An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn 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. The subject of this post is the phrasal verb 'turn up'. I have recently done a post about its phrasal verb opposite, ' turn down ', so if you can remember the different meanings of that, then you should find some of the meanings of 'turn up' nice and simple as they are just the reverse. You will note that I said 'some' of the meanings as there are others that are completely unrelated to ' turn down ' - that would be too easy! So without further ado, let's have a look at them.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Turn Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'turn' and 'up' Turn Up - Meaning 1: Literal Turn Up - Meaning 2: To increase the intensity of something Turn Up - Bonus: Turn it up! Turn Up - Meaning 3: To arrive unexpectedly Turn Up - Meaning 4: To be found Turn Up - Meaning 5: To become available unexpectedly Turn Up - Meaning 6: To fold or modify clothes Turn Up - Meaning 7: To turn onto a different road or path Turn Up - Bonus: Some common idioms featuring 'turn up' 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 TURN UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 7 Past tense forms Turned up / Turned up Separable? Sometimes The phrasal verb 'turn up' consists of the verb 'to turn' and the prepositional particle 'up' and so before we start exploring the meanings of the phrasal verb, let's first look consider each of these words on their own. The verb 'to turn' is a common verb with various meanings, including to change direction, to move in a circular path and to transform from one thing into another. It is a commonly used verb in English and you will find it regularly appearing in a lot of different phrasal verbs because we often require extra directional or spatial information to clarify the action of 'turning' e.g. 'turn around', 'turn over' or 'turn back'. John turned right and then left. The world won't stop turning if you take a day off work. Turn the key to unlock the door. The leaves on the trees turn red in autumn. In conjunction with 'turn', we have the prepositional particle 'up', meaning in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. 'Up' is frequently used in phrasal verb constructions and can add different ideas, such as to move in an upwards direction (climb up), increasing ( go up ), preparation (warm up) and sudden changes (wake up), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the real reason that you are here, i.e. the different meanings of 'turn up' as a phrasal verb.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To turn, to face up Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'turn up' that I want to cover is the literal meaning, which you have probably guessed, is simply to turn or rotate something so that it is facing upwards. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Face Head Hood / Collar Card / Paper As this one is quite self-explanatory, I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I do want to give you some typical examples of usage, which are turning your head up, so that you are looking in the direction of the sky and turning playing cards up, so that the face of the card is visible. In both of these examples however, it should be noted that other synonyms are often used, such as 'look up' turning your head and 'turn over' for the cards. Lucy turned her face up to feel the warmth of the sun. Michael turned up his collar to protect himself from the cold wind. As the rain started falling, Natalie turned up her hood to stay dry. Adam turned up the brim of his hat to get a better view. The tarot reader asked me to turn up two of the cards that facing down on the table. MEANING 2: To increase the intensity of something Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To increase Separable? Yes This next meaning of 'turn up' is one of the most commonly used meanings of this phrasal verb and means to increase the intensity of something such as the volume, temperature or power of a device. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Volume Sound Heating / Temperature Television / Radio Music It may be quite obvious to you, but just in case it is not, this meaning is derived from when we turn a dial to a higher number on a device (up), thus increasing its level of output or energy. As you can imagine, it is often used to refer to household appliances and machines that have settings that can be made more or less intense (turned up or down). For this meaning, 'turn up' is used transitively, meaning that it requires a direct object, which is the noun or pronoun whose intensity we want to increase. The direct object noun can either be placed between 'turn' or 'up' or after them, without changing the meaning 😊 I was so cold in my house, so I turned up the central heating. Please can you turn the television up as I can barely hear it. Elizabeth turned up the heater because the room was too cold. Harry turned up the brightness on his phone so that he could see his screen better. BONUS: Turn it up! Although we can and do use 'turn up' to describe the action of increasing the intensity of many different nouns, the most common usage is probably with the noun 'volume'. For this reason, if you hear a native speaker say "turn it up", it is highly likely that what they actually mean is "turn the volume up" or "make it louder and this is usually when he or she likes a song that is being played! I love this song! Turn it up! Can you turn up the volume a bit. I can barely hear it! MEANING 3: To arrive unexpectedly Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage ​Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To show up, to arrive, to appear Separable? No So, now we are on to our first truly idiomatic meaning of 'turn up', which is to arrive or to appear somewhere, often (but not always) at an unexpected time or in an unexpected manner. In other words, we can use 'turn up' as a synonym for the verb 'to arrive', but we tend to use it more when there is something unplanned or surprising about the arrival. Examples of this unconventional arrival could be the following.... the person arrives unexpectedly, without forewarning or invitation the person arrives earlier or later than planned or requested there is something funny, surprising or unexpected about the person when they arrive Although I have specifically stated a person in the examples above, it is also absolutely fine to use this with objects when talking about deliveries etc. All of the guests turned up for the party, bar one. My parents turned up just as I was about to leave the house to go shopping. Lisa's car broke down on her way to work and she eventually turned up there at 11am. John mistakenly thought that the party was fancy dress, so he turned up wearing a Superman outfit, much to everyone's amusement. My neighbour turned up on my doorstep last night in floods of tears as her dog was missing. MEANING 4: To be found Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be found, to show up Separable? No This third meaning of 'turn up' simply means to be found. This often refers to when we unexpectedly find something that was previously hidden or lost. When we use 'turn up' in this way, it is usually because we have given up on finding the lost item and don't think we will ever see it again. Of course, we can use the verb 'to find' as a synonym here, however 'turn up' adds an extra layer of nuance in the form of unexpectedness or surprise. Sometimes, it can also be used to convey a bit mystery to the reappearance of the lost item. Alternatively, if something is lost, but we are confident that we will find it again at some unknown point in the future, it is equally common to say that "it will turn up". By using 'turn up' rather than 'find', we are saying that we are perhaps not actively going to look for the missing item and it will magically appear in the future. We thought we had lost our cat Arthur when he disappeared. Thankfully he turned up at the house again a week later and we still have no idea where he had been. The stolen car turned up abandoned on a roadside 10km away from where it had been stolen. I've lost my favourite socks. They must be in the house somewhere but I'm not worried as they are bound to turn up. MEANING 5: To become available unexpectedly Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level ​C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To become available Separable? No For this fourth meaning of 'turn up', we are staying with the familiar theme of something happening unexpectedly , however this time we are talking about unforeseen opportunities or situations that arise when you are looking for something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Job Opportunity Romance Car Apartment / House As you can see from the list above, this application is used with nouns for things that we have to search for in our lives and are not always available when we want them. Regardless of what the noun itself is, the main point here is that when the opportunity of finding one arises, it is unexpected in some way. This is often as it is when we have started to lose hope of success and are thinking about giving up. Moreover, if we want to offer some encouragement to someone who is having difficulty finding a job for example, we can say that "something will turn up". Equally, when talking about a time in the past when a new unexpected opportunity arose, we can say that something "turned up". My son has been looking for a job since graduating from uni and he has had no luck so far, but I'm sure something will turn up soon. They say that the love of your life normally turns up when you least expect it. That book I’d been looking for finally turned up in a second-hand store. A great job opportunity turned up just when Patricia was about to give up searching. After weeks of searching, a rental apartment finally turned up in Louise's budget. Something interesting always turns up when you're not looking too hard. MEANING 6: To fold or modify clothes Photo : Pexels CEFR Language C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fold up, to unfold Separable? Yes This next meaning of 'turn up' is specific to clothing and logically links back to the literal meaning of the phrasal verb that we looked at earlier in the post. This meaning specifically means to fold parts of clothes, normally the bottoms of trouser legs, upwards in order to make them shorter, so that they fit the owner better. The part of the garment is literally turned upwards. In everyday speech it is normal to use this in a passive sense and say that you are "getting something turned up" when the garment to be modified is with the tailors. In addition to this, if something is already folded downwards such as the corner of a piece of paper or a collar on a garment, we also say that we "turn it up" when we unfold it. I have sent my new suit to the tailors to get it turned up before the wedding next week. There was a chill in the air and so I turned up the collar on my winter coat. Before sewing, Sally pinned the skirt where she wanted to turn it up. My grandmother taught me how to turn up a pair of pants properly. She turned up the hem of her dress to make it more suitable for summer. He had to turn up his trousers because they were too long for him. MEANING 7: To turn onto a different road or path Photo : Pexel CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms Turn on(to), turn down Separable? No The last meaning that I want to bring to your attention is one that I also looked at in my post about the phrasal verb 'turn down' (link here ) as it means the same thing, which is to turn from one road or path onto another and then continue straight along it (confusing, I know!). Native speakers, typically British ones, use both 'turn up' and 'turn down' here interchangeably and there is no discernible difference in meaning that I am aware of; it is just the speaker's choice. It can also be noted that it can be used both for travel by vehicle as well as on foot. By contrast, you are more likely to hear American native speakers and those from other English speaking nations using a synonym like 'turn on' or 'turn onto' here. We turned up the road towards the church and realised that it was the wrong road You need to turn up that narrow track after the second gate. He turned up the hill and disappeared into the fog. They turned up the side street to avoid the traffic on the main road. Just turn up the next road on your left; it's a shortcut to the beach. Beth turned up a quiet little alleyway she hadn’t noticed before. Turn up that gravel path and you’ll see the cabin at the top. After the petrol station, turn up the next street on your right. Photo : Pexels BONUS: Common idioms and expressions with 'turn up' It would be rude of me to finish this post without also giving you some common expressions in which the phrasal verb 'turn up' is used, so here are a few for you.... To turn your nose up at something = This idiom means to show disapproval of something or to refuse something in a judgemental way, often when the person believes that something is not good enough for them. It is often used in reference to snobby or arrogant people but can also be used for fussy cats like mine who occasionally turn their noses up at the food they are given to eat. My cat Henry will eat anything but my other cat Arthur only likes one type of cat food and turns his nose up at anything else. The snobby lady turned her nose up when she was offered the cheap wine. A turn up for the books! = This is an idiomatic expression in British English and is used to describe a very unexpected but pleasing surprise. The roots of this idiom can be traced back to betting on horses as the records of bets were kept by people called bookmakers (colloquially known as bookies) in 'books' and if something unexpected (that word again!) happened, then some lucky gamblers would be very happy! I can't believe I got the job out of 100 applicants; what a turn up for the books! To turn up out of the blue = This expression is very common when talking about someone or something which appears or arrives completely unexpectedly, almost as if they suddenly appear out of the blue sky or from the blue ocean. It is possible to use "out of the blue" on its own without 'turn up' and the meaning would be more or less the same. After signing up to a family tree website, a cousin who I had never heard of before suddenly turned up out of the blue. 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 'turn 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 'turn 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 'clean 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. Cleaning up can be done at home, it can be done at work, it can be done in a city, you can clean up at an awards shows and even whole country or planet can be cleaned up, but it doesn't always mean the same thing. Depending on the context in which it is used, the phrasal verb 'clean up' can have a variety of different meanings and in this post we will look at all of these applications, with lots of examples to help your understanding. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Clean Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'clean' and 'up' Clean Up - Meaning 1: To make somewhere clean and tidy Clean Up - Bonus: The noun 'clean-up' Clean Up - Meaning 2: To make yourself clean 🇺🇸 Clean Up - Meaning 3: To restore order to a place Clean Up - Meaning 4: To make a big profit Clean Up - Meaning 5 - To win all of the prizes in a competition Clean Up - Bonus: The idiom 'to clean up your act' 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 CLEAN UP : KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Cleaned up / Cleaned up Separable? Yes Before we dive into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'clean up', let's quickly consider the individual words 'clean' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. The verb 'to clean' is a fairly common verb in the English language that means 'to make something free from dirt' or 'to make something clean'. Unlike many more common verbs, it's meanings are rather more limited. Generally speaking, the verb 'to clean' is a very positive verb that is used to describe good things. The prepositional particle 'up' is an extremely common feature in phrasal verb constructions. It's central idea is movement away from the ground, to a higher position or an increase of some sort and these meanings can often be carried across into phrasal verbs. Aside from these, when used in phrasal verbs, the particle 'up' can add the ideas of completion, readiness or improvement. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the meanings of 'clean up'.... MEANING 1: To make somewhere clean and tidy Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To tidy, to clean Separable? Yes Let's start things off with a nice easy meaning that should be quite evident now that we have considered the meanings of the individual words 'clean' and 'up': 'to make somewhere clean and tidy'. We tend to use this application of 'clean up' a lot when there has been some sort of event or action that results in a lot of dirt or mess. This could typically range from something small, such as someone spilling some food or drink onto the floor, to something large like the mess created following a wild party or social gathering. This usage takes the meaning of 'clean', as in 'to remove the dirt from something' and combines it with the idea of 'completion' that the particle 'up' often adds to phrasal verbs. Thus, it literally means here to clean somewhere until it is completely clean once more, so that it looks nice and presentable. In addition to the idea of removing dirt, this application of 'clean up' also includes the idea of tidying a space or a room and making it neat again. Invariably, when you clean somewhere up like a room, it will not look good if it is clean but still untidy and so this application of 'clean up' very much incorporates the ideas of tidiness and neatness too. Look at the mess in this room! I want this cleaned up now! We've tried our best to clean up the stains from the party last night but you can still see some of them. My dog has just vomited all over my new carpet! I need to clean it up straight away. Whilst I was cleaning up the garage, I came across these old photographs. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'clean-up' We can also use 'clean-up' as a noun to refer to the action of cleaning something up, normally following an event or incident. It also exists as an adjective, in which case it is often found in collocation with the noun 'efforts', specifically when talking about the attempts of people to clean a place or an area up following something destructive, like an accident or a natural disaster. As soon as the clean-up had begun, another storm blew in from the ocean, causing it to stop again. The clean-up efforts are well underway and we expect to have the area re-opened again by lunchtime tomorrow. MEANING 2: To make yourself clean Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? American English Potential synonyms To wash up, to get clean, to groom, to spruce up Separable? Only with a reflexive pronoun Of course, rooms and spaces are not the only things that get dirty or messy and subsequently require cleaning up and it may or may not surprise you to know that this phrasal verb can also be applied to people. Typically, this application of 'clean up' is heard when someone is dirty, sweaty or even a bit smelly, perhaps after doing some physical activity or after a hard day at work. The idea of 'clean up' here is that the person goes and washes and makes themselves look presentable (and probably also smell nice). Grammatically speaking, unlike the first meaning, we don't normally tend to separate this usage of 'clean up', except for when we add a reflexive (-self) pronoun. I would say that this usage of 'clean up' is heard more in American English, whilst in British English we tend to use the passive form 'to get cleaned up' a bit more. Moreover, it is also possible for one person to clean another person and "clean them up", in which case it is normally used separably, with the person being cleaned as the direct object of the phrasal verb. Please note that we would only use 'clean someone (else) up' when they are particularly dirty or bloody. I've just got home from the gym, so give me 10 minutes to go and clean up and I'll be ready. Look at the state of you! You are covered in mud! Go and clean yourself up before dinner. Helen's just gone to get cleaned up and she will be joining us as soon as she is ready. You've cut your leg and your bleeding. Come here and let me clean you up. Our dog had been playing in the mud, so we had to clean him up before we let him go back in the house. MEANING 3: To restore order to a place Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To restore, to purge Separable? Yes In addition to dirt, there are of course many other things that most (normal) people do not want to have in and around their living environments, such as crime and corruption. Additionally, the phrasal verb 'clean up' can also be used to describe the removal of these negative actions and behaviour from an organisation, city or even a country. In other words, this third meaning of 'clean up' is 'to restore law and order to somewhere, with the objective of making it a more pleasant place to be and to live'. The central idea here is that criminal and dishonest activities are viewed by many people similarly to dirt and therefore desire its removal from their environment. Aside from being used to describe the removal of illegal and corrupt behaviour, 'clean up' can also be used to talk about reducing and eradicating pollution, whether that be within a small geographical area or on a global scale. You are, in fact, just as likely to hear someone speaking about cleaning up a local forest as you are to hear prominent public figures talking about cleaning up the world's oceans. The police and local council have worked well together to clean up this town over the last twenty years. The pressure is growing on the government to take steps to clean up the corruption that permeates all areas of society. We have been cleaning up the world's oceans for the past 10 years but a lot work remains to be done. Here are some guidelines that we can all follow to help clean up our polluted environment. MEANING 4: To make a big profit Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To make a big profit Separable? No Now let's forget about the idea of cleaning for our meaning and think instead about money! In business, if someone is lucky enough to make a lot of money in a transaction or a lot of profit on some work that they have carried out, you could say that they have 'cleaned up'. The reason for this is that an informal usage of the phrasal verb 'clean up' is 'to make a big profit or, alternatively, to win a lot of money', for example in a competition or through gambling. This application of 'clean up' is not separable and tends to be followed either by the place where the money was won e.g. 'at the horse races', or how it was earned e.g. 'on this business deal'. John cleaned up at the bookmaker's today and he is taking everyone out to dinner. We cleaned up on this business transaction and our profits are very high. MEANING 5: To win all the prizes in a competition Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To win everything Separable No This fifth and final meaning of 'clean up' is very similar to the previous one as it continues the theme of winning. This usage, in particular, is used when someone wins all, or the majority, of the awards or prizes in a competition. Typically, you see this in award ceremonies for films or music, when one person, movie or song is very successful and wins a large number of the available awards. Furthermore, you may also hear about this with sports teams and sportspeople, or in fact anyone who could potentially win a large number of prizes at one time. In any of these cases, you could say that he or she 'cleaned up'. The movie Parasite cleaned up at the 2019 Oscar awards ceremony. This song is expected to clean up at this year's national music awards, having been nominated in 11 out of 12 categories. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to clean up your act' Before finishing this post, it would be neglectful of me to not let you know about a great idiom that exists with the phrasal verb 'clean up': 'to clean up your act'. This idiom means to start behaving in a better and more responsible way, often involving stopping drinking alcohol, taking drugs or committing crimes. It is separable and both 'clean your act up' and 'clean up your act' are completely fine to use. When my baby was born I decided that I had to clean my act up and start behaving more responsibly. Roger has cleaned his act up since leaving prison and he is now like a new man. 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 'clean 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 'clean 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 'get on' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. The phrasal verb 'get on' is one that you are sure to be familiar with, especially if you have ever used public transport in an English speaking country. In this article, I will explain six different ways that native speakers use it along with some of the most frequently used idioms that it features in. Furthermore, there are lots of example sentences in contextto show you the typical situations in which we used each application. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get On - The Basics: Key information and the words 'get' and 'on' Get On - Meaning 1: To physically move on to something Get On - Bonus: Get on your knees! Get On - Meaning 2: To have a friendly relationship with someone 🇬🇧 Get On - Bonus: The idiom 'to get on like a house on fire' Get On - Meaning 3: To deal with a situation Get On - Meaning 4: To progress with something Get On - Meaning 5: To succeed in a career Get On - Meaning 6: To grow old Get On - Bonus: Some more idioms featuring 'get on' 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 ON: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Got on / Got on or gotten on Separable? No As you will know, the meanings of phrasal verbs are very different from the meanings of the individual words that make them up, so before we take a look at the meanings of the phrasal verb 'get on', let's first consider the individual words 'get' and 'on'. The verb 'to get' is a great verb in English as it is extremely versatile and can be used many different ways with vastly different meanings. However, this makes it a nightmare for English learners. We won't go into detail about all of the different meanings of 'to get' in this article but I just want to highlight here the meanings that are relevant for the phrasal verb 'get on'. The first of these is 'to move to a particular place or into a specified position' and the other is 'to become', both of which are in frequent use in everyday English. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'on', which is a regular feature in phrasal verb constructions. As a preposition and adverb, its main meaning is 'to be in contact and supported by a surface', although it does have many other meanings and uses. In phrasal verb constructions, it often adds the ideas of continuation and progress. Now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the meanings of 'get on'.... MEANING 1: To physically move on to something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To mount, to board, to climb on Separable No Let's start the meanings of 'get on' with one that you are sure to have heard and used before: 'to physically move on to something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Bus / Train / Bicycle / Boat Horse Floor Roof Bed Fairground ride This is the most literal of the meanings that we will consider in this article and takes the meaning of the verb 'to get' as in 'to move to a particular place' and combines it with the spatial element of being 'on' a specified surface. In other words, a movement on to something. We can use this application of 'get on' with any nouns that describe something that a person, animal or object can be 'on' and therefore there are many potential words that you may hear this being used with. Commonly, you will definitely hear this with forms of public transport, as well as bicycles and horses (not cars though as we travel 'in' them, weirdly). Other examples could be getting on a roof to replace some tiles or getting on a fairground ride like a big wheel or a roller coaster. An odd usage to note is the expression 'to get on the floor', which has two meanings and can either mean to lie down on the floor or to move to a dance floor at a party or in a nightclub in order to dance....English is strange sometimes! The exact opposite of this usage of 'get on' is 'get off' and you can find a link to my page all about that here . When I got on the bus this morning, the driver did not ask me to pay. John got on his bike and went to work. The painter had to get on the table so that he could reach the roof and paint it. Helen was getting on her horse when a big clap of thunder made it jump, causing her to fall off. In case of an earthquake, everybody should get on the floor in a safe place. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Get on your knees! While we are on this subject, I also wanted to make you aware of another slightly different usage of 'get on' that is relevant here. In English, it is quite common to use 'get on' whilst referring to a body part that supports your body weight, in particular when you change your position so that another part of your body supports you on the ground. Typically, if someone tells you to 'get on your feet', they want you to stand up, if you 'get on your back', it means that you lie down with your face looking upwards and if you 'get on your hands and knees', you adopt a crawling position. To start this this yoga class, I want you all to get on your stomachs with your arms stretched out to the sides. I got on my knees and prayed for it to all end peacefully. My dog always gets on his back when he wants his stomach to be rubbed. MEANING 2: To have a friendly relationship with someone Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To get along Separable? No The second meaning of the phrasal verb 'get on' is a predominantly British usage but is nonetheless used very frequently in everyday English in the UK and it means 'to have a friendly relationship with someone. Moreover, it is used to talk about any harmonious and good relationship between two or more people. For this usage, we need to enlist the additional preposition 'with'. If you 'get on with someone', it means that your relationship with them is good, there is friendly communication and there are no arguments or tension. For those of you interested in American English, the synonym phrasal verb 'get along' is used for this instead. I must say though that, apart from these two phrasal verbs, I cannot think of another synonym to express this concept in natural, everyday language, so if you don't use these already, I would strongly recommend doing so. On the flip side, when the relationship between two or more people is not good, we simply say that they 'do not get on (with each other)'. I get on with my husband's parents and I enjoy spending time with them. Roger gets on very well with all of his colleagues and he loves going to work every day to see them. I tend to get on with most people. I wasn't sure if Lucy and Laura would get on but they ended up getting on famously and now they're best friends. Whatever you do, don't sit Lisa and Helen next to each other at the wedding as they don't get on. IDIOM ALERT: 'To get on like a house on fire' In order to intensify this usage of 'get on', adverbs such as 'well' and 'brilliantly' are often used, as well as 'famously'. For two people who have a particularly good relationship with one another, you can use the idiom that they 'get on like a house on fire'. It was so lovely to meet your brother yesterday. We got on like a house on fire! MEANING 3: To deal with a situation Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To find, to do, to deal with, to handle Separable? No Imagine that you have recently moved to a new house and one of your friends telephones you to see if it went ok. If your friend is an English speaker, one of the questions that he or she will probably ask you is " how are you getting on in your new home? ". That is because our next meaning of 'get on' is 'to deal with or to handle a life situation'. Generally, we use this application of 'get on' when we are talking about new changes or new situations in a person's life that are either permanent or will last for a long period of time. For this reason, we tend to use this application with progressive ('ing) tenses. I would also say that this form of 'get on' is often expressed as a question to the person who is experiencing the new situation. It is also perhaps used more when there is an element of success. Another way that this usage of 'get on' is sometimes used is when you want to know how difficult someone is finding something. For example, if a student is reading a complicated scientific book, his or her teacher may ask them, 'how are you getting on with the book?'. How are you getting on in your new job? My son, Jake, is getting on really well at university and is having a great time. Now class, is everyone getting on ok with the preparation for their class presentations next week or do any of you need help? MEANING 4: To progress with something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To progress, to continue, to go on Separable? No This next meaning of the phrasal verb 'get on' is a logical continuation from the last one, which is perfect as this next meaning is 'to progress with something' or 'to continue doing something'. This is often used following a small break or pause. Although the general meaning of this usage is to continue or progress, it does differ slightly from these verbs as 'get on' implies an idea of urgency or determination. For example, if you say that you need "to get on with your work", it implies that you need to start focussing all of your attention on the work so that you can make progress with it and it feels like there is more of an urgency. Likewise, it is very common for teachers and authority figures to tell students or members of staff to 'get on with what they are doing', implying that they need to stop talking and start concentrating on their work. Indeed, this application of 'get on' is used frequently in the imperative form in English to make people work harder or faster. Aside from continuing with something, this usage of 'get on' is also frequently used to mean 'to start doing something', again often carrying the same idea of urgency or hurriedness. Can you two please stop talking and get on with what you are supposed to be doing. I don't mean to be rude but I really need to get on with this work or else I will not finish it in before the deadline. Get on with your work please. There will be plenty of time to talk afterwards! Look how dirty this kitchen is. We'd better get on with the cleaning if we want it to be ready for when Mum and Dad come home. MEANING 5: To succeed in a career Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To succeed, to excel Separable? No When people are ambitious, motivated and have a tendency to get on with their work and not be lazy, they are very likely to get on in their chosen career. The reason for that is because another meaning of 'get on' is 'to succeed' or 'to excel' when talking about a person's career or within a field of employment. This is a bit of a rarer usage, however it is nevertheless very good to know and be able to use. In addition to getting on in a career, you may also hear people say that they 'get on well in life', which is very much the same meaning but rather talks about being successful in life in general e.g. having a good job, a nice house etc...of course this is very generalised and not everybody's idea of success is the same. It is very difficult to get on in this industry if you do not know the right people. If you want to get on in your career, you should accept every opportunity that comes your way. Getting on in life is all about working hard, looking after your health and treating people with respect. MEANING 6: To grow old Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium British or American? Both Potential synonyms To age, to get older Separable? No For those of us who are lucky enough, a fact of life is that we will get old, our hair will go grey, our faces will develop wrinkles, and you know the rest! Now the final usage of the phrasal verb 'get on' in today's article is all about this aging process and means 'to be old' or 'to be getting old'. To clarify here, when I refer to 'old' I mean someone who is past retirement age and who is near the end of their life, with all of the associated characteristics. If you refer to someone as 'getting on', you are essentially saying that the person is old or is getting older and is therefore losing the characteristics and good health that we associate with younger people. Often, it is said in an almost euphemistic way to say that a person now needs more care and attention or will not be alive for much longer. This is a very informal and colloquial usage but one that I hear often enough to consider worthy of a place in this article. Often, the expression 'getting on a bit' is used here, with the addition of the words 'a bit' sometimes being applied to soften the idea and make it sound less harsh. On a grammatical note, this is another usage of 'get on' that is always used in the progressive ('ing) form. My Dad is getting on these days and he needs one of us to go to his house every day and make sure he is ok. Wow, how old is he now? He must be getting on a bit! John's Dad was getting on so they decided that he should go into an old person's home. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Some more idioms featuring 'get on' The phrasal verb 'get on' is found in a large number of different idiomatic expressions and so before I finish this post, I want to make you aware of some really common ones that you are likely to come across in English... It's getting on - This little four-word idiom is used to mean that it is getting late, normally with the idea that you will need to leave soon. It's getting on, we'd better leave now before it gets dark outside. To get on someone's nerves - This is a super common idiom that German speakers will certainly already be familiar with and it means to annoy or to irritate someone. This can either be a person or a thing and is usually caused by something that happens over a period of time or is repeated. An alternative to this is 'to get on someone's wick'. This song really gets on my nerves. Every radio station that I listen to plays it all the time. To get on your high horse - This idiom means to express an opinion about something in an arrogant way, with the idea that you know better than other people - you are definitely right and everybody else is wrong. It comes from medieval times when rich and powerful people rode on large horses to emphasise how much bigger and more important they were than the common, poorer people. The politician got on his high horse and made his opinion on the matter very clear. To get on your soapbox - This is a little similar to the previous 'high horse' idiom as if you get on your soapbox, you also express your opinion about a given subject. However when you get on your soapbox, you tend to give your opinion forcefully and often in great detail, i.e. you spend a long time expressing your opinion on a subject. Sorry to get on my soapbox but I feel very strongly about this. To get on top of someone - Lastly, if something gets on top of someone, it becomes too much for them to deal with. This is often used when talking about emotions, feelings and stress. It all just got on top of me at the funeral and I started crying uncontrollably. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get on'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get 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 'take 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. The English phrasal verb 'take up' is one that every English learner needs to have in their active vocabulary as it has a large number of different meanings and uses. In this post, I will teach you about 10 different ways that it is used in the English language by native speakers, with lots of examples and even an idiom included too. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Take Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'take' and 'up' Take Up - Meaning 1: Literal Take Up - Meaning 2: To start a hobby or regular activity Take Up - Meaning 3: To start a job Take Up - Meaning 4: To accept an offer or challenge Take Up - Meaning 5: To occupy space or time Take Up - Meaning 6: To discuss something with a manager or authority Take Up - Meaning 7: To continue after a pause Take Up - Bonus: The idiom 'to take up where you left off' Take Up - Meaning 8: To adopt a position Take Up - Meaning 9: To shorten a garment Take Up - Meaning 10: To remove a ground covering 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 UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 10 Past tense forms Took up / Taken up Separable? Sometimes Let's start by considering the meanings of the individual words 'take' and 'up', as this may give us some valuable insight into the meanings of the phrasal verb 'take up'. The verb 'to take' is one of the 10 most common verbs in the English language and so you should be very familiar with it already. One of the main meanings of the verb 'to take' is 'to move something from one place to another place and it should be noted here that the destination of the thing is usually a different location from where the speaker is at the time of speaking. In other words, we use 'take' for movement of something away from the speaker. This is often confused with the verb 'to bring' by English learners, which is where something is moved towards where the speaker is or will be. Additionally, some other key meanings of the verb 'to take' include 'to use your hands to remove something from a place', 'to accept something' and to talk about the time required in order to do something. The prepositional particle 'up' is a much used feature in phrasal verb constructions and can often give the idea of movement in an upwards direction or an increase of some sort. Aside from this, it can also add the ideas of improving something and making something ready. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's proceed with the meanings of the phrasal verb 'take up'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere. Potential synonyms To bring up Separable? Yes Before we look at the more figurative usages of the phrasal verb 'take up', I first want to talk about its literal meaning as it is used relatively often by native speakers and it is good to be aware of it. In its literal sense, 'take up' is applied to mean 'to move an object from one place to a higher place', such as from the ground floor to a higher floor in a building. Another example of this is with plants, which 'take up' water and nutrients from the ground as a means of food and sustenance. In addition to moving something in an upwards direction, we also commonly use it to mean 'to take something to a place in front of us or to a person directly'. Remember, with all of these uses, the movement is always away from where the speaker is. Your Dad is still in bed. Can you take him up this cup of coffee? I had to collect all of the finished exam papers and take them all up to the teacher. Plants take up all of their nutrients from the soil. MEANING 2: To start a hobby or regular activity Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To start, to begin Separable? Both So, now let's start with the reason that you are probably here, i.e. the idiomatic, non-sensical and confusing meanings of the phrasal verb 'take up'.... Nouns commonly used with this application.... Hobby Pursuit Activity Language The first one that we will look at is 'to start doing a regular activity, such as a hobby or pursuit'. This could be anything from learning a language, rock climbing and fishing to smoking cigarettes. Regardless of the type of activity, 'take up' can be used to signify the beginning of something repeated or consistent in a person's life, or even a habit. 'Take up' is not only used for completely new hobbies and activities in a person's life, as it can also be used when somebody starts doing something again, after previously stopping. For this, we just need the additional adverb ' again '. Aside from hobbies and activities, this usage of 'take up' can also be used to talk about embarking on a new career in a particular field or industry, often when it is a very different one to the one the person currently has. On a grammatical level, this usage of the phrasal verb 'take up' is separable, however it is heard more commonly in its inseparable form. When the activity that the person starts is stated as a verb, it should always be in the gerund ('ing / progressive) form. John has recently taken up cycling, so he hasn't been at home at weekends for the past few weeks as he's been going out on his bike. You need something to help reduce your stress. Why don't you take up a new hobby? Helen's New Year's resolution for this year is to take up outdoor swimming. I took up smoking when I was 15 years old and I gave up in my early twenties but I took it up again a few years later. How can I take up a career as a nurse? Roger has moved to America in order to take up a career in the tech industry. MEANING 3: To start a job Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To start, to begin Separable Yes In the last section, we talked about how 'take up' can be used to mean 'starting a career in a new industry or field', however you should know that it can also mean 'to start a job'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Job Role Position For this usage, it is not necessarily a job within a different sector or field, but rather just a new job that you start working at, so this could be delivering newspapers, working in a supermarket, starting a new teaching role or even a cabinet role in government...you get the idea I'm sure. This application is similar in meaning to the phrasal verb 'take on' (link here ) . You are likely to hear this usage of 'take up' with such nouns as 'job', 'role', 'position' and 'post'. I am very pleased to announce that Lisa has taken up the role of office supervisor, effective from today. Tim's personality changed as soon as he took up the Director's position in the company. After moving to the USA to work in the tech industry, Roger took up a job as an Analytics Manager in a big multinational firm. MEANING 4: To accept an offer or challenge Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common British or American? Both Potential synonyms To accept Separable? Sometimes I want to remain with the idea of a new job role for a little while longer as it is very much linked to this next application of 'take up'. When someone takes up a new position of employment, they must first be offered a job role and must then accept it, which is exactly what the fourth meaning of 'take up' is: 'to accept an offer or challenge'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Offer Challenge Invitation We can use 'take up' to mean 'to accept something that is offered to us. Whilst theoretically we could accept any offer that we receive with 'take up', it tends to be used more for offers of a substantial nature, which are usually offers of help or assistance with something. We don't tend to use it for small offers such as offering salt and pepper at dinner or an offer to make someone a drink as this might sound a bit unnatural and strange. Photo: Pexels For this application of the phrasal verb 'take up', we can say that we 'take up' an offer, however there is also a particular word order that you should be aware of when we want to include the offerer and this requires the additional preposition ' on '... 'To take someone up on an offer' If you take someone up on an offer, it is another way of saying that you accept his or her offer. This construction is very commonplace in everyday spoken English and if you can use it, it will give you lots of native speaker points 💯 Moreover, in addition to an offer or proposal, 'take up' is also commonly used when accepting a challenge from someone. John has taken up my offer to come and stay with me. He is coming here next month. Does that offer to help me paint my house still stand? I'd like to take you up on it if it does! I didn't expect her to take me up on my proposal but she has! After careful consideration, Diane decided to take Ross up on his challenge. MEANING 5: To occupy space or time Photo: Pexel CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To occupy Separable? Yes Let's now move away from from the idea of accepting jobs and offers and instead think more about time and space. This is not time and space in the Einstein and physics sense, but rather the hours and minutes of our daily lives and the physical space of the world in which we live. Now, where does the phrasal verb 'take up' fit with these concepts? Nouns commonly used with this application.... Space Time Room Firstly, let's consider 'space', or more specifically 'taking up space'. When something 'takes up space', it occupies or it fills a specific area. This is often used in a slightly negative way when something is very large and does not leave as much room as somebody wants, or alternatively doesn't leave enough room for much else. Secondly, let's consider 'taking up time'. When something takes up a person's time, it means that the person in question spends a lot of time doing one thing and therefore does not have much time for other things. It is also common to hear a native speaker say that something 'took up their day or morning etc., meaning that he or she spent the entire of the specified time period doing that one thing only. As with 'space', this can often be said with an aspect of negativity or irritation. Grammatically, this application of 'take up' is separable but the majority of the time we do not tend to use it in a separable way. I really want to sort out my attic. There are so many boxes up there just taking up space. I always have to ask my husband to move over in bed as he always takes up all the space and I find it difficult to sleep! There are a lot of unused programmes on Laura's computer's hard drive, which take up a lot of space. This job has taken up my entire morning! I thought it would only take an hour and I have still not finished. Working three jobs takes up a lot of my time, so I don't often get a chance to watch much TV. MEANING 6: To discuss something with a manager or authority Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To discuss further, to escalate Separable? Yes Have you ever been in a situation where you have received poor service in a restaurant and have asked to speak to the manager? If you have, then this next usage of 'take up' could have been very useful as it means exactly that. Well, not specifically speaking to a manager in a restaurant, but If you 'take something up with someone', it means that you discuss a subject or a matter that you are not happy about with any manager or authority figure, in order to resolve it. This is often after you have already spoken about it to at least one other person but you need to speak to a person higher up in the hierarchy in order to find a resolution. Aside from in restaurants, cafés and bars, this application of 'take up' is also used in settings as diverse as hotels, within businesses, and committees, officials and ombudsmen of industries and authorities within a country. The thing that they all have in common is that they all have the power to resolve an issue or problem. On a grammatical note, you may have noticed from the example given above that this application requires the additional preposition ' with ' to specify the higher power with whom you need to speak. Additionally, this usage is separable and is generally always separated, normally with either the word 'it' or 'this' inserted between 'take' and 'up'. I'm sorry but I can't help you with this. You will need to take it up with the head of department who can assist you further. Luke is really annoyed with the situation and has vowed to take it up with the authorities. I'd like to take this up with the manager, please. MEANING 7: To continue after a pause Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To continue Separable? Yes This next usage of 'take up' is slightly rarer than the others so far in terms of usage, however it can still be heard in spoken English and means 'to continue something after a pause or an interruption'. Typically, this is used for conversations and stories when the person speaking has been interrupted and the speaker then must then 'take up', what they were saying and continue. This is especially true if a different person continues what was being said following the disruption. Along with spoken stories and conversations, it is also possible, but rarer, to use this application of 'take up' for jobs and tasks, especially if a different person continues the action. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to take up from where you left off' This usage of the phrasal verb 'take up' has given rise to the idiom "to take up (from) where you left off", which means to continue from the place or point that something was stopped. An alternative form "pick up where we left off" also exists and is perhaps more commonly used than the 'take up' version. Lisa went quiet and the story was taken up by Helen. John's manager no longer wanted to finish the project, so John decided to take up the task himself. Ok ,shall we just take up where we left off? MEANING 8: To adopt a position Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To assume, to get into position Separable? No Well done if you have managed to make it this far! We are nearly finished with the different usages of 'take up' and we only have a couple of shorter applications remaining 😀 The next meaning of 'take up' is 'get into a position' or 'to adopt a position'. Normally, this is a planned position or place that someone has been instructed to go to in order to be ready for something. Typically, you may come across this when talking about military personnel, sports players or actors on a stage, all of whom are given positions that they need to be in, or 'take up', ready to start their work. All of the actors took up position on the stage just before the curtain came down and the performance began. Two soldiers took up their posts outside of the parliament building and were poised for action. As the players were taking up their positions for the start of the game, a loud noise could be heard coming from outside the stadium. MEANING 9: To shorten a garment Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To shorten, to hem Separable? Yes If any of you have read my post about the phrasal verb 'let down' (link here ), you may well remember that one of its meanings is 'to make an item of clothing longer'. Well, this meaning of 'take up' is the exact opposite meaning to that and means 'to make an item of clothing shorter'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Trousers / pants Skirt Garment Jeans Typically, this is used for garments for the lower half of the body that can be too long, such as trousers (pants) or skirts, however it can also be used for curtains and other items consisting of large pieces of material. Taking up clothes is normally done by folding the bottom of the garment upwards and sewing it, thus making it permanently shorter. These trousers are too long, so my Grandmother is going to take them up for me. Taking up skirts is a very simple job for a seamstress to do. MEANING 10: To remove a ground covering Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove Separable? Yes This final meaning is one for anybody who is interested in DIY, construction or gardening as it can be used in any of these areas. It is a rarer meaning that you will only ever hear when these topics are being discussed and it means 'to remove a ground covering such as a floor, lawn or carpet'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Floor Lawn Pavement / sidewalk Carpet Slab Cover If you 'take up' a floor, you remove the top layer of it such as the tiles, the wooden planks or the concrete, exposing the ground beneath. Likewise, if you 'take up' a lawn, you remove the grassy surface in a garden and if you 'take up' a pavement (sidewalk in America), you remove the top layer that people normally walk on. 'Taking up' ground coverings is usually only ever done as part of larger work or in order to access the space beneath the covering such as pipes or cables and so this is quite a rare usage that you may never come across. In order to gain access to the blocked sewer pipe, we had to take up the kitchen floor as it was above the access point. We decided to take up the lawn in our garden and replace it with a patio. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'take 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 'take 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 'fill in' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. 'Fill in' is an English phrasal verb with a variety of meanings that all, in some way, mean to fill a kind of empty space, whether that be a physical hole or a gap in a person's knowledge of a situation. In this post, I will look at all of these meanings and how they are used in English by native speakers, with plenty of examples to aid your understanding. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Fill In - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'fill' and 'in' Fill In - Meaning 1: To complete a form 🇬🇧 Fill In - Bonus: Fill in or fill out? Fill In - Meaning 2: To fill a hole or gap Fill In - Meaning 3: To fill empty spaces with colour Fill In - Meaning 4: To give someone missing information Fill In - Meaning 5: To be a substitute for someone Fill In - Meaning 6: To occupy your spare time 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 FILL IN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Filled in / Filled in Separable? Yes In order to better understand the meanings of the phrasal verb 'fill in', let's first take a look at the meanings of the individual words 'fill' and 'in'. The verb 'to fill' is a fairly common verb in English, which carries a general meaning of causing something that is empty, or partially empty, to become full. In addition to this, the verb 'to fill' is used a lot in different phrasal verb constructions such as 'fill out', 'fill up' and 'fill in'. Unlike many other English verbs, 'to fill' does not have multiple, diverse meanings and most of the time the idea it conveys is 'to make something full', The prepositional particle 'in' is a common feature in phrasal verbs and has a general meaning of being in an internal space when used as a preposition and movement towards an internal space when used as an adverb. This adverbial usage of motion towards an internal space is often transferred into phrasal verb constructions and meanings. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the meanings of 'fill in'... MEANING 1: To complete a form Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To fill out, to complete Separable? Yes If you have ever gone to an English speaking country for a period of time, it is likely that you will have completed a document or a form with your information. Furthermore, if you were coming to the UK, it is likely that you have may have been asked to 'fill in' this document. That is because 'to fill in' means to complete a form or document by giving the requested information in the necessary gaps. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Form Document Questionnaire Survey Section The idea of this first usage can be linked directly back to the meaning of 'to fill' as it literally means to make the gaps (or empty spaces) on the form or document full by writing 'in' the details. Fill in or fill out? Confusingly, in English the phrasal verb 'fill out' also means the exact same thing and is interchangeable with the phrasal verb 'fill in'. Whilst there is no real difference in the meanings between these two, you should know that 'fill out' is the version that is favoured in American English and 'fill in' is more of a British usage. With that being said however, 'fill out' sounds perfectly natural to my ears as a native speaker of British English and it is also used here all the time. As you can imagine, 'fill in' is commonly used with such nouns as 'form', 'document', 'application' and 'section', i.e. words for documents that require informational input. Grammatically, it is separable and the direct object (e.g. form or document) can happily go in the middle of the phrasal verb or after it with no discernible change of meaning. Before you reach British passport control in the airport, you need to fill this form in. If you haven't filled in the survey on our website yet, please go online before your next appointment and do so. John realised that he had filled in all of the wrong sections of his tax return form and had to start it again. Fill in this job application and send it to the company by Monday. MEANING 2: To fill a hole or gap Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fill Separable? Yes In the last section, we looked at how 'fill in' is used to talk about completing the blank spaces on a form or document and for this second meaning we are keeping to the same idea, however this time we need to substitute the idea of blank spaces on paper with empty physical spaces such as holes, cracks and gaps. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Hole Gap Crack For this usage of the phrasal verb 'fill in', we are therefore talking about moving material into a physical space to make it full or complete, often with the objective of having a level surface at the end of it. Typical examples of this would be filling in a hole in the ground with soil to make it even and filling in cracks in a wall with plaster to make it smooth. As you can probably guess, this usage of 'fill in' is used a lot when talking about DIY, building and physical work. Like the previous usage, this meaning of 'fill in' is separable and the direct object (hole, gap etc.) can be placed between or after the phrasal verb. I would say however that native speakers naturally tend to place the object afterwards more often. We removed a pond from our garden and filled in the hole with soil and compost. After the earthquake there was a huge crack in my wall, which I have temporarily filled in with plaster whilst I decide what to do about it. What is the best way to fill in drill holes in sheet metal? MEANING 3: To fill empty spaces with colour Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fill Separable? Yes This next usage of 'fill in' is definitely one that you may have come across if you are a painter or artist of some sort. Again, for this third usage of 'fill in' we are staying with the idea of filling an empty space and this time it is not with written words or physical material but with c o l o u r . With this meaning, if you have a drawing, painting or design and you fill an uncoloured part of it with colour, you 'fill it in', so that the part in question is no longer the same colour as the canvas or paper, but rather the colour that the artist has chosen as part of the artwork. Outside of the artistic world, this can also be used for home decorating or, in fact, for anything where you add a colour to hitherto blank space. Interestingly, this is also common for tattoos and make-up, especially with lipstick for lips when you add lip liner around the edge of the lips and then fill in the rest with lipstick...I'm no expert in putting on make-up but I believe that this is the procedure. Either way, 'fill in' is definitely used with lipstick! In order to draw the ladybird's wings, I drew black spots on them and filled the rest in with red. Helen applied the lip liner around the outside of lips and then filled them in with lipstick. For your tattoo, you will need to have two separate appointments with the tattoo artist; the first to draw the outline of the picture and the second to fill it in with colour. MEANING 4: To give someone missing information Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To inform Separable? Yes If you have ever been in a situation where you do not have all of the information about it, you will probably need someone to 'fill you in'. This means that they give you the information that you are missing, so that you are fully informed about the situation at hand. With this fourth meaning of 'fill in', we are still talking about making something full or complete but this time it is people, or more specifically, the gaps in people's knowledge about a specific matter. It is normally always used in dynamic situations where things change and develop, whether this be social or professional, and if a person is not present when these developments occur, they will not be aware of the latest information, for example when you go on holiday and take time off work. They will therefore have gaps in their knowledge and these will then need to be 'filled in'. The additional preposition ' on ' is often also required with this usage to specify the situation or circumstance in question (see the examples below). The preposition ' about ' can also be used instead of ' on ' but this is used slightly less. Grammatically, this usage is separable and this is how I believe it is used the majority of the time by native speakers. John has just filled me in on everything that has happened since I went away on holiday. I can't believe it! Has anyone told you the latest information or do you need me to fill you in? Let's go out for a coffee and I can fill you in on the latest developments with my family. Somebody needs to fill the manager in about what happened in the meeting yesterday when he was at the conference. MEANING 5: To be a substitute for someone Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To cover, to be a substitute for Separable? No I am sure that you can all remember back to your school days when your normal teacher was sick or was not able to work and another temporary teacher was appointed to teach your class instead. You can say that this temporary teacher was 'filling in' for your regular teacher whilst he or she was absent and this is exactly the meaning of this next usage of the phrasal verb 'fill in'. In a professional sense, if you 'fill in' for another person, it means that you do their job on a temporary basis as they are not able to do it for some reason. As with the example above, this is often used with substitute teachers but it can also be used for any type of job role where one person does another person's work for a short-term period. Here, we have the recurrent idea of filling a gap, which this time is a job role, albeit ad interim . Grammatically, this usage of 'fill in' requires the additional preposition ' for ' to specify the person or colleague who will temporarily be absent and replaced. Also, unlike the previous usages of 'fill in' that we have looked at, this one is not separable. Roger is going on vacation next week, so I have to fill in for him and teach his senior classes. Does anyone want to volunteer to fill in for Lisa whilst she is out of the office next week? Martin is unfortunately off sick today, however Laura is filling in for him, so please contact her and she will assist you in his absence. MEANING 6: To occupy your spare time Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pass time Separable? No You may have realised by now that every single usage of 'fill in' that we have covered so far contains an idea of filling something that is empty.....and this final usage is no different! 😜 This last meaning of 'fill in' is 'to occupy your spare time by doing something unimportant or trivial'. Moreover, this is normally whilst you are waiting for something else to happen. For example, if you finish work at 5pm and have planned to meet a friend for a drink at 7pm, you will need to do something to occupy yourself for the two hours that you wait and we call this 'filling in' time. As you have probably guessed from the example, the empty thing that requires filling in with this usage is time. My train arrives at 3pm this afternoon and my connecting train doesn't leave until 6pm, so I'll need to find something to do to fill in the time whilst I am waiting. I had nothing to do until the evening, so I filled in the day playing computer games and drinking coffee. 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 'fill in'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'fill in'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'see through' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this post, we are looking at the phrasal verb 'see through', which may seem like quite a straightforward phrasal verb, but in fact it has some interesting uses that you may not be aware of. For each separate application, I will give you a detailed explanation of how to use it and lots of examples to aid your understanding. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) See Through - The Basics: Key information and the words 'see' and 'through' See Through - Meaning 1: Literal See Through - Bonus: 'See-through' as an adjective See Through - Meaning 2: To understand someone's hidden intentions See Through - Meaning 3: To persevere with something and finish it See Through - Meaning 4: To support someone in a difficult time 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 SEE THROUGH: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Saw through / Seen through Separable? Yes Before we start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'see through', let's first consider what the words 'see' and 'through' mean on their own. Our focus verb this week is the verb 'to see', which is a sensory verb, meaning 'to perceive something with your eyes' and I'm sure it will be extremely familiar to most readers. In addition to this sensory meaning, it also has a second meaning in English, which is to understand something after consideration or reflection; possibly as we can see something clearly in our mind once we understand it. The meaning of 'see' that we are interested in for this phrasal verb however, is the first meaning of visual perception. The preposition that is keeping 'see' company in this post is 'through', which is one of those annoying English words with a lot of unnecessary letters (thru is also a less common variant of through and should be limited to informal use only). The main meaning of 'through' is to pass into something on one side of it and out on the other side. In other words, to pass into and out of the interior of something, ending up on the other side of it to the where you started. Ok, so now we have covered the basics, the first meaning should be pretty obvious.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To look through Separable? No After looking at the words 'see' and 'through', it will probably come as no surprise to you that the literal meaning of these words combined is simply 'to see through the middle of something to what is on the other side of it'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Shirt / Top / Dress / Fabric / Material Window Cloud Gap / Crack / Hole This application is used for both materials and substances that are so thin that light pass through them, as well as for surfaces and objects that have physical holes or cracks in them, allowing us to see to the other side. In this sense the modal verb 'can' is normally used to express the possibility of 'seeing through' something. I love this dress but in very bright sunlight you can see through it, so I only wear it on dreary or rainy days. The car accident was caused by the driver not being able to see through the tinted windows. The curtains were so thin that I could easily see through them. Can you see much through the binoculars? This paper is so thin that when you put it on top of another sheet, you can see through it. Native speakers also often add the word 'right' between 'see' and 'through' to emphasise when something can be seen through very easily or clearly. This crack in the wall is getting bigger, you can see right through it and into the garden now! That fish is astonishing! You can see right through it! If we want to insert a direct object into our sentence and talk about who or what we can see on the other side of the transparent surface, we just insert it into the middle of 'see' and 'through', as per the examples below.... I knew that he was coming as I could see him through the window. Now that your clothes are wet we can see your underwear through them! BONUS: See-through as an adjective In addition to the phrasal verb 'see through', we also have the adjective form 'see-through', which is derived from the literal form of this phrasal verb. As you can probably guess, if something is 'see-through', it is transparent or in other words, you can see right through it! This is most commonly used to talk about items of clothing but other nouns that you may hear it with are floor, ceiling and display. MEANING 2: To understand someone's hidden intentions Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To realise, to get the measure of someone Separable? No This second meaning of 'see through' is a slight departure from the literal meaning that we have just looked at, as it does not really involve our eyes at all. The meaning here is 'to understand or realise what a person's hidden intentions are'. Nous commonly used with this application.... Lies Mask Facade Deception Disguise Pretence This meaning is all about deception and pretence. It should only ever be needed if a person is not being genuine or sincere, perhaps because they want to gain something from us or from the relationship. If and when we realise that the person's intentions are not sincere and we understand the true reality of the situation, we can say that we 'see through' them. In addition to seeing through a person, it is also common to use nouns like 'words', disguise', 'pretence', 'lies', 'deception' and 'facade'. The jury immediately saw through the defendant's story in court. I could see through him from the very start. I can't believe that you couldn't!! Lisa saw right through John's clever disguise! Stacey pretended to be nice, but I could see through her fake smile. I saw through John's lies the moment he started making excuses. The boss quickly saw through their plan to manipulate the project deadlines. Kelly thought she could fool me, but I saw through her tricks right away. The teacher saw through her student's excuse for not doing the homework. The suspect tried to act innocent, but the detective easily saw through his act. The audience quickly saw through the politician's empty promises during the debate. MEANING 3: To persevere with something and finish it Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To persevere, to persist, to stick with, to stick something out Separable? Yes In this third meaning we need to change our word order from 'see through something', with the direct object following the verb, to 'see something through', with the direct object now being placed firmly in the middle of the phrasal verb construction. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Project Job / Task Problems / Issues This change of word order and direct object placement gives us a brand new meaning, which is to 'persist or persevere with something until the end'. This is typically used in situations in which you start something that turns out to be more difficult than you originally anticipated and en element of perseverance or persistence is required in order to finish it. Examples of this could be a difficult work project, a romantic relationship that is not going well or a demanding job that you have started. The majority of the time when using 'see something through', the difficult job or situation has already previously been mentioned in the conversation, so we normally only require the pronouns 'it' or 'them'. Also, it is quite common to follow this usage up with the words 'to the end' or 'to completion'. Despite all the challenges, Lucy was determined to see the project through to the end. It won’t be easy, but if we stay focused, we can see this task through . Once I commit to something, I always see it through, no matter how difficult it gets. We need a strong leader who can see this initiative through successfully. I know this is a tough challenge, but let’s see it through together. He had doubts at times, but his passion for the work helped him see it through. My wife and I have been having problems for some time now but we have agreed that we will see them through for the sake of our children. I experienced so many problems when designing my website and I almost gave up but thankfully I persevered and saw it through and now I am a very proud website owner. Lisa has handed in her notice today and will leave at the end of this month but she has promised to see the finance project through to completion before leaving. MEANING 4: To support someone in a difficult time Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To support, to help through, to get through Separable? Yes Our fourth and final meaning of 'see through' is to help and support someone through a difficult period until they are ok again. This is quite similar to the previous meaning that we have just looked at, however rather than seeing something through, in this case the direct object changes from a situation or problem to a person and we see someone through instead. The idea here is that the problem or negative situation is something that will pass with time, however it will be very difficult (or impossible) without other people who support us and help us through to the other side. This support could come in many forms but typically would be giving money, providing emotional support or some other help that we may require until the negative or difficult situation has passed. Alternatively, if we say that something "sees us through", it means that we have enough of it to last for a particular period of time, especially if this period is difficult or challenging in some way. Typically, this could be money, food or something else which we don't want to run out of before we can obtain more of it. I wasn't able to work when I was at university but thankfully my parents paid for my accommodation and saw me through. Hibernating mammals need to store as much fat as possible to see them through the winter. Jenny's best friend saw her through the toughest moments of her life. The charity organisation sees many struggling families through difficult situations. Mel's wife saw him through his illness with unwavering love and care. David's family saw him through his financial struggles with their constant support. 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 'see through'. 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 'see through'. 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 out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. Today we are looking at another phrasal verb with the extremely common verb 'to get', namely 'get out'. It is likely that you are already familiar with this phrasal verb as it is frequently used by native speakers and in this post we will look at the various different meanings that it has in English, as well as the numerous expressions in which it makes an appearance. So without further ado, let's get started.... MEANINGS   (Click to jump to each one) Get Out - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'get' and 'out' Get Out - Meaning 1: To leave an enclosed or internal space Get Out - Bonus: The imperative 'get out!' Get Out - Meaning 2: To remove something Get Out - Bonus: 'Get Out' with reflexive pronouns Get Out - Meaning 3: To become publicly known Get Out - Meaning 4: To say something Get Out - Meaning 5: To go places and enjoy yourself Get Out - Meaning 6: To avoid a job, duty or task Get Out - Meaning 7: To feel the benefit of something Get Out - Bonus: Common idioms featuring 'get 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: Pexels THE BASICS TAKE OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 7 Past tense forms Got Out / Got Out / Gotten Out Separable? Sometimes By way of an introduction to 'get out', let's first examine the words that it consists of and what they mean individually.... As a result of its many different meanings and high frequency of use, the verb 'to get' is one of the verbs that causes English learners the most headaches. You only need to listen to a conversation between native speakers for a couple of minutes to realise just how common it is. Luckily, we can forget about most of the meanings for this post as the relevant one for the phrasal verb 'get out' is 'to reach or arrive at a particular place'. What time will we get to London? Sarah got home late last night. The prepositional particle 'out' also has many meanings in English and can be used to express a large amount of different ideas and concepts. In this post we will focus on just one, namely 'to move from inside something to outside of it'. which leads us nicely to the first meaning of 'get out'.... MEANING 1: To leave an enclosed or internal space Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To leave, to vacate, to exit, to go out Separable? No If you are ever in a situation where an English-speaking person approaches you and tells you to 'get out!', you can be sure that they want you to leave the room or building. This is because perhaps the most common meaning of the phrasal verb 'get out' is this first one, which is 'to leave an enclosed or internal space'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... House / Room / Building Car Way Debt Road In this initial application, 'get out' is more of a literal meaning of the combination of 'get', referring to reaching or arriving at a place, and 'out', in the sense of no longer being inside something. In other words, it means to leave somewhere enclosed and end up outside of it. When used in this way, 'get out' tends either to be used in affirmative sentences with a modal verb, such as 'have to' or 'need to', or with 'let's' when offering a suggestion. I don't think that this building is very safe, let's get out of here. You shouldn't be in this room. You need to get out now! The teacher told me to get out of the classroom. It was too hot in that pub; I had to get out get some fresh air. Moreover, in negative sentences, it is often used to express when we are not able to leave somewhere or have difficulties leaving and is therefore often found in collocation with 'can't' or 'couldn't'. Helen has accidentally locked herself in her bathroom and can't get out. Arthur the cat got in the box and refused to get out of it again! My grandfather finds it difficult to get out of the bath. When I was younger, I was locked in my bedroom and I couldn't get out. Just to make things a bit more complicated, the use of 'get out' is not just limited to places that we are physically inside, but can also be used for any nouns with which we use the preposition 'in' without physically being inside them, such as way, road, trouble or debt. You need to follow these steps if you want to get out of debt. I will get of your way and let you do your work. How are you going to get out of this terrible situation? Please get out of the road. It's not safe to play there. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The imperative 'get out!' Moreover, as you can see from the examples above, 'get out!' is very useful in its imperative form and is therefore used very commonly in certain situations. However, I do think that this imperative form is somewhat negative in nature and can often come across as rude, impolite or even threatening. Nonetheless, sometimes it is necessary to use it, in order to prevent a problem or dangerous situation from happening as no other expression works as well in these situations. Get out of my way! What are you doing in my house? Get out or I will call the police! Get out right now! I don't want to see you here ever again! Get out of my pub! MEANING 2: To remove something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Advanced ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to pull out, to take out Separable? Yes This second meaning of 'get out' is actually very similar to the first meaning and is just a change in perspective from ourselves to something else. In the previous meaning, we talked about how it means to leave or exit an interior space and for this one we are removing something else from an interior space, i.e. an object or thing which we want to move so that it is no longer inside something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Nouns for food and drink Phone Books Plates / Glasses Photos Firstly, on a grammatical note, the main difference between this meaning and the previous one is that it is transitive and therefore needs a direct object, which needs to be placed between 'get' and 'out'. We tend to use this application for two reasons, with the first one being to remove something or someone from an internal space as we do not what it or them to be in there. Again, this usage stretches to cover any nouns for which we use the preposition 'in' and does not only refer to enclosed places or spaces. Can you get the spider out of the bath please? I've dropped my wedding ring down the sink and I can't get it out! The dog fell into the swimming pool and the lifeguard had to jump in and get it out. A wasp landed in my glass of wine and I was not sure how to get it out. Other, less obvious, things that you may want to get out from somewhere are ideas and songs from your head or stains and dirt from clothes and surfaces. Ever since you told me that story, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. This is song is too catchy. I can't get it out of my head!! Despite several washes, I have been able to get these grass stains out of my favourite jeans. Karen scrubbed the wall to get the dirt marks out. Furthermore, we can also apply this usage to people and 'get someone out'. Here, the direct object is a person, in which case it is used to mean either of the following... to help someone who is trapped or stuck in something to escape. to enable someone to escape from somewhere such as prison or captivity. Roger got Helen out of the bathroom by breaking down the locked door. Sarah believes that her husband was wrongly jailed and has been trying to get him out for years. Help, I'm locked in the bathroom. Can someone please come and get me out! The second reason that we use this application is in order to take something out of storage in order to use or consume it. The wine glasses are in that cupboard. Could you get them out for me? Can you get the ice cream out of the freezer please, I really want some. Andrew, would you mind getting the extra chairs out of the cupboard so that our guests can sit down. The cats need to go to the vets later, so I've got the carrier out of the cupboard. Is anyone hungry? I'll get some snacks out if you are. Whenever I visit my parents, they always get the photos of when I was a child out to show to my partner. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Get out with reflexive pronouns It is also possible to use a reflexive pronoun ('myself, yourself, etc.) as the direct object when talking about physically removing ourselves from an interior space or, perhaps more commonly, from a situation that we are in. I don't know how long it is going to take for me to get myself out of debt. Lisa got herself out of a toxic relationship last year and is now much happier. MEANING 3: To become publicly known Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To publish, to spread, to leak Separable? Yes The next meaning of 'get out' that we will consider means 'to become known'. This is not in the sense of becoming famous, but rather when secret or previously private information becomes known to people. Nouns commonly used with this application.... News Story Information Details Secret I think logically this application makes sense as we are talking here about private or censored information, which has 'escaped' and is 'out' of its imaginary confinement, meaning that it is now free and available to everyone. It is very common for this usage of 'get out' to be heard with the word 'word' instead of 'information'. Another way that you might come across this usage is in the construction 'it got out that...'. See the below examples. Somehow the secret about Helen's private party has got out and now everybody wants to come. We need to keep this from the press. If word gets out about this, it will destroy our reputation. Despite our best efforts to keep it a secret, the news of our engagement eventually got out. Once the truth got out, the company had no choice but to issue a public apology. Ryan was furious when he realised that his personal information had got out. Rumours about the celebrity breakup got out before the couple could make an official statement. The politician tried to cover up the scandal, but the word got out to the press. MEANING 4: To say something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To say, to speak, to spit out, to utter Separable? Yes Our fourth meaning of 'get out' is 'to say something' and is actually often used when we are not able to speak. When we use this application, we are referring specifically to language and the words that we use. 'To get words out' is just a lengthy way of saying 'to say'. We tend to use this application when the words that we are trying to say are difficult for some reason, meaning that we struggle to say them or we are not able to say them at all. This could be because you are physically unable to say the words due to a medical condition or it could be through stress or worry that you may offend someone or cause an argument. In spoken English, you are likely to hear this usage in the expressions 'get the words out' or the simpler version 'get it out'. Ben was so shocked by the news that he could barely get any words out. Emma took a deep breath and finally got the words out. I was struggling to get the words out through my tears. It was difficult, but he managed to get out the right words and his Mum hugged him. I knew Steve had something to say, but he just couldn’t seem to get it out. Becky stammered a few times before finally getting it out. Mike tried to explain, but he couldn’t get it out properly. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I just couldn’t get it out. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To get something out of someone If we are ever in a situation where we want someone to give us information that is secret or withheld and the person is unwilling to give it, we can say that ' we are unable to get it out of them '. We only tend to use this expression when the information is not given freely by the person to begin with and so we need to encourage or pressure them to share it with us. The detectives questioned the suspect for six hours about who committed the crime but they were unable to get it out of him. My brother refused to tell me what my parents had got me for my birthday but I got it out of him in the end. MEANING 5: To go to places and enjoy yourself Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To go out Separable? No This next usage of 'get out' means to leave your house in order to go to places and have enjoyable experiences. It is quite similar to the phrasal verb 'go out', meaning to leave your house and / or socialise with people, however whilst we can use 'go out' to talk about specific times e.g. " I go out every Friday night ", we cannot use 'get out' here. The reason being is that this application of 'get out' is normally used to talk in a general way, rather than about specific instances. In other words, we use it to refer to the idea of going out to different places, rather than a specific time when you go to the cinema or to the beach. In terms of usage, this application of 'get out' tends to be used mostly in negative sentences and occasionally in questions. Moreover, from this, we get the common expression " I don't get out much ", which is often used in a humorous way when someone does something embarrassing or awkward in a social situation and they want to be self deprecating. Moreover, it is also quite common to add the additional words 'and about', giving us ' to get out and about' , which gives the added implication that the person moves around from place to place. Ever since I've had a baby, I've not got out much. You need to stop playing computer games and get out and about a bit more! After being stuck inside all week, I finally got out for a walk. Beth doesn’t get out much because of her busy work schedule. I need to get out of the house and clear my head. We decided to get out and explore the city over the weekend. It’s important to get out and about and meet new people. Now that the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, everyone is eager to get out again. If it's nice, I might get out for a walk later. MEANING 6: To avoid doing a job, duty or task Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To avoid, to shirk Separable? No I've purposely left these last two meanings of 'get out' to the end as they both require the additional preposition 'of' to achieve their meaning. Nouns & gerunds commonly used with this application.... Meeting Job / Work Housework / Chore Party Going / Working / Doing The first of these two means 'to avoid doing a job, duty or task that you are supposed to do'. This could be work, a social engagement, an event that you have been invited to or an action that you have to carry out. The idea here is that another person wants (or expects) you to do something, but you don't want to, so therefore you need to find an excuse for not doing it. On a grammatical note, this application of 'get out of' is either followed by a noun or by the a verb in its gerund ('ing) form. I'm so sorry that I can't come to your party tomorrow. I have an important work meeting and I can't get out of it. Is there any way you can get out of going to the the theatre tonight? Peter always finds a way to get out of doing the housework. Natalie pretended to be sick to get out of going to the meeting. I can’t believe you managed to get out of that boring family dinner! Bill tried to get out of paying the bill, but they caught him. Trudie made an excuse to get out of helping with the project. I wish I could get out of working this weekend but there's no way I'll be able to. Richard used a fake emergency to get out of a date that wasn't going very well. MEANING 7: To feel the benefit of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced ​Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To get pleasure from, to take pleasure in, to delight in Separable? Always This final usage of 'get out' that we will cover also requires the additional preposition 'of' and means to feel the benefit of doing something'. In other words, to obtain something good or positive as a result of performing an action. Another way that we could say this is 'to get something out of something'. Most frequently, this refers to a good feeling, burst of energy or pleasure that we get after performing an action. Some people, including me, get this from doing exercise, while others may get a lot out of giving presentations at work or helping to look after sick people. I don’t think Andrew got much out of the book because he wasn’t really paying attention while reading it. I still do yoga every day because I get a lot out of it. I quit my part time job as I stopped enjoying and apart from the extra money, I wasn't getting much out of it. This pleasurable sensation is sometimes called a 'buzz' or a 'kick', which gives us the common expressions 'to get a kick out of something' and 'to get a buzz out of something, which both mean 'to get a good feeling as a consequence of doing something'. My boss is so rude and horrible to all of us. I swear he gets a buzz out of it. I get a kick out of teaching English and watching their skills improve. My mum volunteers with a charity for elderly people and she really gets a kick out of helping them. In addition to positive feelings, this application of 'get out' is also used to talk about benefits and positive things that we get after as a result of doing something. These can range from knowledge and skills to confidence and peace of mind and I sincerely hope that you English learners get a lot out of my posts! Amy really got a lot out of that leadership seminar; it really boosted her confidence and skills. You’ll get more out of the course if you actively participate in discussions. I always get a sense of peace out of meditation—it helps me relax. They got so much out of their trip to Japan, both culturally and personally. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common idioms featuring 'get out' Before we wrap up this blog post, there are a few very common expressions with 'get out' that I want to cover..... To get something out of the way - We use this expression when we have to do something unpleasant, boring or stressful in the future and we want it to be over, so that we can stop worrying about it. It could also be used in situations when we are looking forward to something and we want the time to pass quickly between now and then. Examples of this could be when you have a work meeting planned, which you are worried about and you want it to be over so that you can relax. Another would be that you are going on holiday next week, so you just want this week at work to pass quickly. I just need to get today out of the way and then I can go on vacation! Sandra can't wait to get her Dad's funeral out of the way, so she can begin to move on. To get out of hand - If a situation gets out of hand, it means that it has become difficult to control or it has become uncontrollable. The party was going well until a few people got too drunk and things started to get out of hand. A get-out clause - This is something that is often written into official agreements and contracts with the purpose of allowing someone to get out of doing something if a certain situation occurs. This is often used in business English but has also found its way into colloquial everyday English too. Is there a get-out clause in this contract? Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'set 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. 'Set off' is a common English phrasal verb that is used by people in many different areas of modern life, ranging from holidaymakers to accountants and even fashion designers. In this post, I will take you through all of its different applications in English and tell you how you should use them, with lots of examples to help your understanding. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Set Off - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'set' and 'off' Set Off - Meaning 1: To begin a journey Set Off - Meaning 2: To activate something Set Off - Meaning 3: To cause someone to react Set Off - Meaning 4: To start a chain of events Set Off - Meaning 5: To improve the appearance of something Set Off - Meaning 6: To balance one thing against another 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 SET OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Set off / Set off Separable? Sometimes Before we delve into the different meanings of 'set off', let's take a moment to consider the individual meanings of the words 'set' and 'off'. It may surprise you to know that the word 'set' is the word with the highest number of meanings in the English language, with a total of 430 different meanings and senses! That is a crazy amount and I highly doubt that most English native speakers know them all and are able to use them. When used as a verb, 'set', unsurprisingly, has a large number of meanings, however the one that is most relevant for the purposes of the phrasal verb 'set off' is 'to cause something to be in a specified condition' e.g. " he set the house on fire ". In this example sentence 'to set' is the causing action and the condition is 'on fire'. The prepositional particle 'off', like most prepositions in English, has a wide variety of different meanings and uses. When used in phrasal verb constructions it can often provide ideas of separation, departure and finishing, among many others. One meaning of 'off' to note here is that when used as an adjective, it can describe someone that has is about to start, or has just started on a journey, for example if you hear " the horses are off ", it means that the horses in a race have just started running. In another example, if someone says ' I'm off to work ", it means that they are about to leave the house to go to work in the next minute. Now that we have covered the basics, let's have a look at the different meanings of 'set off'... MEANING 1: To begin a journey Photo: Wix Media CEFR English Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To set out, to depart, to leave, to head off, to embark Separable? No The first meaning of 'set off' that we will look at is 'to begin a journey', or alternatively 'to depart' or 'to leave'. This usage of 'set off' is a very common in spoken English and is slightly informal in register. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Journey Trip Adventure Voyage For this application of 'set off', we combine the sense of the verb to 'to set', meaning 'to cause something to be in a specified condition, with the adverbial meaning of the particle 'off', meaning 'to be moving away from a place'. Therefore, when we use 'set off' in this way, we are saying that we are going to move away from a place, or in other words depart or leave. This usage is very similar to the phrasal verb 'set out' (link here ) and perhaps slightly more commonly used. Grammatically, this application of 'set off' is inseparable and does not take a direct object. 'Set off' is often followed by additional prepositions 'on' or 'for'; ' on ' is used to specify the type of journey and ' for ' is used to specify the destination. What time are you setting off tomorrow morning? I'm sorry, you've just missed John. He set off for work five minutes ago. When I set off on this hike earlier this morning, it was freezing cold. Look at the time! We'd better set off for the airport soon or we will be late for the flight. MEANING 2: To activate something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common British or American? Both Potential synonyms To trigger, to activate, to detonate Separable? Yes The second meaning of 'set off' is 'to activate' something and is used specifically with certain nouns such as 'bomb' and 'alarm'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Alarm Bomb Detector Sprinkler Gun Firework Like with the previous examples, this application of 'set off' links back to the meaning of the verb 'to set' that is 'to cause something to be in a specified condition' and the specified condition this time is 'activation mode'. In simple terms, 'to set off' is to cause something to activate. As I mentioned above, 'set off' is used with specific nouns, which are all generally devices or equipment that are inoperative for most of the time and need to be activated in some way in order to become operative. These typically include fire alarms, smoke alarms, burglar alarms, metal detectors, bombs and guns, all of which must be triggered or 'set off' in order to fulfil their function. If you have read my post on the similar phrasal verb 'go off' (link here ), you may remember that these are very similar in meaning. It is worth noting however that 'set off' is used when there is some kind of known intervention, often human, and in sentences the person who activates the alarm is the subject, whilst the activated device is the object. On the other hand, we use 'go off' to describe when these devices are activated without human intervention or we do not know what caused the device to be activated. In 'go off' clauses therefore the activated device is the subject. Someone set the fire alarm off in our building at 3am this morning, so we all had to get up and wait outside until the fire department had checked everything was ok. Make sure you remove your belt when you go through security at the airport or you will set off the metal detector. The hunter accidentally set off his gun whilst he was cleaning it, but luckily the bullet did not hit anything. MEANING 3: To cause someone to react Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To trigger Separable? Yes The third meaning of 'set off' is to cause someone to react in a certain manner, which is usually emotional in nature and lasts for a period of time. This meaning is actually very similar to the previous meaning that we have just looked at but rather than a device, the thing that is being activated is a person's emotion or reaction. This application is most commonly used with crying, laughter or making someone angry. For example, if you watch a sad movie that makes you cry, you can say that it '"sets you off crying". Alternatively, if someone makes you laugh uncontrollably, you can say that they "set you off laughing". As you can see from these examples, the gerund ('ing) form of the verb is normally used after 'set off', but this is not always necessary if the action is already clear from the context or situation. In addition to laughing and crying, 'set off' in this sense can be used to describe a human action that is activated or triggered and continues for a period of time such as coughing, singing, sneezing or talking. Grammatically, this application of 'set off' is separable. As this always refers to the actions or emotions of a person, we tend to mostly use this with indirect personal pronouns (me, him, her etc.) and these must always be placed between 'set' and 'off'. Helen watches this movie all the time even though she knows that it will set her off crying at the end. All of the smoke in the bar set me off coughing and I had to leave. Don't set me off again! I've only just stopped laughing from last time. Why did you have to bring that subject up?! You've set him off now, he won't stop talking about this for ages. MEANING 4: To start a chain of events Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To spark off, to trigger, to bring about Separable? Yes The fourth meaning of 'set off' is really just another sub-meaning of the ones that we have already covered. As per the previous two meanings, it also means 'to trigger' something and in this case it is an event or, perhaps more commonly, a series of events. This usage is really all about the principle of cause and effect as if something makes an event or a chain of events happen, we can say that it "sets if off". It is likely that you will come across (link here ) this particular application in the news and in current affairs in English. Grammatically, this application of 'set off' is separable, with the triggered event serving as the direct object. I think in terms of usage however, we tend to place the direct object after the phrasal verb more often. When the Prime Minister refused to authorise the new law, it set off a chain of events, which eventually led to his resignation. The decision by the judge to release the murderer set off a large number of riots all over the country. A discovery of a few old coins in the car park set off a series of events that culminated in a buried treasure being found underneath it. MEANING 5: To improve the appearance of something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium British or American? Both Potential synonyms To go with Separable Yes For this fifth meaning of 'set off', we are moving away from the 'triggering' sense of the last few usages as this one means 'to improve or embellish the appearance of something'. In other words, 'to make something look more attractive or beautiful by adding decorative elements to it'. It is worth noting here that this embellishment is normally done by adding some form of contrasting colour or object. When something 'sets something else off', it makes it more attractive or appealing to the eye and can even make the item or colour seem more evident or outstanding. As you can probably imagine, this application of 'set off' is used a large amount in the worlds of interior design, art, fashion and the hair & beauty industry where making something look attractive to people is the prime objective. Although I've written here that this usage of 'set off' is to make something appear more visually attractive, it can also be used with flavour in food, where one ingredient can be added to a dish that has a very different taste and yet complements the taste of the original dish. The artist's decision to add a hint of purple to the picture was a very smart one as it sets the green off wonderfully. That hat really sets off the colour of your hair, you should buy it! The lace around the rim of the hat really sets if off. It's amazing how just a small amount of cinnamon in this apple tart really sets off the flavour of the apples. MEANING 6: To balance one thing against another Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To offset, to make up for Separable? Yes The sixth and final meaning of 'set off' that we will cover in this post is 'to balance one thing against another, often so that the effect of the first thing is reduced or eliminated'. To get an idea of this, you should imagine a weighing scale (like in the gif above), on one side of which is a heavy weight. In order to reduce the effects of this heavy weight (the imbalance), a weight must be added to the other side to either lessen or remove the imbalance. This principle is known as 'setting off one thing against another'. While this of weighing scale is used less and less in the modern world, this application of 'set off' continues to be used in modern life, particularly when talking about money and finance. You may also be familiar with the verb 'offset', which is derived from this application of 'set off' and is probably now more widely used than its phrasal verb synonym. Grammatically, this usage of 'set off' is separable, however it tends to be more frequently used inseparably. The additional preposition against is usually used. Any future debts will be set off against the profits of the company. If you rent your property out, the money that you spend on maintenance and repairs should be set off against your rental income. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'set 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 'set 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 'look into' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. How well do you know the phrasal verb 'look into'? If this is a completely new one for you, then you are in luck as it is a nice and easy phrasal verb with only two meanings. In this post, I will explain both of these useful meanings for you and provide with lots of example sentences to show you how they are used by native speakers. So, without further ado let's get into it.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Look Into - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'look' and 'into' Look Into - Meaning 1: To look inside something (literal) Look Into - Bonus: What if we add an extra preposition? Look Into - Bonus: Don't confuse 'look into' with 'look in' Look Into - Meaning 2: To investigate Look Into - Bonus: Typical example sentences of 'look into' 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 & share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be most grateful. Thank you! 😊 James Photo: Pexels THE BASICS LOOK INTO: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 2 Past tense forms Looked into / Looked into Separable? No As a starting point for this post, let's take a look at the basics and consider the individual component words 'look' and 'into'. Firstly, we have the super common verb 'to look', which has a number of meanings in English, depending on which prepositional particle it is combined with. For this particular phrasal verb, we mean in the sense of directing our eyes in a direction in order to see something. Why are you looking at me like that? John looks around the room. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'into', which I know from my experience with English learners is not the easiest preposition to understand. All you need to remember with 'into' is that is describes a movement to an end point which is inside  something. This "movement and entry" meaning of 'into' is often also conveyed in the phrasal verbs that it features in (go into). Alternatively, it can also be used in phrasal verbs to give the ideas of a change of state (turn into) and collision (crash into), among others. Now that we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of our chosen phrasal verb 'look into'.... MEANING 1 : To look inside something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To look at, to look, to peer into, to stare into Separable? No The first of the two meanings of 'look into' is the literal meaning of the combination of the two words, which is simply 'to look inside something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... House Room Window Eyes Hole To clarify, when we use 'look into' literally, it means to look with our eyes towards the interior or inside of something. The speaker is normally (but not always) on the outside or exterior. As such, it is possible to use it with all nouns for things that have a physical inside space, like a house, a hole or a box. Interestingly, we often use it with the noun 'window' despite the fact that a window is just glass and does not have an interior space. What we in fact mean when we say this is that we are looking into the building or room behind the glass. A robin was sitting on a tree and looking into my house. The curious cat looked into the box as he knew a mouse was hiding inside it. Ashley looked into the cave but couldn’t see anything in the darkness. The child looked into the aquarium and watched the fish swimming around. I looked into the room and saw that nobody was there. The police looked into the bag and found it was empty. There are also certain nouns in English with which we often use the particle 'in' but which do not have a physical interior space such as light, darkness and future. You should know that we commonly also use this literal application of 'look into' to refer to these nouns too. When I looked into her eyes, I knew she was telling the truth. Looking into the future, the outlook for treatment of the disease is very good. As I looked into the darkness, I thought I could see a pair of eyes looking at me. WHAT ABOUT IF WE ADD AN EXTRA PREPOSITION? It is common to combine 'to look into' with an additional preposition such as down, up or back, in order to add extra spatial information to what you are saying. The additional particle needs to go between look and into, e.g. 'to look up into' or 'to look down into'. Photo: Pexels Photo: Pexels The cat is looking down into the drain. She looked up into the night sky and was amazed by the amount of stars that she could see. The scientist was looking down into the volcano. I stood on my doorstep and looked back into my house one more time. DON'T CONFUSE 'LOOK INTO' WITH 'LOOK IN' Due to their similarity and closeness in meaning it can be very easy to confuse these two phrasal verbs. In some situations this is not a problem because ' look in' can mean the same as 'look into' but ' look in' is used more commonly by native speakers to say that they are searching for something in a place or inside an interior space e.g. in a bag or a in a room. LOOK IN: I can't find my keys! I've looked in my bag and in my room and they are definitely not there! In the above example, it would be incorrect to say "I've looked into my bag and my room " because this would only mean that you looked with your eyes and but did not search inside the room for the keys. In short, 'look into' is for looking with your eyes, whilst 'look in' is often used for searching. MEANING 2: To investigate Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potentia, synonyms To investigate, to scrutinise, to explore Separable? No So now we come to the second and most common meaning of 'to look into ' , which means 'to investigate or to examine information about a particular situation or problem in order to establish what caused it or what needs to be done to resolve it'. Nouns commonly used with this application: Matter Issue Claim Complaint Possibility Situation This application is very used all the time in business English when a problem has occurred and the employees in the company want to understand what happened and why. Furthermore, it is also something that you may hear the police or other authority figures say when investigating an alleged crime and they want to learn as much information as possible as they can about it. We promised the unhappy customer that we would look into the issue that they raised. The school is looking into reports of bullying. The team of top scientists has been looking into the effects of climate change on biodiversity in the region and will publish their findings next week. The IT team looked into the system crash to find out what caused it. Victoria promised to look into the matter and take appropriate action. The police are looking into the robbery that happened at the palace last night. Additionally, this application of 'look into' can simply just be used to talk about researching options for things or learning about a subject before making a decision. For example, if you want to go on holiday to Australia, you may look into different types of accommodation and flights. Alternatively, if a business wants to replace part of their IT infrastructure, they will probably look into different options before making a decision on the most suitable one. They're looking into new ways to reduce energy consumption. We need to look into our options before making a final decision. In terms of formality, I would say that 'look into' is less formal than ' investigate' , however 'look into' is frequently used in business English for things such as establishing what has caused a particular issue to arise. ' Investigate' tends to be used by the police when or in large scale formal investigations, however it is normally possibly to use these words interchangeably without causing any problems. Photo: Pexels BONUS: More example sentences of 'look into' 'LOOK INTO' FOR BUSINESS USE: I don't have an answer right now. Can I look into it and come back to you? The [noun] is being looked into. The company is looking into the possibility of [verb + ing]....... I need you to urgently look into the matter and give me your feedback. 'LOOK INTO' FOR PERSONAL USE: When I looked into his eyes, I knew he...... When I looked into the mirror*, I..... As his mother looked into the room, she..... The police are looking into the matter. After looking into it, we decided..... *With a mirror, it is also possible and common to say "look in a mirror". Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on it and reading it. I hope that you found it useful and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'look into'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

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