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

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn' 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 'turn down' is a commonly used phrasal verb that has several idiomatic meanings used in everyday English. In addition, there are also some specific situations in which we can use it. We will look at all of them in turn over the course of this post, so let's not put it off any longer and let's get started.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'turn down' mean? The phrasal verb 'turn down' has four main meanings in English: To reduce the intensity of something To refuse or reject To decrease To fold or face downward TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Turn Down - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'turn' and 'down' Turn Down - Meaning 1: To reduce the intensity of something Turn Down - Meaning 2: To refuse or reject Turn Down - Bonus: To get turned down Turn Down - Meaning 3: To decrease Turn Down - Bonus: The noun 'downturn' Turn Down - Meaning 4: To fold or face downward Turn Down - Bonus: To turn down a road Turn Down - Bonus: Have you every had turndown service in a hotel? 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 DOWN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Turned down / Turned down Separable? Yes Although I am sure that you are already familiar with the phrasal verb 'turn down', it is always a good idea to look at the individual words as a starting point, as these can often help us understand some of the idiomatic meanings of phrasal verbs. Firstly, we have the verb 'to turn'. This is a verb with a few different meanings, including to move in a circular path, to change direction or to change and become something else. I think that the overarching (main) idea of the verb 'to turn' though is a change of position or state. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'down', which can be used as an adverb and a preposition and broadly means be in, or to move towards, a lower position or place ⬇️ (from a higher one). So, now that we are familiar with the words, let's check out the different meanings that we have in English when we combine these two words to get the phrasal verb 'turn down'.... MEANING 1: To reduce the intensity of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reduce, to lower, to decrease Separable? Yes Our first meaning of the phrasal verb 'turn down' is to reduce the intensity of the output of an item of equipment, such as a television, a heating system or a radio. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Volume Heat Music Television Lights When we turn something down, we ultimately want the amount of energy produced by the equipment to be lower, for example because a television is too loud, an oven is too hot or a light is too bright. As you may have already worked out, this meaning of 'turn down' originated from the action of adjusting switches or controls by turning them from a higher setting or number to a lower one. 'Turn down' is a separable phrasal verb and is used very commonly in separable form by native speakers, often with the pronoun 'it' when we have already mentioned the equipment. Note that there is no change in meaning between the separable and inseparable form. Your music is so loud! Can you turn it down please? It was like a sauna in here earlier, so I turned the heating down. Bring the liquid to the boil, then slightly turn down the heat before adding the pasta. John turned down the brightness on his phone to save battery. MEANING 2: To refuse or reject something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To refuse, to reject, to decline Separable? Yes Another extremely common meaning of 'turn down' is one that you are likely to come across in everyday English and means to refuse, reject or not accept something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Invitation / Invite Application Offer Job Broadly speaking, there are two different ways in which 'turn down' can be used here. The first is when you actively decide to refuse something such as an invitation or an offer. An example of this could be that you are offered a job, however it is in another city and you are not prepared to move house, so you decide to not accept the job, or in other words, you turn it down. Other situations in which this meaning is commonly used would be when you do not accept an invitation to a party, social event or an offer of a place at a university. The second way that 'turn down' is frequently used in English as a way of rejecting something is in the passive sense, i.e. when you apply for something and your application is rejected or turned down. Using the example of a job application again, imagine that you apply for the job of your dreams, however you receive a response from the company advising you that your job application has not been successful. In other words, your application has been turned down. Hopefully you will never be in the above situation, but if you are, it is worth remembering that 'turn down' is quite informal and companies are more likely to say that your "application has not been successful" in their communication to you (as in the above example). Other synonyms that companies may use as an alternative to "turned down", could be "rejected" or "denied". We are more likely to use "turn down" when telling our friends and family about it in a more informal setting. Remember that in the passive form, it is not possible to use 'turned down' separably. Unfortunately I have to turn down the kind invitation to your wedding as I will be on vacation on that date. I turned down the offer of a job promotion as I didn't want the extra stress that it would bring. Our application to build an extension on our house has been turned down by the planning office. Eleanor turned down the job offer because the salary wasn’t high enough. Roger asked Lisa out on a date, but she turned him down. The company turned down our proposal for a business partnership. I regretfully had to turn down the invitation because I was too busy. The bank turned down Nigel's loan application due to bad credit. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To get turned down When using 'turn down' in the passive sense, as mentioned above, it is also very common to use the construction 'to get turned down' instead of the more standard 'to be turned down'. This is common usage among native speakers in spoken English, although I would say that this is perhaps even more informal than 'be turned down'. My army application got turned down because I am not fit enough! What will you do if the application gets turned down? MEANING 3: To decrease Photo: Freepik CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​to decline, to decrease Separable? No A much rarer meaning of 'turn down' is used specifically to mean a decline or a decrease in the rate of something. This is most frequently used to talk about the stock market, but can also be used to talk about birth and death rates, rates of diseases (e.g. Covid-19) or rates of unemployment. Generally speaking, it could be used with anything that can be plotted on a line graph (showing a decline). Please note that this usage of 'turn down' is not separable. Investors will lose money if the market turns down. The stock market turned down sharply in the wake of the disappointing earnings report. Shares of the company turned down following the news of regulatory issues. After several months of growth, the tech sector began to turn down due to economic uncertainty. Investors panicked as the index turned down amid rising inflation concerns. Photo: Pexels THE NOUN 'DOWNTURN' The reason that I wanted to include this rarer usage of 'turn down' on this post is because it also has a corresponding noun, 'downturn', which is used much more commonly in everyday English than its verb counterpart. Like the verb, 'downturn' is commonly used by native speakers to describe declines in activities and rates, especially across the business and economics world. In the year 2020 there was a sharp downturn in the world's major economies as the Covid pandemic struck. MEANING 4: To fold or face downward CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fold, to fold over, to turn over, to face downward Separable? Yes This fourth usage of 'turn down' means to fold something, i.e. to bend something, such as paper or cloth, so that a part of it rests on top of the other. 'Turn down' can be used as a synonym of 'fold' specifically when we are folding the top part of piece of paper in a downward direction, so that it covers a part or all of the top surface. This could be done to hide what is on the paper or to act as a marker. A prime example of this is when people turn down the top corner of a page in a book that they are reading, so that they know which page they last read. This isn't such a common usage, but it is still worth being aware of it. Another way that 'turn down' is used is when you turn something over, such as a piece of paper or a playing card, so that the detail or the information on it is now facing downwards and is not visible to people. This is used a lot in card games. It is also common to use 'turned down' in an adjective form to describe cards that are facing downwards. I hate it when people turn down the page corners of their books! Why can't they use a bookmark?! All of the cards must be turned down at the start of the game. James turned down the pages of the book to mark his place. The waiter turned down the edges of the tablecloth to keep it neat. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To turn down a road An extra way that native speakers use the phrasal verb 'turn down' that you may hear in everyday conversation is when giving directions or talking about a journey. Often when referring to roads and streets, native speakers will use the prepositions 'up' and 'down' to talk about a movement along them (as far as I know, there is no difference between them, it is just something that we do 🤷‍♂️). When talking about turning from one road onto another and also sometimes then driving along it, it is very common to hear native speakers say things like "turn down that road" or "turn down the first road on the left for 100 metres". Photo: Pexels BONUS: Have you ever had turndown service in a hotel? As a final point, I just want to make you aware of one last usage of 'turn down' that you may come across, especially when staying in hotels. Turndown service is where hotel staff enter a guest's room whilst they are out and prepare it for them by making the bed and sometimes even leaving a mint or small chocolate on the guest's pillow. The end result is that the bed is nice and fresh for the guest when they come to sleep in it that evening. 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 down'. 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 down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'give 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. This is a post about the super common phrasal verb 'give up'. I imagine that many of you will already be familiar with this phrasal verb from its links with stopping smoking etc, however there is a lot more to it than that. In this post, I will guide you through its different meanings and provide you with lots of different examples to aid your understanding and learning. So, without further ado, let's make a start. QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'give up' mean? The phrasal verb 'give up' has five main meanings in English: To surrender something To stop doing something To stop trying to do something To abandon hope To surrender to the police TABLE OF CONTENTS (click to jump to each one) Give Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'give' and 'up' Give Up - Meaning 1: To surrender something Give Up - Meaning 2: To stop doing something Give Up - Meaning 3: To stop trying to do something Give Up - Meaning 4: To abandon hope Give Up - Meaning 5: To surrender to the police Give Up - Bonus: To give it up for.... 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 GIVE UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Separable? Yes Past tense forms Gave up / Given up As per usual in each post on Phrasal Verbs Explained, we'll start by looking at the individual words that make up the phrasal verb 'give up'. Firstly, we have the common verb 'to give', which means to freely or willingly offer or provide something to someone. Implicit in the meaning of the verb 'to give' is that the person who gives no longer has something or is without something once the action is complete. This is an idea that will recur in the idiomatic meanings that we will look at in this post, so it is worth remembering this. My fiancé gave me a diamond ring and asked me to marry him. No, I don't have your key. I gave it to you. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'up', which primarily means a movement in the direction away from the ground or towards a higher position. When used in phrasal verbs, 'up' can also carry abstract meanings such as completion, readiness and improvement, among other things. So, now that we have considered the word themselves, let's dive into the figurative meanings of the phrasal verb 'give up'... MEANING 1: To surrender something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere ​Potential synonyms To relinquish, to renounce, to cede, to hand over, to sign away, to part with Separable? Yes Normally on this blog, I like to start by considering the literal meaning of the combination of the two words (if one exists). As you can imagine though, the combination of the meanings of the words 'give' and 'up' does not really provide us with a very concrete meaning that is applicable to our daily lives in the modern world. However, if we take a look into the past, then the literal meaning of 'give up' becomes much clearer.... Let's go back in time to the Middle Ages and consider the life of a typical farmer in Northern Europe. At this time, a strict social hierarchy existed, with three social classes: the upper class or nobles at the top, the middle class with doctors and merchants etc in the middle and the lower class or peasants at the bottom. This latter class is the one in which a farmer would have fallen into. Work on the farms was very tough and farmers worked long hours all year to grow crops until harvest time, when they had to surrender a large proportion of their hard earned produce to the landowners. In other words, they had to GIVE the crops to the higher classes, which in the social hierarchy, is very much in the direction UP and this is potentially how the phrasal verb 'give up' came to mean 'to surrender something'. If we fast forward back to the present day, we no longer use 'give up' to talk about surrendering something to a higher power, but rather when we decide to surrender something in general. In other words, we decide that we do not want to (or cannot) own something anymore and therefore make it available for other people, regardless of their position in the social hierarchy. This meaning is often (but not always) used when we give something up against our will i.e. when we do not want to part with it but we must for some reason. Often, the nouns that we use with this application of 'give up' are for things that are very important to us, such as houses, jobs and even children. For this reason, it can often convey a negative and strong feeling. I had to give up my house when I lost my job as I could no longer afford the mortgage repayments. Janet was only 15 years old when she fell pregnant and had to give her baby up as she was not in a position to be able to care for it. When we moved into our new apartment there was a no pets police, so sadly we had to give our cats up. Helen gave up her job to look after her sick mother. It is worth remembering that the focus of this usage is not that we are giving something to another person (in the sense of the verb 'to give'), but rather the idea that we no longer have something because we surrendered it or let somebody else have it. Another noteworthy noun that is often used with this application of 'give up' is 'time'. People say that they give up their time when they agree to either spend it doing something for another person or doing something they do not want to do. I choose to give up my time at weekends to help out at my church. Sarah gave up her Saturday mornings to teach her friend's son French. On a grammatical note, it is very common for native speakers to use 'give up' separably in this context, however it should be noted that there is no change in meaning if used separably or inseparably; it is purely personal choice. Have you ever had to give up anything against your will? Tell me in the comments here. MEANING 2: To stop doing something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To quit, to stop, to eschew Separable? Yes In the previous section, I explained how 'give up' can mean 'to stop owning or having something' and for this second usage, we will continue with this theme of stopping. This next meaning of 'give up' is probably the most commonly used by native speakers and it is 'to stop doing something that you regularly do in your life i.e. a habit'. This is often a permanent stop, but can equally refer to a temporary pause of a habit for a limited period of time. Actions commonly used with this application.... Smoking Eating meat Drinking alcohol Gambling Photo: Pexels This application of 'give up' is perhaps most commonly used when someone stops smoking (they give up smoking), but you are also likely to hear it with regard to stopping other long-term habits, for example when a person becomes vegetarian (they give up eating meat) or decides to stop drinking alcohol (they give up drinking). I've been trying to give up smoking for 3 months but I've not succeeded yet. The doctor told me I need to give up drinking alcohol. John gave up eating bread and lost a lot of weight. You may have noticed in the examples above that this usage of 'give up' is followed by a gerund, so make sure you avoid using the infinitive 'to' here as this is incorrect. An alternative to the gerund is to use the noun of the action that you are 'giving up' e.g. "I am giving up meat" or "I am giving up cigarettes". I gave up meat and dairy products and became vegan a while back but I really miss cheese. My mum had to give up her job in order to care for my elderly grandparents. BONUS INFORMATION Staying on the subject of giving up a job or a career, we use the expression "don't give up your day job" when we want to say to someone that they are not very good at something in a humorous way. This is normally used to criticise someone in a friendly, joking manner and not normally said to cause offence. Check out the video below to hear it in use! Have you given up anything recently? Let me know in the comments section here. MEANING 3: To stop trying to do something Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stop trying, to lose heart, to call it a day Separable? No As you will all know, learning a language can be difficult and many people who start learning with the best of intentions decide to stop learning once they realise how hard it is, or in other words they give it up. That is because the third meaning of 'give up' that we will look at in this post is 'to stop trying to do something'....that's right, another meaning involving the idea of stopping something. To further illustrate this, here is another example for you: Imagine that your car breaks down and instead of calling a mechanic to repair it, you decide that you will repair it yourself. After looking at the engine for an hour to try and understand what the problem is, you decide that you cannot do it and call the mechanic. In other words, you gave up trying to fix the problem. The example above is typical of how this usage of 'give up' is used in everyday English, especially because we often use it when we give up trying to do something because we do not think that we can do it. This can often be when we are trying something new or learning how to do something and we find it too difficult, so we give it up. Moreover, another time that this is used is when we are doing something and it becomes difficult due to unforeseen problems or issues. I started learning Turkish last month but I gave up when I realised how difficult it was! Despite encountering many problems, my Mum didn't give up trying to build her business and it is now doing really well. My cat is really disobedient. I tried to teach him to follow basic commands but he completely ignored me and in the end I gave up trying. Lucy started an IT course at her local college but she gave it up as she didn't have enough time to study for it. Come on, you can't give up now. You've done so well and you're nearly at the end of the course! BONUS INFORMATION If you are ever in a situation in an English conversation in which you need to guess the answer to something, the correct way to say that you do not know or that you do not have any more guesses is to say "I give up". This will then signify to the other person that you want to stop trying to guess and they will then (normally) tell you the answer. MEANING 4: To abandon hope Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To despair, to admit defeat Separable? No As you will have noticed, there is a theme of 'stopping' running across the different meanings of 'give up' and this fourth meaning is no different to the others! In this case however, we are talking specifically about stopping or abandoning hope about something. The thing that distinguishes this from the previous three usages is that for this one we need the extra preposition 'on' in order to convey our message, giving us the construction 'to give up on something'. We use this particular construction when we stop hoping that a particular situation is going to change or improve. Consequently, this can mean that we also stop any efforts that we have been making to improve the situation and this can often be inferred in the meaning, (depending on the context). Typical situations in which native speakers use 'give up on' are romantic relationships that are not working, people that they are trying to help without success, plans that are not succeeding and ideas and plans for the future that they decide not to follow up. I had given up on the money that my friend owed me, so I was pleasantly surprised when he paid it to me. Roger fell into some bad ways as a teenager but his mother never gave up on him. I've given up on the idea of becoming a teacher as I don't think it is right career for me. IDIOM ALERT! Before we reach the end of this post, I want to make you aware of the English idiom 'to give up the ghost'. This is a fairly common expression in English which dates back hundreds of years and means to stop working or to die. It is normally used to talk about machines and equipment which stop functioning. If this is used for humans, it is usually used when you stop trying to do something because you realise that it will not be successful. My laptop has given up the ghost and I am need to go and buy a new one! I no longer had the desire or the money to continue my art project, so I simply gave up the ghost on it. One final thing to note here is that the expression "I give up" is often used by native speakers as a way of saying that we are frustrated with an unchanging situation or that we have lost hope about something (it could also be said when face palming or throwing your hands up in the air for added effect 😉). This can range from something that is mildly annoying to something very serious. MEANING 5: To surrender to the police Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To surrender, to hand oneself in, to give oneself in Separable? Yes - with a reflexive pronoun We have now arrived at our fifth and final usage of 'give up', which brings us full circle to the beginning again as it is 'to surrender yourself to the police or authorities for a crime that you have committed'. This application is used specifically for when a person willingly goes to the police station to say "it was me, I committed the crime" or it could alternatively be used when a person allows themselves to be arrested by the police. For this usage, the relevant reflexive pronoun (myself, himself etc.) needs to be used between 'give' and 'up' and the additional preposition 'to' is required before 'the police'. The bank robbers gave themselves up to the police after they realised that they could not evade capture for much longer. You need to go to the police and give yourself up! The hijacker refused to give himself up and remained in the building with the hostages for several days. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Please give it up for.... One extra usage of 'give up' that I want to make you aware of is "to give it up for someone", which is a spoken request to a group of people to show their appreciation for someone by clapping, cheering etc. Don't forget to use it with the word 'please' 😜. Would you please give it up for [insert singer or group name] 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 'give up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it with your English-learning friends. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go on' 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. 'Go on' is a really common phrasal verb in English. and we use it in a lot of different ways. During my research for the post I realised just how many uses that it has, so it is no surprise that it is one of the most common phrasal verbs in everyday use in the English language. This is a long post, so please stick with it and hopefully you will learn some new ways to use this versatile little construction. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'go on' mean? The phrasal verb 'go on' has six main meanings in English: Literal To continue To happen To talk a lot To pass (time) To start working TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Go On - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'go' and 'on' Go On - Meaning 1: Literal Go On - Bonus: Going on stage or on a sports field Go On - Meaning 2: To continue Go On - Bonus: The imperative 'go on!' Go On - Meaning 3: To happen Go On - Meaning 4: To talk a lot Go On - Bonus: To go on at someone Go On - Meaning 5: To pass (time) Go On - Meaning 6: To start working Go On - Bonus: A couple of additional uses 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 GO ON: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 9 Past tense forms Went on / Gone on Separable? No To begin with, let's take a look at the words which make up the phrasal verb 'go on', as this can often provide valuable insight into the more abstract and figurative meanings of a phrasal verb. Firstly, we have the super common verb 'to go', meaning to travel or move to another place. In addition to it's main usage denoting movement, 'to go' can also be used to mean to leave, to change state and to suit something, among many others. In addition, we also use the verb 'to go' to form the 'going to' future tense. Besides its large number of meanings and functions in English, it is worth noting that 'to go' is one of the most irregular verbs in the English language. I am going to Spain tomorrow. Who is going to the party? This bus goes from Edinburgh to Glasgow. It's time for me to go home now. Sue went crazy when she saw the mess in her kitchen. That coat goes well with your shoes. Then, we have the preposition 'on', which, when used as an adverb and preposition, means to be physically in contact and supported by something. In phrasal verb constructions, 'on' can add various different meanings and nuances and these include continuation (carry on), progress (move on), motivation (cheer on) and connection (turn on). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the real reason that you are here, which is the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go on'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To get on, to travel on, to ride Separable? No For the first meaning of 'go on' in this post, we are focussing on the literal meaning that we get when we combine these two words, which is to travel to a place whilst being on something, e.g. a bus or train. Nous commonly used with application.... Bus / Train / Airplane Fairground ride / Roller coaster Diet Internet / Website / Radio / TV Journey / Trip Holiday / Vacation / Sabbatical This literal application of 'go on' is used specifically to talk about being 'on' something as it moves from one place to another. This may be a form of public transport like a bus or an air plane (not a car though as we travel in a car), or it can also be used for something that moves but does not travel to a different place such as a fairground ride or a roller coaster. The kids were excited to go on the boat trip. John isn't driving to work tomorrow; he is going on the train instead. We went on the roller coaster even though it looked scary. I don’t think I’ll go on the Ferris wheel—I’m afraid of heights. GO ON vs GET ON You should note that when talking about a physical movement to an end point or destination that is on something, we use 'get on' to describe this transitional action. Consider the examples below: My car has broken down, so I have to go on the bus to work tomorrow. I have broken my leg, so I found it very difficult to get on the bus. In the first example 'go on' is used as the person is talking about travelling on the bus for the entire journey from their home to their work. In the second option 'get on' is needed as the person is referring to the physical movement from the street onto the bus. We tend to use 'go on' to refer to the state of being on something, rather than the movement from the ground on to it. We can also use this literal application of 'go on' for nouns that do not move but for which we use 'on', such as the radio, television, the internet. The charity workers are going on local radio to promote their next event. I remember the first time I went on this website. Additionally, it should be noted that 'go on' is often also used to talk about a change of state or to start an activity e.g. 'to go on a diet' or 'to go on holiday'. That's it, I've put on too much weight, so I am going on a diet after Christmas. When do you go on holiday to Portugal? My grandparents go on a day trip to the south coast every year. We are going on a journey tomorrow. Photo: Pexels GOING ON STAGE OR ON A SPORTS FIELD There are a couple of specific situations in which 'go on' is used literally by native speakers and the meaning of this is often derived from the context. The first means to go on to a stage to begin a performance, so it is used to talk about actors, musicians, comedians or anyone giving a performance on a stage. This is used specifically for when someone's performance begins and not for when someone just walks onto a stage for non-performance purposes. Whilst you can use the full expression 'go on stage', when the context is known, it is possible to drop the word 'stage', leaving just 'go on. I go on in 5 minutes, so I don't have time to talk. What time do you go on this afternoon? The second situation is when a sports player goes on to a field in order to start playing a game. This is more common when they join after the game has started in order to replace another team member, as a substitute. This is commonly used with team games such as football, rugby and American football. The substitute striker went on in the 88th minute and scored the winning goal. MEANING 2: To continue Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To continue, to keep on, to keep going, to persist, to carry on Separable? No The first idiomatic usage of 'go on' in this post is one of the most common usages that we will look at and means 'to continue'. Sometimes, this can be to talk about a state or specific action which continues in the same way as before, without specifying what the state or action is. In these cases we often add the words 'in this way' or 'like this/that' after 'go on'. I haven't had a job for several months now. I can't go on like this for much longer! How much longer do you think we can go on in this way? The people are in a desperate situation and they cannot go on like that for much longer. After a short break, the meeting went on as planned. Alternatively, it is also very common to specify what the action is that will continue. This is often, but not always, after a temporary pause in the action. On a grammatical note, when stating the action that is continuing, you need to use the 'ing' progressive form when it is a verb. If the thing that is continuing is a noun, we need the additional preposition 'with'. I intend to go on learning Mandarin until I am completely fluent. Are you just going to go on working there for the rest of your life? I've injured my knee and I need to rest but I intend to go on running when it is better. Please go on with your story; I want to hear what happens next. He paused for a moment, then went on speaking. The teacher went on with her explanation, even though some students looked confused. Photo: Pexels THE IMPERATIVE 'GO ON!' 'Go on' is commonly used as an imperative to ask someone to continue what they are saying, especially if the person pauses what they are saying temporarily or if they are taking a long time to say it and the other person is impatient to hear the information. Moreover, 'go on!' is also used extremely commonly by native speakers as a way of encouraging someone to do something, particularly if the other person expresses doubts or is reluctant in some way. MEANING 3: To happen Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To happen, to take place Separable? No This next meaning of 'go on' means 'to happen' or 'to take place' and is really commonly used, so I am sure that you will have heard it many times in conversations. This usage of 'go on' is often used in the progressive or continuous form, however it is also possible to use it with simple and perfect aspect tenses. Moreover, I think that this version of 'go on' is used most commonly in question form. From my own personal perspective, I think we tend to use 'going on' a lot more when we are describing a present situation that is in progress, whereas we tend to use 'happen' more to talk about future plans or something that happened in the past. This isn't a set rule though and we frequently do use happen and 'go on' interchangeably in all of these situations. What's going on here? This place is a mess, what has been going on? I'm not sure what is going on outside but it doesn't sound good. A lot has gone on since you left. I have no idea what’s going on in that meeting. Strange things went on in that abandoned house. There’s always something exciting going on in the city. A huge argument went on between them last night. Nobody knew what was really going on behind the scenes. There’s a festival going on downtown this weekend. One last point to note here is that in informal American English, 'what's going on?' is often used as informal greeting, particularly among young people and means 'how are you?' or 'how are things?'. MEANING 4: To talk a lot Photo: Pexel ​CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To ramble, to prattle, to babble, to harp on, to bang on Separable? No For this fourth usage of 'go on', we are looking specifically at a usage which is very common in British English and means to to talk a lot, especially if the person is talking about one particular subject which happens to be quite boring. If we want to say that the person talks a lot in a dull or boring way in general as part of their character, we can just say that the person 'goes on', which expresses this feeling very neatly. If the person talks about a particular subject that is boring, then we need the additional preposition 'about + the subject'. If you want to add extra emphasis to how boring the person is, we can repeat the word 'on' ad infinitum, however an extra one or two times is normal. I, personally, tend to use this verb to describe a conversation where the person talks so much that it is not enjoyable and all you want is for it to stop. Gosh! Professor Smith goes on in his lectures, doesn't he! My Dad was going on about politics again last night. Helen was going on and on and on about her new boyfriend and i couldn't get a word in edgeways.* Trevor just goes on and on about his new car; I’m so tired of hearing about it! Sally went on for hours about her vacation in Mexico. I wish Dan wouldn’t go on so much. My parents went on about politics until everyone else in the family was bored. My sister constantly goes on about her problems but never listens to mine. Pete went on at length about his childhood memories. My boss goes on forever in meetings, making them so long. * To not be able to get a word in edgeways is an idiom to mean that you cannot say anything during a conversation as the other person is talking too much. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To go on at someone 'To go on at someone' is a variation of this usage and is an informal way to mean to repeatedly criticise someone or to complain to someone many times about the way that they behave (in an effort to change their behaviour). It is also possible to repeat the word 'on' here for added emphasis. Again, this usage is mainly British. Lisa's keeps going on at her children to tidy up the house but she doesn't ever tidy it up herself. Our parents have been going on and on and on at us for months about when we are going to get married. MEANING 5: To pass (time) Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere ​Potential synonyms To pass, to go by, to wear on Separable? No Our fifth meaning of 'go on' is perhaps a variation of the second meaning that we looked at, i.e. to continue, however in this particular usage, we are concerned primarily with time, or more specifically, the passing of time. This form is often preceded in sentences with the word 'as' + the time reference. As the morning went on, the rain started letting up. The night went on, and the party got even livelier. There is no reason why the TV show continues to do so well as the years go on. As the years went on, they became close friends. As time goes on, you’ll start to feel better. The weeks went on, but we still hadn’t heard any news. Apart from time, we are also able to use this form of 'go on' with other nouns that describe something that happens over a period of time. This is often used when something lasts for a long period of time or for longer than it was expected to and can often be negative in nature, often inferring that the person was bored or wanted it to finish sooner. As the meeting went on, I became more and more tired. Quite a lot of people left the conference as it went on. The movie went on for nearly three hours! The meeting went on for much longer than expected. The father of the bride's speech went on and on and I think most people had lost interest in it by the time he had finished. MEANING 6: To start working Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To come on, to turn on Separable? No So, moving on to our sixth meaning now....well done if you have made it this far! This next meaning of 'go on' is used particularly with electrical appliances and devices and simply means that they turn on, start working or become operational. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Light Heating Air conditioning Washing machine Appliance / Machine This is often (but not always) when they start working without human intervention e.g. automatically or from a timer. If we want to say that a person caused the device to start working, we tend to use 'turn on' more. In winter, the lights go on at 5pm every evening. The washing machine goes on every night as it is cheaper than during the daytime. The streetlights go on automatically at dusk. The heater went on as soon as the temperature dropped. As soon as I flipped the switch, the lights went on. The air conditioning goes on every morning at 9 AM. When the power came back, all the appliances went on at once. BONUS: A couple of extra specific uses of 'go on' Do you think you have room in your brain for a few more uses of 'go on'? There are some other usages of 'go on' that I want to make you aware of. These are quite limited in their scope and so I don't think they need entire sections to themselves but definitely ones that you may come across in your interactions with English speakers. The first meaning is to do with information and if you have enough of it to be able to make a decision or take action about something. If we have a lot of information in order to make a decision we would say "we have a lot to go on" and if we do not have much information, we might say "we don't have much to go on". Alternatively, we can use this when we are trying to work something out based on evidence or available information. The police didn't have much to go on but they arrested the suspected murderer nevertheless. Is that all of the information that we have to go on? There's a lot to go on here, so we should be able to come up with an answer once we have considered it all. The next meaning involves adding the extra preposition 'to', to give 'to go on to', which is used to talk about something that a person did after doing something else. This is often used to talk about people's careers or different achievements and accomplishments in their lives. It can also be used to talk about when people go to a second destination after they have been somewhere else first. After finishing his Masters degree in English, John went on to teach at his local university. We are going to Greece for a week and then going on to Italy for an extra few days to see friends The third and final additional meaning (and final meaning in this post) is used to talk about people's ages, especially when they act a lot older than they are in reality. For example, if someone talks about how old their child is, they might say "she's 10, going on 20", to mean that she acts a lot more like an adult than a normal 10-year old. This usage is always used in the 'ing' progressive form. My son is three years old going on thirty. We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'go 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 'break down' from a native speaker, with lots of example sentences Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained; a blog which aims to help you understand English phrasal verbs in a clear and coherent way, so that you can use them to improve your language level and sound more like a native speaker. In this post, we are looking at the phrasal verb 'break down', which is very common as both a phrasal verb and a noun. We will take a look at both of these in this post and for each of the different meanings that it has, I will give you lots of example sentences in context to help you understand, learn and use them. So, without further ado, let's get started.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'break down' mean? The phrasal verb 'break down' has six main meanings: To stop working To make into smaller parts To disintegrate to nothing To fail To remove an obstruction with force To start crying TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Break Down - The Basics: Key information and the words 'break' and 'down' Break Down - Meaning 1: To stop working Break Down - Meaning 2: To make into smaller parts Break Down - Meaning 3: To disintegrate to nothing Break Down - Meaning 4: To fail Break Down - Meaning 5: To remove an obstruction with force Break Down - Meaning 6: To start crying Break Down - Bonus: The noun 'breakdown' Break Down - Bonus: More example sentences with 'break down' 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 BREAK DOWN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Broke down / Broken down Separable? Yes Before we dive into the different idiomatic meanings of 'break down', it is a good idea to look at the individual words 'break' and 'down' on their own. Firstly, we have the verb "to break", which is a common verb that has a few different meanings, however the main idea of the verb 'to break' means to stop something working, functioning or existing as it did before. This can be something physical such as a cell phone or a leg, or it can be something abstract such as a promise or an agreement. We then have the prepositional particle 'down', which as an adverb means to be in a lower position or place ⬇️ and as a preposition means to move from a higher place to a lower place. So, now we have that part out of the way, let's look at the different idiomatic meanings that we have when we combine these words to form our phrasal verb 'break down'. MEANING 1: To stop working Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Separable? No Potential synonyms To break The first meaning of 'break down' that we will look at in this post is that which means to stop working or functioning. This is used specifically for machinery, equipment and vehicles. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Car Train / Bus / Airplane Machine Elevator / Lift Vehicle In my native speaker brain, this is the first meaning that I think of when I think about the phrasal verb 'break down'. This is probably because it is the most commonly used of all the meanings that we will look at in the post. To be even more specific, you will hear people using this application most commonly in reference to cars that have developed a fault and stopped working. This is normally in the middle of a journey a long way from the person's home and so there is often an element of drama or at least a good story to be told. I was once riding a quad bike that broke down in the middle of the countryside on a Greek island and instead of spending the day relaxing on the beach as I had planned, I spent it trying to get the problem resolved and get back to the hotel 🤦🏻‍♂️....have you ever had any funny experiences breaking down somewhere? Let me know in the comments! Of course, it is not just cars that break down and this usage can also be applied to any vehicles with an engine. Moreover, we use 'break down' to talk about machines that stop functioning too Help! My car has broken down on the side of the freeway! The President's airplane broke down and had to be repaired, so was two hours later departing. The elevator has broken down again; we'll have to take the stairs. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere when the bus suddenly broke down. Our washing machine has broken down and now we have to do our laundry by hand. Kevin's laptop broke down right before the big presentation, so he had to borrow someone else's. If the air conditioning breaks down during summer, it gets unbearable in this heat. One more thing to note here is that the past particle form 'broken-down' is regularly used by native speakers as an adjective to describe a vehicle that is out of order. There is a broken-down vehicle on the side of the road next to the bridge. Engineers were called out to repair the broken-down train. MEANING 2: To make into smaller parts Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage ​Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To divide, to split, to break up Separable? Yes For this second meaning, imagine that you have a really big project that you are working on, which will involve a lot of time and effort. In order to work on this project in an efficient way, it is often a good strategy to separate it into smaller tasks, which you can then work on methodically, in order to complete the main project. Another way of describing this action is to break it down into smaller tasks and that is precisely what the second meaning of 'break down' is. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Steps Tasks Segments Parts Chunks If we put it another way, this application of 'break down' means to take something large or complex and make (or break) it into smaller parts, so that it can be dealt with or managed more easily and efficiently. Typical usage of this second meaning of 'break down' is with complex questions, big projects and procedures, in other words things that contain many different parts and sections. In addition, it is also possible to physically break something down into smaller pieces, e.g a cardboard box or some flatpack furniture. Note that when using this meaning we require the additional preposition 'into' followed by the noun to describe the smaller parts that are the end result of the 'breaking down' process. In order to effectively answer this complex question, we need to break it down into smaller subsections. The process will be a lot smoother if you can break it down into small and manageable steps. I had to break the large box down into smaller pieces, so that it would fit inside bin. The teacher broke down the complex topic into smaller sections, so the students could understand it better. Can you break down this report into bullet points for easier reading? Let’s break down the project into manageable tasks to make it less overwhelming. The data was too complicated, so Linda broke it down into simple graphs and charts. Emma broke the recipe down into step-by-step instructions for beginners. MEANING 3: To disintegrate to nothing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To disintegrate, to rot, to decompose Separable? Yes Our third meaning of 'break down' is very similar to the second meaning that we have just looked at and also means that something gets smaller. The difference here however is that in this meaning the pieces continue to get smaller and smaller until they disappear or stop existing. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Chemical Protein Plastic This meaning is normally one that you will hear in scientific language as it is used for things like chemicals, proteins and elements. Another key difference between this third meaning and the second meaning is that there is no direct object here as nobody is making or causing the thing to break down - it happens naturally or at least without human intervention. We can also use this to describe the sometimes unpleasant but totally natural process of decomposition or rotting that happens to all living things after they die. Proteins breaks down into glucose in the body. Plastic breaks down in the oceans, however it is an extremely long process. The dead leaves will eventually break down and enrich the soil with nutrients. Scientists are studying new ways to help biodegradable materials break down faster. Over time, the old wooden fence began to break down due to constant exposure to rain and sunlight. MEANING 4: To fail Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To collapse, fail Separable? No For meaning number four of the phrasal verb 'break down', we are returning again to the core meaning of the verb 'to break', as well as the first meaning that we looked at. Like both of these, this fourth usage also means to stop functioning, but the difference here is that we are not talking about physical objects, but rather abstract ideas and concepts. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Relationship / Marriage Negotiations Discussions / Talks It is extremely common to use 'break down' in this way with abstract nouns such as relationships, discussions, and negotiations when they fail, are not successful or do not work out as originally planned. Discussions between the two political parties broke down on the second day and abruptly ended. Helen and John's marriage broke down when he found out that she had been carrying on with Lisa. The peace talks broke down when neither side was willing to compromise. Our business negotiations broke down due to disagreements over pricing. The discussion broke down after tempers flared and both parties started arguing. The communication broke down between Andy and Simon, and eventually, their friendship faded away. MEANING 5: To remove an obstruction with force Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms ​To knock down, to remove, to demolish Separable? Yes The next meaning that we are going to look at of the phrasal verb 'break down' is reserved especially for obstacles and barriers. If we have something that stands in our way and which we cannot get past, it is possible to use 'break down', to mean to demolish or reduce the barrier by using force, in order to remove it, thus clearing the way for us to continue. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Door Wall Barricade / Barrier Defenses This is often used with physical nouns such as walls, barriers and doors, however it can also be used with abstract barriers such as barriers in society for people who are repressed in some way. The police broke down the door to Roger's apartment. The firefighters had to break down the door to rescue the trapped residents. The soldiers broke down the enemy’s defenses with heavy artillery. She is a trailblazer who has broken down many barriers for women in her industry over the last 40 years. MEANING 6: To start crying Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To cry Separable? No Our sixth and final meaning of 'break down' means to start crying or to become emotional. This is something that we tend to use more for adults, rather than children, as I think it is used more to describe when a person loses control of their emotions due to a stressful or unpleasant experience in their life and it conveys a level of seriousness that we don't always associate with children crying. We do not always use it for sad crying, however it can also equally be used for when we start crying because we are overcome with happy emotions. This form of 'break down' is intransitive and does not have a direct object, so if you hear in a conversation that a person has broken down with no immediate object afterwards, you can be certain that the person is crying or emotional. It is also common to hear the expression 'to break down in tears', however 'break down' on its own is fine to use. Is Steve ok? He just broke down in the middle of the office! John broke down in tears of joy when his son was born. The emotional speech made Janet break down in front of the audience. Luke tried to stay strong, but eventually, he broke down when he realised what had happened. Barbara broke down after hearing the heart-wrenching details of the tragedy. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'breakdown' You may remember that at the start of the post I mentioned that 'breakdown' is also commonly used as a noun in English. When using it as a noun, we treat it as one word and the pronunciation is slightly different to when we use it in its phrasal verb form. When used as a noun, native speakers put slightly more stress on 'break' and less on 'down' than they do for the phrasal verb form, in which both parts have a similar level of word stress. See the video below to hear the pronunciation: Used as a noun, breakdown is commonly used to talk about cars which have broken down, relationships or negotiations which have failed and you may also have heard of nervous breakdowns, which refer to when people become overwhelmed by stress in their lives. It should be noted that a nervous breakdown is not classed as an official medical term in English and may be referred to by health officials as a 'mental health crisis' instead. Do you have adequate breakdown insurance cover for your car? A breakdown in negotiations occurred as neither side was willing to change their mind and reach a compromise. John is sending me a breakdown of all of the supplier costs from the last month. BONUS: More example sentences with 'break down' If you can memorise some of the below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker. You'll need to use your imagination to complete some of them. My car has broken down! Let me break it down for you. We need to break the [noun] down into manageable steps. The police broke down the doors. [Person] has broken down many barriers in society. [Person] broke down in tears when.... [Person] broke down in tears in front of.... Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'break down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'put off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Freepik 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 post this week is all about the phrasal verb 'put off' and in it we will look its three main meanings and explain they are used in everyday English. For each meaning, I will provide you with lots of example sentences in context to aid your understanding. So, let's not put it off any longer and let's get started.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'put off' mean? The phrasal verb 'put off' has three main meanings in English: To postpone something To make someone dislike something To distract someone TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Put Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'put' and 'off' Put Off - Meaning 1: To postpone something Put Off - Bonus: Proverb - Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today Put Off - Meaning 2: To make someone dislike something Put Off - Meaning 3: To distract someone Put Off - Bonus: 'Put off' with gerunds Put Off - Bonus: Some more example sentences featuring 'put off' 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 PUT OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Put off / Put off Separable? Yes Unlike many phrasal verbs, 'put off' does not have a literal meaning in English, so before we look at its different idiomatic meanings, I think it is a good idea as a starting point to consider the two words which make up this common phrasal verb. Let's start with the verb 'to put', which means to move something to a place or into a particular position. I am sure that you are extremely familiar with this verb as it is in common use in everyday English, but nonetheless I have given you a couple of examples below to refresh your memory. Lisa put her drink on the table. Can you put your dirty clothes in the washing bin please. Photo: Freepik Accompanying our verb 'put' for this phrasal verb is the prepositional particle 'off', which, like a lot of English prepositions, has many different uses. The use that we are concerned with here for this phrasal verb is when off conveys the idea of moving away from something. Now that we have briefly looked at the constituent words of 'put off', let's move on to see what the different idiomatic meanings are in English and how native speakers use them. MEANING 1: To postpone something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate ​Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To defer, postpone, to delay, to put back, to hold off, to procrastinate Separable? Yes The first meaning that we are going to look at of 'put off' is the usage to mean to delay, postpone or push something that is planned back to a later time or date. As I mentioned above, this is normally used when something is planned and someone decides to delay or postpone it. This is commonly used with meetings, visits and appointments, so logically, this means that it is commonly used a lot in the business world. In terms of formality, it is less formal than 'postpone' or 'delay', but is still completely fine to use it in business English without sounding too informal. Photo: Pexels We also often use it when we are hesitating about doing something that we are don't want to do or are afraid to. For example, we may put off going to the gym or telling somebody something that they may react negatively to. I would say from my perspective as a native speaker that 'put off' tends to be used by native speakers when a decision has been made by someone to postpone something, rather than something being delayed due to something outside of a person's control. For example, we tend not to say that an airplane has been put off if it is late to depart, but rather that is has been delayed. To 'put off' is a separable phrasal verb and we frequently insert the direct object between 'put' and 'off' to express the thing that we want to move to a later time or date. It is also fine to add the direct object after 'put off', however it is less common to do so. Photo: Pexels John was very busy so he decided to put the appraisal meeting off until the next day. The customer visit has been put off until next month. We weren't ready to start the party at 7pm, so we put it off by an hour until 8pm. I've been putting off telling you this as I was worried about your reaction. Photo: Pexels PROVERB ALERT! Don't put off until tomorrow... A common proverb which exists in English is 'don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today'. You can probably understand its meaning, but just in case you are not sure, it means that we should not delay, postpone or put things off that we can do right now and there are certainly times when I wish I had taken this advice in the past. MEANING 2: To make someone dislike something Photo : Pexels CEFR Language Level ​B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To deter, to dishearten, to discourage, to dissuade Separable? Yes, with an object pronoun The second usage of 'put off' that we are looking at in today's post means to make someone dislike something, usually when they did like it to begin with. It is common to use this when we have a negative experience of something, which makes us not like it anymore. Examples of this could be if you eat some bad food, which then makes you sick and you no longer want to eat that food again or if you have a negative experience in a city or country which makes you no longer like it or want to visit there again. In both of these cases you started to dislike, or were put off, the food / country due to the negative experience and perhaps the reminder that they give you of it. When using 'put off' in this way, we often need to use a direct object, which is the person who starts to dislike or dislikes the item. For this we either need object pronouns (me, him, her etc.) or the name of the person. Photo: Freepik I can't drink beer anymore. I had a really bad experience with it, which put me off it for life. The high prices of train fares have put many commuters off taking the train to work and they are now commuting by car instead. In addition to using 'put off' to talk about disliking something that we once liked, we can also use it to talk about when we stop wanting to do something that we wanted to do beforehand. In this case, we are generally talking about being put off the idea of doing something. Helen wanted to go to university in the USA but was put off the idea when she learned how much it would cost. We thought about going to the new steak restaurant in town but we've been put off a bit by the bad reviews online. MEANING 3: To distract someone Photo: Wix Images CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To distract Separable? Yes The third and final meaning of 'put off' that we are looking at in today's post is when we use it to mean to distract someone or cause someone to stop concentrating on something. Imagine that you are trying to revise for an exam and you are concentrating very hard when suddenly a person in the next room starts playing some loud music. You become distracted by the music and you could then say that the music has put you off. This is a very common way to express that something has distracted you from doing something, especially in spoken English. Although this meaning can often be used interchangeably with 'distract', I would say that the meaning of 'put off' is slightly different as it doesn't just mean to cause you stop you concentrating on something, but can also mean to stop you being able to do something properly because something is diverting your attention and you can't focus. A great example of this happens to me whenever someone watches me type. I instantly start to make spelling mistakes, even though normally I am perfectly capable of typing the same words when nobody is watching me. This is because I know that they are watching, which puts me off. Note that we normally need to use this meaning separably, with the person who is distracted being inserted between put and off. Like with the previous meaning, this would either be the direct object pronoun (me, him, her etc.) or the name of the person. If we do use this version separably, it sounds wrong and unnatural, so try and avoid doing this. Can you please be quiet, you're putting me off my revision! The snooker player missed the winning shot and blamed the crowd, saying that their chattering put him off. Whenever somebody watches me type, it always puts me off and I start making a lot of mistakes. Photo: Pexels DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GERUNDS! When we want to follow 'put off' with a verb to talk about an action, the verb needs to be in the gerund (ing) form. This applies to all three of the meanings that we have looked at above. I was put off smoking when I saw the damage it does to people as they get older. We put off calling the angry customer for an hour in order to let him calm down. Photo: Pexels MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES WITH 'PUT OFF' Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent.... Can we put off the [noun] until..... The [noun] has been put off until.... We have put this off for too long, we need to do it now. That has really put me off my food. I wanted to do it but I got put off by.... I did like him at first but seeing the way he treated his family really put me off him. Don't let one bad experience put you off! Has that put you off or do you still want to go ahead? His talking really puts me off my work. Stop laughing at me when I am doing my speech, it's putting me off! I have had to turn my phone off as the constant notifications kept putting me off! 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 'put 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 'put 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 'get 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. This week's post is the second part of my focus on the phrasal verb 'get off', which has so many meanings that it wasn't possible (or fair) to list them all in one blog post. So to recap, in part one (link here), we looked at the two literal forms of 'get off', plus the meanings of to leave, to finish work, to have time off from work and to receive a less severe punishment than expected. With all that in mind, let's now take a look at the other meanings of 'get off'.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'get off' mean? The phrasal verb 'get off' has multiple meanings in English: Literal meaning To leave To finish work To have time off from work To receive no punishment for a crime or wrongdoing To fall asleep To send something To enjoy something intensely To French kiss someone To be given something TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Get Off: The Basics & Meanings 1 - 6 + Bonus Material Get Off - Meaning 7: To fall asleep Get Off - Meaning 8: To send something Get Off - Meaning 9: To enjoy something intensely Get Off - Meaning 10: To French kiss someone 🇬🇧 Get Off - Meaning 11: To be given something by someone Get Off - Bonus: More example sentences featuring 'get off' Get Off - Bonus: Some more idioms with 'get off' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback as to how useful it is and 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 would be most grateful. Thank you! 😊 James MEANING 7: To fall asleep Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced ​Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fall asleep, to drift off Separable? Sometimes So we are going to start today's post with our seventh meaning of 'get off', which means to fall asleep, normally after finding it difficult to do so. It is often used by frustrated and tired English speakers when they did not have much sleep the night before because it took them a long time to 'get off to sleep'. It is not always used in a negative way however and could also be used to say that we fell asleep immediately or in the same way that we usually do. You may also be familiar with the expression 'to get to sleep', which is also commonly used by native speakers and means the same thing. There is no difference in the meaning here that I can tell; I just think that 'get off to sleep' sounds a little nicer. I didn't get to sleep until about midnight last night! It is also possible to use a direct object here when talking about making another person go to sleep (through comfort and not boredom). As you can probably imagine from the context, this is normally used by adults referring to babies and small children. It took me so long to get off to sleep last night. I am absolutely shattered* today! She was so tired that she got off to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Lisa tried all night to get her daughter off to sleep but nothing worked. * Shattered is an informal adjective meaning very tired or exhausted. MEANING 8 : To send something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To send, to send off, to despatch Separable? Yes Ok, so now we are on to meaning eight of the phrasal verb 'get off'. As you can see, it is very versatile and has a large number of different uses, so I hope you are keeping up 🤪. This eighth meaning of 'get off' means to send something and this is normally in reference to an email, parcel or a letter in the post. This usage is a little informal, however it is still fine to use in a professional work environment, apart from perhaps official documentation and legal documents. Another similar phrasal verb that could be used as an interchangeable synonym here is 'send off', with no real change in meaning. For this usage, we usually also need to add the extra preposition 'to' and the name of the recipient. I have written the email and will get it off to my manager shortly. We have got a birthday card off to him in the post, so he should receive it in the next couple of days. MEANING 9: To enjoy something intensely Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere ​Potential synonyms ​To get a kick out of, to enjoy (a lot), to be excited by something Separable? No For our ninth usage, we need to add the additional preposition 'on', to give us 'to get off on something', which means to enjoy something intensely. This is an informal way of describing when people get an element of excitement or a buzz from doing something and can often be used for something sexual in nature. We also use it to talk about criminals' enjoyment of the crimes that they commit, bosses and senior employees in companies who enjoy the power that they have or also when someone enjoys a type of drug or natural high. The main idea behind this usage however, is that the enjoyment experienced by the person is intense. My friend gets off on true crime podcasts. He really loves them. Lisa's boss loves the power of his position; he really gets off on it. MEANING 10: To French kiss someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where it is used? British English ​Potential synonyms To kiss, to make out Separable? No Ok bear with me, we are nearly there now... For the tenth meaning on our whistle-stop tour* of the phrasal verb 'get off', we are looking at a usage which is particular to British English and means to French kiss someone i.e. to kiss someone using tongues in a romantic or sexual way. This would be the equivalent of 'make out' in American English. For this usage, the additional preposition 'with' is required in order to say who the amorous person was kissing. From my experience, this is mainly used by teenagers and young adults and is not something that you are likely to hear often, so let's move on to the final meaning of 'get off'. *A whistle-stop tour is a tour on which someone visits many different places in a short period MEANING 11: To be given something by someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere ​Potential synonyms To take, to fetch, to receive Separable? Yes So, now we come to the last meaning of 'get off' that we are going to look at on this blog post....give yourselves a pat on the back for coming this far! Only one more to go! We use this final meaning of 'get off' to express when a person gives us something or when we receive something from another person. It is also possible to use it when we take something from someone, however this is only with their consent and would not normally be used to talk about stealing something from them. A direct object is required here to express the item that we are getting or receiving and this needs to go between 'get' and 'off'. This could be something that somebody gives us, like a birthday present or alternatively it could be something that we need to get from somebody else for a work purpose. This form is an alternative (and perhaps more informal) form of to get something from someone. I got some lovely birthday presents off my parents this year. John: Where did you get that cake? Lisa: I got it off Helen, she has brought some homemade cakes into the office today. Can you go and get the signed report off the CEO before you leave today, please. Photo: Pexels BONUS: More example sentences with 'get off' Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent.... It took me so long to get off to sleep last night! No matter what I try, I just can't seem to get off to sleep. I will get this off to you straight away! Can you get this [letter / email] off to [person] as soon as possible. [person] really gets off on [noun]! Can you go and get the [noun] off [person]. I got a [noun] off [person] for my birthday. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Some more idioms with 'get off' Before finishing the post, I just want to make you aware of another couple of common expressions that native speakers often use with 'get off'.... To get off to a good / bad start = This expression is used all the time by native speakers to say if something has started well or badly. Other adjectives to mean good or bad are also perfectly acceptable to use here. The English football team got off to a good start in the World Cup but then crashed out in the semi finals. My day got off to a really bad start when my alarm did not go off and I overslept! To get off the subject = To start talking about discussing things during a conversation which are not relevant to the main subject being discussed. It is also possible to use the alternative "to get off topic", which means the same. We started talking about the current political situation but somehow we got off the subject and ended up talking about online videos. We seem to have gotten off topic, can we get back to the subject at hand please! Where do you get off? = This is an idiomatic expression that native speakers use when they want to express to someone that they feel that they are being rude, impolite or patronising towards them. In other words, what gives you the right to treat me like that? This idiom is often followed by the verb in the continuous form. Where do you get off talking to me like that?! Where does she get off trying to tell us what to do! She is not our manager! Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get 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 'get 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. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'to get off'. It is my first post to focus on a phrasal verb with the verb 'to get', which is a verb with a large number of meanings and usages. My original plan was to try and fit all of the different meanings of 'get off' into one post, but there are just too many and therefore I thought it would be better to give you the information in two separate parts. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the phrasal verb 'to get off'.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'get off' mean? The phrasal verb 'get off' has multiple meanings in English: Literal meaning To leave To finish work To have time off from work To receive no punishment for a crime or wrongdoing To fall asleep To send something To enjoy something intensely To French kiss someone To be given something TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Get Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'get' and 'off' Get Off - Meaning 1: Literal Get Off - Meaning 2: Literal meaning with a direct object Get Off - Bonus: Get off vs Take off - what is the difference? Get Off - Bonus: Idioms featuring the literal application of 'get off' Get Off - Meaning 3: To leave Get Off - Meaning 4: To finish work Get Off - Meaning 5: To have time off from work Get Off - Meaning 6: To receive no punishment for a crime or wrongdoing Get Off - Bonus: More example sentences with 'get off' Get Off - Meanings 7 - 11 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 OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 11 Past tense forms Got off / Got off - gotten off Separable? Yes To get things started, let's first consider the individual words 'get' and 'off' and what they mean on their own as this can often help to understand some of the phrasal verb meanings. As learners of English, I am sure that you will be aware that the verb 'to get' is used extensively by native speakers and it probably seems that it can be used to express almost anything in English, especially in spoken language. It is true that we love the verb 'to get' and we use it all the time because it is so versatile and has such a large number of meanings. This also means that there are also many phrasal verbs derived from the verb 'get', which often have several meanings or more....sorry about that but I will do my best to explain them all as best I can on this website 😀 Some of the key meanings of the verb 'to get' are to receive, to arrive and to catch someone, however there are many more. The prepositional particle 'off' functions as the natural linguistic opposite of 'on' and is one that can be found in a wide range of different phrasal verbs. It can add various different ideas to phrasal verbs, ranging from separation (break off) and departure (set off) to explosion (go off) and cancellation (call off). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move and discover the different ways that we can use 'get off'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere ​Potential synonyms ​To alight, to disembark, to get down Separable? No Let's begin the meanings with the first application of 'get off', which is the literal version that we get when combine these two words. The meaning of 'get' that is relevant for this first section means to arrive at or reach a particular place. I want to get home before 7pm this evening. My flight got to Paris on time. When we combine this meaning of 'get' with the prepositional particle 'off', the literal meaning that it gives us is to reach, or arrive at, a particular place that is no longer on something. To put this another way, this means to no longer be physically on something that holds or supports us. As I imagine you will already know, this form is very commonly used to talk about leaving or exiting public transport, (hopefully) when you reach your destination. When we got off the airplane in London, we were shocked at how cold it was. Get ready, we have to get off the train at the next station. Please be reminded that you can only use 'get off' for public transport that you can be on. See the list on the 'carry on' post for more information on this. Apart from forms of transport, the phrasal verb 'get off' is used very commonly with any nouns that we use 'on' with. This would either be things that support or hold us e.g. a sofa or a stage, or surfaces with which something has physical contact e.g. a blanket. My Dad has hurt his back and he finds it difficult to get off the sofa. Photo: Pexels I felt sick when I got off the roller coaster! My cat was sitting on my pink towel and refused to get off! MEANING 2: Literal (with a direct object) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to take off Separable? Yes The second meaning that we are looking at of 'get off' is not a different meaning to the first one, but rather the same meaning with the addition of a direct object. In other words, in this meaning we are talking about removing something (direct object) that is on an object or surface. We do not want the thing to be on the object or surface and the end result is that it no longer is. This can either be physically removing it or making it move somehow (asking, shouting, threatening etc). As there is a direct object in this case, this form of 'get off' is separable and the direct object needs to go between get and off. I have been trying to get the cat off my pink towel for 10 minutes and he is refusing to move! Get your dirty hands off the clean sheets! Since the use of 'on' is so widespread in English, 'get off' can be used in many different situations and with many different potential nouns in this way. Common examples of this usage would be telling cats or children to get off an item of furniture, getting the top off a bottle or someone getting the snow off their car in the morning so that they can drive it. Get everything off the table please, it is time for dinner! I've broken my arm, can someone please help me get my coat off? The theatre security guards got the imposter off the stage very quickly! It is also very common to use "get off!" in an imperative form, when asking or telling a person to take their hands off you or to stop physically touching something. Photo: Pexels GET OFF vs TAKE OFF: What is the difference? In many cases this literal meaning of 'get off' is very similar to the phrasal verb 'to take off', however there is a difference in how they are used which you should be aware of. We tend to use 'take off' in positive statements or when there is no difficulty or problem removing the item. In contrast, we use 'get off' with questions and negative statements or when there is a perceived difficulty or problem removing the item. Consider the following examples.... I normally take my shoes off before I enter my house, but today my laces were so tight that I could not get them off! Helen spent 10 minutes trying to get the petrol cap on her car off, which was strange as she can normally take it off in a few seconds. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Idioms featuring the literal application of 'get off' So, before we continue on to look at its idiomatic meanings, I want to make you aware of some commonly used expressions and idioms with 'get off' and parts of the body.... To get something off your chest = To say something to someone that you have wanted to say for a long time. This is usually something that you have been reluctant to say in the past as it may be controversial or cause an argument. I need to talk to you and get a few things off my chest To get your mind off something = In English if something is on our mind, it means it is worrying us and we can't stop thinking about it. It is normally a good idea to do something entertaining or interesting to stop us thinking about it. This is what we call getting your mind off something. I had a long walk by the river earlier which really helped me to get my mind off things. To get off someone's back = To leave someone alone if you have been criticising or pressuring them to do something. This is often used by the person to tell the person criticising or pressuring them to stop. An alternative to this is to get off someone's case. I just wish my parents would get off my back and stop telling me to get a job. My boss is driving me mad, I wish he would get off my case! MEANING 3: To leave Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms Set off, Leave, Go, Get going Separable? No The first idiomatic meaning of 'to get off' that we are going to look at is the usage meaning to leave a place to start a journey. This is something that native speakers will often use in informal spoken English, often when they are talking about leaving somewhere to go home. It is sometimes used in a continuous form with 'had better be' to indicate that it is time to leave a place or that the person has stayed somewhere later than they had planned. I think I will get off now as I want to avoid rush hour. Look at the time! I didn't realise it was so late, we had better be getting off! MEANING 4: To finish work Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate ​Usage ​Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms Leave, finish, clock off Separable? No Our next meaning of 'get off' is to leave work, normally at the end of the day at your agreed finishing time. You could also use it to say that you are finishing at an earlier time than usual, however we do not use it to say that we are leaving a job or stopping working for a company. It is common to use the word 'work' here, but it is not absolutely necessary as people understand from the context that we are talking about work. I get off work at 4 o'clock today, so I could meet you after that. What time do you get off today? MEANING 5: To have time off from work Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper Intermediate Usage Moderate Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take time off Separable? Yes Staying on the theme of work, we can also use 'get off' when talking about taking annual leave or holiday from our job. This is often when we are not yet sure if we can take the time off and we need to check with our manager to see if it is possible. When we use it this way we need a direct object such as 'a day' or 'time'. I need to get the day off tomorrow as I have to take my wife to the hospital. Helen asked her boss if she could get some time off but her request was denied. MEANING 6: To receive no punishment for a crime or wrongdoing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level ​C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To let off, to escape punishment Separable? Sometimes The next usage of 'get off' is one that we use specifically for criminals and it relates to the punishment that they receive for their crimes. If we want to say that a criminal avoids punishment completely or receives a punishment that is less severe than expected, we can use the phrasal verb 'get off' to express this. Here, the additional preposition 'with' is required to say what the lesser punishment is that the criminal receives. The murderer was found guilty in court but somehow got off with a sentence of 15 years instead of the recommended 25 years. It is also possible to use this form of 'get off' with the criminal as the direct object and normally a lawyer as the subject. We use this when we want to say that a criminal received a lesser punishment or no punishment at all due to the intervention of the lawyer. Roger is such a good lawyer; yesterday at the trial he managed to get the entire criminal gang off. Finally, I just want to make you aware of the expression 'to get off lightly', which means to receive a punishment that is less severe than expected or deserved. Photo: Pexels BONUS: More example sentences with 'get off' Get off the [noun] and give me a hand! Please get your hands off [noun]. Get off me! We need to get off the [public transport] here. I should be getting off now, it's late. I can't get my [item of clothing] off. I've got the day off today. Did you manage to get the week off for our holiday? He got off very lightly, in my opinion. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of part one of this article about the phrasal verb 'get off'. For the second part of this post, click here Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get 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