An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'open 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. 'Open up' is a common English phrasal verb that will be familiar to many of you, however do you know all of the different ways to use it? For example, do you know the difference between opening up a shop, opening up a lead and opening up to someone? Don't worry if you are not sure as in this post, I will explain the different meaning and uses to you and give you lots of examples of these in context to help your learning and understanding. So, without further ado, let's get started! Don't forget to leave a comment at the end 😊 MEANINGS   (click to jump to each one) Open Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'open' and 'up' Open Up - Meaning 1: To open something that is closed or locked Open Up - Bonus: To open someone or something up Open Up - Meaning 2: To open a business Open Up - Meaning 3: To express your true thoughts and feelings Open Up - Meaning 4: To begin to happen or exist Open Up - Meaning 5: To start shooting a gun 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 OPEN UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Opened up / Opened up Separable? Yes Let's get started by taking a look at the words 'open' and 'up' individually and what they bring to the "phrasal verb" table. 'To open' is a common verb in English that primarily means to remove, break or change the outside of something in order to allow access to what is inside it. It is typically used with nouns such as door, window, book and eyes. I opened the car door and got out. John opened his eyes and looked around the room. Aside from this, the verb 'to open' has other meanings and uses and the majority of these all carry an idea of increased accessibility or eliminated restrictions or limitations to something. One of these other meanings that is particularly pertinent to the phrasal verb 'open up' is to make something available....more on that to come later! The prepositional particle 'up' features in a huge number of phrasal verb constructions. Given that the primary meaning of 'up' as an adverb is to talk about movement in the direction away from the ground, it will come as no surprise to you that it can also add this same directional meaning to phrasal verbs. In addition to this more obvious function, 'up' can also serve to convey other ideas to phrasal verbs, such as completion, preparation and appearance. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's explore the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'open up'... MEANING 1: To open something that is closed or locked Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To open, to unlock Potential antonyms To close up, to close, to lock Separable? Yes As we have just established, the verb 'to open' means to modify something in order to allow access to what it contains and this first meaning of 'open up' is just a variation of this as it means to open or unlock something that is closed, such as a door, a box, a cupboard, a window or a gift. I guess at this point you are probably thinking why do we need the form 'open up' when the standard verb 'to open' means the same thing. This is a very good question as they do both generally carry the same meaning and are usually interchangeable, however sometimes we use 'open up' when there is more of an emphasis on, or interest in, what is contained inside the closed object. This may perhaps be because the item is not normally opened, it has never been opened before or because we do not know what is inside it and we are just curious to find out. In other words, there is perhaps more interest or intrigue surrounding what is inside. John cheerfully opened up his birthday presents. I wonder what is inside this locked cupboard? I am going to try to open it up to find out. Open up your books to page 15. Another very common group of nouns that are commonly used with this of application of 'open up' are buildings and we can use 'open up' for these when we talk about them becoming unlocked to enable people to enter inside them. I would say that this usage tends to be mainly for public buildings, which I will talk more about in the next section, however it is worth mentioning here that 'open up' can be used as an imperative, especially in American English, by someone who is outside requesting to be allowed entry and this can often be private residences too. Open up! Come on let me in! I was woken up at 2am this morning by husband yelling 'open up' outside our window. He had lost his key and could not get in. BONUS: To open someone or something up Sometimes, when we want to gain access to the interior of something that is covered or protected, it is necessary to access it by cutting it with a tool or implement of some sort. This is in fact another way that 'open up' can be used, notably with surgical operations in hospitals, where the surgeon needs to open up the patient in order to perform the necessary and often life-saving action. We could not gain access to the interior of the abandoned ship, so we had to open it up using special tools. We need to open up the patient and remove the tumour. MEANING 2: To open a business Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To open Potential antonyms To close, to close down, to shut, to shut down Separable? Yes This second meaning of 'open up' is really two separate sub-meanings, but as both of them are about the world of business and share a clear connection, I thought it would be better to consolidate them all in one section. In the previous section, I mentioned that we can use 'open up' to talk about opening a building to allow people to enter inside it and this links directly to the first of these two usages, which is to open a business for the day. As you can imagine, this usage is reserved for businesses such as shops, stores, garages, pubs, bars, restaurants etc., which all tend to open and close on a daily basis. The action of opening up here is purely unlocking the premises or building and preparing it so that it is ready for customers. Aside from companies, this sub-application can be used for any public buildings that are locked or shut (normally overnight), such as museums or government buildings. What time does the pub open up today? I need to be at the shop before 8am tomorrow morning as it is my turn to open up. Lisa arrived half an hour early at the garage and had to wait for the staff to open it up so that she could leave her car there. For our second sub-meaning, we are sticking with the business theme because 'open up' is also used to talk about when someone starts or opens a new business in general. To clarify, this is when a new business is founded or created and begins trading. You could potentially use this with any sort of business or company, but I think that native speakers tend to use it more for those that customers have to visit in order to use, such as a shop, pub, restaurant, hair salon, vets etc. There is a new Italian restaurant opening up in town next week. Shall we book a table? We are planning to open up a new hair salon in Liverpool. Lastly, 'open up' can also be used for existing companies that are doing well enough to be able to open new agencies, shops or offices in new locations, cities, regions or countries. We are pleased to announce that we will be opening up a new agency in Edinburgh next year, which will be our first office in Scotland. The fast food chain has recorded record profits this year and is planning to open up 20 new restaurants around the country over the coming months. MEANING 3: To express your true thoughts and feelings Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be frank, to be honest Potential antonyms To close up, to close off Separable? No Up until now in the post, our attention has been firmly focused on closed or inaccessible physical places and spaces, but for this third meaning we need to turn our attention towards people. The reason for this is this next meaning of 'open up' is to express your true thoughts and feelings. You may or may not be aware that the adjective 'open' can be used in English to describe people who do not conceal or hide their thoughts and feelings and who are happy to discuss these with others. Of course, not everyone is like that, and I think that openness is on a spectrum, ranging from those people who are open about almost everything in their lives, to those at the other end who are fiercely private individuals. The vast majority of us probably fall in the middle of these and have our own private thoughts and feelings that we keep hidden or locked inside. When we feel comfortable enough to start sharing these hidden thoughts with others, we can say that we 'open up' to them. Note the additional preposition 'to' here to describe the person to whom you express these innermost thoughts. Roger doesn't normally talk about his feelings very often but after a couple of beers, he usually starts to open up. Lisa opened up to me last night about the problems she's been having in her marriage recently. I am trying to get Helen to open up but she refuses to say what she thinks. Try and open up to someone if you can and vocalise how you're feeling. You will certainly feel better for it! MEANING 4: To begin to happen or exist Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To create, to begin to exist Separable? No This next one is for all of the magicians among you as this meaning is to begin to happen or exist, and at its core it is all about creating something from nothing. Unfortunately, we can't use this application for any time something comes into existence, for example, we couldn't use it for a rabbit coming out of a hat (I just liked the picture), however there are many different ways in which we can use 'open up' to talk about when something is created that did not previously exist and I will explain these below.... When access to something is created.... As we have seen already in this post, 'open up' is used when access to something interior is enabled and we can also use it when something becomes accessible to people in general. This may be on a geographical basis, for example a new road may open up access to an area that was previously inaccessible, or it could be a new business market, for example, changes in a country's laws may open up a business or investment market to people who did not have access to it beforehand. The planned new highway will go over the mountain pass and will open up access to the villages on the other side of it. Investing apps on mobile phones have opened up investing to many people who previously were unable to do so. When new opportunities become possible.... If a new opportunity arises, whether it be for a new job, a promotion in an existing job or a new possibility to do something or achieve something, we can use 'open up' to express that this new possibility or opportunity has come into existence. This could also be used when making it possible for people to participate in something that they could not do previously, such as a debate, competition or vote. A new job vacancy has opened up in the marketing department in my company and I am tempted to apply for it. The recently announced peace talks have opened up the possibility of an ceasefire in the war. Now that you have heard the speakers in the debate, we would like to open it up to you, the audience, to have your say. Voting in the competition was initially limited to member of the website but due to a low vote count, the organisers decided to open it up to the general public. In sports.... We also regularly use 'open up' in sports games or races when one of the competitors or teams develops a lead over the others. Usain Bolt took no time in opening up a significant lead in the men's 100 metre final. Chelsea FC have opened up a 3-1 lead against rivals Tottenham Hotspur. When opening a new account.... If you apply to a bank for a new bank account, or in fact any type of account, be it with an online retailer or a social media website, you can say that you open one up (again essentially creating it from nothing). Facebook deleted my account, meaning I've had to open up a new one. Opening up a bank account is much easier than it used to be. When a hole or a crack comes into existence.... If you have been unlucky enough to have experienced an earthquake, you will likely be aware that cracks and holes can be created in the ground when one of these happens. In these situations, we can use 'open up' to describe when these come into existence. In addition, we can also use 'open up' to describe when an existing hole or fissure gets wider or bigger. These cracks do not necessarily have to be physical cracks however and this is often used in a metaphorical way to talk about divisions and breakdowns in relationships and politics. During the earthquake, several large cracks opened up in the middle of the highway. The cut on my leg from last week opened up again when I was playing rugby. The new legislation has opened up a division in the far right party and I do not know it they will patch things up. When barriers are removed.... One last point to mention is here that 'open up' can be used when barriers such as walls, hills or trees are removed and as a consequence a space becomes wider or more spacious. Typically, this is used with roads when you drive past a natural barrier such as a hill or forest or a room when you remove a wall, connecting two or more rooms, creating a wider space. After a while, the forest will end and the road will open up onto lush green fields. We are going to demolish this wall and connect the kitchen with the living room, which will open up a lovely and light space. MEANING 5: To start shooting a gun Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere but perhaps more American Potential synonyms To fire Potential antonyms To hold fire Separable? No The last usage of 'open up' that I want to explain to you is a rarer one that means to start firing a gun or guns. This usage probably comes from the expression of the meaning 'to open fire', which itself goes back to the meaning of the verb 'to open' as in 'to begin', with the word 'fire' going back many centuries to when the gunpowder in guns had to be ignited by fire from a slow-burning match to become effective. For this usage, the additional preposition 'on' is required to specify the target of the shooting. A gunmen opened up on a crowd of people but luckily every bullet missed and nobody was hurt. All of the guns on the bomber opened up on its target before it swooped around and flew away in the other direction. 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. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'open 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 '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. The phrasal verb 'take off' is a wonderful phrasal verb to be have in your active English vocabulary, not only because it is very commonly used amongst native speakers, but also because many of its meanings are positive, happy and sometimes even humorous in nature! In this post, I will explain the different meanings that it has, with lots of examples of how it is used in everyday conversation and speech. 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) Take Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'take' and 'off' Take Off - Meaning 1: To remove something from a surface Take Off - Meaning 2: To remove an item of clothing Take Off - Meaning 3: To leave the ground and start flying Take Off - Meaning 4: To take leave from work Take Off - Meaning 5: To become successful Take Off - Meaning 6: To leave suddenly Take Off - Bonus: To take oneself off Take Off - Meaning 7: To deduct or reduce Take Off - Meaning 8: To imitate someone 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 TAKE OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 8 Past tense forms Took off / Taken off Separable? Sometimes Before I explain the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'take off', let's first consider the individual words 'take' and 'off' and what they mean on their own. 'To take' is a highly versatile English verb that has a variety of different meanings depending on the context of the sentence that it features in. Personally, as a native speaker, the first meanings of 'to take' that I think of when I hear this verb are 'to grasp or hold something', 'to carry something with you' and one that is particularly relevant for this post 'to remove something from a place'. The English prepositional particle 'off' functions as the natural opposite of the preposition 'on' and can act as an adverb, preposition, adjective, and noun. When used as an adverb, it is perhaps most commonly used to add the ideas of a movement away from something or a an action that removes something from a surface. In phrasal verbs, 'off' can be used to convey the ideas of separation, leaving, reduction and separation, among others. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's move onto the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'take off'... MEANING 1: To remove something from a surface Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Levels A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to take, to pick up Potential antonyms To put on, to place on Separable? Yes Let's begin with a nice and easy meaning of 'take off', which is 'to remove something from a surface'. This usage is simply just the action of removing something from the surface that it is on, so that is is no longer touching or supported by it. The action of 'taking off' in this sense is usually carried out manually, i.e. with your hands. Grammatically, this usage is separable and while it is certainly used inseparably, I think that there is more of a tendency amongst native speakers to use it inseparably in spoken English. Can you take your shoes off the table, please. When I took the book off the shelf, I accidentally knocked off the vase. John put his coffee on top his car and then forgot to take it off again before he drove off. There are a couple of other more advanced and abstract uses of this application with the idea of removal that you should also be aware of. The first is when referring to a product or service that is on the market and available to the public to buy. If the company who is manufactures or provides it decides that they no longer want to sell the product or provide the service, they take it off the market so that nobody can buy it anymore. Furthermore, in some cases these cancelled products may even be taken off supermarket and shop shelves so that they cannot be sold. Due to poor sales, the company has decided to take this product off the market. Likewise, the same applies with television and radio broadcasting, in which programmes etc. are considered to be 'on the air'. If the broadcaster decides that they are going to stop showing the programme, it will be taken off (the air). After 30 years, we are very sad to say that a decision has been made to take the programme off the air this summer. Lastly, it is also possible for sports players to be taken off the sports pitch if it is decided that they can no longer continue to play the game, whether that be because they have developed an injury or committed a foul etc. etc. The player was taken off in fifth minute after committing a nasty foul. MEANING 2: To remove an item of clothing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to undress, to disrobe, to kick off, to strip off, Potential antonyms To put on, to wear, to keep on, to have on Separable? Yes Our second meaning of 'take off' is more a continuation of the first, rather than a completely new one, as it means 'to remove an item of clothing'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Clothes Shoes Socks Glasses Hat Watch Jewellery In this case, we are again removing an object from a surface, however this time the surface is specifically our bodies and the object being removed is an item of clothing. You may already be aware that in English we use the phrasal verb 'have on' as a synonym of the verb 'to wear' and typically, we use this application of 'take off' for anything that we 'have on' our bodies. Of course, this covers the more general nouns such as clothing and clothes as well as specific items of clothing, such as coats, jackets, shirts, trousers / pants, socks, shoes etc. In addition to this, we can also use it for things like jewellery, watches, glasses and accessories. One notable exception for something that we can have on or wear in English but not take off, for obvious reasons, is aftershave or perfume. Please take off your shoes before entering the house. It was so cold in my office today that I refused to take my coat off. When Roger got home from his run, the first thing that he did was take off his dirty clothes and have a shower. My hairdresser asked me to take off my glasses when she was cutting my hair. When going through security at the airport, it is necessary to take off all your jewellery so as not to set off the metal detector. MEANING 3: To leave the ground and start flying Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fly, to take flight, to become airborne, to take wing, to fly off, to depart Potential antonyms To land, to arrive Separable? No Our third meaning of 'take off' is one that many of you will be familiar with and will likely have associated with this particular phrasal verb. This is especially so if you have ever flown in an airplane and it means 'to leave the ground and start flying' or 'to become airborne'. When we talk about an airplane, rocket, helicopter or hot air balloon taking off, we are specifically referring to the moment at the beginning of the flight when it leaves the ground and moves into the air in an upwards direction. In other words, it starts flying. This is something many people love (including me) and fear in equal measure! The airplane was about to take off when the pilot told us that we had to wait as there was a delay. Taking off is my favourite part of the plane journey, however my wife hates it and always gets really scared. No planes are allowed to take off during the hurricane for obvious reasons. As English is the international language of aviation, you will always hear this particular usage of 'take off' used in this way if you go on an international flight. In addition, you will almost certainly always hear the noun form 'takeoff' (alternatively 'take-off') being used too. Cabin crew, please prepare the doors for takeoff. Seatbelts must be worn during takeoff and landing. Of course, I have only mentioned manmade inventions in this usage, however you should be aware that we also use this application of 'take off' for birds, insects, bats and anything else in the natural world that is lucky enough to have the ability to fly! The captured bird took off whilst the cat was not looking and escaped into the sky. If you go to the mouth of the cave at dusk, you may be lucky enough to see hundreds of bats taking off. Suddenly, the swan took off and flew off into the sunset. MEANING 4: To take leave from work Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To have off, to take out, to book off Potential antonyms To work Separable? Yes As I mentioned in the previous section, I love taking off in airplanes. Another thing that I love, which also involves taking off in airplanes, is going on holiday (vacation in US English). Like many other lucky holidaymakers, I have a job and so when I want to go on holiday, I have to to take leave from work and book days off, which brings us nicely to our next meaning of 'take off', which is 'to take leave from work'. For this usage, we require an additional noun to specify the time period that we will not be working, such as a morning, day, week or fortnight. Alternatively, we can just use the general nouns 'time' or 'leave' when referring to an unspecified period. 'Take off' is not necessarily always used for holidays or vacations and can be used for any period of time when a person decides that they cannot work for whatever reason, be it sickness, family commitments or a sabbatical. I've decided to take next week off as I have lots of things to do at home. Take the day off tomorrow and let's go to the beach! The doctor has advised me to take a few months off as my stress levels are too high at the moment. John won't be in the office until this afternoon as he has taken the morning off to go to the dentist. MEANING 5: To become successful Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To explode, to blow up Potential antonyms To flop Separable? No Our next definition of 'take off' is one that we all hope for in our lives as it means 'to become successful'. primarily used for things like careers, a product or something that can become popular with the public. This is typically used in relation to careers, products, or anything that can gain popularity among the public and usually occurs abruptly and rapidly. To understand this meaning of 'take off' a bit better, let's stick with the ongoing theme and use the airplane as a metaphor for a pop star's career.... Whilst the airplane is on the ground, it moves slowly except when taking off and is not fulfilling it's primary function of flying. When it does take off however, it accelerates rapidly and flies high in the air with lots of energy, performing its intended function. Similarly, now imagine a pop singer's career as an airplane (weird, I know). Whilst it is on the ground at the airport, little progress is made and its primary goals of selling records and entertaining audiences are not met. Yet, once the airplane-shaped career takes off, it suddenly and quickly does so and before you know it, it is high up in the air, moving at top speed and achieving its objectives. In this case, the airplane is a metaphor for a pop singer's career, but it could equally be used for anything that can gain popularity with the public. Following the launch of our new marketing campaign, sales took off and our profits rose dramatically. Julia Roberts' career took off after appearing in Pretty Woman. If the company wants this product to take off in the way that their last one did, they are going to have to invest in some more market research. MEANING 6: To leave suddenly CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To run away, to leave, to run off, to depart Potential antonyms To Separable? No In the previous section, I explained how if something takes off, it can mean sudden success or popularity and for this next usage, we are staying with the idea of something happening suddenly, but in this case it is for when a person leaves or departs in a sudden or unexpected way. To put it another way, if you take off, you go away from where you are in a quick or hasty manner. This may be because you are scared, you want to avoid a confrontation, there is an emergency or perhaps you just want to go home. The reason for the sudden departure is not important for this usage, it is purely the nature of the departure i.e. sudden or unexpected that is important for this particular meaning. I'm not sure where Roger went. He took off about 10 minutes ago and didn't bother saying goodbye to anyone. The criminal took off before the police arrived. The dogs took off as soon as soon as they saw a squirrel. Sarah just shut down her computer and took off without saying a word to any of her colleagues. BONUS: To take oneself off In addition to a person taking off, it is also possible to say that a person takes themselves off, i.e. in a reflexive way, with the -self pronoun. 'To take yourself off' has a slightly different meaning as it means to leave the place where you are, often in order to go somewhere quiet or private. This can often be to get away from a particular situation or place and does not convey the same idea of a sudden or quick departure like the non-reflexive form does. Simon took himself off to his bedroom to have a think about the way that he had behaved. I needed a break from work and my hectic life, so I took myself off to Greece for a week. Lastly, it is also possible to 'take someone off somewhere', which is used for when you take a person away from the place that they are to another place. This can be either in a positive way... My husband is taking me off to Paris for a few days next week! I am really looking forward to it. Or a negative way, i.e. when the person does not want to go to the destination... The police took the suspect off to the police station for questioning. MEANING 7: To deduct or reduce Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take away, to subtract, to reduce, to diminish, to minus, to deduct Potential antonyms To add on, to put on Separable? Yes The seventh meaning of 'take off' is definitely one for the mathematicians amongst you as it means 'to deduct' or 'to reduce' and is primarily used when talking about numbers, figures and percentages. When talking about numbers and figures, 'take off' is just another synonym of the verbs 'to subtract', 'to minus', 'to deduct' and 'to take away', however I think it is far less commonly used in this respect than the others. You are more likely to see and hear this application in use when talking about percentages being deducted from figures, however. We normally offer this customer list price with 10% taken off. That price is the list price. Don't forget you need to take off the 10% discount for the customer's net price. Are you able to take anything off this price? Another way that you may see this application of 'take off' is when something causes prices to fall. For example, if a busy road is built near to where someone lives, the price of their house is likely to decrease due to the noise and pollution that the road would undoubtedly bring. In this sense you could say, that "the new road will take a lot of money off the price of the house". MEANING 8: To imitate someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To copy, to imitate, to mimic, to impersonate Separable? Yes Let's end the post with a British usage of 'take off'', which is specifically 'to take someone off' and means 'to imitate or copy someone'. This application is generally used when you want to impersonate or mimic someone for comedic effect, i.e, to make other people laugh. This can range from copying the way that somebody speaks and their mannerisms to how they walk and dress. 'Taking someone off' is often slightly derogatory in nature and may often be considered as offensive or hurtful by the person who is being taken off. However, many of us Brits have a good and often self-deprecating sense of humour and this is not always the case, with some people finding it extremely funny or amusing. I guess it all really comes down to the relationship and the situation in each case! Sarah is really good at taking off our boss. She can do a great impression of her accent and how she speaks. The comedian's style of comedy is impersonation and taking off different TV stars of the past. He was trying to take me off but in fact he sounded nothing like me. 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. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'take 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 'come 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. The phrasal verb 'come out' has a large number of different meanings in English, however luckily for learners, many of them are just variations on the theme of emerging from something used in different situations. In this post, I will explain all of these different meanings and the ways that they can be used, as well as idiomatic expressions and common collocations featuring the phrasal verb 'come out'. So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end with your own sentence using 'come out'. TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Come Out - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'come' and 'out' Come Out - Meaning 1: To emerge from an internal space Come Out - Bonus: The idiom 'to come out of your shell' Come Out - Meaning 2: To become visible Come Out - Bonus: To come out in a rash Come Out - Meaning 3: To be made available for public consumption Come Out - Meaning 4: To become known Come Out - Meaning 5: To reveal your sexual identity Come Out - Meaning 6: To say something Come Out - Meaning 7: To declare a side Come Out - Meaning 8: To be removed (of a stain) Come Out - Meaning 9: To go somewhere to socialise 🇬🇧 Come Out - Meaning 10: To finish in a particular way 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 OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 10 Past tense forms Came out / Come out Separable? No Let's start the post by examining the individual words 'come' and 'out' and what they mean on their own. Firstly, we have the verb 'to come', which is one of the most common verbs in the English language and is used to refer to movement towards where the speaker is, was or will be. I am coming to your party this evening. John came to work an hour late. In addition to this meaning, it can also be used to mean 'to happen', 'to arrive' or 'to develop'. Moreover, it is used in many different phrasal verb constructions, with a lot of them having a meaning of coming, changing or ending. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which functions as the natural opposite of the particle 'on' and refers to being on, or moving towards the exterior of something. 'Out' can be used as a preposition, adverb, adjective, verb and even a noun in English...it is very diverse! So, now that we have considered the basics of these two component words, let's look at what meanings they have when they are combined to form a phrasal verb.... MEANING 1: To emerge from an internal space Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Synonyms To emerge Separable? No Let's start the meanings of the phrasal verb 'come out' with a nice and simple one, which means 'to emerge from an internal space'. This meaning is purely the literal meaning of the combination of the verb 'to come', as in to move from one place towards where the speaker is, and the particle 'out', as in from an internal space to an external one. As I explained in the Basics section, the verb 'to come' is used to describe a movement towards where the speaker is and therefore for this application the speaker is always outside of the interior space that the person or thing is emerging from. As you can imagine, this application is typically used with nouns that people or animals can physically be inside, such as buildings, holes, boxes, rooms etc. The list is extensive! Aside from this, we can also use it for nouns for physical spaces with which we use 'in' in general, such as water, meeting and hiding places. We can even also use it with 'womb' to talk about being born. When I came out of the airport, I was amazed at how cold it was! I am worried about my friend. She has refused to come out of her house for several days now. Humans are extremely vulnerable when they come out of the womb. As I picked up my shoe, a big spider came out from inside it. Come out and face me, you coward! Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to come out of your shell' Something else that some animals, such as turtles and crabs, can come out of is a shell. Whilst this exists as a literal meaning to describe the emergence of these animals from their protective covers, 'to come out of one's shell' is also a common English idiom, which means 'to become more socially confident and talkative'. This is typically used for people who are shy and timid and then gradually lose their shyness and become more at ease in social situations. Lisa has really come out of her shell since she started working in the shop. John is so quiet. Do you think he will ever come out of his shell? MEANING 2: To become visible Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To appear Separable? No Our second meaning of 'come out' is very much a continuation of the first meaning that we have just looked at and means 'to become visible'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Stars Sun Moon Flowers Birds This application of 'come out' is typically used in collocation with certain nouns for naturally occurring phenomena, many of which are found in the sky, such as the sun and stars. The idea behind this usage is that the nouns in question are not visible all the time e.g. the stars are not visible during the day, and so for the time that they are not visible they are hidden from view until the evening comes when they come out of their imaginary hiding place. As well as objects found in the sky, it is also common to use this application of 'come out' with flowers to describe when they bloom and their petals are visible. The clouds cleared and the sun came out. There was a clear sky that evening and the stars came out as soon as dusk arrived. The birds come out very early on summer mornings in order to catch their food. It is lovely at this time of year when all of the flowers come out. BONUS: To come out in a rash Another important sub-meaning of 'come out' that I want to make you aware of here is a medical one and is used specifically when things become visible on your skin, such as bruises, a rash, spots or hives. For this usage, we require the additional preposition 'in', giving us the construction "to come out in". Sarah's son came out in an allergic rash all over his body. Typical! The day before the school prom and my face has come out in spots. For some reason my leg has come out in bruises but I do not remember hurting myself there. MEANING 3: To be made available for public consumption Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be released Separable? No If you have a favourite author, then you will surely get very excited when you hear they are releasing a new book, or in other words that they have a book 'coming out'. That is because the next meaning of 'come out' is 'to be made available for public consumption'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Book Album Song Product Newspaper Magazine This application refers to anything that is created and released to the public to be consumed and ranges from books, songs and albums to new products that are made available on the market. This meaning has developed from the usage of 'out' as an adjective to mean 'available to buy, see or consume', with the verb 'to come' here being used to add the idea of being or released or made available. The next edition of the newspaper is coming out tomorrow morning. When this song first came out I hated it, but I have grown to love it since then. My company's new product is going to come out next year, so we are working hard on our marketing and advertising strategy. On a grammatical note, as you may have noticed from my initial example, a commonly used construction with this application of 'come out' is 'to have something coming out' and this is something that I see and hear a lot in everyday spoken English. Also, note that 'come out' cannot be used in an active way, i.e. you cannot say that an author is coming out a new book'. Instead, you would use 'bring out' as a phrasal verb in this instance. Coldplay have a new album coming out next year and I am really looking forward to listening to it. I've checked my favourite author's website and apparently she has a new book coming out in December. Are you looking forward to any albums, books or creative works coming out? Tell me in the comments section here . MEANING 4: To become known Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To get out, to leak, to come to light Separable? No In the last section, I explained how if something comes out, it is made available for public consumption and this next meaning of 'come out' is very similar to this as it is means 'to become known'. For this usage, the primary focus is on information, or more specifically information that was once secret or confidential. If this information comes out about a famous person, then it becomes public knowledge, or if the person involved is a mere mortal like you or me, then we would say that it is well-known. When the news first came out about the Queen's death, I was really shocked. If it comes out that I was involved in this, my career will be over! The information first came out in the newspapers and spread around the globe like wildfire. MEANING 5: To reveal your sexual identity Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reveal Separable? No Let's stay with the theme of revealing previously secret or confidential information for this next meaning of 'come out' as this one means 'to reveal your sexual identity'. This application of 'come out' is most commonly used to talk about someone who is gay or lesbian and who decides to make the information public to the people around them, or for celebrities, the public in general. This usage is in fact a shortened form of the expression 'to come out of the closet', which describes gay people no longer hiding their true selves or feelings in a fictional closet and whilst this expression can still be heard today, 'come out' on its own tends to be used much more. Moreover, if you use this form of 'come out' on its own without any reference to an internal space (except for closet), then it will be generally understood that you are referring to someone's sexuality. Due to the increasingly relaxed attitudes around homosexuality in many English speaking countries over the past 50 years, this usage of 'come out' has become more widespread in usage. Aside from sexuality, it is also used to talk about when someone reveals any sort of sexual preference or gender status such as transsexual, non-binary or asexual. John came out to his friends and family when he was 16. When Sarah came out as gay, nobody was really surprised or shocked, much to her relief. Coming out can be a very stressful and worrying process for many people. MEANING 6: To say something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To say, to blurt out, to spit out Separable? No For our next meaning of 'come out', we are going to stay with the same theme of something emerging from an internal space. This time though we are talking about words emerging from your mouth, as this next meaning is 'to say something'. Firstly, this is not an exact synonym of 'to say' as it is not possible to 'come out a word', however it is more used to talk about your ability or inability to say something. One common way that this is used is for when you are unable to speak or say something or when you don't say something properly or how it was intended. When it was time to give my speech, I was so nervous that the words didn't come out. Every time I try to pronounce his surname, it comes out wrong. I am so sorry if I offended you, it came out wrong and i did not mean to say it like that. Secondly, if we want to use 'come out' to specify particular words or things that we have said, then we can add the extra preposition 'with', giving us the construction 'to come out with something'. We use this particular construction when someone says something unexpected, unusual or surprising. This can also often be something that may considered rude or may be a confession or revelation of some sort. It's essentially the kind of comment or remark that surprises or shocks the other people in the conversation. In the middle of our conversation last night, my husband suddenly came out with the fact that he wants a divorce. I feel so shocked! My brother told me he is moving to Australia. He just came out with it as if it wasn't a big thing. She came out with it mid-conversation and nobody knew what to say to her. Lastly, as I mentioned previously, the construction 'to come out with something' can be used when somebody confesses something or reveals something secret. Consequently, people often use this in an imperative form when they want someone to confess or reveal some secret information... Come on, I know that you know who committed the crime. Just come out with it. John, stop beating around the bush* and come out with it. What do you want to tell me? *To beat around the bush is a common English idiom that means 'to avoid talking about what is important or necessary'. MEANING 7: To declare a side Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To support Separable? No Our seventh meaning of 'come out' means 'to declare a side' and is all about whether you are for or against something. The idea here is all about declaring or announcing that you are either in favour of something or in opposition to something, when your preference has never previously been made public or made known. This is usually used when talking about high-profile, famous or well-known people and their stances on political parties, political or social movements, conflicts, disputes, and arguments. Commonly used collocations that you are likely to come across with this application of 'come out' are 'to come out in favour / support of' for those who are for something and 'to come out in opposition to' for those against it. The well known media personality came out in support of the oppressed people and urged others to do what they could to help. The politician came out in opposition to the proposed deal with the nationalist right wing party. A large number of church ministers yesterday came out against the plan to cut funding to their charities. MEANING 8: To be removed (of a stain) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be removed Separable? No There are many benefits of wearing white clothes; they provide coolness in hot weather, look clean and smart and they go with pretty much all other colours. However, one major drawback of them, especially for messy eaters like me, is that it is easy to stain them and is often quite difficult to remove the stains. That is what this next meaning of 'come out' can be applied as it means 'to remove a stain'. Now, of course this application of 'come out' does not just apply to white clothes and can be used for any colour of clothes, or indeed any stain on material or fabric such as a sofa, carpet or sheet. For other harder surfaces such as floors and walls, 'come out' can be used however, I think 'come off' is perhaps used more. I think that the reason for this is that for materials and fabrics, the stain is caused by a substance that sinks into the material and is not just sitting on the surface of it. When we remove the stain, we therefore make it come out of the fabric, whereas on hard surfaces such as a wall, the stain is more on the surface rather than inside it and 'off' would sound better here as the natural opposite of 'on'. Red wine stains will come out if you pour white wine onto them and leave it for a while. I've washed this white shirt several times on different temperatures and this stain will not come out. Oh don't worry about those pen marks on your coat, they will come out in the wash. Roger dropped some mustard on the cream sofa but luckily he scrubbed it and it came out straight away. MEANING 9: To go somewhere to socialise Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To go out, to socialise Separable? No If you've ever spent much time in the UK or with British people, you will know that they like to go 'out' at the weekends. In other words, to go to a pub, bar, restaurant or nightclub (or a combination) with their friends to socialise, have a drink and relax. This next meaning is a British usage that is very much connected to this as it is simply 'to go somewhere to socialise'. Often this is used in the form of an invitation, where one persons asks another to join them when they go out or it can be used as a response to the person to say that they will join them. Remember that the verb 'to come' is used to refer to movement towards the speaker or a specified place where the speaker will be and in this case it is 'out'. Additionally, as a child before the days of internet and smartphones, I remember knocking on my friends' front doors and asking them if they "were coming out to play", which I guess is just the children's equivalent of the adult's socialising. Are you coming out tonight? If so, meet us in The King's Head at 8pm. Sorry for my late reply. I've managed to get a babysitter, so I will come out. Do you know who is coming out tomorrow evening? MEANING 10: To finish in a particular way Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To end up Separable? No We have now come to the final meaning of the phrasal verb 'come out' and rather appropriately, this one is all about finishing something. Now, it doesn't in fact mean to end something, but rather to be in a specified state or way when something finishes or at the end of an experience. Firstly, this one is often used with competitions, sporting events and polls to talk about who won or lost something, i.e. once the competition or poll has ended. The United Kingdom came out as the winners of the 1997 Eurovision song contest, following a very close vote. Tyson Fury came out as the eventual loser in his heavyweight title boxing match against Oleksandr Usyk. The votes have been counted and we are pleased to announce that the third design option for the new park came out as the most popular among local residents. Further to this, this application of 'come out' can also be used when referring to experiences and situations that people go through in life. I came out of the experience a much better and more well-rounded person. Helen came out of it feeling like an idiot. Sarah came out of her relationship with a new sense of self worth. 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 and that you've come out of the experience with more English knowledge than before. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'come 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 '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