An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'sort out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pixels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. The featured phrasal verb in this post is 'to sort out', which is a relatively informal phrasal with a number of different meanings and usages. Across these different meanings there is a general theme though, which will hopefully help to help you understand and make sense of them. So, without further ado, let's take a look at them.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'sort' and 'out' Meaning 1: To arrange into categories Meaning 2: To resolve a problem Meaning 3: To organise or arrange something Meaning 4: To provide something for someone 🇬🇧 Meaning 5: To punish someone 🇬🇧 Bonus: The noun 'sort-out' Bonus: Typical example sentences of 'sort out' Bonus: Don't confuse 'sort out' with 'sought' out' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pixels THE BASICS SORT OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Sorted out / Sorted out Separable? Yes A great way to start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'sort out' is to consider the words 'sort' and 'out' and what they mean individually. Firstly, we have the base verb 'to sort' , which can mean either 'to arrange something into categories' (think of a hat in a famous literary school for magicians) or to resolve a problem or difficulty. Photo: Pixels John sorted the playing cards into different suits. I need to sort all these old clothes before tomorrow. I have managed to sort the problem with the computer. How did you manage to sort that issue so quickly? Next, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which is a widespread and common word in English that can function as a preposition, adverb, adjective and even a verb! When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'out' can emphasise the ideas of movement to an external space ( go out ), exhaustion ( run out ), revelation (find out), removal ( cut out ), expansion (spread out) and exclusion (leave out), among other things. So, following that short introduction, let's take a look at the idiomatic usages of 'sort out' and how native speakers use it.... MEANING 1: To arrange into categories Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To sort, to arrange, to organise Separable? Yes As we have just seen in the previous section, one of the main meanings of the verb 'to sort' is to arrange something into categories or types and you'll be pleased to know that this first meaning of the phrasal verb 'sort out' means the exact same thing 😀. I sorted the playing cards out into different suits. John helped Helen sort out the clothes into colour groups. You will see from the examples above that it is perfectly fine to separate 'sort' and 'out' (like in the first example) with no difference in meaning. Moreover, don't forget that the preposition ' into' is also required to specify the end category or group. IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TO SORT OUT AND TO SORT? You may be wondering why native speakers add the extra word 'out' when 'to sort' alone means the same thing? While it is true that these two variations can be interchangeable with no difference in meaning, sometimes native speakers will add 'out' for extra emphasis. In other instances however, 'sort out' does have a different meaning to ' sort' , which you should be aware of. In a situation where we want to separate or remove one type of item from the others, we would use 'sort out' rather than ' sort' . Photo: Pixels Imagine that you have some old clothes that you want to go through in order to decide which items you want to keep and which you want to throw away. In this instance you would say that you are sorting out the clothes that you no longer want. Using 'to sort' for this sounds incomplete as the particle 'out' adds the extra element or idea of separation. I need to sort out the clothes that I am taking on holiday with me. Lisa has finally sorted out which items she will donate to the charity shop. The librarian sorted out the returned books into their respective genres. Can you help me sort out the laundry into whites, colours, and delicates? We need to sort out these files into different folders based on the year. MEANING 2: To resolve a problem Photo: Pixels ​CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To sort, to resolve Separable? Yes As I mentioned before, 'to sort' has two main meanings in English: the first is to arrange something and the second is to resolve a problem. Luckily for you English learners, the second meaning of 'to sort out' is also the same meaning as the second meaning of 'sort', i.e. to resolve a problem or issue. Nouns commonly used with this application: Mess Things Problem Issue IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'TO SORT OUT' AND 'TO SORT'? The short answer here is no. Both variations can be used interchangeably without any change in meaning, however like with the previous meaning, native speakers will often add the word 'out' for emphasis. From my own perspective, I think that 'sort out' is often used by native speakers when the problem or issue is a complicated or difficult one and we tend to use 'sort' more for issues that are easier or quicker to resolve. WHAT A MESS! We often use 'sort out' with the word ' mess' , which can either mean an untidy physical space like a typical teenager's bedroom or a complex situation with lots or problems. We can therefore use 'sort out' to talk about tidying the messy, untidy space as well as to resolve a complicated issue. Photo: Pixels LOVE PROBLEMS! For the romantics among you, if native speakers want to talk about resolving problems in a relationship, we will often say that we need to 'sort things out'. From a formality perspective, I would say that this meaning of 'sort out' is very informal. We do use it in business English, however in more formal situations and on formal documentation it should be avoided and an alternative like 'to resolve' should be used instead. Did you manage to sort out the customer's problem? Helen, your bedroom is a terrible mess! Sort it out! John and Roger have sorted out their differences and they are now best friends again. Lisa and her husband are trying to sort things out. MEANING 3: To organise or arrange something Photo: Pixels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage ​Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To organise, to arrange Separable? Yes Our third meaning of 'sort out' is to organise or arrange something, such as an event or a party. The focus here is on doing what is necessary in order for the event to happen. Imagine that you are arranging a surprise birthday party for a family member and you need to book a DJ for the music, book a suitable venue for the party, organise the decoration of the venue and invite the guests. For all of these you could say that you need to sort them out.... We have managed to sort out a great venue for my daughter's party next week. I haven't sorted out a DJ or the decorations yet. I need to sort both of those out this weekend! This meaning is a definite variation of the previous idiomatic meaning of resolving a problem as here we are resolving the specific problem of something not yet being organised. MEANING 4: To provide something for someone Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced ​Usage Rare Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To obtain, to provide, to supply Separable? Yes In informal British English, it is also possible to use 'sort out' to mean to provide someone with something that they need. This is normally something that in not easy to obtain or could possibly even be something illegal. Since it is informal, I would not recommend using this in business English, where an alternative such as ' provide' or ' supply' would be much more appropriate. This is often followed by the preposition ' with' to talk about the item that is to be provided. I couldn't find any gym equipment anywhere but luckily my personal trainer was able to sort me out with some. The IT department were able to sort my manager out with a new printer. The mechanic sorted out a new car for my brother after he crashed his old one. MEANING 5: To punish someone Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To punish, to tell off, to admonish Separable? Yes The final meaning that we are looking at in this post is to 'sort someone out', meaning 'to punish someone' or 'to stop someone who is causing you a problem'. This is normally by using physical force but sometimes can be by shouting at them. I guess the ultimate aim of 'sorting out' in this sense is to make the person regret doing the wrong thing. Again, the underlying idea of this meaning is to resolve a problem but this time it is a problem that another person has caused or is causing you. This usage is also very informal and like with the previous meanings, it should be avoided when in formal situations or in business English. His parents will sort him out when he gets home. The coach promised to sort out any players who broke the rules during the game. Don’t worry about the bully; I’ll sort him out if he bothers you again. The gang leader sent his men to sort out anyone who didn’t pay their protection money. Photo: Pixels THE NOUN 'SORT-OUT' In British English it is also possible to use 'sort out' as a noun, in which case it is spelt sort-out, with a hyphen. We normally 'have a sort-out' when we are looking through our possessions in order to decide what to keep and what to throw away. It is an alternative way to say "to have a spring clean" if you are familiar with that expression. I have too much stuff in my bedroom. I really must have a sort-out! Photo: Pixels MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES WITH 'SORT OUT' If you can memorise some of the sentences below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural: I need to sort out which [noun] I am taking on holiday with me. [Pronoun] is sorting out the issue. Do you think you can sort it out by [time] We are trying to sort things / it out. That cupboard is so full. It really needs sorting out. We've managed to sort out the problem. When I have a headache, paracetamol and fresh air really sort me out. Can you do this while I sort this customer out. I am going to have a sort-out at home this weekend. Photo: Pixels DON'T CONFUSE 'SORT OUT' WITH 'SOUGHT OUT' Before I finish the post, I just want to make you aware of one more thing. Make sure you that do not confuse 'sort out' with 'sought out', which is the past form of the phrasal verb 'to seek out'. The pronunciation of 'sought out' is exactly the same as 'sort out', so it is good to be aware that both of these exist. It is worth remembering that both past forms of sort out are sorted out, so if you do hear 'sought out' in a past context, you can be fairly sure it is the past of 'seek out'. Photo: Pixels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'sort out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get around' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. 'Get around' is a moderately common English phrasal verb with a number of distinct and useful meanings are great to know to help make your English sound more natural. In this article, I will explain the different applications that 'get around' has, from getting around a problem' to getting your head around something, with lots of examples in context to help you understand how and when to use them! So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get Around - The Basics: Key information and the words 'get' and 'around' Get Around - Meaning 1: To move past an obstacle Get Around - Meaning 2: To overcome a problem Get Around - Meaning 3: To persuade someone to do something Get Around - Meaning 4: To go to a lot of places Get Around - Meaning 5: To do something that you have postponed Get Around - Bonus: Idioms featuring 'get around' I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GET AROUND: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Got around / Got - gotten around Separable? Sometimes Let's begin our exploration of the phrasal verb 'get around' by looking at the words 'get' and 'around' and what they mean on their own. Firstly, we have the verb 'to get', which is a verb that strikes fear into the hearts of most English language learners as it has such a lot of uses and meanings. Its notable meanings include to receive, to fetch and to understand, as well as the meaning that is perhaps the most pertinent for the phrasal verb 'get around', which is to arrive at or reach a place...more of that to come later. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'around', which does not feature in as many phrasal verb constructions as some of the others. The main idea of the particle 'around' is the opposite of the prepositional particle 'through', i.e. a movement along, or following, the edge of something, rather than across the centre of it one from side to the other. This movement can either be directly on the edge of something.... I drew a line around my hand with a pencil. Or it can be following the edge of something from a distance.... The moon moves around the Earth. Alternatively, it can be used to describe positions on the edge of something, rather than a movement.... Photo: Pexels The people sat around the table for dinner . Another meaning of 'around' that will be useful for the purposes of this post is to describe a movement from place to place within the confines of a specific area or place, e.g. a town or city, or country. I drove around the area looking for a shop that was open. We walked around the city centre and looked at all of the beautiful buildings. One thing to note before we continue is that in British English, when 'around' is used in phrasal verb constructions, speakers often drop the 'a' at the beginning of the word and say 'round' instead, e.g. 'get round'. This alternative is considered acceptable in English, however it is quite informal, so should be avoided in formal communication and writing. Also, beware that if used in the wrong context, it could possibly cause confusion as 'round' as an adjective is used to describe something that is circular. Ok, so now that we have covered the basics, let's move onto the different meanings of 'get around'.... MEANING 1: To move past an obstacle Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To move around, to get by, to get past, to go around Potential antonyms To go through, to get through Separable? No For our first meaning of 'get around', we are thinking about obstacles, obstructions and things that block our path. Imagine that you are driving along a road when suddenly you have to stop the car because a tree has fallen and is blocking the road, stopping you from Photo: Pexels passing. The first thing that any driver would probably do in this situation is to check to see if there is any space at the side of the road where it is possible to pass the tree, or in other words, to get around the tree. That is because this first meaning is to physically move past an obstacle. This application is really just the literal meaning of the words 'get' and 'around', as previously described in the last section; we have the idea of arriving at or reaching a specific point from the verb 'to get' and we have the idea of moving along the edge of something from the particle 'around'. The main idea of this usage is that you reach the other side of the obstruction by moving along it's edge, rather than through the centre of it. Some nouns that are typically used with this are mountains, closed roads, cities but these could technically be any nouns that describe an obstacle. Is there any way to get around this fallen tree without climbing over it? The road was built to enable people to get around the mountain more easily. Despite many attempts, none of the walkers were able to get around the boulder that had landed on the path. As stated in the table above, one of the synonyms of 'get around' is 'go around', however you should be aware that 'go around' is used to emphasise the movement around the obstruction, while the focus of 'get around' is on reaching the the destination on the other side of it. Moreover, 'get around' tends to be used when there are problems or difficulties with the movement or if it was not possible, whilst 'go around' tends to be used when it is easy and problem free. MEANING 2: To overcome a problem Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To overcome, to deal with, to circumvent Separable? No In the last section, we looked at physical movement around an obstruction that is blocking our way and now for this second usage, we are going to turn our attention towards a different, more abstract type of obstacle. One unfortunate and unavoidable aspect of the human condition is that we always encounter problems and issues, especially when we are trying to do things, and this is where this second meaning of 'get around' comes in, as it means to overcome a problem or issue. While we do use 'get around' to talk about being faced with a problem and finding a solution to it, I think that it tends to be used more in the sense of finding a way to avoid a problem or issue, rather than directly addressing it. In other words, like with our fallen tree, we use it to express a way of moving around the figurative problem. This is going to be an issue for us. How are we going to get around it? We spoke to the customer and explained our situation and I think that we have managed to get around the problem. The political party is still looking for a way to get around this issue. In the modern world, in particular the business world, there are (for good reason) a huge number of laws and regulations in place that exist to help and protect us. However, these same rules and regulations can equally pose challenges when they hinder or prevent us from performing necessary tasks and achieving the objectives that we want to achieve. If you are lucky enough to know someone who works as a lawyer or who has a good understanding of these laws, then it may be possible to circumvent these unwanted rules and achieve the desired objective, or in other words 'get around' the rules. In this way, 'get around' can be used to mean finding a way to do something prohibited or unlawful in a legal or acceptable way that does not break a law or rule...useful huh?! We thought that we would have to give up on the project due the new legislation that the government has brought in, however our lawyer was able to get around it. Don't worry about this, I think that there is a way of getting around it without actually breaking the law. MEANING 3: To persuade someone to do something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly American English Potential synonyms To persuade, to convince Separable? No So in the last two sections, we have considered obstacles of both a physical and an abstract nature and now for this third meaning, our obstacle takes human form. This usage of 'get around', specifically 'to get around someone', means to convince or persuade someone to do what you want. The action of 'getting around someone' is usually carried out by another person and tactics of this persuasion normally consist of doing something nice for the person who you want to get around, giving them compliments and flattering them. It is also completely possible for us to use this with pets such as cats or dogs, who tend to use less subtle techniques of persuasion. You may be able to get around your father by smiling sweetly, but you will not get around me so easily! My boss is ok with the idea of letting us finish earlier on Fridays but we just have to get around the director now. There is no point trying to get around my sister on this. If she doesn't gain anything from it, she won't agree. MEANING 4: To go to a lot of places Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To travel, to get about Separable? No For the next meaning of 'get around', let's forget the idea of obstacles and obstructions and move on, coincidentally, to travel as this one means 'to go to a lot of places'. At the very heart of this fourth application is movement and this goes back to one of the meanings of 'around' that I mentioned in the Basics section at the start of the article, which is to move from place to place within a specific area. First of all, let's imagine that the specific area that we are talking about is a city. If you get around a city, it generally means that you go from place to place within a city's boundaries, so this could be from your house to the cathedral and then to the city hall or to the park. Moreover, this could be by car, by public transport or even on foot. This could be in one specific day or it could be over a week or the entire time that you live in the city. The central idea of getting around is general movement from place to place within the city. It is very easy for tourists to get around this city as the public transport links are so good. How do you get around London if you don't have a car? If we remove the idea of a city's boundaries, it is also possible to use 'get around' to talk about how a person travels from place to place in their general lives. When I sold my car last year, I was worried about how I would get around without it but I've coped really well. My mum is 88 years old and struggles to get around to the doctors or to the shops these days. Now let's forget the limitations of our cities and daily lives and open up the boundaries to include the whole world. If you are a frequent traveller and are lucky enough to visit many different areas, regions, countries or continents on a regular basis, then it may be said that you 'get around'. You should note that this last 'worldwide' usage is quite informal. Italy last week, Germany this week and New York next month! Wow you really get around, John! Jane is a Director for an international conglomerate and is always flying off to visit different offices around the globe. She gets around! MEANING 5: To do something that you have postponed Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Separable? No We have now reached the last meaning of 'get around' and as it happens the meaning of this fifth and final usage is 'to do something that you have postponed or put off'. For this application of 'get around' we require the additional preposition 'to', giving us the following construction.... to get around to (doing) something This usage will be a particularly useful one for you if you are a busy person with lots of things to do in your life; it is certainly one that I use all the time! Typically, it is used in situations where people have lots of things to do, e.g. a full email inbox at work, reports to write, projects to work on and statistics to analyse...you get the idea! In these hectic situations when you have too much work to do, you will have to tell people that you will do specific tasks when you get a chance or when you get around to it. That means that you don't have time to do it now, but you will do it at a later point in time when you have the time or when the more important tasks have been done. Alternatively, it is also very common in very busy times that you haven't got around to doing something yet and this will ofter infer to the person that you are talking to that you are busy and have not had the chance. As you may have noticed from the examples provided, 'get around to' is usually followed by a gerund ('ing) or by a noun e.g. the job or the task. I'm really busy at the moment but I will try and get around to looking at the report before I go home. Kate finally got around to sending out thank you cards a couple of weeks after her birthday party. When do you think you will be get around to doing it? Ok, I'll do it this week if I get around to it but I can't promise anything! Photo: Pexels BONUS: Idioms featuring 'get around' Before I end the post, there is a really common idiom featuring 'get around' that you should be aware of and this is 'to get your head around something'. 'To get your head around something' means to understand or grasp something, such as a new idea, concept or theory. Likewise, you may say that 'you can't get your head around something' when you don't understand it or you find something difficult to comprehend. I can't get my head around these figures. Please could you take a look and let me know. I finally managed to get my head around this theory after reading the article several times. Sarah just couldn't get her head around why anybody would want to threaten her. She had no enemies and everybody liked her. Sadly, this brings us to the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get around'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'hold out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. 'Hold out' is a handy English phrasal verb to know and be able to use in everyday English. It has a number of diverse meanings, range from strength and resilience to secrecy and patience! In this post, I will explain the different ways that native speakers use 'hold out', with lots of examples to illustrate these for you. So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! It's always much appreciated 😊   TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Hold Out - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'hold' and 'out' Hold Out - Meaning 1: To extend your arm Hold Out - Meaning 2: To last or endure Hold Out - Meaning 3: To survive or resist something difficult Hold Out - Meaning 4: To feel hope or optimism Hold Out - Meaning 5: To wait until you get what you want Hold Out - Meaning 6: To refuse to give information Photo: Pexels THE BASICS HOLD OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Held out / Held out Separable? Sometimes Before we look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'hold out', let's first consider what the words 'hold' and 'out' mean on their own. First up, we have the verb 'to hold', which is a common English verb with several different meanings. Perhaps the first one that comes to mind when thinking of this verb is 'to keep something in your hand', however other significant meanings of 'to hold' are to support something, to contain something, to keep something in a specific position and to keep someone somewhere, so that they are unable to leave or escape. When used in phrasal verb constructions 'to hold' can often be used to mean 'to wait', which is certainly something that will feature later in this post. Next up is the prepositional particle 'out', which you will all certainly be aware of. 'Out' is generally used as an adverb and preposition to talk about being on, or moving towards, the exterior of something. When used in phrasal verbs, it often adds the idea of moving in an outwards direction and many phrasal verbs with 'out' do indeed carry this idea. Other functions of 'out' in phrasal verbs include completion, distribution and revelation. Now that we have looked at the different meanings of the constituent words, let's move onto the different phrasal verb meanings of 'hold out'... MEANING 1: To extend your arm Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To offer, to present, to extend Separable? Yes Photo: Pexels Let's start off with a nice and simple meaning of 'hold out', which is all to do with our hands. If we hold out our hands, we simply extend our arms, so that our hands are in a position away from our body', as pictured here ➟ ➟ ➟ As we humans are highly complex creatures, there are a huge variety of reasons as to why we hold out hands. These can often differ between cultures and countries, however the most common reason for doing so, certainly in western culture, is an offer to shake hands with someone. She held out her hand in front of her to make sure her nail polish was on evenly. John held out his hand to Stephen to shake hands, but Stephen was not willing to forgive him. As I mentioned in the Basics section on this post, one of the main meanings of the verb 'to hold' is 'to keep something in your hand'. Bearing this in mind, it should come as no surprise to you that this application of 'hold out' is not only used for our empty hands, but also to talk about when we hold an object in our hands and extend it away from our bodies. Again, this can be for a multitude of reasons, but is often in the sense of offering or presenting something to someone. Lucy held out her phone in front of her to take a selfie. Helen held out the plate of sandwiches to her guests and asked them to take some. The barman has to hold the card reader out to the customer so that they could pay. The midwife held the baby out to her mother so that she could hold her for the first time. MEANING 2: To last or endure Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To last, to endure Potential antonyms To run out Separable? No If you are a regular visitor to my website, you may have read my post all about the phrasal verb 'run out' (if not, you can visit it here ), one of the meanings of which is to describe when there is none left of something. Now, you may be wondering why I am talking about 'run out' on a post about the phrasal verb 'hold out' and the reason for this is because this second meaning of 'hold out' is in fact the opposite meaning of 'run out', or specifically 'to not run out'. This meaning of 'hold out' is therefore typically used in conjunction with nouns for things for which we need a constant or continuous supply in our lives, such as food, water, gas, money etc. as if we run out of these things, it can be problematic. Hopefully, our food supplies will hold out until the snow melts and we can get to the shop again. Do you think we have enough gas to hold out until we get to the next gas station? Moreover, this application tends to be used when talking about whether or not the supply of what you have will be sufficient for a specific period of time, or in other words, it will hold out until a certain date. Alternatively, you may also hear this when talking about supplies in difficult times or situations and whether or not the supply will be enough to last until the tough period is over. I was very careful with how much water I drank and luckily it held out for the duration of the marathon race. The miners, who were trapped underground, were praying that the oxygen would hold out until they were rescued. MEANING 3: To survive or resist something difficult Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To survive, to resist Separable? No What is your favourite movie genre? Personally, I love horror, fantasy and historical genres the most and the reason that I am telling you this is that this next meaning of 'hold out' is one that features a lot in these types of movies as it means 'to survive or resist something difficult' and in these movies it tends to be sieges of castles etc (perhaps not the horror genre, in this case). In order to help your understanding of this meaning, let's put it into context with an example. In medieval times it was a common military tactic for invading armies to besiege castles or cities, which meant that they surrounded them and stopped any people, food or water supplies from entering, thus making life within the castle or city so difficult that it eventually surrendered. As you would imagine, life in a besieged place was particularly tough, however in many of the documented sieges in history, they managed to hold out against the enemy. In other words, they did not surrender and consequently survived the siege until the enemy was defeated or went away. Aside from sieges of castles and cities, 'hold out' can also be used to talk about armies who defend themselves in difficult situations. Of course, in the modern world, situations like these are not as common, but regrettably do still exist and we can use this application of the phrasal verb 'hold out' for this. Luckily, you are much more likely to come across it in novels, movies and television series and so it is definitely one you should be aware of if you enjoy watching these in English. In the years 1848-49, the city of Venice was able to hold out against the siege by the Austrian army. How long do you think that they can hold out in there? One other time that you may hear this in the modern world is when talking about sport, when one team performs well or better than expected in difficult circumstances, i.e. against a much better team or with less players than normal. If the disadvantaged team manages to win or draw against their opponents, you can say that they held out against them. Leeds United managed to hold out against a much stronger Liverpool FC team and the result ended in a 1-1 draw. MEANING 4: To feel hope or optimism Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To offer Separable? No As the tone of the last usage of 'hold out' that we looked at was a bit dark and sombre, let's reverse that now with another meaning that is a lot more positive and means 'to feel hope or optimism'. This usage is limited to collocations with only a few nouns, mainly 'hope' and 'possibility', and is used to express whether or not you feel hopeful or optimistic about a situation or not. If you hold out hope for something, then it means that you still believe and hope that something will be possible. We are currently in negotiations with the council about holding the sports event in the park and we are holding out a lot of hope that they will agree to our request. The captain of the England cricket team is holding out the possibility of welcoming some of their old players back. Rescue teams have been out looking for the missing boys since last night but the police are not holding out much hope of finding them alive. MEANING 5: To wait until you get what you want Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To wait Separable? No Now we come to our fifth meaning of 'hold out' and for this we require the additional preposition 'for', giving us the construction 'to hold out for something', which means 'to wait until you get what you want'. For clarity, let's look at an example to illustrate this usage for you..... Sarah is 25 years old and has been single since she broke up with her last boyfriend two years ago. In that time, she has dated one or two guys but ultimately she turned them down as she did not consider them to be good enough for her. She is determined not to settle for the second best option and is therefore committed to holding out until she meets the right man who does tick all the boxes. As you hopefully understood from the example, there is a bit more to this application of 'hold out' than just the idea of waiting; rather it is a refusal to accept what is offered to you in the hope that if you wait for long enough, the desired option or thing will come. I've decided not to book a holiday yet as I am going to hold out for the discounted prices at the beginning of the summer. Steve has been offered several jobs since graduating from university but he has not accepted them as he is holding out for an offer from a Fortune 500 company. Kelly didn't buy the last smartphone when it was released earlier this year as she is holding out for the next one, which should be released in the next few months. For those of you who are into 1980s music, here is an absolute classic from the era featuring this particular usage of 'hold out'....enjoy! 😊 MEANING 6: To refuse to give information CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used Everywhere Potential synonyms To keep quiet Separable? No We have now arrived at our last usage of 'hold out', so well done for making it this far. For this final application, we require the additional preposition 'on', giving us the construction 'to hold out on someone', which means to refuse to give information to someone. This usage is an informal one and is used for when someone knows some secret or unknown information, but refuses to disclose it, especially when the information is valuable in some way or the other person has a strong desire to learn it. In other words, if won't tell you the juicy information, they are holding out on you! John knows who did it but he is holding out on me and won't say who it was. Come on, don't hold out on us! We need to know! Sarah was holding out on Roger as she didn't trust him with the information. In addition to information, 'hold out' can also be used in this way to talk about withholding other things that people urgently require, such as money or help. I need the money but the bank is holding out on me! Please, I really need this, stop holding out on me and give it to me. Photo: Pexels Sadly, this brings us to the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'hold out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'let on' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs! 'Let on' is a rarer English phrasal verb that, whilst you may not hear every day, is certainly one that you should have in your active vocabulary to impress your English-speaking friends and colleagues. This is a much shorter post than normal as there are only three meanings and my hands needs a break from typing so much 😉. So, without further ado, let's make a start...don't forget to leave a comment at the end! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Let On - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'let' and 'on' Let On - Meaning 1: To allow someone onto something Let On - Meaning 2: To reveal something secret Let On - Meaning 3: To pretend I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS LET ON: KEY INFORMATION  Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Let on / Let on Separable? Sometimes To begin, let's take the two words 'let' and 'on' and consider their individual meanings as independent words. Firstly, we have the verb 'to let', which is a common verb in English with several meanings. The most common of these meanings is perhaps 'to allow or permit someone to do something'. When I was young, my parents let me stay up until 8pm at the weekend. My wife won't let me watch television until I have finished the DIY. Another similar usage with the verb 'to let' is to not prevent something from happening. I can't believe you just let it happen and didn't intervene. Next up, we have the prepositional particle 'on', which is used as an adverb and preposition to mean to be in contact with, or supported by, a surface. In addition to this, 'on' has a very large number of different meanings and functions and is commonly used as an adverb, preposition and noun in the English language. Now that we have covered the basics, let's find out what meanings are created when we combine these two innocent little words.... MEANING 1: To allow someone onto something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To allow on, to permit on Separable? Yes Let's begin the meanings of 'let on' with the easiest one, which is simply the combination of the literal meanings of the verb 'to let' and the prepositional particle 'on', i.e. to allow someone onto something. This application is quite limited in its usage because it can only really be used properly with nouns for things that we can physically or metaphorically be 'on'. What's more, this is further restricted as the inclusion of the word 'let' means that there must also be an element of permission from another person to be 'on' the noun in question. As such, you are most likely to come across this usage of 'let on' with public transport such as trains, airplanes and buses since these are all things that people can be 'on' and which you need a ticket in order to be permitted to travel (remember English is illogical and we use 'on' for these rather than the more logical 'in'). Other examples of nouns where you may come across this are things like fairground rides, furniture or roofs. On a grammatical note, for this literal usage, we almost always use it separably with the allowed or disallowed person or thing going between 'let' and 'on'. My husband was very drunk and the airport staff were not sure whether or not to let him on the flight. Lisa's daughter tried to get on the roller coaster but the staff wouldn't let her on as she was too small. I can't believe you let your cat on the kitchen table! In addition to physical objects and surfaces, we can also use 'let up' with non-physical or abstract nouns with which we use 'on', such as courses (training or education), programmes, websites and teams. I managed to convince the team to let me on the football team. Kate's school grades were not good enough and the university refused to let her on the course. My access to the internet at work is quite limited and they won't let me on certain websites. MEANING 2: To reveal something secret Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reveal, to admit Separable? No Ok, so let's now take a look at the first of the more abstract meanings of the phrasal verb 'let on' and this first one is 'to reveal something secret'. For the etymology fans among you, this usage has been around since at least the early eighteenth century and was first used to mean 'to allow some information to be known'. This usage has continued through to modern English, although it tends to be used much more frequently in the negative sense these days, i.e. 'to not let on', meaning that the secret information was not revealed. A: Did John know about his surprise party? B: If he did, he didn't let on. Helen never let on about her boyfriend's criminal past and to be honest, we would never have guessed as he was so nice. My manager says that he doesn't know why HR are calling all of the employees into their office but I'm sure he knows more than he lets on. So, we have identified that 'not let on' is often used for when someone keeps information secret and does not tell people about it, however it can also be used to talk about when someone hides their true feelings. I didn't realise that Lisa was so upset at the café yesterday. She didn't let on and I thought that she was absolutely fine. Roger was very angry with his colleagues but he didn't let on and remained professional all day. Lastly, this application of 'let on' is also used in positive statements, albeit much more rarely. When it is used this way, we tend to require the additional preposition 'to', to specify the person who received the previously secret information. Andrew let on to me last night that he has feelings for me. I didn't know what to say to him as I don't feel the same way about him! After months of secrecy, Margaret finally let on to her colleagues that she was leaving to start her own business. Write your own sentence with this application of 'let on' in the comments section here . MEANING 3: To pretend Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pretend, to lie, to fabricate Separable? No This final usage of 'let on' is a rarer usage that means 'to pretend'. It is not one that I hear very often, however it is definitely a good one to be aware of and have in your English vocabulary just in case! In the previous section, we looked at how 'let on' can mean to not reveal or hide secret information and so, in a way we already had the implicit idea of pretending, in the sense of pretending to not know something. With this application however, the pretending is a lot more evident as it it tends to be used to pretend that we know something or can do something, for example if you go to a job interview and tell them that you have many of the requisite skills for the job when in reality you do not. It's really for those people who like to tell lies about themselves in order to make themselves look or sound better in front of others....we all know at least one person like it! Of course, it is not always about making exaggerated claims and can sometimes just be used to make excuses e.g. you're tired or you have to work. On a grammatical note, with this application of 'let on', we tend to add a 'that' clause afterwards to specify the false or untrue information. He let on that he was tired but in reality I think that he just wanted to go home to play computer games. She let on that she was a famous singer but nobody in the bar had ever heard of her. I let on that I could bake cakes really well but then my mother in law asked me to bake one for her birthday and I had to admit that I was lying. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'let on'. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'let on'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'play up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels 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 post is all about the phrasal verb 'play up' and its different meanings and uses in English. 'Play up' has a few different meanings, however some of these tend to be more commonly used in British English and so are very familiar to me but they may not be to English speakers in the USA or elsewhere. So, without further ado, let's take a look at these different meanings.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Play Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'play' and 'up' Play Up - Meaning 1: To exaggerate the importance of something Play Up - Meaning 2: To not work properly 🇬🇧 Play Up - Bonus: My back is playing up! Play Up - Meaning 3: To misbehave 🇬🇧 Play Up - Meaning 4: To influence someone to make them like you Play Up - Bonus: The expression 'stop playing up for the camera!' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS PLAY UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Separable? Sometimes Past tense forms Played up / Played up As is customary at the start of each post, we'll start by looking at the component words which make up our phrasal verb under the spotlight. Firstly, we have the verb 'to play', which can mean to take part in a game or sport, as well as to portray a character in a performance in a theatre show or movie etc. This second meaning is the one that is more relevant for the phrasal verb meanings, as you will see shortly. Secondly, we have our prepositional particle up, signifying movement to a higher position away from the ground or towards the sky ⬆. So now we have covered the basics, let's move on to the phrasal verb meanings... MEANING 1: To exaggerate the importance of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Separable? Yes Potential synonyms ​To exaggerate, to emphasise, to big something up The first meaning of 'play up' that we will look up in this post requires a small amount of dishonesty, as the meaning is to exaggerate or emphasise something, in order to make it seem better, more important or more interesting to other people than it really is. In other words, if something is not very important or trivial, but we want other people to think that it is important, we can tell some white lies* and play it up in order to make them think that it is important. The extra emphasis that we place on something when we play it up can be used for both positive and negative purposes; on one hand something could be played up in order to raise publicity for a good cause and on the other hand a small, insignificant detail about someone's past could be played up by another person in order to make them look bad (this often happens in politics). Another key aspect of this meaning is expectation as things are often played up by people in order to increase people's interest levels about something upcoming in the future. A new TV show, a musical performance, a new product being launched onto the market or a baby gender reveal are all things which can be played up by people in order to generate interest. Photo: Pexels Additional nouns that you may come across with 'play up' are rumours or speculation, both of which could be 'played up' for humorous effect by the people who the rumours are about, especially if they are not true. In terms of sentence structure, this use of 'play up' requires a direct object, which can either be the noun specifying the thing being played up, or the pronoun 'it'. The government has been accused of playing up the significance of the tax cuts. It was obvious that the footballer was playing up his leg injury. The media has played up reports of the quarrel between the two politicians. *White lies are lies that people tell which are generally harmless or trivial in nature, often told in order to hide the truth from someone as it will make them unhappy - this is the good kind of lies 😝 MEANING 2: To not work properly Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? British English Separable? No Potential synonyms To act up, to malfunction The second meaning of 'play up' is primarily used in British English and means 'to not work or function properly'. This is often used by (slightly annoyed) British people when they have problems with items such as their car, their computer or smartphone. When we use 'play up' in this sense, we do not mean that the problematic item has stopped working completely and is now out of order, but rather that it is working erratically, developing problems from time to time or is not working to 100% efficiency. This usage is quite an informal one and in more formal settings a verb such as 'to malfunction' may be more appropriate. Despite its informality however, this usage is in frequent usage among British people, so you are likely to hear it from time to time if you have British friends or colleagues. I am going to be late into work today as my car is playing up. My laptop has been playing up for the last couple of weeks, I think I should get a new one. Photo: Wix Media OUCH! MY BACK IS PLAYING UP! In addition to complaining about dysfunctional equipment or devices, it is also very common to use 'play up' to describe body parts that are not working properly and causing you health problems as a result. This is typically used to describe chronic problems which come and go, such as back pain or pain from a long term injury and, rather understandably, is used most frequently by the older generation. My back is playing up again, I am in agony! Speak up! My ears are playing up and I can't hear you properly! Moreover, with this usage it is also very common for people to add an object pronoun (me, you, him, her or them) to say that the particular malfunctioning body part is causing them pain or discomfort. My eyes play me up from time to time but that's just a normal part of getting old I guess! My feet have been playing me up something dreadful since I ran the marathon! MEANING 3: To misbehave Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? British English Separable? Yes Potential synonyms To misbehave, to act up For our third meaning, we have another usage that is primarily used in British English and that is 'to misbehave'. Logically, this is really the same as the previous meaning, however instead of a device or body part not working in the way it should, we are rather talking about a person not behaving in the way that they should, in other words they are misbehaving. As this meaning is primarily concerned with bad behaviour, it will come as no surprise to you that it is used often to talk about naughty children. However, we can certainly also use it to talk about pets (my cats play up all the time) and occasionally even adults. Again, this usage is largely informal and more formal alternatives such as 'to misbehave' should be used in formal environments. Furthermore, it is also possible to play someone up. We use this variation when someone is responsible for looking after a child e.g. a babysitter, and the child misbehaves whilst in that person's care. We could then say that the child plays the babysitter up. The kids were so well behaved today, they didn't play up once! Our cats have started playing up ever since the building work on our home started. Ok children, we are off now so please do not play the babysitter up. MEANING 4: To influence someone to make them like you CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Separable? No Potential synonyms To curry favour, to suck up Our fourth and final meaning of 'play up' is a return to the dishonesty that we looked at in the first meaning of this post because it means to act in a certain way in order to make someone like you and treat you well. This could be by flattering them, doing something to help them or buying them gifts - regardless of the action however, the ultimate aim is to gain some sort of advantage from them. For this usage the additional preposition 'to' is required since we 'play up to' the person that we are trying to impress. A typical example of when this is used would be in work environments when someone wants to play up to the boss in order to get a promotion or special treatment of some sort. This usage is not limited to the world of work though and can be found in any situation where someone wants to gain an advantage with another person. Lisa is blatantly playing up to the boss, she's desperate to get his secretary's job! Photo: Pexels Bonus: Stop playing up for the camera! Before finishing this post, I want to give you one more expression which features our phrasal verb 'play up'. The expression in question is 'to play up for the camera', which is used to describe when a person acts in a certain way when they are being filmed, in order to come across well. The idea is that they do not not normally act that way in reality and their behaviour is all just for the camera. Another variation of this is also 'to play up to the camera'. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'play up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'play up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pull off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. 'Pull off' is a useful English phrasal verb to have in your active English vocabulary. Although it doesn't have as many meanings of some other phrasal verbs, most of the meanings it does have are very useful, especially for the drivers amongst you. Read on to learn the different the ways to use it in English, with lots of examples in context. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end!   TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Pull Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'pull' and 'off' Pull Off - Meaning 1: To remove something by pulling it Pull Off - Meaning 2: To start moving in a vehicle Pull Off - Meaning 3:To stop on the side of the road 🇺🇸 Pull Off - Meaning 4: To manage to do something difficult or unexpected Pull Off - Meaning 5: To masturbate manually Photo: Pexels THE BASICS PULL OFF : KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Pulled off / Pulled off Separable? Sometimes To start, let's take a look at the different meanings of the words 'pull' and 'off' and what they mean on their own. The verb 'to pull' is a common verb in English that means to apply a force in order to move something, typically towards oneself or in the same direction that the object exerting the force is moving. This can be either be when you are not moving and you force something towards you or if you are moving and you cause something to move along with you or behind you. John pulled his girlfriend towards him and gave her a big kiss. I walked through the airport and pulled my suitcase behind me. The horse pulled the carriage through the park. Often, when combined with prepositional particles to form phrasal verbs, 'to pull' can be used to mean 'to move', with the direction of the movement specified by the given preposition. The prepositional particle 'off' is the opposite of the particle 'on' and, like most particles of this type in English, it has a wide variety of different meanings and applications as an adverb, preposition, adjective, noun and even a verb! It exists as the natural opposite of the particle 'on' and some of its main meanings include 'moving away from somewhere or something', 'stopping functioning' and 'no longer being on or in contact with a surface'. In phrasal verb constructions 'off' can often incorporate the ideas of separation, starting and, confusingly, finishing something...ah the strangeness of the English language 😀 So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pull off'... MEANING 1: To remove something by pulling it Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pull off, to yank off Separable? Yes As this is the first meaning of the phrasal verb 'pull off' that we will look at, let's start with a nice and easy one. This initial meaning is a literal one and therefore is 'to remove something from a surface by pulling it'. For this meaning to be applicable, we first need an object to be on a surface. If we then pull the object in a certain direction, so that it falls off the surface or is no longer on it, then we can say that we have pulled it off. This is normally used specifically when there is a pulling action involved. It can sometimes also imply that some force was needed or used. I pulled the dirty sheets off the bed and put them in the washing machine. John accidentally pulled the kettle off the work surface in the kitchen and it fell on the floor and broke. Naturally, this is often used with flat surfaces such as tables, shelves and worktops but this can also be applied to any other surfaces with which we use the preposition 'on', such as a wall or clothes that are on your body. Susan tried to pull the clock off the wall but it was stuck there. I pulled my shoes and socks off and went for a paddle in the shallow water. This usage is not limited to objects, however, and can also be applied to people, both in a literal sense when a person is pulled off a surface by a force or if they are pulled off a sports team or a job etc that they are on. My dog is very strong and managed to pull me off my chair yesterday. The coach has pulled me off the football team as my performance has not been good recently. Roger was pulled off the flight before it departed as there was a problem with his passport. MEANING 2: To start moving in a vehicle Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To start, to pull away, to move off Separable? No The next two meanings that I will explain to you are both to do with cars and driving and the first of these is 'to start moving in a vehicle'. This application is used specifically to describe the first few moments when a vehicle goes from being stationary to being in motion. Furthermore, this is only used when the driver intentionally makes the vehicle move and not when it moves accidentally, such as when someone forgets to put on the handbrake when parked on a slope and the car starts rolling (I know people who have done that...not me!). Although we can use this application of 'pull off' with any type of moving vehicle, it is most commonly used with cars and other road vehicles. This usage is derived from the combination of the idea of moving that we get from the verb 'to pull', with the meaning of 'off' as in away from the stated place. Lisa put the key in the ignition, started the engine and pulled off. As I was pulling off this morning, I realised that I hadn't locked the front door. The police car pulled off and sped away down the road in chase of the criminal. MEANING 3: To stop on the side of the road Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? American English Potential synonyms To pull over Separable? No We come now come to our second vehicle-based meaning of 'pull off'. Now, we all know how peculiar the English language can be and this is definitely a great example of its weirdness as this second meaning of 'pull off' is 'to move to the side of the road and stop the car'.  That's right, almost the exact opposite of the previous meaning! 🤦 I imagine many of you are scratching your heads in confusion at this, so I'll try and add some much needed logic here to explain why 'pull off' has two completely contradictory meanings. This can actually be attributed to the word 'off' and its many different meanings. In the previous meaning, we were talking about how 'off' is used to mean in motion, however the meaning of 'off' in this second meaning is not the same and actually means to no longer be on the road. In order to for this to happen, you must pull the steering wheel to the left or right. I stated at the beginning of this section that this meaning also involves stopping the car at the side of the road. Whilst this is true, it is also possible to use 'pull off' when you want to stop driving on the road in general, whether this be to go and get some food, to get some gas / petrol or have a short sleep. Furthermore, it can also just mean that you turn off the road and onto another one. The central idea is that you stop driving on the road that you are referring to. This usage is primarily an American one, but as is often the case, it would certainly be understood in the UK and other English-speaking countries if you used it. We pulled off the road in a lay-by to have a snack and a quick rest. Ok kids, stop moaning! We will pull off at the next service station so that you can go to the toilet. MEANING 4: To manage to do something difficult or unexpected Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To manage to do, to accomplish, to achieve Separable? Yes Let's now move away from the confusing world of driving phrasal verbs and look at our next meaning of 'pull off', which is perhaps the most commonly used of them all and means 'to manage to do something that is difficult or unexpected'. To clarify this, if you pull something off, you succeed in doing something that people do not think is likely or possible. This may be because they do not think that you are capable of the task or perhaps because there are obstacles and difficulties which make the task hard or unachievable. In other words, this usage is all about surprising people and defying their expectations. The usage of this application is very broad and can be used to talk about anything from politics, where a politician is elected despite people thinking he or she would not be, and sports, where an athlete can win something against the odds to things like business deals that people did not think would ever happen. This usage is a separable one and can be used both ways without any discernible difference in meaning. Nobody thought that Susan would be able to bring up her children, work part time and study for a university degree at the same time but somehow she pulled it off! Despite being 3-0 behind at half time, Aston Villa were able to make a comeback and pull off a surprising victory, with the match finishing 4-3 in their favour! This is a big job and we don't have much time. Do you think we can pull it off? Lisa wasn't sure if she would be able to convince people at the party that she her name was Laura, but she pulled it off and none of the guests suspected that Laura was lying. MEANING 5: To masturbate manually CEFR Language Level C2 - Proficient Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Separable Yes I don't normally like to include slang or vulgar uses of phrasal verbs on my blog, however I do think that sometimes it is necessary to be aware of them to avoid risking awkward or embarrassing situations. This next meaning of 'pull off' means to masturbate and is usually used in reference to males. It can be used with a reflexive (self) pronoun or a personal pronoun, depending on the situation e.g. "to pull yourself off" or "to pull someone off". When talking about pulling a person off (as in the first meaning in this article), if you do not refer to a surface from which a person is being pulled or if it not clear from the context, then it is possible that you may be understood in this way. I don't want to spend too much time on this meaning for obvious reasons, however you should check out this video, which is a classic example of where this extra meaning can cause embarrassment, or in this case, laughter, even with native speakers. The man is trying to use 'pull off' in the fourth meaning as he is wondering if he will be successfully be able to impersonate the presenter at a Comic Con event, however it all goes horribly wrong. For clarity, what he should have said to avoid this error was "do you think I can pull it off?". Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'pull off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'pull off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'stand up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'stand up' and its different uses and meanings in English. I am sure that many of you are already familiar with at least one or two of the meanings of 'stand up' but do you know all of them? For instance, do you know what it means if something stands up to scrutiny or what it means if you've been stood up? Not to worry if you don't as in this article, I will explain to you how this strong and courageous phrasal verb is used in English, with lots of examples for reference and understanding. So, without further ado, let's get started. Make sure to leave a comment at the end and impress me with your own sentences! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Stand Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'stand' and 'up' Stand Up - Meaning 1: To rise from a lying or a sitting position Stand Up - Bonus: To be upstanding Stand Up - Meaning 2: To fail to meet someone Stand Up - Meaning 3: To be accepted as valid after scrutiny Stand Up - Meaning 4: To defend someone or something Stand Up - Meaning 5: To defend yourself Stand Up - Meaning 6: To not be damaged by something I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS STAND UP: KEY INFORMATION  Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Stood up / Stood up Separable? Sometimes Before we learn about the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'stand up', let's first of all let's take a quick look at the words 'stand' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. Firstly, we have the verb 'to stand', which has a few different meanings in English, but by far the most common one is to be in an upright position, so that you are supported by your feet. Photo: Pexels I was standing on a beach, looking out to sea. John stood on the table and gave a speech to the party guests. Another common meaning of the verb 'to stand' is used to talk about objects, buildings or cities and means 'to be situated'. London stands on the banks of the River Thames. A castle once stood in this spot, however it was destroyed many years ago. The prepositional particle 'up' is one that you will often find in phrasal verb constructions and is often used to incorporate the idea of a movement to a higher place or an increase of some sort. Aside from this, it can also add the ideas of completion and readiness, among other things. Now that we have looked at the meanings of the individual words, let's move on to the meanings of the phrasal verb 'stand up'.... MEANING 1: To rise to your feet from a sitting or lying position Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stand, to get up Separable? No The first meaning of 'stand up' is a nice and easy one as it it simply means 'to rise to your feet from a sitting or lying position'. Whilst the verb 'to stand' normally means to be on your feet in an upright position, we use 'stand up' to describe the upwards motion of our bodies when transforming from a sitting or lying position to an upright, standing one. You should note that 'stand up' is used for any movement when we change to an upright position, except for when we first leave our bed in the morning to start our day. For this particular action we use 'get up' instead and 'stand up' does not sound right here. All of the students have to stand up when the teacher enters the classroom. I felt fine until I stood up and I had to quickly sit back down again as I felt extremely dizzy. Could everyone please stand up to sing the national anthem. The patient tried to stand up but his legs were not strong enough. CAN STAND UP BE USED SEPARABLY? In the table above I stated that this usage of 'stand up' is not separable as it does not take a direct object and while this is generally true, there is one exception to this....if you have an object that you want to put in an upright position, then you can stand it up. This would normally be for something that is normally in a supine or lying down position and which you want to make upright, either by leaning it against something or by changing the surface that is in contact with the floor. I stood my umbrella up on its end to let all of the rainwater run off it. Roger tried to stand the Christmas tree up several times but it kept falling over again as it was too heavy on one side. BONUS: To be upstanding There is also an adjective that is derived directly from this usage of 'stand up'. The adjective 'upstanding' is a fairly common word in English with two distinct meanings. The first meanings is linked directly to this application of 'stand up' and means 'to be in a standing or upright position', whilst the second meaning is used to describe people who are respectable and honourable within society. Would everyone please be upstanding to welcome in the bride and groom. I am an upstanding member of this community! MEANING 2: To fail to meet someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To jilt, to let down Separable? Yes For the second meaning of 'stand up', we have a classic case of heroes and villains.... Imagine that you have arranged to meet a friend for dinner at a restaurant. You arrive at the restaurant at the agreed time and your friend is not there, so you order a drink and wait for them to arrive but after half an hour they are still not there. You check your phone and they haven't contacted you to say they will be late, at which point it is probably safe to assume that they have stood you up. That is because the second meaning of 'stand up' is to fail to meet someone when you have agreed to do so. In the example above, I was talking about a friend not turning up when they were supposed to, however in reality, this application is used much more for dating, because most friends just don't do that to each other without a very good reason. Of course, in this situation there are always two parties involved. Firstly, we have the innocent heroes (good guys) who are the people who are stood up and when referring to them, we tend to use the passive voice. Moreover, it is common to use the passive forms 'be stood up by someone' or 'get stood up by someone' here. My date stood me up last night and I was sitting waiting for him to arrive for two hours in the restaurant. It was so embarrassing! Have you ever been stood up before? I thought it would never happen to me but I got stood up by a girl last week for the first time. She's blocked me on social media now, so I can't even find out why! Then, we have the horrible villains (bad guys) who stand people up and leave them waiting for hours (in extreme cases). For them, we tend to talk about them using the active voice and separate the verb with the name of the good guy or relevant pronoun going between 'stand' and 'up'. I was supposed to meet John in the new bar on Oxford Street this evening but I stood him up. Charlie was going on a date tonight with someone he'd been chatting to on a dating app but at the last minute he decided he didn't want to go and ended up standing his date up. MEANING 3: To be accepted as valid after scrutiny Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fly, to hold up, to pass, to hold water, to check out Separable? No If you enjoy watching English language courtroom drama series or movies, then this next usage of 'stand up' might be one that you are familiar with already as the meaning is 'to be accepted as valid after scrutiny or investigation'. To put this meaning into context to help your understanding, let's use the courtroom as an example. If a crime has been committed and somebody gives evidence as part of the court trial, the evidence must be carefully examined, scrutinised and questioned and at the end of this process, if the evidence is proved to be true and correct, you can say that it stands up. Conversely, if it is found that the evidence is false or is not true, we can say that it does not stand up. It is quite common to hear the expression 'to stand up in court' used with this application to refer to something that is deemed acceptable or admissible in a court following close examination. Outside of the courtroom, 'stand up' can be used in this way to talk about other areas of life where investigations needs to be carried out and evidence or data need to be examined closely in order to be proven, such as police investigations and scientific explanations. If this evidence stands up, then we are pretty much guaranteed to win the court case. Following close scrutiny, this information has been deemed to be irrelevant and therefore will not stand up in a court of law. The scientific paper is currently being peer reviewed by other scholars to see if it stands up. If we want to specify or state a noun such as scrutiny or investigation here, then we require the additional preposition 'to'. The big question is whether or not this will stand up to scrutiny. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the decision stood up to judicial review. MEANING 4: To defend someone or something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To defend, to protect, to guard, to stick up for Separable? No For our next meaning of 'stand up', we need to enlist the help of the extra preposition 'for' to give us the construction 'to stand up for something', which means to defend someone or something'. More specifically, if you stand up for someone, it means that you defend them when they are under attack or are being criticised. Generally, in this situation the victim may be perceived to be weaker than the person who is attacking them or not able to defend themselves in some way, so another person feels that they need to defend them. In general, if you stand up for someone, then you do so with words and you do not physically defend them. My best friend was always bullied at school and nobody ever stood up for him. As I mentioned, it is also possible to stand up for something and in this case the thing that we are trying to defend is usually something that is under threat and therefore can be nouns such as 'rights' or 'freedom'. If we do not stand up for our basic rights, we are at risk of losing them under this government. The defiant politician claimed in a fiery speech that he would stand up for free speech. MEANING 5: To defend yourself Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To defend yourself, to oppose, to challenge, to defy Separable? No Meaning number five in today's post is also about defending and is 'to defend yourself' and for this one we require the additional preposition 'to'. My original intention with this fifth meaning of 'stand up' was to include it with the fourth meaning that we just looked at as they both mean 'to defend', however upon reflection I think it is better to include them as two separate meanings. Unfortunately bullies and mean people are a fact of life, and we can experience them anywhere from school to the workplace. In today's world, it is sadly very common for people to be picked on and persecuted in many different ways. The main idea with bullying is often a power imbalance with the more powerful or aggressive person or people seeking to harm or intimidate their victims who they view as inferior to them and vulnerable. Now, if the victim ever decides to refuse to let the bully intimidate them and defends themselves against the bullying, we can say that the victim 'stands up to the bully'. Essentially, this is the meaning of 'to stand up to someone', which I guess goes back to the idea that you stand up to the same height as the bully, can look them directly in the eye and show that you are not scared or intimidated by them. Furthermore, going back to the idea of the power imbalance that is inherent within bullying, it is possible to use 'stand up' for any kind of intimidation, bullying or mean behaviour from one more powerful person or group towards the perceived less powerful one. The next time that the boy threatens to hit you, you need to stand up to him and make it clear that he will regret it if he does. The defending army stood up the invader's aggression and repelled them. I know that I need to stand up to my boss when he is rude to me but I am terrified of losing my job. MEANING 6: To not be damaged by something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To withstand, to endure, to survive, to hold out, to bear up Separable? No For our sixth and final meaning, we again require the additional preposition 'to' but this time we are talking about things and objects rather than people and it means 'to not be damaged or negatively affected by something'. Typically, we use this application with buildings, roads and infrastructure and whether or not they are damaged or affected by things such as bad weather or extreme usage. The hurricane was severe but luckily our house stood up to it and was completely intact afterwards. Engineers are keen to find out how the old railway lines will stand up to the increased frequency of high speed trains that will pass over them. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and i hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. So, just to recap, standing up is generally good, especially if you have been sitting down for a long time, however standing someone up is bad and not a very nice thing to do. If you stand up for someone, you defend them and if you stand up to someone, you defend yourself. When something stands up to scrutiny or investigation, it is considered to be valid and acceptable and if your house stands up against a hurricane, then that is a very good thing as it means it is still there and not damaged! Now it is YOUR turn. Leave a comment on the blog post with your own sentence using 'stand up', comments or suggestions....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get in' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is on the phrasal verb 'get in' and the different meanings and uses that it has in English. You may already be familiar with the phrasal verb 'get in', however it might surprise you to learn that it has at least 10 different meanings and uses in English...it certainly surprised me when I was researching it. In this post, I will explain the different ways that it is used by native speakers from arriving somewhere on public transport, to collecting debts and submitting votes. So, without further ado, let's get started Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get In - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'get' and 'in' Get In - Meaning 1: To enter inside something Get In - Bonus: Don't confuse 'get in' with 'go in' Get In - Meaning 2: To arrive Get In - Meaning 3: To bring something inside Get In - Meaning 4: To be elected Get In - Meaning 5: To submit something Get In - Meaning 6: To manage to find time for something Get In - Bonus: The expression 'to get a word in edgeways' Get In - Meaning 7: To enlist a professional's help Get In - Meaning 8: To buy supplies 🇬🇧 Get In - Bonus: Pub talk Get In - Meaning 9: To become friendly with someone Get In - Meaning 10: To participate in a profitable activity I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GET IN: KEY INFORMATION   Usage Common Number of meanings 10 Past tense forms Got in / Got - gotten in Separable? Sometimes The phrasal verb 'get in' is made up of the super common verb 'to get' and the prepositional particle 'in', so let's just take a minute to consider the individual meanings of these words before we move on to the meanings of it as a phrasal verb. The verb 'to get' is a difficult verb for English learners and teachers alike as it has so many diverse meanings such as 'to become', 'to receive' and 'to understand', among others. The most relevant meaning of 'to get' for this post however is 'to arrive'. Moreover, when used in phrasal verbs, the verb 'to get' can be used to express arrival at a place or in a position, often when there is a difficulty or a process involved. I don't know how I got home last night! We finally got to Los Angeles at midnight after several hours' delay. 'In' is an extremely common prepositional particle in English, which normally refers to being on or moving towards the interior of something and this is often reflected in the phrasal verb constructions that it features in. When used as an adjective, 'in' can mean both 'trendy' and, more fittingly for this post, 'at home'. I knocked on your front door earlier but you weren't in. Now we've looked at those, let's move on to the meanings of the phrasal verb 'get in'.... MEANING 1: To enter inside something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To enter, to go in, to get into Separable? Sometimes Let's start with the first meaning of 'get in', which is to enter inside something, typically a car or a building. He said goodbye, got in the car and drove away. Lisa got in the house by climbing through an open window Aside from these two examples, it can also be used to talk about entering any interior space, particularly when there a process involved or it is complicated in some way. My cat somehow managed to get in the washing machine. Luckily I found her before I turned it on. My son was playing hide and seek with his friends and thought it would be a good idea to get in the kitchen cupboard. DON'T CONFUSE 'GET IN' WITH 'GO IN' 'Get in' is often confused with the phrasal verb 'go in' as both of these broadly mean the same thing, however there are differences in when they are used. Firstly, 'go in' tends to be used for more polite invitations to enter inside somewhere, whilst 'get in' would be used more as a direct command and in most cases would be far less polite. Secondly, 'go in' is used when you can enter somewhere in the normal way without any difficulties, however 'get in' would be used when there is either a difficulty  with entering e.g. a locked door or a process  involved, which means that it is not simple to enter. Furthermore, due to the often difficult circumstances of getting in to somewhere, it can often be used when there is an element of force or trickery involved. I imagine that most of you will also be familiar with the variation 'get into', which is also frequently used by native speakers and is normally interchangeable with 'get in' for this particular meaning. You should note a small difference in usage between the two. As 'get into' specifies both motion and direction, you cannot end a sentence with it as it needs to be followed by a noun or pronoun, whereas it is perfectly possible to end a sentence with 'get in' as it doesn't have to be followed by anything. I tried to open the door and it was locked so I couldn't get in. I tried to open the door and it was locked so I couldn't get into the house. Lastly, whilst 'get in' is mostly used in an intransitive way without a direct object, it is also possible to use it with a direct object, in which case you can use it separably. Again, 'get into' could also be used here as an alternative. Although the potato was big, I was able to get it in my mouth. Lisa managed to get the baby seat in the car. The rat was able to get into the pipe and escaped. MEANING 2: To arrive Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To arrive, to arrive home, to get to Separable? No As I mentioned earlier in the Basics section of the post, one of the meanings of the verb 'to get' is 'to arrive at a destination' and this second meaning of 'get in' means the same thing, however there are particular circumstances in which is it used. Firstly, we tend to use 'get in' with forms of public and mass transport, which often run on a timetable. These typically include airplanes, trains and coaches and we use 'get in' to say when these arrive at their destination, in particular when specifying the expected time of arrival. My train gets in at 3pm later this afternoon. Would you be able to pick me up from the station? What time does your plane get in tomorrow? Our bus got in a bit late due to severe congestion on the M25 motorway. Secondly, 'get in' is often used to specifically to mean 'to arrive home'. In this case, just the words 'get in' are necessary without the word 'home', as this meaning is normally implied and understood from context. Less commonly, this application of 'get in' can be also be used by people to talk about arriving at work. Once again, if the context is clear, then the words 'to work' are not necessary. I didn't get in until 7pm last night. What time did you get in this morning? John got in to work 30 minutes early this morning as there was no traffic. My manager was really late for work this morning. He didn't get in until 10am and he was late for his first meeting. MEANING 3: To bring something inside Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To bring in, to fetch in Separable? Yes Another meaning of the highly polysemous verb 'to get' is 'to fetch something', as in to go to a place, collect something and bring it back. If this place is outside and we bring the desired item into an interior space, then we can use our third meaning of 'get in', which is 'to bring something inside'. This usage is quite broad in terms of the different possibilities that there are to use it as it can refer to bringing anything from an outside space into an inside one. For example, in the UK it is possible to have milk delivered to your doorstep overnight by a milkman and so in the morning, you need to the get the milk in from outside your front door. Alternatively, if you have ever worked in a bar or restaurant with an outside terrace, you will often have had to get the empty glasses and plates in once the customers have finished with them. It looked like it was going to rain, so the farmer decided to get his sheep in to prevent them from getting wet. Can you go and get the clothes in that are drying in the garden, please. Furthermore, 'get in' can also be used in a more broad sense to mean to collect or to gather something. Typically, this is collecting debts from people who owe money or gathering crops from fields at harvest time in late summer. How can farmers can get their crops in more quickly and efficiently at harvest? It is very important for businesses to get in their debts as quickly as they can to ensure that they have a healthy cashflow. MEANING 4: To be elected Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To win, to be elected Separable? No Politics may not be everyone's favourite subject but it certainly affects all of our lives. This is especially so when it comes to voting and elections and here is where the fourth meaning of ‘get in’ is relevant as it is ‘to be elected in a political vote’. For this usage, we can refer to a politician, a president, prime minister or a political party and if we say that they 'get in', it means that they have been elected to serve in office. This application comes from the idea that when a politician or political party is elected, they are then in a position of power, with ‘get’ again giving the idea of arriving in this position. If the liberal party get in at the next election, I will leave the country. Do you think the Conservative Party will get in this time around? When Margaret Thatcher got in in 1979, she promised to deliver change on an enormous scale. MEANING 5: To submit something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To send, to submit Separable? Yes Staying with the subject of politics and voting, in many countries it is possible for citizens who live in other countries or who are on holiday at the time of the election to submit a postal vote, rather than personally going to a polling station. In this instance, we could implement our fifth meaning of 'get in', which is 'to submit something', and therefore say that you got your vote in by post. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Application Entry Email Report This slightly more informal synonym of 'get in' can be used with anything that you need to submit, normally either by post or email. It tends to be used when there is a deadline for the submission and is therefore found alongside words such as 'by', 'until' and 'before'. Additionally, the extra preposition 'to' is needed when specifying the recipient of the thing being sent. Get your votes in for the student's union representative election by Friday at 5pm. If you want to enter to enter the competition, you have until midnight tonight to get your votes in to us. Lisa is stressing as she has to get her sales report in to the board of directors before midday and she has a lot of work to do on it. MEANING 6: To manage to find time for something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To do Separable? Yes The next meaning of 'get in' is an informal one thats means 'to do something within a particular period of time'. To illustrate this meaning, let's use the example of a mother of a small child. She works from home and for much of the day she is unable to do her work as she has to look after her young son, however when he goes for an afternoon sleep she is then able to get some work in for a few hours until he wakes up again. In other words, whilst the toddler is napping, she has the time to get some work done. As this usage is commonly used with situations where you need to do something within a time window, before a deadline or at a time when you are very busy doing other things, it is often used in relation to work or jobs that you need to do. However, you could theoretically use it in any situation in which you manage to do something in a set period of time, often that is outside of your control. Jamie went for a nap, which gave me a chance to get a bit of work in to keep the boss happy. Despite a busy day of activities, I was able to get some study in for my exam next week. I have a really busy morning tomorrow, so I don't think I will be able to get a gym workout in as well. BONUS: The expression 'to get a word in edgeways' This meaning can also be used when you are having a conversation with someone and the other person dominates the conversation, meaning that you are not able to say much. In this instance, you can say that you 'can't get a word in', meaning that you aren't able to say anything as the other person is talking so much. Furthermore, you should know that an idiom also exists for this meaning, which is 'to not get a word in edgeways'. Poor Helen! She is chatting to Lisa and it doesn't look like she can get a word in! I love my Grandmother but she talks a lot and often you can't get a word in edgeways when you're having a conversation with her. MEANING 7: To enlist a professional's help CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To enlist, to employ, to hire, to call in Separable? Yes At the moment I have a problem with the electrics in my house as one of the fuses has blown and now most of the lights do not turn on. As you can imagine, this is not ideal at night 😡! Anyway, as I do not know much about electricity and I am not an electrician, it is not safe for me to try and resolve the problem myself, so I will need to get an electrician in to do it for me. This therefore is the seventh meaning of 'get in', which is 'to enlist the help of a professional to do something for you, normally for a cost or fee'. The professionals that we get in to do work tend to be tradespeople who are hired to resolve a problem or to carry out some maintenance work and these include electricians, plumbers, builders, carpenters and even pest controllers etc. This is a separable usage of 'get in' and I would say that it tends to be used more commonly in the separable way, with the name of the professional going between 'get' and 'in'. You won't be able to work from home next Tuesday as we are getting the electricians in to carry out an upgrade to the switchboard. Lisa found a wasp's nest in her attic and so immediately got a pest control service in to deal with it. We need to get a plumber in to have a look at this leak as I don't know how to fix it myself. MEANING 8: To buy supplies Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To buy Separable? Yes Are you the sort of person who enjoys food shopping? I certainly am not, but I must admit that I do like it when it is done, I have bought some supplies and the cupboards are no longer empty. This brings us to the next meaning of 'get in', which is to buy supplies and is primarily a very informal British one. Although the term 'supplies' is used here to mean something that is needed or wanted in a household, most of this time with this application it refers to food and drink. Although this usage does mean 'to buy, we only tend to use it in certain circumstances. These are when we have run out of something and we need to buy some more and when we do not have enough of something and need to buy the amount that is required to meet our needs. We have run out bread and milk, so my wife has gone to the shop to get some in. I'm just going to the supermarket to get some supplies in as the cupboards are empty! We are hosting a dinner party tonight and we don't have enough cheese or wine, so I will go and get some in now. BONUS: Pub talk In the UK we are very fond of going to the pub with our friends for a drink or two and if you are ever invited along with a group of British people, then there is a usage of 'get in' that you need to know. In British pubs it is very common to have 'rounds', where the members of the group take it in turns to buy drinks for the others. One of the ways to say that you will buy the next round of drinks is to say that you will "get the drinks in". In other words, you will order them. An alternative of this may be "get the beers in", if everyone is drinking beer, which is often the case. Whose turn is it to get the drinks in? I'm going to be a bit late arriving at the pub, so get the beers in and I will join you at the table when I get there. MEANING 9: To become friendly with someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To befriend, to get involved with Separable? No For the next meaning of 'get in', we require the additional preposition 'with', as 'to get in with someone' means to become friendly with someone or a group of people'. To clarify, although this does mean to make friends with someone, it is not always used in the same way. If you get in with someone or with a group of people, it tends to mean more that you get involved with them and start spending a lot of time with them. It can often be used in a negative way, especially if the people with whom you get in with are a bad influence or not nice people. A popular expression that exists when someone becomes involved with a perceived bad group of people is 'to get in with the wrong crowd'. John's daughter has got in with the wrong crowd and her behaviour is terrible. Roger has managed to get in with his boss at work and is being treated really well as a result. Amy got in with a great bunch of people in college and still keeps in touch with many of them today. MEANING 10: To participate in a profitable activity Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take part, to participate Separable? No We are now at the final meaning in this post, so well done if you have made it this far! This last meaning of 'get in' is to become involved in a profitable activity, or in other words, an activity in which you make a lot of money. Furthermore, this is always an activity that someone else is planning or organising that you can join or become a part of. For this usage, we require the additional preposition 'on', giving us the construction 'to get in on something'. Due to the nature of the subject, this is something that you will often hear in reference to investments, money making schemes and business opportunities. You should get in on this investment opportunity before it becomes too expensive to buy into it. Phrasal Verb Inc wants to get in on the company alliance. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get in'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get in'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'come to' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. In this post, I will be explaining the phrasal verb 'come to' and the different meanings that it has in English. Unlike many other phrasal verbs, 'come to' is not always considered a true phrasal verb as many of its most common meanings are verb and preposition combinations that are not single lexical units on their own. However, 'come to' does have a couple of true phrasal verb meanings too and I will cover all of these meanings, both true not true, in this post to enable you to see the diverse different ways that 'come to' can be used. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Come To - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'come' and 'to' Come To - Meaning 1: To physically come to someone Come To - Meaning 2: To reach a point or situation Come To - Meaning 3: To enter your mind Come To - Bonus: The expression 'to come to mind' Come To - Meaning 4: To amount to a number Come To - Meaning 5: To regain consciousness Come To - Meaning 6: To stop moving (ship) Come To - Bonus: Common expression featuring 'come to' I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS COME TO: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Came to / Come to Separable? No The phrasal verb 'come to' is formed of the verb 'to come' combined with the prepositional particle 'to' and so as a starting point in this article, let's briefly consider what these individual words mean on their own. 'To come' is one of the most common verbs in English with a variety of different meanings. It is first and foremost a verb of motion and is used primarily to talk about a movement towards or with the speaker. It is an irregular verb and also intransitive, so it does not take a direct object (i.e. you cannot "come something"). Therefore, the phrasal verbs that it features in are not usually separable. I am coming to your house tomorrow. Susan came to see me in hospital. Do you want to come with us to London next week? Robert doesn't want to come to the football match. We came on the quiet roads and avoided the freeway. The prepositional particle 'to' is one of the most commonly used words in the English language but surprisingly it appears in only very few 'true' phrasal verbs. Nevertheless, as a result of how it functions,'to' is used in many prepositional verbs such as 'listen to' and 'belong to' as a preposition to link the verb to its object. So, now what we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'come to'..... MEANING 1: To physically come to someone (literal) Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To go to, to approach Separable? No The first application of 'come to' that we will cover in this post is the literal meaning of the combination of the two words, which is simply to physically move towards someone or somewhere where the speaker is, was or will be. You should note that this application is typically used to focus on when we a person moves towards someone or somewhere and reaches it. If we are just concentrating on a movement in the direction of someone without reaching them, we tend to use 'come towards' instead. As we are also focussing on the idea of reaching the person or place, 'come to' can sometimes also be used to mean 'to arrive' or 'to get to'. I think that the main meaning of this literal usage is quite clear for you, so we won't spend any more time on this one, but here are a few example sentences for you before we move on.... John wants to come to our house next week. Who is coming to the party later? After class, one of my students came to me and told me that they had really enjoyed it. I remember you, you came to my book signing event a few days ago. MEANING 2: To reach a point or situation Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To arrive at, to reach Separable? No For our second application of 'come to', rather than thinking about arriving at a physical place, we are instead thinking about reaching a particular point, state or situation. We use this particular application to refer to when a situation develops until it reaches a certain point, which is normally an end point or a climax of some sort. It may be a decision or something else that will fundamentally change or end the situation or force the person involved to act in some way. Frequently, when 'come to' is used in this way, it is rather negative in nature. Often, we use it to talk about how a situation could hypothetically get worse and specify what the worst case scenario would be. We then follow this up by saying "if it comes to this / that.....". After several weeks of dispute, the union and the company came to an agreement. Jamie and Lee still haven't come to a decision about where they will get married. We finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the money. I might lose my job next week, so if it comes to that, we will need to think about moving house. I know we used to argue a lot but I didn't ever think it would come to this. When 'come to' is used in this way, it features in a LOT of common set expressions with various nouns. As there are so many of them, I have included a section at the end where I cover some of the most common of these for you - click here to jump straight to these. MEANING 3: To enter your mind Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To occur to, to realise Separable? No Next, we move on to our third meaning of 'come to', which is all about things that happen inside your head and means 'to enter your mind'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Idea Thought Memory Answer Solution Have you ever been in one of those awkward situations in which you see someone who you have not seen for a long time and you forget their name and then remember it 10 minutes later once they have gone? These situations are perfect for using this third application of 'come to' as you could say here that "the name came to you afterwards" to refer to the moment when you suddenly remember the person's name. The reason for this is that 'come to' in this sense is used to describe when anything comes into your mind, so that you can remember or think about it. This may be an idea that comes to you in the middle of the night, a memory of your childhood that comes to you after smelling something that reminds you of that time or the answer to a question that comes to you whilst you are in the middle of making dinner. On a grammatical note, this application of 'come to' needs to be followed by an object pronoun, such as me, him or her. I was trying to remember her name, and suddenly it came to me. A brilliant solution came to Terry in the middle of the night. A long forgotten memory came to her as she walked past her old school. I don’t know why, but the image of that day just came to me As soon as he asked the question, the answer came to him immediately. The girl's name didn’t come to me until after she had left. The thought came to Roger that he might never see Lisa again. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To come to mind An extremely common expression featuring this application of 'come to' that exists in English is 'to come to mind'. This is essentially the same meaning as the one we've just covered i.e. when you are able to think of something immediately or with ease. I would say though that speakers use this more commonly in the negative form when they are asked for some information and they are not able to think of or remember anything. When my boss asked me if I knew anyone who was looking for a job, you came to mind straight away. Nothing comes to mind right now, but I’ll think about it. The police asked me if I could remember anything suspicious or strange about that day but nothing came to mind. MEANING 4: To amount to a number Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To amount to, to make, to add up to Separable? No This next application is one for those of you who enjoy maths*, doing sums and crunching numbers as it means 'to amount to a number'. *math in American English Nouns commonly used with this application.... Bill Shopping Amount Invoice Total Regardless of your mathematical ability or how you feel about the subject, this meaning of 'come to' is one that affects all of us on a regular basis as we use it when talking about the total amounts of things when numbers are added together etc. It is particularly common when discussing money and how much of it has to be paid. In fact, we use it so much to talk about how much things cost that it exists as a synonym of the verb 'to cost' and is regularly used in this way. We've added up the total sales figures and it comes to over 1000. If you multiply the figure by 10, divide it by 20 and multiply it by 2, it comes to the same amount. With taxes and tips, the total comes to nearly £100. Altogether, the repairs came to less than we expected, which was a pleasant surprise. The damages could come to millions of Euros. Margaret's medical expenses came to over $10,000 last year. If we divide it by 6, it only comes to a few dollars per person, so it is good value for money. The total cost comes to less if you buy in bulk. After adding the service fee, the price came to $45. All his debts came to a staggering amount. MEANING 5: To regain consciousness Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To regain consciousness, to wake up Separable? No As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, most of the applications of the phrasal verb 'come to' are not considered "true" phrasal verb meanings in the sense that they are verb and preposition combinations without much meaning on their own. BUT this fifth meaning of 'come to' IS a true phrasal verb application and means 'to regain consciousness'. If a person ever suffers a head injury or has a severe medical condition, it can cause them to lose consciousness, meaning that they are no longer aware of their surroundings and cannot respond or communicate to people (not the same as sleeping). When the person regains consciousness and is once again aware of everything around them, we can say that they "come to". Unlike the other applications of 'come to' that we have covered, it does not need to be followed by any other words when used this way as we are not used the 'to' as preposition to link an object but rather as a particle. Kevin came to a few minutes after fainting. Beth slowly came to in the hospital bed, dazed and confused. I don't remember what happened after I hit my head; I was on the floor when I came to. When Phillip came to, he had no idea where he was. The patient came to shortly after the operation. It took Aaron a while to come to after being knocked out. The boxer came to moments after the referee ended the fight. MEANING 6: To stop moving (ship) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stop, to halt Separable? No We have now arrived at our sixth and final meaning of 'come to', which is much rarer than the other uses that we have covered and is specifically used to describe when ships, boats or other waterborne vessels stop moving in water. Nouns commonly used with this expression.... Boat Ship Yacht Vessel Typically, this application is heard in reference to when a boat drops its anchor, turns into the wind or turns its engines off in order to stop moving. As with the previous application, this one is also a "true" phrasal verb usage as 'come to' exists on its own and does not require any additional words to give it meaning. The captain ordered the vessel to come to and drop anchor near the shore. We came to just outside the harbour and waited for clearance to dock. The ship came to quickly after the engines were cut. As the storm intensified, the boat was forced to come to and ride it out. After drifting for hours, the boat finally came to near a small island. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common expressions featuring 'come to' As I mentioned earlier in the post, 'come to' features in a large number of commonly used expressions in English and so here is a list of some of the most frequent ones that you may come across.... To come to nothing - This expression is used in situations when we plan or prepare for something and it fails or does not happen for some reason. It is often used to say that time and effort on something was wasted. I spent years working on the project but sadly all my hard work came to nothing when it was cancelled. To come to fruition - This one is the exact opposite of 'come to nothing' and is used when something that you have planned is successful. Note that the word 'fruition' comes from the word 'fruit' and refers to when your efforts and hard work bear fruit. Let's just hope that the project comes to fruition and none of our time and energy has been wasted. To come to rest - This one has some similarities with the sixth and final meaning that we have just looked at as it means to stop moving and take position in a particular spot. The wreck of the Titanic came to rest on the ocean floor after sinking. Kelly hit the ball as hard as she could and it flew through the air for ages before finally coming to rest on in the top branches of a tall tree. To come to light - We use this expression when information that was previously unknown is made available. This is particularly the case when this information changes what people thought about a situation and what caused it. Since the police ended their investigation, it has come to light that the victim knew the murderer and so they have decided to re-open the investigation. As more information has come to light about the crime, the judge has recalled the previous witnesses for further questioning. To come to harm - If someone or something comes to harm, it means that they are injured or hurt in some way (or damaged for a non-living object). I would say that it is more common to hear the negative version 'to come to no harm'. Don't worry, you will come to no harm with me. I pray every day that my children come to no harm. To come to terms with something - This common expression is used to mean to accept something that has happened in your life and make your peace with it. It is typically something unpleasant or life-changing such as the death of someone close to you or the diagnosis of a serious illness. I've spent the past few weeks trying to come to terms with the death of my wife. Sarah finally came to terms with the news of her cancer diagnosis and vowed to beat the disease. To come to your senses - We use this particular expression to talk about when someone starts acting normally or rationally again after a period of stupid, foolish or irrational behaviour that is not normal for them. I'm going as I can't deal with you at the moment; give me a call when you have come to your senses. To come to someone's attention - If something comes to someone's attention, they are made aware of some information. This may be something that the person is told or something that they find out by accident. This is something that I hear managers using all the time in business English. It has recently come to my attention that several employees have been taking longer lunch breaks than permitted. To come to pass - This one is a literary expression that simply means 'to happen'. It is one that you will possibly come across in books and in TV shows but not so much in spoken everyday English. If it comes to pass that the princess marries the earl, it will be a great day for our nation. To come to blows - If two or more people engage in a physical fight, we can say that they 'come to blows'. Note that this would not be used for an organised fight such as a boxing match but for an unplanned fight that breaks out between people. The two drunk men came to blows in the pub after one insulted the other man's girlfriend. When it comes to.... - This final expression is used to introduce a subject, specifically when you want to tell someone about a person who is an expert in that subject or knows a lot about it. When it comes to gardening, my Dad is one of the most knowledgeable people that I know. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'come to'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'come to'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pick up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels This post is all about the phrasal verb 'pick up'. When I was researching this post, I was quite shocked when I realised how many uses and meanings this innocent little phrasal verb has. For instance, it if you pick someone up from an airport, it has a completely different meaning to picking someone up in a bar, which also has a different meaning to picking someone off the ground. Moreover, if you can pick up an infection, it is a bad thing but it is a good thing if your health picks up! Don't worry if this is confusing, as in this post, I will explain all of the different meanings of 'pick up' for you, with lots of examples in context. So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end!   TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Pick Up - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'pick' and 'up' Pick Up - Meaning 1: To lift something from a surface Pick Up - Bonus: To pick up the phone Pick Up - Meaning 2: To collect someone or something Pick Up - Bonus: To pick something up from the shop Pick Up - Meaning 3: To learn something Pick Up - Bonus: To pick up an illness Pick Up - Meaning 4: To improve Pick Up - Bonus: To grow stronger Pick Up - Meaning 5: To detect or notice something Pick Up - Meaning 6: To stand up after a fall Pick Up - Bonus: To pick up your mood Pick Up - Meaning 7: To be arrested Pick Up - Meaning 8: To meet someone romantically 🇺🇸 Pick Up - Meaning 9: To win something Pick Up - Meaning 10: To refer back to something Pick Up - Meaning 11: To resume something after an interruption Pick Up - Bonus: The idiom 'to pick up where you left off' Pick Up - Meaning 12: To criticise someone Pick Up - Meaning 13: To do someone else's work Pick Up - Bonus: The idiom 'to pick up the bill I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! Jame Photo: Pexels THE BASICS PICK UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 12 Past tense forms Picked up / Picked up Separable? Yes Before we look at the meanings of 'pick up' as a phrasal verb, let's firstly consider the meanings of the component words 'pick' and 'up'. The verb 'to pick' is a fairly common English verb with two main meanings. The first is a synonym of the verb 'to choose', while the other, more relevant, meaning is to remove or detach something, normally with your hands and this is commonly used when referring to picking fruit, flowers and plants. Helen picked some flowers and put them in a vase. Picking fruit is a popular job for travellers. The prepositional particle 'up' is extremely common in phrasal verb constructions and often adds an idea of an increase or a movement towards to a higher position. Furthermore, it can also add the ideas of completion and readiness to phrasal verbs! So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's check out the many different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pick up'.... MEANING 1: To lift something from a surface Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To lift, to raise, to hoist, to take up Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'pick up' is the closest meaning to a literal meaning that we have and is 'to remove something from a surface by lifting it, normally by hand'. As you would imagine, the most common surface that people pick things up from is the ground or the floor, and this is often implied with this meaning of 'pick up', although it can potentially be used with any surface. Don't forget that the extra prepositions 'off' or 'from' are required to specify the surface and both of these can be used interchangeably. The sofa was so heavy that it took four people to pick it up and move it. I picked up my jumper and hung it in the wardrobe. Pick these toys up from the floor now! John picked up a book off the shelf and started reading it. In addition to objects, 'pick up' is often frequently used with people and animals. My husband picked me up and carried me to bed. John's dog wasn't able to jump over the fence, so he picked him up and carried him over it. The central idea here, which will recur again later, is possession. The reason for this is when you pick something up, it is in temporarily in your hands and therefore in your possession. For example, if I pick up a newspaper from a table, it is in my hands and I have possession of it, although I do not own it. BONUS: To pick up the phone One sub-meaning of this particular application of 'pick up' is 'to answer the telephone to someone'. This comes directly from the idea of picking the receiver of the telephone up to be able to commence the conversation. This usage even applies to smartphones, despite there being no physical receiver to pick up. I called you several times but you didn't pick up. Come on pick up the phone, somebody please! MEANING 2: To collect someone or something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Wher is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To collect, to fetch, to get, to retrieve Separable? Yes If, like me, you do not have your own car, then it is highly probable that from time to time you need someone to pick you up when you need to travel somewhere and there is no public transport. That's because the second meaning of 'pick up' is to collect or fetch someone or something from a place. This is typically by car but can be used for other forms of transport. The idea here is that a person with a car drives to a place to collect someone and then takes them somewhere, whether that be home, work or somewhere else entirely (the destination is irrelevant here). The action of picking up is usually organised or booked in advanced and aside from a person picking someone else up, it is also possible to be picked up by a taxi, bus or other form of booked transportation. Our plane arrives at midnight and so my Dad has agreed to pick me up from the airport. Roger’s car is in the garage and he refuses to take the bus, so his wife is picking him up from work. The taxi has been booked and will pick us up from outside the shopping centre at 3pm. I am working today, so your Dad will pick you up from school In addition to picking up people, it is also very common to hear 'to pick up something', which is used as a synonym of 'to collect'. For example, a forwarding company will pick up a parcel from you, you might pick up your clean washing from the laundromat when it is done, or you may pick up your medication from the pharmacy when it is ready. I wasn’t at home when the courier tried to deliver the parcel, so now I have to go to the depot to pick it up. Your order is ready, so please arrange to come and pick it up at a suitable time. My medication is ready to be picked up at the pharmacy. BONUS: To pick something up from the shop It is also common to use 'pick up' in this way to talk about buying something from a shop or supermarket. Moreover, a sub-meaning of 'pick up' is in fact to buy something and this is used particularly when the purchased item was very good value or a bargain. I am just going to go to the shop to pick up some essentials. John picked up a new television at a really reasonable price in the January sales. MEANING 3: To learn something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To learn, to acquire Separable? Yes Have you ever learned a few words of a language just by being in the environment where it is spoken, without even really trying? If you have, then you could say that you have picked up a few words of the language. The reason for this is that the third meaning of 'pick up' is 'to learn something without trying very hard or without being formally taught'. In other words, you acquire this knowledge without much effort. This is commonly used with language but can also be used with other skills, for example someone could pick up basic electronics by watching other people do it or you might pick up the basics of needlework by practising it on your own and learning from your mistakes. Once again, this meaning goes back to the idea that something comes into your possession and in this instance it is knowledge or a skill. I lived in a France for a couple of months and managed to pick up quite a lot of French whilst I was there. My Dad was a carpenter and I picked up a lot of carpentry skills by watching him as a child. Through exposure to many different fields, industries and people in my career, I have picked up a lot of different skills. BONUS: To pick up an illness Aside from knowledge and skills, something else that people can pick up involuntarily is contagious illnesses and infections such as colds, coughs and the flu. Native speakers often use this to say that they caught a virus somewhere or somewhen and it is a nice synonym for the verb 'to catch' to have in your vocabulary. Amelia picked up a nasty virus at school and she has passed on it on to the rest of her family. I've got a nasty cold. I must have picked it up on the plane coming back from the USA. MEANING 4: To improve Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To improve, to recover, to strengthen Separable? No Our fourth meaning of 'pick up' is 'to improve' or 'to recover'. Unlike the first three meanings that we have just looked at, this one is used in an intransitive way (with no direct object). I would say that although this usage can be used in any area of life where we talk about improvement, it is most primarily heard in the world of business and economics. In business, it refers to improvements or upturns, when a company has more customers and business and is making more money, while in economics it signifies that the economy is growing and is generally viewed very positively as lots of rich people get even richer! Following a slow first quarter, business has now started to pick up and is predicted to continue improving for the rest of the year. Japan's economy is picking up slowly, however fears remain that the country could fall into a recession. Sales are picking up this year and so we hope to make a good profit. BONUS: To grow stronger The general idea of picking up when thinking of the economy is to grow stronger and another sub-meaning of 'pick up' is indeed to grow stronger. A prime example of this is commonly used is with the weather, in particular the wind. If we say that the wind is picking up, then it means that the wind is getting stronger and perhaps a period of bad weather is coming. Alternatively, we can also use this with health, when a person is recovering from an illness or injury and is getting stronger. The wind started picking up and before long, a full blown storm was upon us. After a long illness, Lisa's health began to slowly pick up. MEANING 5: To detect or notice something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To detect, to notice Separable? Sometimes When I was younger, I used to have an alarm clock with a built-in radio in my bedroom. At the time, I lived close to an airport and every so often when I listening to the radio, I was able to hear the airplane pilots' communication with the airport as they were landing. The reason for this was because my radio somehow detected and received, or picked up, the signal. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Signal Sign Activity So, as you will now be aware, the next meaning of 'pick up' is 'to detect something' and is very often used used with machines. As in the case of my radio, with certain types of machine, not only does it detect a signal but also receives it. Other types of machines that you will hear this being used with are alarms, scans, microphones and radar as well as things like anti-virus programs on your computer which scan to try and pick up viral threats and malware. The scans did not pick up any signs of cancer in the patient. You may find it difficult to pick up this radio station in the mountains. Our CCTV system picked up some very strange activity outside our house last night. Aside from machines, this application of 'pick up' can also be used with humans, in which case this would be a synonym of the verb 'to notice', especially if something is subtle or not very obvious. You should note that when used with humans in this way, we normally add the preposition 'on'. In other words, if you pick up on something, you notice it. Apparently Helen had been crying when she came into the office this morning but I did not pick up on it at all. I've picked up on some tension between you two. Is everything ok? John is very observant, he picks up on anything like that. MEANING 6: To stand up after a fall Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To brush yourself off Separable? No Ok grammar fans, this next meaning is a reflexive one and means 'to stand up again after a fall'. If you're not sure about reflexive verbs, they are those verbs where the subject and object of the clause are the same and in English we show this with the -self pronouns (myself, yourself etc.). I talk to myself all the time. The dog grooms itself . Whilst 'to pick yourself up' can be used in situations where you literally fall over onto the ground, it is more often used in a figurative way to mean 'to take action to recover from a difficult, stressful or traumatic life situation'. I fell over outside my office in front of all my colleagues, but I picked myself up and continued like nothing had ever happened. Following a bitter and stressful divorce, Susan picked herself up again and started rebuilding her life as a single woman. I know that you feel very sad now, but you just need to pick yourself up and get on with things. You'll soon forget about this! BONUS: To pick up your mood Another sub-meaning of 'pick up' here is to improve someone's general mood and is used without the 'self reflexive pronoun. If something picks you up, it puts you in a better mood or cheers you up. Typical things that pick people up are listening to music, a chat with a friend, or even a strong cup of coffee! This song always picks me up, every time I hear it! Here, drink this brandy, this will pick you up! MEANING 7: To be arrested Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To arrest, to apprehend, to bust Separable? Yes Hopefully, this next meaning will never apply to any of you, as it means 'to be arrested by the police'. If someone is picked up by the police, it generally means that they have committed a crime of some description and are then caught by the police, placed under arrest and taken to the police station. This can be used in both an active and a passive sense, with the police picking up a criminal and a criminal being picked up by the police. The burglar was picked up by the police a few streets away from where the crime had been committed. My brother was picked up by the police, who falsely accused him of a crime he didn't do! Criminal gangs often use children and teenagers to carry out their work as they are less likely to get picked up by the police. MEANING 8: To meet someone romantically Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Mainly American English Potential synonyms To hook up with, to flirt Separable? Yes Although I have called this next meaning of 'pick up', "to meet someone romantically", it is actually a bit more than that. In this sense, if you pick someone up, you meet them by chance, start talking or flirting with them and end up kissing them or even having sex with them. You normally hear this usage when it occurs in bars, pubs and nightclubs or anywhere else where is my be a bit surprising or unexpected. This usage is quite informal and perhaps a bit more American to my ears. It is usually used in the active sense as in a passive sense it doesn't quite sound right to me. John always seems to be able to pick up girls without even trying. What's the weirdest place that you have ever picked up a guy? MEANING 9: To win something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To win Separable? Yes The ninth meaning of 'pick up' that we will look at is 'to win' and is used specifically when referring to awards and prizes. This meaning is just a nice synonym of the verb 'to win' and you will often hear it on English language news programmes when talking about big awards ceremonies such as the Oscars and the Grammys. Incidentally, we don't tend to use 'pick up' when referring to winning games or races. This movie is expected to pick up a few awards at the Oscars next month. I didn't expect to pick up the award for best manager tonight, so I just want to thank you all for your support and for voting for me. The company picked up the innovation prize for the third year running. Another time that you may hear this used however, is when referring to parliamentary elections. 'Pick up' is frequently used here to talk about the number of votes a candidate receives or picks up. The Green party are expected to pick up a lot of votes in the election this year. The candidate who picks up the most votes will be elected as the new mayor. MEANING 10: To refer back to something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To refer back to Separable Yes For those of you who enjoy debates, discussions and dialogue, this next meaning should be very useful for you as it means 'to refer back to something' and is used frequently in conversations of this type when someone wants to further discuss an earlier point that someone made. I'll give you an example of how this works. In a debate, one person speaks and gives three points as part of his or her argument. The next person then speaks in response and wants to refer to the first point that the first speaker made. He or she might then say, 'I'd like to pick up the point that you made earlier about XXX', to mean that they want to refer back to the person's point. The reason that they are doing this is that they want to comment on the point, refute it or develop it in some way. Note, that often the additional preposition 'on' is used, however this is not always required. I'd like to pick up what you said about the spending cuts earlier. I just wanted to pick up on the point that you made about the new legislation. MEANING 11: To resume something after an interruption Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To continue, to carry on Separable? Yes Many of us love a coffee break when we are at work but inevitably we have to start our work again once we have had our caffeine hit and this brings me to the eleventh meaning of 'pick up', which is start something again following an interruption'. In terms of usage, this can be used for interruptions from anything as short as a lunch break to a break of a few years. The idea is that you stop what you are doing for a time and then start it again at some point in the future. You may often hear this application being used with the adverbs 'back' or 'again' or a combination of both of these. I don't know about you but I am ready for lunch. Shall we go and eat and pick this up again afterwards. Roger learnt German when he was at school but stopped when he left. He picked it back up last year after a trip to Berlin. BONUS: The idiom 'to pick up where you left off' We also have a common idiom for this usage which is 'to pick up where one left off'. If you pick something up where you left off, it simply means that you resume something that you were doing from the point where you previously stopped. Ok, if everyone is ready to start again, let's pick up where we left off. MEANING 12: To criticise someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To criticise Separable? No We are now at the 12th and penultimate meaning of 'pick up', so extremely well done if you have made it this far!! There is only one more to go after this! This final meaning of 'pick up' is 'to criticise someone' and for this we require the additional preposition 'on'. If someone picks you up on something, it means that they criticise something that you have said, or sometimes done. For example, a language teacher may pick their student up on their pronunciation of a word or a manager in a company may pick their employee up on the unsuitability of their clothes. 'To pick someone up on something' is a set word order and cannot be changed. I never pronounce my t's properly and my mum always picks me up on it. The strict teacher always picked up her students on their bad language. MEANING 13: To do someone else's work Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take on Separable? Yes For many people 13 is an unlucky number and I personally think that it is far too many meanings for a single phrasal verb. Nevertheless, here we are at the thirteenth and final meaning, which is 'to do someone else's work'. This usage is particularly useful for those people who work in office jobs. It is used for when somebody is sick, on vacation or is not able to attend work for a particular reason and so another person has to do their work for them for the period in which they are off. Although this is similar to 'take on' and can sometimes be used as a synonym for it, 'pick up' tends to be just doing aspects of someone's role whilst they are absent, or all of their work on a temporary basis, whilst 'take on' tends to be used more for when you accept a permanent new job or responsibility within your existing role. Aside from a person's tasks or work within a role, it is also common to use 'pick up' when referring to someone's emails, meaning that you will read and action them whilst the intended recipient is unavailable. Who is going to pick up Wendy's work whilst she is off sick? John is doing jury service for the next fortnight, so Lisa and I are picking up his work until he gets back. Helen was on holiday last week and so I picked up her emails while she was away. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to pick up the bill' Before I finish the post, there is one more idiom that I want to make you aware of that features the phrasal verb 'pick up' and is in common usage in everyday English. To pick up the bill is an idiomatic expression that means to pay for something, normally used in a bar or restaurant. For example, if you pick up the bill in a restaurant, you pay the entire bill for all of the people on your table. A common variation of this idiom also exists: 'to pick up the tab'. Everyone left the restaurant, leaving me to pick up the bill for all 10 people! My teenage daughter doesn't understand the value of money yet and still expects my and my husband to pick up the tab for everything. We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'pick up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'pick up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END