An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'back up', with lots of examples in context. Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verb 'back up'... If you are a regular user of computers, which many of you probably are, then the phrasal verb 'back up' is a phrasal verb that you are sure to recognise. However, do you know its other uses and meanings outside of the world of IT? For example, have you ever backed a friend or colleague up when they needed it or have you ever had a problem in your house caused by water backing up? Don't worry if not as in this post I will outline the different ways to use this "supportive" little phrasal verb and explain to you how to use it like a native speaker. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... BACK UP: KEY INFORMATION For an explanation of the terms in the table, click here. THE BASICS To start the post, let's first look at the individual words 'back' and 'up' and what they mean on their own... The English word 'back' will most likely be most familiar to you as an adverb and a noun; giving the idea of a reversing action or a return when used as an adverb and referring to the rear part of something, most commonly the part of the human body between the buttocks and the neck, as a noun. It may surprise you to learn that the verb 'to back' also exists in English and means to give support to something, such as an idea, a project, a plan, a cause or a political candidate or party. As well as that, it has a second, less common, meaning, which is 'to reverse or go backwards'. Regular visitors to my website will be well aware of the usage of the prepositional particle 'up', which is used in phrasal verb constructions to add the idea of an increase or a movement towards a higher place, as well as the ideas of preparation, improvement and readiness, among others. Ok, so now we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the various meanings of the phrasal verb 'back up'.... MEANING 1: To support someone As we have just established, the main meaning of the verb 'to back' is to give support to something and this first meaning of 'back up' is very much linked to it as it also means to support, however it tends to be used slightly differently. When we 'back' something, we are saying that we agree with it and therefore support it in a passive way. However, with 'back up' we tend to take it one step further and give our support in a more active way, even being willing to take over from the person that we are backing up if necessary. An example of this to illustrate it would be if a person wants to confront their boss at work but they don't feel comfortable doing it on their own, so they ask some colleagues to go with them to give them support in case they need it. In other words, to back them up. Here, we would not tend to use the verb 'to back' as we want the supporting person to be actively involved if possible. From this meaning, we also get the noun 'backup' (or back-up), which refers to extra resources, equipment or people that can be called on for support when we need it. For example, the police always request backup in American TV shows and movies when they have a serious crime to deal with. Going back to the phrasal verb 'back up', in addition to people, it can also be used for giving support to proposals and ideas. To clarify, if a proposal or an idea is put forward, it often requires some sort of action to confirm or support the idea and for this we can also use 'back up'. Examples of usage.... I knew that the teacher was going to shout at me, so I made my friend come into the office with me to back me up. The employee was backed up by his company during the court trial. Don't worry Sergeant Smith, backup has been requested and will be with you shortly. I took an extra pen into the exam for backup in case the ink ran out on the first one. Your ideas are very promising, but they will need to be backed up by some positive actions before we can provide you with finance. MEANING 2: To confirm that something is true Let's continue with the theme of support for the next meaning of 'back up', which is 'to confirm that something is true'. To give you an example, when I was younger, I was falsely blamed for taking my sister's chocolate bar from the fridge and eating it (shocking, I know!). She thought it was me and was very angry with me, despite my assurances to her that I hadn't taken it. Thankfully, my Dad backed me up by telling her that it wasn't me. He knew that it was my brother who had taken it and therefore was able to confirm the truth. Of course, the example that I have just given you is a typical one that occurs in everyday life, however this application is also regularly used in the fields of science, research and criminal investigations. In all of these areas, in which hypotheses, theories and suspicions are routinely checked and tested, evidence is often required to confirm that they are true and the phrasal verb 'back up' is always used in these situations. Grammatically, you may often see this application being used in the passive form (backed up by...), especially in the fields of science, research and statistics. Examples of usage.... John, please can you back me up and tell Lisa that what I am saying is true. When the teacher accused me of bullying another student, my best friend backed me up and said that I had not. The witness' statement backs up what the victim said. The team of scientists were overjoyed when the results of their recent experiment backed up the theory that they have been working on for several months. These things do not exist and this has been backed up by science many times over the years. MEANING 3: To make a copy of a computer file Along with receiving telephone calls from call centres trying to sell you something and siblings blaming you for stealing chocolate bars, one of the most annoying things that can happen to you is when you work very hard on something for a long time on your computer and then you lose all your work because you DIDN'T SAVE IT 🤬. This annoying occurrence brings us to the next meaning of the phrasal verb 'back up', which is 'to make a copy of a computer file'. As you can probably guess, this usage of 'back up' is a relatively new one due to its link to computers, however it is quite widespread in modern English as IT is now an integral part of daily life, whether that be in our personal or working lives. It is common to hear this application of 'back up' used with nouns such as 'work' and 'files' as well as 'computers' and 'devices'. Grammatically, this application of 'back up' is separable and you can 'back up your files' or 'back your files up' without any change in meaning. Examples of usage.... My computer battery has just died, but luckily I had just backed up my work when it did, so hopefully I haven't lost anything. Don't forget to back up your work before you log out. She wasn't able to back up her files, so she lost them all when she shut her computer down. It is important to back up your computer on a regular basis. MEANING 4: To move backwards You may remember from earlier on in the post that I mentioned that another, less common, meaning of the verb 'to back' is 'to move backwards' or 'to reverse' and this fourth meaning of 'back up' derives directly from that as it means exactly the same, i.e. to move backwards. I would say though that 'back up' is actually used more commonly than just 'back' on its own when talking about reversing. Most commonly, this application of 'back up' is used with cars as another way to say 'reverse' and this in particular sounds quite American to my ears, although you do still hear it used in this way in British English. When used with a vehicle, it is a separable usage with the vehicle either going between 'back' and 'up' or after them. It is also possible to use 'back up' to talk about a person physically moving backwards, however this is normally only by a few footsteps. When used this way, we do not normally separate the phrasal verb as there is no direct object (vehicle). Furthermore, it is often used as an imperative to ask people to move backwards. Examples of usage.... I backed the car up a few metres in order to let the other cars pass. As Roger was backing the lorry up, he accidentally knocked over the signpost on the side of the road. Backing up a car is one of the things that you will be instructed to do on your driving test to prove that you are a competent driver. I was too close to the fire, so I backed up a few paces to where it was cooler. Back up a bit please! These people need to get past. MEANING 5: To gradually collect or accumulate Our final meaning of 'back up' is one that can be heard being used in a few different areas of life to talk specifically about things that flow and it means 'to gradually collect or accumulate'. The first thing to mention here is that this application of 'back up' is all about a process that takes place over time. It starts when there is a small amount of something and then over time more and more of it collects until there is so much of it that there is a negative consequence. Let's take a look at some commonly used nouns with this usage of 'back up'.... Water - The nature of water and liquids in general is that they flow, whether that be down a river or along a pipe. Whenever there is a situation where the flow of water is blocked or obstructed in some way, it tends to accumulate behind the blockage, leading to problems once the accumulation is too big. This can often be heard when talking about water pipes in a building, sewers or also natural waterways such as rivers and streams. Traffic - We often talk in English about the flow of traffic on our roads and highways. Like with water, whenever there is a blockage on the road, such as a car accident, then the traffic backs up behind it and a traffic jam forms. This is one that I am sure most of you know all too well. Work - Although there isn't a physical flow with work like there is with water and traffic, there is still the idea of a flow of jobs and emails coming into a business and then leaving again once completed. As such, we can also use 'back up' with work to describe when we have too much work to do and cannot do it all straight away, meaning that there will be a delay due to the acculmuation of tasks that have to be done. It is quite common to hear this usage in a passive sense, i.e. to say that you are 'backed up'. Another noun that can be used here is backlog. Hopefully you have got the main idea of this meaning of 'back up' from the examples given! Examples of usage.... Due to a blockage in the pipe, the sewer was backed up and a specialist company had to come and resolve the issue. Try and avoid the M5 motorway if possible as there has been an accident and the traffic is beginning to back up. We are really backed up at the moment, so it may take a little longer than usual to receive a response from our team. This brings us to the end of the post, so let's quickly recap the different meanings of 'back up' to ensure that they stick in your memory... So firstly we had the idea of 'back up' used as a form of support, both by actively supporting someone in a situation and then by confirming that something is true. If you back up your files on a computer, it means that you have a copy of them in case you lose them in the future. 'Back up' can also be used to mean to reverse a vehicle or to move back a few paces and lastly, it can be used to describe something that accumulates so much that it causes a problem! Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'back up' or any questions or comments that you have....don't be shy! Sign up below to receive weekly phrasal verb emails and be the first to access each blog post as soon as it is published! Lastly, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go through', with lots of examples in context. Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verb 'go through'... 'Go through' is a common English phrasal verb with a lot of meanings that are in common usage in everyday speech. We can go through red lights, documents, traumatic events and competitions and sometimes we just don't go through with something. If all this sounds strange to you, read on and learn all the different ways that 'go through' is used in English! So, without further ado, let's get started....don't forget to leave a comment at the end! GO THROUGH: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS The phrasal verb 'go through' is made up of the verb 'to go' and the prepositional particle 'through', so before we look at the meanings of the phrasal verb itself, let's take a moment to familiarise ourselves with the individual words. 'To go' is one of the most common verbs in the English language and its main meaning is the idea of movement, either from one place to another or simply leaving a place and starting a journey. In addition to this, it has a wide variety of less common uses and meanings and is used to form the 'going to' future tense. The particle 'through' is used to express movement from one side of something to the other, especially if it is an internal space. Furthermore, 'through' is also used with time, specifically the passage of time, and it also functions as a synonym of 'by' and 'as a result of', among other things. You may also have seen the alternative 'thru' used in English, which is an informal variation of 'through' and is only really used for "drive-thru' restaurants and in non-formal written communication. Now that we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go through'.... MEANING 1: To physically move through something (literal) Let's begin things nice and easily with the literal meaning of the combination of the words 'go' and 'through', i.e. to move from one side of something to the other. Most commonly you will hear this usage with everyday nouns such as 'door', 'window' and 'tunnel', as people or things regularly pass from one side of these to the other. We also use this for rooms, especially when moving from one room to another room or to a different part of a building, such as from the dentist's waiting room to the dentist's office or from the public area of an airport to the departures area via customs. One last usage that you may come across here concerns driving a car, as when a red traffic light is showing and a car does not stop and continues driving, we say that it 'goes through a red light'. Examples of usage.... Go through the door on your left and then follow the corridor until the end. John threw the cricket ball in the wrong direction and it went through the kitchen window. The doctor is ready to see you now, Mr. Smith. Please go through. I am just going through customs at the airport, so I will give you a call once I am on the other side and in the departure lounge. Roger was late for a work meeting and went through several read lights to try and get there on time. MEANING 2: To suffer a negative experience It is an inevitable fact of life that our existence is not always a happy one and from time to time we all have negative experiences and periods of suffering. When these unavoidable situations occur, we can say that we 'go through' them, as the next meaning of the phrasal verb 'go through' is 'to experience unpleasant and negative situations'. As you would imagine, this application of 'go through' is used when talking about such things as disease, depression, abuse, death, grief and poverty, among other things. Moreover, it is used by speakers to label any period of suffering, trauma or severe unhappiness. This usage of 'go through' is quite strong in nature, so if you say you have gone through something, you want people to know that you have really suffered. For example, you would not use it for something trivial like losing your car keys or having a headache. Grammatically, this application of 'go through' does take an object, but it is not separable. One thing to note with this usage is that although the past participle form is 'gone through', native speakers do also regularly use 'been through' as an alternative, without any discernible change in meaning. To note, the phrasal verb 'be through' does not otherwise exist in English. Examples of usage.... Helen went through a lot in her childhood. How dare you judge me! You have no idea what I have gone through in my life. I went through a bout of depression last year but I am feeling much better now. She has recently been through a nasty divorce from her husband. MEANING 3: To check something methodically Let's move on from the previous depressing usage of 'go through' to the next meaning, which is 'to check something methodically'. For this usage, we are thinking mainly about the actions of searching and sorting. Firstly, we use 'go through' when we want to check documents in a methodical and effective way from beginning to end, either to look for something in the document or to check for errors. Secondly, we can also use it for spaces such as rooms, drawers, wardrobes when we are are searching for something and we want to make sure that we have covered every single space in our quest to find it. Lastly, it is also possible to use 'go through' to mean to methodically check a set of items such as records or clothes etc, in order to to sort them into different categories. For example, if you have too many old clothes in your wardrobe, you might go through them one by one to decide which items you want to keep and which you want to throw away. As with the previous meaning, the past participle 'been through' is often used here in perfect tenses. Examples of usage.... Would you mind going through this document and checking for any errors before i submit it? I've gone through my bedroom several times and I cannot find my phone charger anywhere! Sarah went through a pile of her old clothes to decide which ones she wanted to keep. My mum has been through my entire wedding guest list to decide if she is happy with all of the guests that I have invited! MEANING 4: To practise something Do you enjoy giving presentations? Some people love them and some people are terrified of them. Regardless of how you feel about them, it is always a good idea to practice for them in order to give the best presentation that you can. This brings me to our next meaning of 'go through', which is 'to practise something' and is normally used in preparation for a test, a presentation or a performance. The process of 'going through' something normally involves practising something from beginning to end, hence the idea of 'through'. As mentioned before, it can be used for presentations, speeches, exam revision, stories, excuses and anything else that may need a an element of practise before the real event. Another time that you may hear this is with actors who 'go through' their lines prior to a performance in order to practise and memorise them. Examples of usage.... Can we just go through the presentation one more time? I went through my wedding speech so many times the day before, so when I did it, it was perfect. Let's just go through our story one more time before we go to the police. It needs to be watertight! MEANING 5: To exhaust resources The next meaning of 'go through' that we will consider is one that we can all be guilty of occasionally and that is 'to use a lot of something'. Normally, this application of 'go through' is used for items that can be depleted or run out and typically includes food, resources and money. It can be applied both to a resource that we can use until it has all gone or to a resource that we use a lot of over a period of time, especially when this is not normal, in which case there can be a degree of surprise or moaning attached to it. Examples of usage.... My grandchildren have been staying with me this weekend and I have managed to go through 3 cartons of milk! It normally takes me a week for just one! I didn't realise London was so expensive. I went through all of my spending money in the first three days and I had to ask my parents to send me some more. You've gone through all of the bread, so if you want some, you will have to go and buy some more. MEANING 6: To be approved If you have ever been lucky enough to buy your own property, you will more than likely have experienced a waiting period whilst the the legal process was being completed, at which time you can say that the house sale has 'gone through'. That is because another meaning of the phrasal verb 'go through' is 'to be officially approved'. For this usage of 'go through', it is mainly focussed on situations where there is a process over a period of time before something is officially accepted. Unsurprisingly, this can often be a legal process involving lawyers. Typically, these types of situations include property sales, laws, business deals or plans and divorces, all of which require an element of negotiation, paperwork and time before they are accepted or approved, or go through. Examples of usage.... The sale of the house went through last month, so we are finally able to move to our new home now. The proposed law was opposed and did not go through in the end. Our divorce is due to go through next month, so I will be able to get married again after that. MEANING 7: To progress to the next round of a competition For some reason whilst preparing for this blog post I was not able to find this next usage of 'go through' in a dictionary, however it is most certainly used on a fairly common basis by native English speakers and it is 'to progress to the next round in a competition'. This application of 'go through' is in regular use for any competitions where there are rounds, typically with quarter finals, semi finals and a final. Unsurprisingly, it is also in common use when referring to sport. Oftentimes, we will specify what the next round is with the additional preposition 'to', however this is not always necessary and 'go through' on its own can be sufficient. Examples of usage.... The winner of today's game will go through to the next round of the competition. Only the first two athletes in this race will automatically go through. England have gone through to the final of the World Cup after beating Italy in a tense match. MEANING 8: To go through with something For our eighth and final usage of 'go through' we need the additional preposition 'with'. If someone 'goes through with something', it means that they talk about doing something and then actually do it. This is often when the action is unpleasant or difficult in some way. Often, you hear it after people make threats and then carry out the threatened action. To make this a little clearer for you, let's look at an example.... John told me that he was going to steal some food from a shop. I didn't believe him, so I was very shocked when he went through with it and stole the food. Here is another example.... Helen always talked about ending her marriage to Roger but I didn't believe her as I thought she was joking. She did go through with it in the end and now they are divorced! Examples of usage.... I can't believe you went through with it! I didn't think you would! That is just a threat to make you worried. There is no way that he would actually go through with it. Do you think John will go through with it and take me to court? This brings us to the end of the post, so thanks for reading. Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'go through'....don't be shy! Sign up below to receive weekly phrasal verb emails and be the first to access each blog post as soon as it is published! If you found the post useful, please share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. See you next time! James 😀

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'put down', with lots of examples in context. Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verb 'put down'... To 'put down' is a common phrasal verb in English with A LOT of different meanings. We can happily put down a baby but putting down an animal will make us very sad. Moreover, you can easily put down words, music or a telephone but sometimes putting down a book is difficult and if somebody puts you down, you may put it down to jealousy! If all of this seems strange to you, read the article and all of it will become clear! So, without further ado let's get started...don't forget to leave a comment at the end 😊 PUT DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS To begin, let's consider the words 'put' and 'off' and what they mean on their own, as this can be very helpful to understand some of the phrasal verb meanings that we will look at in this post. As a learner of English, I am sure that you are very familiar with the verb 'to put' as it is one of the 30 most common verbs in the language and is used frequently by native speakers. The verb 'to put', like most common English verbs, has a wide variety of different meanings and uses, however perhaps the main meaning is 'to place or move something into a specified position'. Another meaning of 'to put' that is highly relevant for the phrasal verb 'put down' is 'to write something'....more on this to come later 😀 The prepositional particle 'down' is all about the idea of moving lower or being in a lower position ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ and it's inclusion in phrasal verb constructions often adds this idea to the verb. Moreover, 'down' can also add the ideas of reduction, defeat and failure to phrasal verbs. A meaning of 'down' as an adverb that is relevant for 'put down' is 'in writing' or 'on paper'. So, now that we have looked at these two innocent little words, let's take a look at all of the different meanings they create when we combine them together....there are a lot of them! MEANING 1: To stop holding or carrying something Let's start things off with a nice easy meaning, which is 'to stop holding something in your hands or carrying something'. Most of the time, when we hold something in our hands and we stop holding it, we tend to place it either on a surface in a lower position or on the ground, so the direction of the 'putting' action is downwards and so 'put down' has developed to encompass this idea. We can use 'put down' to talk about any object that we physically stop holding or carrying, however one collocation that is particularly common is with the noun 'telephone'. 'To put the (tele)phone down' is a synonym of the phrasal verb 'hang up' (link here) and actually just means to end a phone call. This meaning originally derived from the old style of landline phones with which people stopped holding the receiver and placed it down on the phone in order to end a phone call, however this usage has survived until today and is still heard today with smartphones. Another great usage to know with this meaning of 'put down' is with books. If someone is reading a book that they find highly enjoyable and don't want to stop reading, they may well say that they 'can't put it down'. Examples of usage.... Put down the gun, John. I've put my car keys down somewhere in the house and I can't find them anywhere! Helen put her handbag down on the counter and paid for her coffee. Roger said goodbye to Lisa and put the phone down. This book is so good, I've been reading it all morning and I just can't put it down . MEANING 2: To record something in written or musical form As I mentioned earlier, one of the main meanings of the verb 'to put' is 'to write something' and this is very relevant for this second meaning of 'put down' as this is 'to record something in writing'. 'Put down' can be used as a synonym of the verb 'to write' and a direct object such as 'words' or 'sentences' is always required as this usage is transitive. Aside from writing, this meaning also extends to music and if you 'put down' some music, it means that you record music, normally in a studio. It is possible to 'put down' an entire song or just an element of a song, such as the vocals or the drums. Lastly, you may have come across the expression 'to put down in words', which is a fairly common way to mean 'expressing your thoughts or feelings in written form'. Examples of usage.... I put down a few paragraphs this morning and now I don't know what to write. It's very difficult to put down in words everything that I am feeling at the moment. The singer went into the studio last week and put some vocals down on a new song that he is working on. We've put down a few tracks on the album but we are still writing the others. MEANING 3: To add something to a list We have just talked about 'put down' meaning to record information in written form and this next meaning is an extension of that as it means 'to add something to a list'. In other words, if you 'put something down' on a list, you simply add it as an item. Of course, there are many types of lists that exist such as shopping lists, to to-do lists, lists of invitees to social events and waiting lists and 'put down' can be used for each and every one of these. It can be used in a slightly more idiomatic way too, as if you 'put your name down' on a list, it doesn't just mean that your name is included but can often also mean that you agree to take part in something or agree to do a particular job. Examples of usage.... I've made a list of what I want for Christmas and I've put down everything that I can think of. The doctor has put my name down on the waiting list for an operation, so hopefully it will happen soon. I hope you don't mind but I've put your name down as a reference for my next job. I've put my name down to do the raffle competition at this year's village fete. MEANING 4: To criticise someone When used in phrasal verb constructions, the particle 'down' can often have quite negative connotations and this next meaning is a clear example of that. The reason for this is that to 'put someone down' means 'to criticise' or 'to insult' someone, or in other words, to say something horrible about them. Grammatically, this usage of 'put down' is normally used separably, with the person who receives the insult or criticism going between the words 'put' and 'down', either their name or the direct object pronoun (me, him, her etc). You should also note that the noun 'put-down' also exists and this just means an insult or a criticism. Examples of usage.... My husband always puts me down in front of our friends. Tim tried to put Lucy down but she quickly shut him up. Lisa was sick and tired of constantly being put down by her manager, so she quit her job. John wasn't sure what he had done to deserve such a vicious put-down from Roger. MEANING 5: To attribute something to something From now on, we will be looking at some more advanced usages of 'put down' and for this next meaning one', we require the additional preposition 'to'. Imagine that you have recently started having severe headaches and at about the same time, you also started to get very stressed in your job. As both things started happening at the same time, you would probably put the headaches down to the stress. In other words, you think that the headaches are caused by the stress, but of course you don't know this for sure. So, to confirm, this fifth meaning of 'put down' is 'to attribute something to a probable cause' and you should note that the construction of this is as follows: to put + result + down to + probable cause Most of the time, this application is used to talk about negative things and situations and what we think is the cause of them but of course this can be used for positive situations too, albeit less commonly. Notably, I often hear people using this in a past tense form to talk about when they believed one thing was the cause of a problem in the past but now they know what the real cause was and that their original assumption was wrong. Examples of usage.... My teenage son has been acting strangely recently and I just put it down to his hormones but I've since found out that he has been taking drugs. I put my constant tiredness down to being so busy all the time but it turns out that I had a vitamin deficiency. He's still making lots of mistakes in his job role but he is still quite new, so let's put it down to inexperience. MEANING 6: To kill an animal humanely As an animal lover with pets of my own, this meaning of 'put down' makes me sad as it means 'to kill an animal in a humane way'. Firstly, let's be clear that 'put down' does not mean to kill an animal in general, but rather to kill an animal that is old, very sick or dangerous. The act of 'putting down' is usually carried out by a vet or professional and is done humanely, i.e. in a way that causes the animal the least amount of suffering possible, thankfully. A more pleasant euphemistic synonym for this application of 'put down' is 'to put to sleep'. Grammatically, this application is often used in a passive way, usually in the causative form with 'have' or 'get'. Examples of usage.... Our dog was very sick, so we had to have her put down, so that she wouldn't suffer anymore. The governor ordered the vet to put the dangerous animal down, to ensure that it couldn't hurt anyone else again. We had to get our rabbit put down yesterday and I am devastated. MEANING 7: To put a baby to bed As you will undoubtedly know, the meanings of individual English phrasal verbs can be extremely diverse and this is quite evident when considering this next meaning which is all about babies. The difference between putting down an animal and putting down a baby is enormous and you don't want to mix these up as 'to put down a baby' simply means 'to put a baby to bed'. Alternatively, this can also be used for any situation where you lay a baby down so that it goes to sleep. I think that this usage is quite self-explanatory as it often stopping holding the baby and placing it down on a bed or in a cot. On a grammatical note, this application is transitive and takes a direct object, which is always the baby. It is therefore also separable and usually a word such as 'baby' will go between 'put' and 'down' or alternatively the name of the child. Examples of usage.... Shhhh! Be quiet, I've just put the baby down. Most days, Lisa puts the baby down for a nap at about 2pm, at which time she does the housework. Putting a baby down for a sleep is not always easy when your house is as noisy as mine. MEANING 8: To pay a deposit If you are ever in a situation where you want to buy something expensive like a house or a nice car, it is likely (unless you're very rich) that you will not have enough money to pay for it all and you may therefore need to make a deposit payment, with the intention of paying the rest of the money over a period of time in the future. This action of paying a deposit, or a down payment, to secure a sale is also known as 'putting down' a deposit. To clarify, this eighth meaning of 'put down' is to make a deposit payment. It is normally used with large purchases that people cannot afford to make at one time. Grammatically, this is separable, with the money or deposit being the direct object of the verb. The additional preposition 'on' is often used to specify the item being purchased. Examples of usage.... John put a deposit down on his new house and took out a mortgage to pay for the rest of it. I've put down £500 on a new car and it is being delivered next week! If I put down some money as a deposit, my company will reimburse me. MEANING 9: To reduce prices This ninth meaning is primarily British usage and means 'to reduce', specifically when talking about prices. When a business, company or shop puts down its prices, it lowers them, therefore making them more desirable to its customers. Sadly, this is not something that we are seeing much of at the moment as usually companies are forced to put their prices up instead. Examples of usage.... We have decided to put down our prices on some of our high end products. The government is forcing energy companies to put down their prices as many people are not able to afford them at present. I refuse to put my prices down any further! MEANING 10: To suppress a rebellion The penultimate meaning of 'put down' that we will consider is a rarer one that means 'to suppress a rebellion'. Despite being a more infrequent usage, this is still one that you may come across in English and it is therefore useful to know. To explain this application further, it is used whenever a group of people rebel against authority in some way and the rebellion is limited, suppressed or stopped. This can often be heard in conjunction with nouns such as riot and coup and it normally involves an element of force from the authorities, police or armed forces to make it stop. Examples of usage.... The riots were quickly put down by the well-trained army. Security forces put down the coup within hours. MEANING 11: To land an airplane Well done if you have made it this far! We are now onto our final meaning of the phrasal verb 'put down', which is 'to land an airplane'. On a grammatical note, this usage of 'put down' can be used both transitively and intransitively (with and without a direct object). Used intransitively, the airplane is the subject and 'put down' is used as a synonym of the more commonly used verb 'to land'. Often, here we use the additional preposition 'in' to specify the name of the city or country where the plane 'puts down'. For transitive uses, the pilot is the subject and the plane then becomes the direct object of the verb. Examples of usage.... The plane put down in San Francisco twenty minutes earlier than scheduled. The pilot put the aircraft down on the wrong runway, nearly causing a serious accident. This brings us to the end of the post, so thanks for reading...it was a long one! Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'put down'....don't be shy!!! If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'put down' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below.

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'make up', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verb 'make up'... This week's blog post is all about the phrasal verb 'make up', which is definitely one that you will have come across before as it is super common and is one that I have used many times on these blog posts before. In this post we will look at its different meanings including inventing stories, making a decision and applying cosmetics. So, without further do, let's get started....don't forget to leave a comment at the end 😊 KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here THE BASICS The phrasal verb 'make up' is formed of the verb 'to make' and the prepositional particle 'up'. The verb 'to make' is a very common verb and is often confused with the verb 'to do' by English learners as the two are quite similar and can often be translated into other languages as the same word. Both 'to make' and 'to do' have an extensive number of uses in English, but one of the main ideas of the verb 'to make' is creation and production, while a dominant idea of 'to do', in contrast, is performing an action. This concept of 'to make' will be useful to keep in mind when we look at the different uses of 'make up' shortly. Next we have the particle 'up', meaning a movement in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. When we combine these words, there is no literal meaning whatsoever, so let's just move straight on to the different figurative meanings..... MEANING 1: To make peace after an argument Let's start off the meanings of 'make up' on a positive note. For this we are going to need the additional preposition 'with' and the reason for this is that 'to make up with someone' means to reconcile or become friends with them again after an argument or disagreement. 'Make up' is not just limited to friendships though, and is used a lot to talk about romantic couples who have disagreements or break up and then make peace again afterwards. The use of this meaning is, however, limited to personal relationships and is not used so much to describe business or professional relationships. One expression that we often use in a tongue-in-cheek* way to talk about when people reconcile following a dispute or argument is "to kiss and make up". This is used regardless of whether or not the people in question are friends or in a romantic relationship. A variation of 'make up' that you may hear is 'to make it up', which has the same meaning. This is especially common in the past form i.e. 'made it up'. Examples of usage.... All John and Helen seem to do is break up and then make up the next day. I wish you and your brother would make up! She's deeply offended and refuses to make up with me. * The expression 'tongue-in-cheek' is used to describe something that is not seriously intended and used in a jokey or humorous way. MEANING 2: To invent a story or information For our second usage of 'make up', we are entering into the realm of fantasy and fairy tales as the meaning is 'to invent or create something that does not exist by using the powers of our imagination'. These imaginary creations can range from stories, characters and people to excuses, lies and false information. The key idea is that it is created in our imagination and is not real. Unsurprisingly, this meaning is used very commonly with children who tend to enjoy making up stories, characters and scenarios as part of their play activities. However, as you will know, adults are also very good at creating fictional information, excuses and lies and this usage of 'make up' can therefore be used with both innocent and immoral intent. Aside from the verb form, the past particle 'made-up' is also frequently used as an adjective (note the hyphen) to describe something fictional that someone has invented and as such, you will often hear such terms as "made-up story" and "made-up word", among many others. Examples of usage.... When I was a child, I used to make up imaginary friends because I was lonely. I didn't go to the party - I was too tired so I made up an excuse and said thatI was ill. Although the novel features made-up characters, the story is based on real life events. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER There are a couple of well-known expressions of this usage of 'make up' that I really like and want to make you aware of... You couldn't make it up - We use this expression when talking about things that happen in reality that are so strange or bizarre that a person would not be able to create them using their imagination. To make it up as you go along - This second expression is used for situations in which we do not know what we are doing and we just do things by instinct, without preparation or planning. We decide how to do it in the present moment (and hope for the best). MEANING 3: To constitute a whole For our third meaning of 'make up', we need to make a 180 degree turn away from the poetic world of fantasy to the much more prosaic and serious world of data, statistics and facts. This meaning of 'make up' is 'to form or to constitute a whole and is used to talk about the different elements or things which combine together to form something bigger or complete. This meaning of 'make up' is commonly used in statistical information, especially when talking about percentages and fractions. Examples of usage.... It is estimated that the 100 most common words in any language make up about 50% of the words regularly used in it. Greyscale colours currently make up three quarters of cars produced worldwide. Furthermore, 'make up' is also used when we have already given percentages or proportions and we want to talk about the part that completes the remainder of the group. We can use 'make up' here, often with the 'the rest' or 'the remaining X%'. Examples of usage.... The three of us have all paid a quarter of the bill each, so if you could also pay a quarter and make up the rest, it would be great. INTENDED MEANING: We've all paid our share of 25%, so if you can pay the final 25% and the remainder of the bill, it would be really good. In the English exam the weighting of the speaking section is 40%, the listening section is 30% and the reading and writing sections together make up the remaining 30%. INTENDED MEANING: The weightings for the English exam are 40% for speaking, 30% for reading and the remaining 30% will be for reading and writing combined. Lastly, it is very common to use the passive form 'made up' with the additional preposition 'of' to express the different things which something consists of. Examples of usage.... Air is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, argon and small amounts of many other gases. All matter is made up of very small particles known as atoms. MEANING 4: To compensate for something Our next usage of 'make up' is one that is very common in the workplace. If you work for a company in the anglophone world and you need to take some time off e.g. for a doctor's appointment, your boss may authorise the time off but might also say that you need to make the time up. The reason for this is because the next usage of 'make up' means to compensate for something that is lost, lacking or missing. The example above with working hours is a very commonly used one in the English speaking world. Another typical way that this usage of 'make up' can be heard in English is when we have a target or required amount of something e.g. money and we do not have enough of it to reach the target amount. We can use 'make up' here to talk about the amount that is required in order to reach our target amount, i.e. the difference between how much we have and how much we need to have. A common expression featuring this usage of 'make up' that you may hear is 'to make up for lost time', which we use to describe when we do something more quickly, intensely or regularly, in order to compensate for not having done it in the past. For obvious reasons this is often used by middle-aged and older people, perhaps during or after a midlife crisis! Examples of usage.... Yes, you can have the time off this week to go to the funeral but can you please make the time up next week. Now that my injury has healed I'm training more than ever as I'm making up for lost time! EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER If you are ever in a situation where an English speaker disappoints you in some way, it is likely that they will say sorry (especially British people as we apologise for everything) and that they will make it up to you. In the case of disappointing someone, as mentioned above, the idea here links back to the first meaning of making peace following an argument, but the focus here is that we are saying we will do something to remove the negative feelings caused by the disappointment (essentially apologising), with the end objective being reconciliation and peace. Note that the extra particle 'to' is required here to designate the person who we have disappointed and want to make happy again. Examples of usage.... I'm so sorry that I forgot your birthday. Let me make it up to you by taking you out for a meal. I can't be there this weekend but I will make it up to you, I promise! MEANING 5: To prepare something from ingredients or parts The fifth usage of 'make up' means to prepare, build or create something by combining different ingredients or parts. As you can probably imagine from the word 'ingredients', food is frequently used with this meaning of 'make up' and it is very common to use this with any dish or item that can be made by mixing and combining different ingredients together. Another example of where this meaning of 'make up' is in common usage is with material and fabric where we create garments or curtains. Moreover, we can also say that we 'make up a bed for someone' when we create a new, often temporary, bed for them using blankets etc. This is different to making a bed, where we arrange the blanket and pillows on an existing bed. Examples of usage.... Let me give you some tips on how to make up an amazing and tasty casserole. I You can sleep here tonight, I will make up a bed for you in the spare room. MEANING 6: To apply cosmetics For our sixth meaning of 'make up', we are diving into the world of cosmetics. I'm sure that most of you reading will be familiar with the noun makeup, meaning cosmetic products that are used to add colour to the face and change or improve one's appearance. It may therefore come as no surprise to you that the noun makeup is derived directly from our sixth phrasal verb meaning, which is to apply cosmetics to the face and body. For this usage, reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself etc.) are required when talking about a person who is applying their own makeup. This is of course not the case for people who get their makeup applied by somebody else e.g. actors and celebrities. Although this usage is still used in everyday English, I would say that the construction 'to do your makeup' is perhaps more common than this phrasal verb form, but it is good to be aware of it nevertheless. Example of usage.... Lisa made herself up and put on her best evening gown. Meaning 7: To decide This final meaning of 'make up' that I want to bring to your attention means to make a decision and is used in the construction "to make up your mind". This is actually more of an idiomatic expression than an entirely different meaning, but it is so common that I wanted to include it as a separate meaning of its own. The structure of this expression is flexible and 'mind' can be placed both in the middle of and after the phrasal verb 'make up', without changing the meaning. Examples of usage.... John took ages to make up his mind about what food to order at the restaurant. I've made my mind up about where I want to go to university. One extra thing to make you aware of before the end of this post is the expression "to be made up about something". This is a common idiomatic expression in British English to mean to be delighted or extremely happy about something, normally good news. Examples of usage.... That's amazing news! I'm made up for you. Roger is made up about his new work contract! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to make up'.... Helen and Lisa had an argument last week but they are friends again now. I didn't want to go to work today so I invented a fake illness and called in sick. Vegetarians now constitute 10% of the British population. I had a dentist appointment this morning so I have to work extra hours this evening to compensate. You can sleep here tonight, I will prepare a bed for you in the spare room. She needs to make a decision about what she wants to do by this evening. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'COME OVER' (other variations may be possible) Do you want to COME OVER to mine tonight for dinner? My grandparents CAME OVER here from Europe after the war. The speech CAME OVER very well. I suddenly CAME OVER all hot and sweaty and needed a drink of water. One minute he was fine and then all of a sudden he CAME OVER all angry. I've changed my view on the matter and have COME OVER to your way of thinking. This brings us to the end of the post, so thanks very much for reading. Now it is YOUR turn.....leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'make up'....don't be shy!!! If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Sign up on

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get by', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my blog all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. This week's post is another phrasal verb featuring the ever-popular verb 'to get'; namely 'get by'. In this post, we will look at what native speakers mean when they use 'get by' in a literal sense, as well as its different figurative meanings, including to do the minimum possible required to succeed and to have just enough of something to manage. So, without further ado, let's get started.... KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here THE BASICS The phrasal verb 'get by' is made up of arguably the most popular verb amongst English native speakers, 'to get', and the prepositional particle 'by'. As we have seen in previous posts, the verb 'to get' has a wide range of different uses in English, however the meaning that is most relevant for the different usages of 'get by' is 'to move to and arrive at a different place or position'. The particle 'by' can be used both as a preposition and an adverb in English and the prepositional meaning which we are interested in for this post is 'movement past something'. Now, with the two elements of this phrasal verb explained, the first of the meanings should be an easy one to understand so let's go.... MEANING 1: To move past something Following on from the previous section, this first usage of 'get by' is the literal meaning that is produced when we combine the two forms of 'get' and 'by', outlined in the previous section, i.e. to move past something so that you are on the other side of it. This is generally only ever used for physical movement and not in a symbolic or metaphorical way. In general, we use 'get by' in situations where it is difficult to move past something as there is some sort of obstruction, or in other words, when something is blocking your path. In contrast, if there is no obstacle present or we can move past something easily and without restriction, then native speakers are more likely to use another relevant verb of movement such as go, walk or drive. The verb 'to get' in this case implies an element of difficulty to the action. As such, here are some typical situations in which we use 'get by' in this way.... When a road is blocked by a car or another kind of obstruction and you cannot easily drive past it. When a person is blocking a path that you are walking on and you need to walk past them. When a road has been closed by authorities and you need to turn onto it in order to reach your destination. Examples of usage.... If you park your car here, you will make it difficult for other cars to get by. INTENDED MEANING: If you park here, other cars will not be able to pass it easily. Sorry, do you need to get by? INTENDED MEANING: Sorry do you need to walk / go past me? The police have sealed off the road where I live and will not let me get by to go home. INTENDED MEANING: The road on which I live has been blocked by the police and they will not allow me to go past the roadblock to get home. MEANING 2: To survive with the minimum possible The second meaning of 'get by' is 'to survive or manage with the minimum possible amount of something'. When we use 'get by' in this sense, the key idea is that we have only a small amount of something and it is just enough to meet our requirements. In other words, the amount that we have allows us to manage in the given situation, however if we had more of it, either the situation would be better or our lives would be more comfortable. 'Get by' can often have negative connotations, especially when talking about money, as it is often used when talking about financial difficulties, or in extreme cases poverty and deprivation. If we want to express or quantify the small amount that we have, we require the extra preposition 'on' to do this. Alternatively, we can also use 'to get by with' when specifying something that we have, which enables us to do something, but is not ideal for the job (i.e. there are better alternatives in existence). Aside from money, other common nouns which can be used with 'get by' when they are in short supply are sleep, food and knowledge. It is also commonly used in the expression 'get by on my own', meaning to manage without the help of other people, although it will not be easy. Examples of usage.... I don't earn a lot of money but I get by! INTENDED MEANING: I don't earn much money but what I earn is enough for me to survive on. It is said that Margaret Thatcher got by on four hours sleep a night. INTENDED MEANING: People say that Margaret Thatcher only needed to sleep for four hours every night. It was a tough situation but I got by with a little help from my friends and family. INTENDED MEANING: The situation was not good but I survived it thanks to my friends and family. MEANING 3: To satisfy the minimum requirements For our third meaning of 'get by', we do not have to make such a big leap from the second meaning that we have just looked at, as it means 'to satisfy the minimum requirements of something'. This is very much the same idea as the second meaning, but the focus here is that we achieve a certain requirement such as an examination pass, with the lowest possible mark. For example, if you needed a score of 50% in an exam in order to pass it and you got a score of 51%, you could say that you got by with 51%. Conversely, if you scored less than the requisite 50% mark, then you failed and 'get by' cannot be used here. As per the example above, this is commonly used with examinations and tests, however it can also be used for any other area where minimum requirements must be met in order to quality for something e.g. sports. Example of usage.... I got by with low passes in my exams, so I can go to university but I won't be able to go the university or my choice. INTENDED MEANING: I passed my exams with low grades, so I can go to university but not the universities that I want to go to. MEANING 4: To go unnoticed Our fourth and final usage of 'get by' is one that links back to the literal usage that we covered earlier on in the post. The idea of this is more of an extension of the first meaning because it means 'to move past something or someone without being seen or noticed'. This usage is a good synonym of the phrasal verb 'to sneak past', as it essentially means to move past a person or group of people unnoticed, in order to get to where you want to be. This is something that you often see in action movies where the protagonist has to sneak past some people to get to the place where he or she can save the day! 'Get by' is used intransitively in this sense when the speaker is talking about 'getting by' a person without them being seen or noticed, however it can also be used transitively with a direct object when we want to talk about moving an object or another person past someone without being seen. Lastly, we can also use this meaning of 'get by' when talking about something passing checks or verifications without being noticed or spotted, typically when the thing in question would not normally 'get by' if it were spotted. Examples of usage.... If you want to get into the club, you are going to have to get by the bouncers. INTENDED MEANING: If you want to enter the nightclub, you will need to pass the bouncers to do it. The visitor to the prison tried to get the cigarettes by the prison guards. INTENDED MEANING: The prison visitor tried to sneak in cigarettes to the prison without the guards noticing. Although there was an error on my passport application, it still managed to get by the verification checks. INTENDED MEANING: Despite having an error on it, my passport application passed the verification checks without it being spotted. Before I finish this post, here are a couple of golden oldies featuring our phrasal verb of choice 'get by' for reference...enjoy! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to get by'.... Can you move your car please? I need to drive past it. My ancestors survived on a diet of mostly bread, meat and vegetables. My car is not ideal but I can cope with it until I can afford a new one. You can pass onto the next stage with this result but you could have done better. My brother earns a low salary but it's enough for his needs. We managed to move past the police barrier without anyone seeing us. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'MAKE UP' (other variations may be possible) Helen and Lisa had an argument last week but they have MADE UP now. I didn't want to go to work today so I MADE UP a fake illness and called in sick. Vegetarians now MAKE UP 10% of the British population. I had a dentist appointment this morning so I have to work extra hours this evening to MAKE it UP. You can sleep here tonight, I will MAKE UP a bed for you in the spare room. She needs to MAKE her MIND up about what she wants to do by this evening. The answers will be available on next week's post. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'get by' below. I really love reading them. See you next time! James

A detailed explanation of how to use the phrasal verb 'put off' correctly like a native speaker. 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. The post this week is all about the phrasal verb 'to put off' and in it we will look its three main meanings and how they are used in everyday English. So, let's not put it off any longer and let's go.... KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here You will notice in the above table that 'put off' does not have a literal meaning in English, so before we look at its different idiomatic meanings, I think it is a good idea as a starting point to consider the two words which make up this common phrasal verb. Let's start with the verb 'to put', which means to move something to a place or into a particular position. I am sure that you are extremely familiar with this verb as it is in common use in everyday English, but nonetheless I have given you a couple of examples below to refresh your memory. Examples of usage.... Lisa put her drink on the table. Can you put your dirty clothes in the washing bin please. Accompanying our verb 'put' for this phrasal verb is the prepositional particle 'off', which, like a lot of English prepositions, has many different uses. The use that we are concerned with here for this phrasal verb is when off conveys the idea of moving away from something. Now that we have briefly looked at the constituent words of 'put off', let's move on to see what the different idiomatic meanings are in English and how native speakers use them. MEANING 1: To postpone something (idiomatic) The first meaning that we are going to look at of 'put off' is the usage to mean to delay, postpone or push something that is planned back to a later time or date. As I mentioned above, this is normally used when something is planned and someone decides to delay or postpone it. This is commonly used with meetings, visits and appointments, so logically, this means that it is commonly used a lot in the business world. In terms of formality, it is less formal than 'postpone' or 'delay', but is still completely fine to use it in business English without sounding too informal. We also often use it when we are hesitating about doing something that we are don't want to do or are afraid to. For example, we may put off going to the gym or telling somebody something that they may react negatively to. I would say from my perspective as a native speaker that 'put off' tends to be used by native speakers when a decision has been made by someone to postpone something, rather than something being delayed due to something outside of a person's control. For example, we tend not to say that an airplane has been put off if it is late to depart, but rather that is has been delayed. To 'put off' is a separable phrasal verb and we frequently insert the direct object between 'put' and 'off' to express the thing that we want to move to a later time or date. It is also fine to add the direct object after 'put off', however it is less common to do so. Examples of usage.... John was very busy so he decided to put the appraisal meeting off until the next day. INTENDED MEANING: Due to his busy workload, John decided to delay his appraisal meeting. The customer visit has been put off until next month. INTENDED MEANING: The visit to the customer will now not take this month, but rather next month. We weren't ready to start the party at 7pm, so we put it off by an hour until 8pm. INTENDED MEANING: As we were not ready, we decided to delay that start of the party by one hour. I've been putting off telling you this as I was worried about your reaction. INTENDED MEANING: I've postponed telling you this on several occasions because I feared your negative reaction. PROVERB ALERT! A common proverb which exists in English is 'don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today'. You can probably understand its meaning, but just in case you are not sure, it means that we should not delay, postpone or put things off that we can do right now and there are certainly times when I wish I had taken this advice in the past. MEANING 2: To make someone dislike something (idiomatic) The second usage of 'put off' that we are looking at in today's post means to make someone dislike something, usually when they did like it to begin with. It is common to use this when we have a negative experience of something, which makes us not like it anymore. Examples of this could be if you eat some bad food, which then makes you sick and you no longer want to eat that food again or if you have a negative experience in a city or country which makes you no longer like it or want to visit there again. In both of these cases you started to dislike, or were put off, the food / country due to the negative experience and perhaps the reminder that they give you of it. When using 'put off' in this way, we often need to use a direct object, which is the person who starts to dislike or dislikes the item. For this we either need object pronouns (me, him, her etc.) or the name of the person. Examples of usage.... I can't drink beer anymore. I had a really bad experience with it, which put me off it for life. INTENDED MEANING: I don't want to drink beer anymore. I used to like drinking it but I had a negative experience with it, which made me stop wanting to drink it. The high prices of train fares have put many commuters off taking the train to work and they are now commuting by car instead. INTENDED MEANING: Due to the expensive price of train tickets, many people have stopped using the trains to go to work and have started to drive instead. In addition to using 'put off' to talk about disliking something that we once liked, we can also use it to talk about when we stop wanting to do something that we wanted to do beforehand. In this case we are generally talking about being put off the idea of doing something. Examples of usage.... Helen wanted to go to university in the USA but was put off the idea when she learned how much it would cost. INTENDED MEANING: Helen no longer wants to go and study in America because of the high costs. We thought about going to the new steak restaurant in town but we've been put off a bit by the bad reviews online. INTENDED MEANING: We were considering having a meal in the new restaurant but the negative reviews that we have read have made us reconsider. MEANING 3: To distract someone (idiomatic) The third and final meaning of 'put off' that we are looking at in today's post is when we use it to mean to distract someone or cause someone to stop concentrating on something. Imagine that you are trying to revise for an exam and you are concentrating very hard when suddenly a person in the next room starts playing some loud music. You become distracted by the music and you could then say that the music has put you off. This is a very common way to express that something has distracted you from doing something, especially in spoken English. Although this meaning can often be used interchangeably with 'distract', I would say that the meaning of 'put off' is slightly different as it doesn't just mean to cause you stop you concentrating on something, but can also mean to stop you being able to do something properly because something is diverting your attention and you can't focus. A great example of this happens to me whenever someone watches me type. I instantly start to make spelling mistakes, even though normally I am perfectly capable of typing the same words when nobody is watching me. This is because I know that they are watching, which puts me off. Note that we normally need to use this meaning separably, with the person who is distracted being inserted between put and off. Like with the previous meaning, this would either be the direct object pronoun (me, him, her etc.) or the name of the person. If we do use this version separably, it sounds wrong and unnatural, so try and avoid doing this. Examples of usage.... Can you please be quiet, you're putting me off my revision! INTENDED MEANING: The noise that you are making is preventing me from concentrating on my revision so please stop! The snooker player missed the winning shot and blamed the crowd, saying that their chattering put him off. INTENDED MEANING: The snooker player said that the reason he missed the winning shot was because the talking from the crowd distracted him. Whenever somebody watches me type, it always puts me off and I start making a lot of mistakes. INTENDED MEANING: When I know that someone is watching me type, it stops me from focusing entirely on the typing and I make errors. EXTRA TIPS TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER When we want to follow 'put off' with a verb to talk about an action, the verb needs to be in the gerund (ing) form. This applies to all three of the meanings that we have looked at above. I was put off smoking when I saw the damage it does to people as they get older. We put off calling the angry customer for an hour in order to let him calm down. USE IT LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER! TYPICAL WAYS 'TO PUT OFF' IS USED IN ENGLISH Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent.... Can we put off the [noun] until..... The [noun] has been put off until.... We have put this off for too long, we need to do it now. That has really put me off my food. I wanted to do it but I got put off by.... I did like him at first but seeing the way he treated his family really put me off him. Don't let one bad experience put you off! Has that put you off or do you still want to go ahead? His talking really puts me off my work. Stop laughing at me when I am doing my speech, it's putting me off! I have had to turn my phone off as the constant notifications kept putting me off! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to put off'.... Can we postpone the video call until 3.30pm please. John and Helen's date was going well until John started swearing, which really made Helen decide that he wasn't the man for her. I used to go to the same barber every time I had my hair cut but the last time I went he didn't cut it very well and so I've decided not to use him again. We wanted to go and see Ed Sheeran in concert but after we saw the price of the tickets, we changed our minds. My wife always talks to me and distracts me when i am doing the crossword in the newspaper. Airline pilots need to fully concentrate during take-off and landing and cannot let themselves get distracted by anything. For the answers click here ANSWERS FROM GET OFF PART 2 (other variations may be possible) Roger drank too much coffee yesterday and struggled to get off to sleep last night. My secretary will ensure to get the signed document off to you today. The burglar really gets off on the thrill of stealing money from rich people. I got a new guitar off my wife for my birthday this year! The cricket game got off to a terrible start as it started to rain five minutes after play commenced. We were supposed to be brainstorming marketing ideas for the new product but got off the subject and started talking about the company's debts instead. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'put off' below. I really love reading them. See you next time!

A detailed explanation of how to use the phrasal verb 'get off' correctly like a native speaker. This is the second of two parts....for the first part click here. 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 English and sound more like a native speaker. This week's post is the second part of my focus on the phrasal verb 'get off', which has so many meanings that it wasn't possible (or fair) to list them all on one blog post. So to recap, in part one, posted last week, we looked at the two literal forms of 'get off', plus the meanings of to leave, to finish work, to have time off from work and to receive a less severe punishment than expected. With all that in mind, let's now take a look at the other meanings of 'get off'.... KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here MEANING 7: To fall asleep (idiomatic) So we are going to start today's post with our seventh meaning of 'get off', which means to fall asleep, normally after finding it difficult to do so. It is often used by frustrated and tired English speakers when they did not have much sleep the night before because it took them a long time to 'get off to sleep'. It is not always used in a negative way however and could also be used to say that we fell asleep immediately or in the same way that we usually do. You may also be familiar with the expression 'to get to sleep', which is also commonly used by native speakers and means the same thing. There is no difference in the meaning here that I can tell; I just think that 'get off to sleep' sounds a little nicer. Example of usage.... I didn't get to sleep until about midnight last night! It is also possible to use a direct object here when talking about making another person go to sleep (through comfort and not boredom). As you can probably imagine from the context, this is normally used by adults referring to babies and small children. Examples of usage.... It took me so long to get off to sleep last night. I am absolutely shattered* today! INTENDED MEANING: I did not fall asleep for a long time last night, so today I am very tired. She was so tired that she got off to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. INTENDED MEANING: She fell asleep as soon as she got into bed as she was so tired. Lisa tried all night to get her daughter off to sleep but nothing worked. INTENDED MEANING: Lisa tried to make her baby go to sleep for the whole night without success. * Shattered is an informal adjective meaning very tired or exhausted. MEANING 8 : To send something (idiomatic) Ok, so now we are on to meaning eight of the phrasal verb 'get off'. As you can see, it is very versatile and has a large number of different uses, so I hope you are keeping up 🤪. This eighth meaning of 'get off' means to send something and this is normally in reference to an email, parcel or a letter in the post. This usage is a little informal, however it is still fine to use in a professional work environment, apart from perhaps official documentation and legal documents. Another similar phrasal verb that could be used as an interchangeable synonym here is 'send off', with no real change in meaning. For this usage, we usually also need to add the extra preposition 'to' and the name of the recipient. Examples of usage.... I have written the email and will get it off to my manager shortly. INTENDED MEANING: The email to my manager is ready to send and I will send it very soon. We have got a birthday card off to him in the post, so he should receive it in the next couple of days. INTENDED MEANING: His birthday card has been sent in the post and should be delivered in the next few days. MEANING 9: To enjoy something intensely (idiomatic) For our ninth usage, we need to add the additional preposition 'on', to give us 'to get off on something', which means to enjoy something intensely. This is an informal way of describing when people get an element of excitement or a buzz from doing something and can often be used for something sexual in nature. We also use it to talk about criminals' enjoyment of the crimes that they commit, bosses and senior employees in companies who enjoy the power that they have or also when someone enjoys a type of drug or natural high. The main idea behind this usage however, is that the enjoyment experienced by the person is intense. Examples of usage.... My friend gets off on true crime podcasts. He really loves them. INTENDED MEANING: My friend very much enjoys listening to true crime podcasts. Lisa's boss loves the power of his position; he really gets off on it. INTENDED MEANING: Lisa's boss intensely enjoys the feeling of power that he has. MEANING 10: To French kiss someone (idiomatic) Ok bear with me, we are nearly there now... For the tenth meaning on our whistle-stop tour* of the phrasal verb 'get off', we are looking at a usage which is particular to British English and means to French kiss someone i.e. to kiss someone using tongues in a romantic or sexual way. This would be the equivalent of 'make out' in American English. For this usage, the additional preposition 'with' is required in order to say who the amorous person was kissing. From my experience, this is mainly used by teenagers and young adults and is not something that you are likely to hear often, so let's move on to the final meaning of 'get off'. *A whistle-stop tour is a tour on which someone visits many different places in a short period MEANING 11: To be given something by someone (idiomatic) So, now we come to the last meaning of 'get off' that we are going to look at on this blog post....give yourselves a pat on the back for coming this far! Only one more to go! We use this final meaning of 'get off' to express when a person gives us something or when we receive something from another person. It is also possible to use it when we take something from someone, however this is only with their consent and would not normally be used to talk about stealing something from them. A direct object is required here to express the item that we are getting or receiving and this needs to go between 'get' and 'off'. This could be something that somebody gives us, like a birthday present or alternatively it could be something that we need to get from somebody else for a work purpose. This form is an alternative (and perhaps more informal) form of to get something from someone. Examples of usage.... I got some lovely birthday presents off my parents this year. INTENDED MEANING: My parents gave me some nice presents. John: Where did you get that cake? Lisa: I got it off Helen, she has brought some homemade cakes into the office today. INTENDED MEANING: Lisa had one of the cakes that Helen had made at home and brought into the office. Can you go and get the signed report off the CEO before you leave today, please. INTENDED MEANING: The person is being asked to ask the CEO to give him the signed report. SPEAK LIKE A NATIVE: TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW 'TO GET OFF' IS USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS. Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent.... It took me so long to get off to sleep last night! No matter what I try, I just can't seem to get off to sleep. I will get this off to you straight away! Can you get this [letter / email] off to [person] as soon as possible. [person] really gets off on [noun]! Can you go and get the [noun] off [person]. I got a [noun] off [person] for my birthday. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE Before finishing the post, I just want to make you aware of another couple of common expressions that native speakers often use with 'get off'.... To get off to a good / bad start = This expression is used all the time by native speakers to say if something has started well or badly. Other adjectives to mean good or bad are also perfectly acceptable to use here. Examples of usage.... The English football team got off to a good start in the World Cup but then crashed out in the semi finals. My day got off to a really bad start when my alarm did not go off and I overslept! To get off the subject = To start talking about discussing things during a conversation which are not relevant to the main subject being discussed. It is also possible to use the alternative "to get off topic", which means the same. Examples of usage.... We started talking about the current political situation but somehow we got off the subject and ended up talking about online videos. We seem to have gotten off topic, can we get back to the subject at hand please! Where do you get off? = This is an idiomatic expression that native speakers use when they want to express to someone that they feel that they are being rude, impolite or patronising towards them. In other words, what gives you the right to treat me like that? This idiom is often followed by the verb in the continuous form. Examples of usage.... Where do you get off talking to me like that?! Where does she get off trying to tell us what to do! She is not our manager! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to get off': Roger drank too much coffee yesterday and struggled to fall asleep last night. My secretary will make sure that the signed document is sent to you today. The burglar really enjoys the thrill of stealing money from rich people. I received a new guitar from my wife for my birthday this year! The cricket game started terribly as it started to rain five minutes after play commenced. We were supposed to be brainstorming marketing ideas for the new product but ended up talking about the company's debts. The answers are available here EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM GET OFF PART 1 (other variations may be possible) We have to get off the train at London King's Cross station. The lid on the beer bottle is stuck fast, I can't get it off! I am not going to get off work until 6.30pm today and it looks like I am not going to be able to get tomorrow off either! It's 4.45pm, so I think I should get off now to avoid the rush hour traffic. When Lisa listens to classical music it gets her mind off the stress of her job. The fraudster got off with a sentence of 3 months in prison; a punishment that was much less severe than everybody had predicted. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'get off' below. I really love reading them. See you next time!

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'let off', with lots of examples in context. Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verb 'let off'.... How well do you know the phrasal verb 'let off' and the different meanings that it has in the English language? Have you ever needed to be let off public transport or have you perhaps been let off from a fine or punishment in your life? Maybe you enjoy letting off steam in the gym or fireworks on New Year's Eve? If some of these sound a little strange to you, don't worry as in this post I outline the different meanings of 'let off' and how they are used in English, so without further ado, let's get started. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! LET OFF: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS In order to understand the meanings of the phrasal verb 'let off' as well as possible, we'll start by considering the meanings of the individual words 'let' and 'off'. The verb 'to let' is a common irregular verb in the English language, whose main meaning is the idea of permitting or allowing something to happen. While it does have other less common meanings, such as 'to rent out property', its other main function as a verb is in the contraction let's (let us), which is used to introduce a suggestion to do something that involves you and the people you are addressing. 'To let' features in several different phrasal verb constructions, which are all useful ones to have in your active English vocabulary. The prepositional particle 'off' is the opposite of the particle 'on' and has multiple meaning and uses in English, notably 'to not be supported or attached to something' and to 'move away from something or somewhere'. It is a common inclusion in phrasal verbs and is often used to add ideas of departure, separation and completion, among others. Now that we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the individual meanings of the phrasal verb 'let off'.... MEANING 1: To allow someone to disembark To start, let's think again about the individual meanings of the words 'let' and 'off' and consider what the literal meaning of 'let off' would be, which is 'to allow someone to disembark or leave something that they are on'. In the gif above, you can see Marge Simpson frantically running around on an airplane shouting "let me off" as she is asking - or demanding - permission to be able to disembark, perhaps because she is scared or has decided that she does not want to leave...I haven't seen the episode, so maybe you can tell me in the comments.... Anyway, back to the phrasal verb explanation....so, essentially this usage is a pure combination of the meaning of 'let' as in 'to allow' with the meaning of 'off', as 'in no longer being on something'. In terms of usage, this meaning can potentially be used with any surfaces or things that you are physically 'on' and for which you need permission to be able to leave or disembark. In reality, this is mainly used with forms of mass transport such as trains, boats and airplanes. You may also hear it, less commonly, with fairground ride such as big wheels or roller coasters. This meaning is separable and takes a direct object, which is the person or thing disembarking or leaving. The direct object can either go between 'let' and 'off' or after it, however when using an indirect personal pronoun (him, her, them etc.), this must go in between the two. Examples of usage.... A passenger fell ill on the bus, so the driver stopped in order to let him off. The ferry docked in Cherbourg to let passenger and cars off, before continuing on to St Malo. Paralysed with fear, Katherine pleaded with the roller coaster operators to let her off before it started. MEANING 2: To not give someone a punishment If any of you readers are criminals or have criminal tendencies (which I hope is not the case), then this next meaning of the phrasal verb 'let off' will be a very positive one for you as it means 'to not give someone a punishment'. The idea here is that when someone commits a criminal offence or does something wrong that normally requires a punishment, they do not receive one and there is no retribution for their wrongdoings. This is of course great news for offenders but often very frustrating for victims. However, what is perhaps equally annoying for victims is when a criminal is found guilty of a crime but receives a lighter punishment than they deserve. The phrasal verb 'let off' can also be used in these situations, however it should be noted that the additional preposition 'with' is required here to specify the lighter punishment that the offender receives. So, to summarise, the second meaning of 'let off' is to not receive a punishment at all, or to receive less punishment than you deserve! Examples of usage.... A notorious thief was caught by the police but then let off after he promised to never steal anything again. There was uproar in the court this morning when the killer was let off with a short prison sentence. There were fears that she would be let off lightly, however the punishment was severe. The traffic warden let me off with a fine of £10 as it was an emergency. IDIOM ALERT! Before we move on to the next meaning, I have a nice idiom linked to this meaning to share with you: 'to let someone off the hook'. This is a common idiomatic expression in English to mean to remove the blame from someone if they have been accused of a crime. For example, if John accuses Roger of stealing his wallet and then afterwards John finds the wallet under his bed, Roger has been let off the hook as it was clear that it was lost and Roger did not steal it. In some instances, it can also be used when someone is found to be guilty of a crime but receives no punishment or retribution for it. Additionally, we can also use 'let someone off the hook' to describe when someone helps us or allows us to avoid a responsibility or something that we do not want to do. Examples of usage.... The politician was accused of speeding in her car but has been let off the hook as there is not enough evidence to support it. Lisa has made some horrible comments about Helen recently but Helen is prepared to let her off the hook as she doesn't want to lose their friendship. I was supposed to be working an extra shift today but luckily my work has let me off the hook and I can rest instead! MEANING 3: To be allowed to not to do something We all have duties, responsibilities and tasks in life that we have to do but don't always want to do, so once in a while it is really nice when someone tells us that we do not have to do them....or, in other words, that we are 'let off' from doing them. To clarify, this next meaning of 'let off' is 'to be allowed not to do something'. This usage is primarily British and again takes the meaning of 'let' as in 'to allow' with 'off' adding the idea of not doing something. Typically, this application of 'let off' is used with tasks or responsibilities that an authority figure, parent or boss expects you to do and it is these authority figures who perform the action of 'letting someone off' from a task or job. Another common way that this is used is when your boss or company management permits you to finish work earlier than normal, in which case you would say that you have been "let off work early". Examples of usage.... I normally have to do the washing up after dinner but my parents have let me off from doing it today as I have injured my hand. Lisa's mother is in hospital and her work has kindly let her off a couple of shifts, so she can care for her. It is the Scotland football game tomorrow and work are letting us off an hour early to watch it. MEANING 4: To make something explode For our next meaning of the phrasal verb 'let off', we are thinking specifically about things that explode and go bang as this meaning is 'to make something explode'. This application takes the idea from the verb 'to let' as in to 'allow something' and combines it with the idea of moving away, release or departure that we get from the particle 'off'. In other words, we are permitting something to be released, in this case explosive energy. Thankfully, there aren't many things in life that do explode and most of the time we experience them second-hand via movies and tv. One common item that can be let off by normal people like us is a firework and every year many people all around the world let them off during times of celebration. Aside from fireworks, other nouns commonly used with this application of 'let off' are bomb, firecracker and gun. Examples of usage.... I couldn't sleep last night as somebody was letting off fireworks until 1am! Luckily, the terrorists plan to let off a bomb at rush hour was foiled by the emergency services. I am not sure whether or not John let off the gun on purpose. MEANING 5: To release liquid, air or chemicals The fifth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'let off' is a slightly less frequently used one that means 'to release air, liquid or chemicals'. This is a usage that you may come across in a wide variety of areas of life as it is used to describe any escape or release of air, liquid or chemical from a container. This is regardless of whether it is intentional or unintentional e.g. a leak. I think that this is perhaps most commonly used with water as we use so much of it, however other common nouns that it is used with are steam, oil and air. 'Let off' can also be used to talk about flatulence, e.g. to let off gas or a fart. Examples of usage.... When ricotta cheese gets warm, it is normal for it to let off some water. The air pressure in my car tyres was too high, so I had to let off a bit of air from them. Plants often let off chemicals to attract bumble bees to them. Once the water is boiling, remove the lid to let some of the steam off. IDIOM ALERT Before I finish this post, I just want to make you aware of a super common idiom that exists with the phrasal verb 'let off'. 'To let off steam' means to get rid of negative energy or feelings by doing some physical activity or making a lot of noise. This ultimately comes from the idea of pressure building up inside you (like steam does in a sealed pan when boiled) and when you do something to relieve the pressure, you let off the 'imaginary' steam and you feel calm again. Examples of usage.... Q: Is John okay? A: He'll be fine, he was a bit angry, so he has gone for a run to let off steam. If you're feeling stressed, one of the best ways to let off some steam is to have a hard workout at the gym. This brings us to the end of the post, so thanks for reading. Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'let off'....don't be shy!!! If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'let off' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below.

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'call on', with lots of examples in context. Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs! Read on to learn more about the phrasal verbs 'call on' and also its variant form 'call upon'.... This post is all about the English phrasal verb 'call on', however as I am feeling generous this week, I have also included the variant form 'call upon' for you, so you get two for the price of one! In this post, I will explain all of the different meanings of 'call on' and 'call upon' and how native English speakers use them in everyday language. In the post, I use 'call (up)on' to refer to both verbs as in most cases they mean the same thing. So, without further ado, let's get started.... CALL (UP)ON: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Let's begin this post by considering the different meanings of the individual words 'call', 'up' and 'upon', which all make up our phrasal verb of choice. Firstly, we have 'to call', which is a frequently used verb in English, with several distinct but related usages, such as giving someone or something a name, telephoning someone or shouting loudly to get someone's attention. Another less common usage of 'to call', which is highly relevant for the phrasal verb 'call (up)on' is 'to make a request or a demand'. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'on', which you will certainly be very familiar with already. 'On' can be used in a huge variety of different ways in English and functions as an adverb, a preposition and even as an adjective. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'on' can often add the ideas of progression and continuation. Last but not least, we have the prepositional particle 'upon'. This is formed by the combination of the particles 'up' and 'on' but actually serves as a more formal synonym for 'on'. 'Upon' is an older English term that is being gradually replaced by 'on', but can still be heard today, especially in formal language and also in place names in the UK, for example Shakespeare's birthplace is the town of Stratford-upon-Avon (Avon is the name of a river). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the meanings of call (up)on.... MEANING 1: To formally ask someone to do something The first way that the phrasal verb 'call on' and its variant 'call upon' are used in English is 'to formally request someone to do something'. This is often when the request is made publicly, either physically in front of people or broadcasted via tv, radio or the internet. Have you ever been to a wedding in an English-speaking country? If not, I'm sure as an English learner you will have certainly seen weddings on English language TV or movies. If you have, you may have heard the bride or groom say the following words during the ceremony as part of their vows.... "I call upon these persons here present to witness...." Now, the wording above probably seems strange to you and that is because it is archaic, old-fashioned English that is no longer used anymore outside of formal situations and ceremonies. What the person is actually doing is just requesting that all of the guests witness the vows that he or she is making. As weddings are traditional ceremonies, much of the language used in them has been preserved from older English and so 'call upon' tends to be used here rather than 'call on', although 'call on' is being used more and more, especially in more modern ceremonies. In addition to weddings, 'call (up)on' is often used by people who have an audience or following to ask for some type of change from a government or an organisation. As the nature of these requests can often be urgent or desperate, it is common for them to become demands or orders, depending on the level of influence that the person has. In these situations, 'call on' is perhaps used more than the more formal 'call upon', although you can still hear both. Examples of usage... I call upon all persons here present to witness that I, John Smith, take thee, Lisa Jones, to be my lawful wedded wife. The Head of the National Education Committee has called on the government to act urgently in order to resolve the matter. The councillors called on the city mayor to resign and step down, however he refused to do so. The government is calling on all doctors to reconsider their planned strike next week. MEANING 2: To invite someone to speak The next meaning of 'call (up)on' derives directly from the first usage that we have just looked at and this is 'to invite or to ask someone to speak'. This application of 'call (up)on' is again a formal usage that you tend to hear more in official and ceremonial environments, especially in a courtroom or at a ceremony, event or business meeting when someone is asked to make a speech. As this is a formal usage, you are far more likely to hear the traditional English variation 'call upon', although 'call on' is used more and more in modern English, which is a trend that I do not think will end anytime soon. For this particular usage, it is quite common for it to be used in the passive sense, i.e. to be called (up)on. Examples of usage.... I now call upon the CEO to address the board and outline the agenda for this AGM. I'd like to call upon the headteacher of the school to say a few words. The court now calls upon the witness, Mr. Steven White, to provide us with a detailed description of what he saw on the evening of the crime. During the inquest, the Prime Minister was called on to speak several times. MEANING 3: To make use of a quality that you possess Imagine that you have a superpower, such as flying or being invisible, but this superpower is not one that you use all the time, it is rather just used when you 'activate' it in times of need. To describe this activation of your superpower, you could say that you 'call (up)on it', which is kind of like saying that you request for it to work. Sadly, in reality nobody has such a superpower (that I know of), however we do all have individual talents and abilities that we can use from time to time and for this we would say that we 'call (up)on' them we need them, which is the third meaning of this phrasal verb. The talents and abilities that a person can call (up)on are generally something that a person is able to do but does not do often or has not done for a long time. As such, the range of these skills is almost limitless and can range from songwriting skills, to keeping calm in high pressure situations or speaking a foreign language. In addition to talents and abilities, 'call (up)on' can also be used in this way with strength and energy, especially in times of need. Examples of usage.... Whilst filming the movie, the actress called on her ability to improvise in the moment. Despite swearing to never do it again, the psychic decided to call on her ability to see into the future one more time. In order to pass this exam, I had to call on every last bit of my memory. Jane will need to call on every ounce of strength that she has to get through this next challenge. MEANING 4: To visit someone Our final usage of 'call (up)on' is a bit of a departure from the usages that we have considered so far as this one means 'to visit someone'. In general, this tends to be used when the visit is unplanned, short or both. This is a primarily British English usage that is commonly used in everyday spoken language and is more informal than the verb 'to visit'. Due to the 'visiting' aspect of this application, it is used most often to describe visiting someone at their home, however it can also be used for visits to see people in hospital or any other place where they are staying for a period of time. Due to the more informal nature of this meaning, 'call on' is almost always used here as 'call upon' in this situation would sound overly formal. It is also possible to use the variation 'to call in on someone' here (just to make it a bit more complicated), which means the same thing but can also imply that the visit was very short e.g. you go to someone's house to check that they are ok and leave after 5 or 10 minutes. One last thing to note here is that to 'call on' someone can often be used when talking about door to door salespeople, who visit potential customers at their houses in order to sell them something. In this sense, it is quite negative in nature. Examples of usage.... We called on my Dad on our way back from our holiday. John called on his best friend last night but nobody was at home. I am going to call in on Lisa in the hospital later to make sure that she is ok. This brings us to the end of the post, so thanks for reading. Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'call on'....don't be shy!!! If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'call (up)on' below. I really love reading them. 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An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Take Down', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. In this post, we are looking at the English phrasal verb 'take down' and all of the different meanings that it has, as well some of its other applications, including its uses as a noun. You may already be familiar with some of its meanings, however I'm sure that one or two will be new to you. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TAKE DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we examine the different uses of 'take down' as a phrasal verb, let's first of all break it down into its constituent parts, as this can often provide a bit of logic when applied to the seemingly illogical phrasal verb meanings. Firstly we have the common English verb 'to take', which you will certainly be very familiar with as it is one of the ten most common verbs in the English language. The general idea behind the verb 'to take' is 'to remove something from a place', but it can also be used to express the ideas of movement, acceptance and endurance, among others. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'down', which is a common feature in phrasal verb constructions and generally means a lower position, or movement towards to a lower position when used adverbially. As with almost all prepositions in English, it is used in many diverse and different ways, however it is worth mentioning here that one of its uses as an adverb means 'to be recorded in writing or in written form'..... - I have all of the details down on paper, so I can refer back to them if I need to. So, now that we have got all of the basics covered, let's move on to the different phrasal verb meanings of 'take down'.... MEANING 1: To remove something from a high place The first meaning of 'take down' that we will look at is more or less a literal meaning as it is 'to remove something from its position in a high place, so that it ends up in a lower place'. This can be used for things which are positioned in a physically high place such as a high shelf (like in the picture above) or on top of a wardrobe, however it can also be used for items that are suspended above the ground, such as decorative lights, or affixed to walls in an elevated position, such a as poster or a notice. If you have read my recent post about the phrasal verb 'put up', you may recall that the third meaning of 'put up' that I covered was 'to place something on display'. Moreover, as I also mentioned, 'put' and 'take' are often used in English for opposite actions, especially in phrasal verb constructions, and 'take down' is no exception to that rule as it is used to remove something that has been placed on display. Grammatically speaking, this meaning of 'take down' does take a direct object and is separable. You can put the object between or after the phrasal verb, without changing the meaning or intonation. Another variation of this meaning that I want to mention here is one that is predominantly used in American English and means to 'lower something without removing it' and the prime example of this would be trousers / pants. In British English, we may also say 'take down' here or the alternative 'pull down'. Examples of usage Could you help that lady and reach up there and take down a bag of flour for her from the top shelf as she can't reach it. We are having our living room painted today, so I have had to take down all the pictures and photos from the wall. Helen gets sad and depressed when she has to take her Christmas decorations and lights down. Could you take down your trousers please, so that the doctor can see the wound on your leg. MEANING 2: To dismantle a structure The second meaning of 'take down' is to dismantle an upright structure. In other words, this is removing each part of the structure until it is no longer standing and only the constituent parts remain. Once again, this action in direct contrast to one of the meanings of 'put up' that I recently posted about (i.e. to build a structure). Much like its opposite, it can be used to talk about buildings, tents, fences and any other standing structures that can be dismantled and removed. Furthermore, this usage of 'take down' can also be used to talk about dismantling non-physical structures such as social systems and governments. For this however, it tends to be used by activists and people with strong opinions and is therefore used much more forcefully and negatively. Examples of usage The crew took down the enormous building, steel beam by steel beam. The local council has taken down the tired old road signs in the city and has put up new modern ones in their place. Our neighbour has put up a huge fence between our gardens and we have asked him to take it down and replace it with a shorter one. Cries of "take down the government" could be heard during the rally. MEANING 3: To write something The third meaning of 'take down' is a commonly used one in the world of business English and means 'to write something down so that there is a written record of it'. If you remember from earlier on in the post, I mentioned that one of the meanings of 'down' as an adverb is to be recorded in written form and this phrasal verb meaning is simply an extension of that meaning. If we take something down, we note it on paper, or in word processed form, so that we can refer back to it at a later time or date. As such, this application is often used when there is a degree of seriousness to the situation, such as 'taking down' the registration number of a car involved in an accident or 'taking down' all of the details regarding a customer complaint so that you can look into it later. Examples of usage John has taken down my address and has promised to send me hard copies of the photos from today's workshop in the post. A car just drove into my car when I was reversing and damaged the back. It sped off again so quickly afterwards that I did not have a chance to take down the registration number. Lisa is going to take down all of the minutes of today's meeting and she will send you all a copy by email once she has written them up. MEANING 4: To defeat someone The fourth and final meaning of 'take down' means 'to defeat someone', usually in a convincing or conclusive way. Furthermore, in some, more extreme, cases it can also mean to kill someone or destroy something. I believe that this particular application of 'take down' can be traced back to combat sports, in particular wrestling, as when a person is defeated, they are often 'down' on the floor. This usage of 'take down' is still very much used in combat sports but has spread to become acceptable for all sports or competition. It is definitely more of an informal usage and can often be used as a threat to someone, either of physical violence towards them or simply that they will be defeated. This meaning is separable and tends to be used much more commonly with the pronoun for the defeated person (me, you, him etc.) or thing (it) being placed between 'take' and 'down'. If you are using the name of the person or thing that is defeated, then you are fine to place this either between or after the phrasal verb, however if you are using a pronoun, then it needs to go between 'take' and 'down'. Examples of usage Many people have tried to take down Roger but no one has succeeded yet! You'd better be worried because I am going to take you down next time! The boxing world champion has threatened to take down his next opponent before the end of the first round at their match this coming Saturday. IDIOM ALERT! Before we take a look at the bonus material, I just want to make you aware of an English idiom that features the phrasal verb 'take down'. To take someone down a peg or two is an expression that means 'to show someone that they are not as important as they think they are'. This is often reserved for arrogant and self-important people who think they are better than other people. When we take them down a peg or two, we do or say something that stops them acting in that superior way. A couple of alternatives to this idiom also exist. One of these is 'to take someone down a notch' and the other is 'to bring someone down a peg or two'. Examples of usage She thinks she is so much better than everyone else and one of these days someone is going to take her down a peg or two. The arrogant footballer was taken down a peg or two when he started playing football for a professional team and he realised that he was no longer the best in his team. BONUS: TAKE DOWN AS A NOUN As I mentioned at the very beginning of the post, the phrasal verb 'take down' also has a noun derivative 'takedown' (or 'take-down'), which has several different meanings: The first of these links back to wrestling and refers to when a fighter is knocked or wrestled to the ground by their opponent. Alternatively, this could also be used for the act of successfully taking someone down a peg or two. The next use of the noun 'takedown' can be used to describe when something is harshly criticised in great detail in writing, in a speech or on a tv show. The last use of 'takedown' as a noun is to describe when the police arrest multiple people at the same time. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to take down'.... Can you reach up to the top shelf and get the loaf of bread down for me? The billboard advertisement was removed after a complaint from a member of the public. Dismantle the patriarchy now! Despite having poor eyesight, John managed to make a note of the car's registration plate. Roger was a sore loser and told Helen in a threatening way that he would beat her the next time that they played golf. He is so conceited and arrogant, someone is going to put him in his place and show him that he's not as important as he thinks one day. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'GIVE OUT' (other variations may be possible) The local restaurant was GIVING OUT passers-by free samples of their food earlier. These new speakers that I have bought GIVE OUT a high quality sound. John was lifting a heavy box when his back GAVE OUT, meaning that he had to take a month off work. The farmer estimates that he has about a week until his grain stock GIVES OUT. The local aid agency is GIVING OUT information about how to help with the rescue efforts. Lisa's teacher was always GIVING OUT to her for being late to class. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'take down' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James