possible. I looked at Cambridge University as an option for my degree but the entry requirements were too high. John should definitely be the person who gets the manager's job. Look at how good he is at interacting with the other members of the team, for example! MEANING 4: To view from a different perspective Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Separable Only with certain adverbs ​Potential synonyms To view, to see ​Commonly used with Perspective, point of view The last usage of 'look at' on this post is one that does not differ too much from its other usages and is used to talk about viewing something from a different perspective to our own, or from a particular viewpoint. We often use this to "put ourselves in someone else's shoes", in other words, to see something from a different person's perspective in a given situation. Moreover, we can also use it to talk about our own perspective at a different time in our lives, in which case we would often use the 3rd conditional due to the hypothetical nature of the statement. Look at it from my perspective! If you looked at it from Helen's point of view, you might think differently! If I had known this when I was younger, I would have definitely looked at things differently! Photo: Pexels Before finishing this blog post, I want to make you aware of some additional uses of 'look at' that are commonly used by native speakers in everyday English. Not much to look at - If somebody uses the expression that someone or something is "not much to look at", they mean that the person or thing is boring, plain, ugly or lacking beauty. As you can imagine, this can be quite offensive, especially if used to talk about a person, however sometimes it is used to say that something is not aesthetically pleasing but has some other positive qualities. My house is not much to look at f rom the outside but the inside is breathtakingly beautiful! Look at you ! - This short expression is often used to convey surprise at how someone looks or is dressed, usually in a positive way. Wow, look at you Lisa, all dressed up like that. You look beautiful! Would you look at that! - This short expression, which is more common in American English, is used to convey surprise about something negative that has happened. Would you look at that! My car has two flat tyres, how has that happened? We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'look at'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'look at'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'break down' from a native speaker, with lots of example sentences Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained; a blog which aims to help you understand English phrasal verbs in a clear and coherent way, so that you can use them to improve your language level and sound more like a native speaker. In today's post, we are looking at the phrasal verb 'break down', which is very common as both a phrasal verb and a noun. We will take a look at both of these in this post and for each of the different meanings that it has, I will give you lots of example sentences in context to help you understand, learn and use them. So, without further ado, let's get started.... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'break down' 😊 BREAK DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For an explanation of the terms in the table, click here   ​Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Broke down / broken down Separable? Yes MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) To stop working To make into smaller parts To disintegrate to nothing To fail To remove an obstruction with force To start crying BONUS: Breakdown as a noun Further examples of usage Photo: Pexels THE BASICS Before we dive into the different idiomatic meanings of 'break down', it is always a good idea to look at the individual words which form it. Firstly, we have the verb "to break", which is a common verb that has a few different meanings, however the main idea of the verb 'to break' means to stop something working, functioning or existing as it did before. This can be something physical such as a cell phone or a leg, or it can be something abstract such as a promise or an agreement. We then have the prepositional particle 'down', which as an adverb means to be in a lower position or place ⬇️ and as a preposition means to move from a higher place to a lower place. So, now we have that part out of the way, let's look at the different idiomatic meanings that we have when we combine these words to form our phrasal verb 'break down'. MEANING 1: To stop working Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Separable? No Potential synonyms To break The first meaning of 'break down' that we will look at in this post is that which means to stop working or functioning. This is used specifically for machinery, equipment and vehicles. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Car Train / Bus / Airplane Machine Elevator / Lift Vehicle In my native speaker brain, this is the first meaning that I think of when I think about the phrasal verb 'break down'. This is probably because it is the most commonly used of all the meanings that we will look at in the post. To be even more specific, you will hear people using this application most commonly in reference to cars that have developed a fault and stopped working. This is normally in the middle of a journey a long way from the person's home and so there is often an element of drama or at least a good story to be told. I was once riding a quad bike that broke down in the middle of the countryside on a Greek island and instead of spending the day relaxing on the beach as I had planned, I spent it trying to get the problem resolved and get back to the hotel 🤦🏻‍♂️....have you ever had any funny experiences breaking down somewhere? Let me know in the comments! Of course, it is not just cars that break down and this usage can also be applied to any vehicles with an engine. Moreover, we use 'break down' to talk about machines that stop functioning too Help! My car has broken down on the side of the freeway! The President's airplane broke down and had to be repaired, so was two hours later departing. The elevator has broken down again; we'll have to take the stairs. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere when the bus suddenly broke down. Our washing machine has broken down and now we have to do our laundry by hand. Kevin's laptop broke down right before the big presentation, so he had to borrow someone else's. If the air conditioning breaks down during summer, it gets unbearable in this heat. One more thing to note here is that the past particle form 'broken-down' is regularly used by native speakers as an adjective to describe a vehicle that is out of order. There is a broken-down vehicle on the side of the road next to the bridge. Engineers were called out to repair the broken-down train. MEANING 2: To make into smaller parts Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage ​Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To divide, to split, to break up Separable? Yes For this second meaning, imagine that you have a really big project that you are working on, which will involve a lot of time and effort. In order to work on this project in an efficient way, it is often a good strategy to separate it into smaller tasks, which you can then work on methodically, in order to complete the main project. Another way of describing this action is to break it down into smaller tasks and that is precisely what the second meaning of 'break down' is. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Steps Tasks Segments Parts Chunks If we put it another way, this application of 'break down' means to take something large or complex and make (or break) it into smaller parts, so that it can be dealt with or managed more easily and efficiently. Typical usage of this second meaning of 'break down' is with complex questions, big projects and procedures, in other words things that contain many different parts and sections. In addition, it is also possible to physically break something down into smaller pieces, e.g a cardboard box or some flatpack furniture. Note that when using this meaning we require the additional preposition 'into' followed by the noun to describe the smaller parts that are the end result of the 'breaking down' process. In order to effectively answer this complex question, we need to break it down into smaller subsections. The process will be a lot smoother if you can break it down into small and manageable steps. I had to break the large box down into smaller pieces, so that it would fit inside bin. The teacher broke down the complex topic into smaller sections, so the students could understand it better. Can you break down this report into bullet points for easier reading? Let’s break down the project into manageable tasks to make it less overwhelming. The data was too complicated, so Linda broke it down into simple graphs and charts. Emma broke the recipe down into step-by-step instructions for beginners. MEANING 3: To disintegrate to nothing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To disintegrate, to rot, to decompose Separable? Yes Our third meaning of 'break down' is very similar to the second meaning that we have just looked at and also means that something gets smaller. The difference here however is that in this meaning the pieces continue to get smaller and smaller until they disappear or stop existing. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Chemical Protein Plastic This meaning is normally one that you will hear in scientific language as it is used for things like chemicals, proteins and elements. Another key difference between this third meaning and the second meaning is that there is no direct object here as nobody is making or causing the thing to break down - it happens naturally or at least without human intervention. We can also use this to describe the sometimes unpleasant but totally natural process of decomposition or rotting that happens to all living things after they die. Proteins breaks down into glucose in the body. Plastic breaks down in the oceans, however it is an extremely long process. The dead leaves will eventually break down and enrich the soil with nutrients. Scientists are studying new ways to help biodegradable materials break down faster. Over time, the old wooden fence began to break down due to constant exposure to rain and sunlight. MEANING 4: To fail Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To collapse, fail Separable? No For meaning number four of the phrasal verb 'break down', we are returning again to the core meaning of the verb 'to break', as well as the first meaning that we looked at. Like both of these, this fourth usage also means to stop functioning, but the difference here is that we are not talking about physical objects, but rather abstract ideas and concepts. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Relationship / Marriage Negotiations Discussions / Talks It is extremely common to use 'break down' in this way with abstract nouns such as relationships, discussions, and negotiations when they fail, are not successful or do not work out as originally planned. Discussions between the two political parties broke down on the second day and abruptly ended. Helen and John's marriage broke down when he found out that she had been carrying on with Lisa. The peace talks broke down when neither side was willing to compromise. Our business negotiations broke down due to disagreements over pricing. The discussion broke down after tempers flared and both parties started arguing. The communication broke down between Andy and Simon, and eventually, their friendship faded away. MEANING 5: To remove an obstruction with force Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To knock down, to remove, to demolish Separable? Yes The next meaning that we are going to look at of the phrasal verb 'break down' is reserved especially for obstacles and barriers. If we have something that stands in our way and which we cannot get past, it is possible to use 'break down', to mean to demolish or reduce the barrier by using force, in order to remove it, thus clearing the way for us to continue. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Door Wall Barricade / Barrier Defenses This is often used with physical nouns such as walls, barriers and doors, however it can also be used with abstract barriers such as barriers in society for people who are repressed in some way. The police broke down the door to Roger's apartment. The firefighters had to break down the door to rescue the trapped residents. The soldiers broke down the enemy’s defenses with heavy artillery. She is a trailblazer who has broken down many barriers for women in her industry over the last 40 years. MEANING 6: To start crying Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To cry Separable? No Our sixth and final meaning of 'break down' means to start crying or to become emotional. This is something that we tend to use more for adults, rather than children, as I think it is used more to describe when a person loses control of their emotions due to a stressful or unpleasant experience in their life and it conveys a level of seriousness that we don't always associate with children crying. We do not always use it for sad crying, however it can also equally be used for when we start crying because we are overcome with happy emotions. This form of 'break down' is intransitive and does not have a direct object, so if you hear in a conversation that a person has broken down with no immediate object afterwards, you can be certain that the person is crying or emotional. It is also common to hear the expression 'to break down in tears', however 'break down' on its own is fine to use. Is Steve ok? He just broke down in the middle of the office! John broke down in tears of joy when his son was born. The emotional speech made Janet break down in front of the audience. Luke tried to stay strong, but eventually, he broke down when he realised what had happened. Barbara broke down after hearing the heart-wrenching details of the tragedy. Photo: Pexels EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER You may remember that at the start of the post I mentioned that 'breakdown' is also commonly used as a noun in English. When using it as a noun, we treat it as one word and the pronunciation is slightly different to when we use it in its phrasal verb form. When used as a noun, native speakers put slightly more stress on 'break' and less on 'down' than they do for the phrasal verb form, in which both parts have a similar level of word stress. See the video below to hear the pronunciation: Used as a noun, breakdown is commonly used to talk about cars which have broken down, relationships or negotiations which have failed and you may also have heard of nervous breakdowns, which refer to when people become overwhelmed by stress in their lives. It should be noted that a nervous breakdown is not classed as an official medical term in English and may be referred to by health officials as a 'mental health crisis' instead. Do you have adequate breakdown insurance cover for your car? A breakdown in negotiations occurred as neither side was willing to change their mind and reach a compromise. John is sending me a breakdown of all of the supplier costs from the last month. SAY IT LIKE A NATIVE: TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW 'BREAK DOWN' IS USED If you can memorise some of the below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker. You'll need to use your imagination to complete some of them. My car has broken down ! Let me break it down for you. We need to break the [noun] down into manageable steps. The police broke down the doors. [Person] has broken down many barriers in society. [Person] broke down in tears when.... [Person] broke down in tears in front of.... Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'break down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'take over' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this post we are looking at the phrasal verb 'to take over', which is commonly used in business English and in the workplace. There are several different meanings that we will look at in this post, however as you will see, the overall themes of this phrasal verb are replacement and control. So without further ado, let's get started.... Please  like  and share the post if you find the article useful (I won't know otherwise)! Also, feel free to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence featuring 'take over' 😊 TAKE OVER: KEY INFORMATION For an explanation of the terms in the table, click here   Usage Common Number of meanings ​3 Past tense forms Took over / Taken over Separable? Yes MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) Literal meaning To take control To become the most important or most dominant Some extra information for you Photo: Pexels THE BASICS Our nominated phrasal verb this week consists of the extremely common verb 'to take' followed by the particle 'over'. The verb 'to take' is a widely used English verb which has various meanings, but the meanings that are significant for the idiomatic meanings of the phrasal verb 'take over' are... To voluntarily get or acquire possession of something. To carry or transport something from one place to another. John took the flowers off the table. Can everyone please take a copy and pass them on. My Mum is taking me to the airport today. Please could you take this carton to the warehouse. Like 'take', the prepositional particle 'over' also has a few different meanings in English, including to move across or above a surface (preposition / adverb) and to be finished (adjective). Both of these are relevant to the meanings of the phrasal verb, which we will look at now. When used in phrasal verbs, the particle 'over' can convey different meanings, such as transfer (hand over), excess (boil over), overcoming ( get over ) and thoroughness (read over). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'take over'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To bring over, to take, to take across, to deliver, to transfer Separable? Yes The phrasal verb construction 'take over' is used regularly by English speakers in a literal sense to mean taking something or somebody from one place to another, which the speaker perceives as being across from where they are. The meaning of 'take' which applies here is the meaning 'to carry something or someone from one place to another' and the preposition 'over' then adds a directional element to mean across from where the speaker is. Typical examples of this literal usage could be.... To take a document across an office to another person. To give someone a lift in your car from one place to another. To take something and deliver it somewhere. The main idea here is that someone takes someone or something to another place, which is perceived by the speaker to be across or over from where they are. If the speaker perceives that the other place is below or above them (e.g. on a different floor in a building), it is more likely that they will use "take down" or "take up" instead. In some situations, the verbs 'to deliver' and 'to transfer' both serve as synonyms of this application. When used in this way, it is very common to use it separably with the direct object between 'take' and 'over'. Also, don't forget the preposition 'to' is required to state the end destination. John left his book here when he went back to Australia, so I said I would take it over with me the next time I go. Can you take this file over to the CEO's office and ask her to sign it for me. I am taking Lisa over to her mum's house today as her car isn't working. Sally asked me to take the books over to the library before it closed. I'll take the food over to Grandma's house this evening. They took the supplies over to the shelter after the storm. I've already taken the package over to the post office, so don't worry about it. MEANING 2: To take control Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take charge of, to take control, to take on Separable? Sometimes The first of the idiomatic meanings of 'take over' in this post is certainly the most commonly used among native speakers and means to take or to assume control of something from another person or entity. In the business world the phrasal verb 'take over' is commonly used to talk about when one company purchases or acquires another company and therefore takes control of it. It is also very common to use the noun 'takeover' here instead of the verb. You may have heard the term 'acquisition' before, which is a synonym of the noun 'takeover'. Company X has recently taken over company Y and as a result the share price has gone through the roof. Company Z has recently been taken over and many of its employees have been made redundant. Despite the shareholder's attempts to stop it, the company takeover is still going ahead this month. We also use 'take over' to talk about when one employee in a business assumes another person of authority's job role, in other words they assume a role of responsibility or control from another person. A similar phrasal verb that can be used here is "to take on", however "take over" indicates that the person's new role is one of authority and control e.g. a manager or a director. Don't forget that the preposition 'as' is required here to say what the new role is. A third variation of how 'take over' can be used in the world of business is specifically to do with shift work. In businesses and organisations which operate around the clock (24/7) and in which employees do shift work, we can use 'take over' to talk about when one person's shift ends and another employee starts their shift and replaces them. For this usage, the preposition 'from' is required to talk about the person who you are replacing. Roger is leaving the company next month and so Helen is taking over his role as head of Finance. John starts his shift at 7pm, so he will be taking over from Tim who finishes then. Away from the business world, 'take over' is also used in other contexts and situations to mean to take control of something. Examples could include when one country invades another country and takes control of it or when a person's emotions become too intense and they can no longer control themselves from breaking down or crying. After the accident I was so scared but then my adrenaline took over and I did what I had to do to make sure that everyone was safe. In addition to the usage above, we can also use 'take over' to mean that something or someone becomes dominant in a situation. Good examples of this would be when someone dominates a conversation or when a bossy person starts to give out orders and take control in a situation. This gives us a nice segue into the third meaning, which is very similar. As soon as Helen joined the conversation, she completely took over and nobody else was able to say anything! MEANING 3: To become the most important or most dominant Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To dominate, to become dominant Separable? No So, we have already considered how 'take over' is commonly used to mean 'to take control' and this second meaning is actually very similar to it. Here, 'take over' means to become the most important or dominant in a given category or group. This usage is often seen when talking about lists of the best, worst, biggest, smallest, richest etc and can therefore be seen across many different subject areas as diverse as sport, music and business. 'Take over' is used specifically to talk about when there is a change and someone or something new is in first position, effectively taking over first place in the list. Again, the prepositions 'as' and 'from' are required here in the same way as the first usage above. India will soon take over from Japan as the world's third largest economy. I remember when Manchester United took over as the top football team in the country. Melbourne has recently taken over Sydney as Australia's most populous city. Photo: Pexels EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER An alternative synonym to this second meaning of 'take over' is the verb 'to overtake'. One of the main uses of this verb is to talk about when something takes over something else to become the first in its category, as discussed above. Unlike 'take over' though, when we use 'overtake' we need to have a direct object to state who or what was previously in front and has now been overtaken. The preposition 'as' is still required here but 'from' is not required as we have a direct object. India will soon overtake Japan as the world's third largest economy. Melbourne has recently overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city. The second main use of 'overtake' is used when driving and means to move past a car that is in front of you by driving around it, normally because it is going too slowly. Again, this carries the same meaning as the third meaning of 'take over' i.e. to move past something and be in front of it. The car in front was driving very slowly, so I decided to overtake it. The rules of overtaking in Formula 1 racing are being reviewed. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'take over'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'take over'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END