An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get up to' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago, I published a post all about the super common phrasal verb 'get up' (link here ). Originally, I wanted to include the different meanings of its variation 'get up to' in the same post, but whilst I was writing it, I decided that they should have their own page and here it is 😊 In this post, I will explain three different ways to use 'get up to' and provide you with lots of example sentences in context to help you to use it naturally in your English conversations. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get Up To - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'get', 'up' and 'to' Get Up To - Meaning 1: To physically reach a high point or position Get Up To - Meaning 2: To reach a certain point Get Up To - Meaning 3: To do something 🇬🇧 Get Up To - Bonus: Common expressions with 'get up to' Get Up To - Bonus: One final non phrasal verb meaning 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 UP TO: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Got up to / Got up to - Gotten up to Separable? Rarely As a starting point in my posts, I always like to consider the different meanings of the words that make up the phrasal verb that I am explaining; in this case it is the three extremely common words 'get', 'up' and 'to'. To keep things short, I will just focus on the combination 'up to' rather than the individual words 'up' and 'to', which I am certain you will all be very familiar with already. The verb 'to get' is our base verb in this construction and is one that most English learners find particularly difficult and frustrating since native speakers seem to use it in an infinite number of ways. While it is true that 'to get' has numerous meanings and is frequently used in informal English as a synonym for other verbs, the primary meaning to focus on for this post is 'to reach or arrive at a point or place'. Another key feature of the verb 'to get' that you should be aware of as we go through the different meanings is its use in describing states or situations that a person finds themselves in. I got home late last night. What time did you get here? Sarah got to work early yesterday to work on her emails. How do I get to the city centre? We need to get prepared for the show. I got lost walking through the city. Next, we have the combination of the prepositional particles 'up to', which has several different meanings in English, depending on the context. Perhaps the most common of its meanings is 'as far as' when referring distance or 'until' in reference to time. It can also be used to say that something depends on someone, that something is someone's decision and, more relevant for this post, that someone is engaged in an activity, especially when it is something that they should not be doing. You have up to one hour to solve this problem. It is up to you to speak to the management. What do you want to do? It is completely up to you as I can't make that decision. What are you up to? The kittens were up to no good in the laundry room. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'get up to'.... MEANING 1: To physically reach a high point or position Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To climb onto, to climb up to, to reach, to arrive at Separable? No The first application of 'get up to' that we will cover in this post is the most literal of its three meanings and is 'to physically reach a high point or position'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Top Summit Peak Roof Floor Loft / Attic This literal application is used in reference to when we physically move ourselves or climb from a low place to a high place, which is usually (but not always) the top of something. This usage is derived from the meaning 'to arrive at' that we have with the verb 'to get', in combination with the particle 'up' to mean a relatively higher place or away from the ground, giving us the idea of arriving high up. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE WITH 'GO UP TO'? When using the verb 'to get' to describe a movement to a place, the focus tends to be on the final destination and the point in time when you arrive there, whilst with 'go up' the focus tends to be more on the upward movement. However, we only tend to use 'go up' when the upward movement is easy and without problems. When we face problems or difficulties with the upward movement or if it is not possible, we use 'get up' instead. It is also therefore more common to use 'get up' rather than 'go up' in negative statement and questions. I managed to get up to the top of the mountain just before sunset. How did you get up to the roof without a ladder? The cat somehow got up to the highest branch of the tree. The hikers were not able to get up to the peak due to the steep terrain. Despite using a rope, John struggled to get up to the second-floor balcony. Lucy and Peter climbed for hours to get up to the summit. I would love to know how that squirrel got up to the attic! The workers used a crane to get up to the top of the building. MEANING 2: To reach a certain point Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reach, to make it to Separable? No The second application of 'get up to' is pretty similar to the first one but this time it simply means 'to reach a certain point'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Chapter Episode Bit / Part Point Unlike the first application, this one is not about physical upward movement but is used more for activities that we do over a period of time, which involve an element of progress from a starting point to an end point. We typically use it when we have started an activity but not finished it and we want to tell someone the latest or furthest point that we have reached. Common examples of this include reading a book, playing a video game and watching a movie or TV series; all of which take time to do and have defined start and end points. If you are reading a book and you have only read 5 chapters so far, you might say that you " have got up to chapter 5 ". Alternatively, if you are watching a TV series with a lot of seasons and episodes but you have only watched the first season, you might say that you " have got up to the end of the first season ". Rachel got up to chapter five in the book before she had to stop. I only got up to episode three of the series before I lost interest. Jamie got up to the first big boss in the video game but could not get past that point. I've only got up to the bit where the main character's brother dies, so don't give me any spoilers!! What bit of the book have you got up to? IT'S SO HOT TODAY!! In addition to the things that I have already mentioned, we can also use 'get up to' to describe numerical values and percentages that go up and down and in doing so, reach a certain level, price or quantity. Typically, this can include high temperatures, values of stocks & shares and prices but can also include things that we measure in numbers such as speed, website traffic and heart rates. We often use this application when a number or value has increased above a specified point, when there is something noteworthy or surprising about the increase or when there is a specified limit that we want the number to reach. Quite often, similar to the previous usage, our focus is on hitting the high point, rather than on the increase itself, for which we would tend to use 'go up' again. The temperature in London got up to 35°C yesterday. The company's profits got up to a record high this quarter. Laura's heart rate got up to 180 bpm during the intense workout. The price of gas got up to $5 per gallon last summer but luckily it dropped again soon after. The marathon runner’s pace got up to 20 km/h in the final stretch. The noise level in the stadium got up to 120 decibels. His bank balance got up to $10,000 after months of saving. The number of daily visitors to the website got up to 100,000 last week. His weight got up to 90 kilograms before he started dieting. The company's stock got up to $150 per share before dropping again. MEANING 3: To do something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To do, to be up to Separable? No The third and final meaning of 'get up to' is an informal British English usage and means 'to do something, often that is slightly bad or a bit naughty'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Mischief Tricks Antics Trouble Firstly, you should note that this is a really commonly used application in informal, everyday British English, so if you can master this and use it with any British friends or colleagues, it will sound great and very natural👌 To help you understand this application, I should first explain that it comes from the expression 'to be up to something', which means 'to do something, typically that is secretive or mischievous or that you should not be doing'. It is not always used for negative behaviour however, and in informal English, you will regularly hear questions such as " what are you up to ?" as an alternative to " what are you doing ?". What are you two up to in there? (this could be when you suspect that the people are doing something that they should not be doing?) I'm sure Jane is up to something, she is not acting normally and she can't look me in the eye. What are you up to this weekend? We use 'get up to' in very much the same way as we use 'be up to' and, in fact, it is just an alternative form of this. Again, we can use it both when we think that someone is misbehaving, being sneaky or doing something unusual and just as a simple and informal alternative to the verb 'to do'. You should note that it is commonly used in questions about what people did in the recent past, e.g. " what did you get up to at the weekend? ". The kids have been very quiet since lunch; I wonder what they’re getting up to. My puppy always gets up to some kind of mischief when left alone. I don’t know how they got up to so much trouble in just one afternoon. My friends and I used to get up to all sorts of adventures when we were younger. You won’t believe what Brian got up to while on vacation! My grandparents love hearing about what I’ve been getting up to at university. The cat got up to no good while we were out; just look at the mess! I don’t want to know what they got up to at the party last night! What did you get up to over the weekend? I didn't get up to much last week as I felt a bit tired. An expression that you may hear is 'to get up to no good', which is again the idea of doing something naughty or that you are not supposed to do. What are those children doing in there? I bet they are up to no good! My cats often get up to no good during the day when we are at work. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common idioms and expressions with 'get up to' There are several commonly used idioms and expressions that we can use with the phrasal verb 'to get up to'..... To get up to speed - As I explained earlier in the post, we can use 'to get up to speed' to mean to reach a certain speed describing movement, however there is also a more idiomatic meaning to make you aware of. It can also mean to obtain all of the most recent information about a subject or situation, particularly when you need to do something about it or make a decision. A less common alternative to this is ' to get up to date '. It took me a few days to get up to speed with the new software, but now I feel confident using it. Before the meeting, make sure you read the report so you can get up to speed on the latest developments. To get up to scratch - If we want to improve something so that it reaches an acceptable standard, we can say 'to get (it) up to scratch'. This is often used in reference to skills that we have or need to practice in order to improve. His work wasn’t acceptable to begin with, but after some training, he managed to get it up to scratch. I need to practice my French more if I want to get up to scratch before I go to Paris. Photo: Pexels BONUS: One final non-phrasal verb meaning Before finishing the post, I want to make you aware of another time that you may come across 'get up to' in English From time to time, you are likely to see sentences such as " Get up to 5% off your next purchase ." and " The criminal is likely to get up to 10 years in prison ." in English. In this sense, we have the idea that a person will receive something up to a maximum limit or point. This is not strictly a phrasal verb usage as 'get up to' is not considered one lexical unit here with 'get' and 'up to' being separate, but I wanted to make you aware of it nonetheless. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get up to'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get up to'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'keep down' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this post, I will be explaining the phrasal verb 'keep down' and four different ways that you can use it in your everyday English. I will provide you with lots of example sentences for each usage, from remaining in a low position to managing not to vomit when you are ill. So, without ado, let's make a start and hopefully you can learn something new about this useful phrasal verb! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Keep Down - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'keep' and 'down' Keep Down - Meaning 1: To remain in a low position Keep Down - Meaning 2: To keep a number or level low Keep Down - Bonus: Shhhh! Keep it Down! Keep Down - Meaning 3: To repress someone Keep Down - Meaning 4: To not vomit 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 KEEP DOWN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Kept down / Kept down Separable? Yes As a starting point in our exploration of the phrasal verb 'keep down', let's first consider the individual words 'keep' and 'down'. The base verb in our construction, 'to keep', is a common irregular verb with several main meanings in English. Perhaps the one that you will know best is 'to retain something in your possession' and from this we also get the idea of the second meaning, which is 'to hold something in a specific place'. Another key usage of the verb 'to keep' is 'to continue', in which case it is followed by a gerund to specify the continued activity. I told my brother that he could keep the book I had leant him. Joanne kept the letter from her father. Please keep the change! I keep a photograph of my parents next to my bed. Please keep this in mind for the future. I keep forgetting my colleague's name. Why do you keep asking me the same question? The prepositional particle 'down' is one that you will all know as a word that generally denotes a downward movement or decrease of sorts and these meanings can often be reflected in phrasal verb constructions ( go down , slow down). In addition to this, when 'down' is included in phrasal verbs, it can also add the ideas of suppression (hold down), recording (write down) and finality (close down), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the main meanings of the phrasal verb 'keep down'.... MEANING 1: To remain in a low position Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To lie low, to stay down Separable? No Let's begin the meanings of 'keep down' with the one that is closest to a literal meaning of the two words combined, which is 'to remain in a low position'. The meaning of this application is simply derived from combining the idea of remaining or staying that we get from the verb 'to keep' with the idea of being in a downward or low position. Situations in which this application is used.... Playing games that involve hiding Military action We only use this application to talk about being physically in a low position with our bodies. For this reason, it tends only to be used in reference to when we want to stay down because we are hiding somewhere and do not want other people to see us. As such, this is commonly heard in reference to soldiers and the military when fighting wars and, on a lighter note, when we are playing a game that involves hiding from other people. As we are talking about just our own bodies here, there is no direct object with this application and therefore it is not separable unless you use it with a reflexive 'self pronoun, which is not particularly common to do. The verb 'to keep' is often used to form imperatives (to tell people what to do) and you may often hear this first application in use to tell people to stay in a low position that they have adopted. Keep down or they'll see us hiding behind the bushes! The soldiers were told to keep down to avoid enemy fire. If you keep down, you’ll have a better chance of staying out of sight. The shopkeeper had to keep down behind the counter while the armed robbers were in the store. We should keep down until the coast is clear. MEANING 2: To keep a number or level low Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To hold, to limit, to curb, to restrict, to check, to rein in Separable? Yes In the previous section, we looked at the idea of remaining in a low position to avoid being seen or detected and in this second application, we are again talking about something remaining low, however this time it is numbers, quantities and levels instead of our physical bodies. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Numbers / Quantities Level Noise Costs / Prices Inflation You will note from the list above that this application is primarily used with nouns for things that we can control and therefore make increase or decrease. To clarify, if we keep something down, then we control it and do not allow it to rise or increase as we want the level to stay low. To give you some examples of this, governments around the world are constantly trying to keep economic inflation down and if you are getting married, you may want to keep the number of guests down and not invite a large number of people in order to save some money. Grammatically speaking, this usage does take a direct object, which is the thing that we want to prevent from increasing or going up and it is therefore separable. I think in this case, we tend to use it separably slightly more than inseparably but both are fine to use and the meaning is the same either way. We need to keep costs down if we want to stay within budget. Regular exercise and a healthy diet help to keep cholesterol levels down. The government is trying to keep down inflation through new economic policies. Drinking plenty of water can help keep your body temperature down in hot weather. The company introduced new policies to keep employee turnover down. The family installed insulation to keep down heating costs during the winter. The doctor advised Sarah to avoid salty foods to keep her blood pressure down. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Shhhhh! Keep it down! One other common way to use this application is with noise levels, particularly when you want people to be quiet. In this case, it would be normal to ask them to "keep the noise down". A variation of this is "keep it down" and as mentioned previously, this is often used in an imperative form, especially as the person requesting the quietness often tends to be angry or annoyed....I think we have all had moments like that. He spoke quietly to keep the noise down and not disturb the others. I am just going for a nap, so could please keep the noise down in here. Shhhh! Keep it down! I am trying to revise for my exam. Can you keep it down please?! You sound like a herd of elephants! MEANING 3: To repress someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To repress, to suppress, to restrain, to control, to subject Separable? Yes For our third application of 'keep down', we are turning our attention to something unpleasant that happens all over the world as it means 'to repress someone'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Person / People Group Firstly, if you are not familiar with the verb 'to repress', it means to not allow something to be expressed and would typically be used with words, emotions and feelings. When used in reference to people, it means to control them and restrict their freedom, so that they have less than others and are not able to progress or improve their lives. This can either be just one or two people or a whole group within society. With this definition in mind, I think that it is fair to say that within all human social structures across the globe, people are repressed or 'kept down' in some way. In other words, many people are controlled and therefore not always allowed to express themselves freely or live how they wish. Of course, this does not apply to everyone but I think elements of this are present everywhere to a greater or lesser degree. For this usage, we are thinking of society in terms of a hierarchy, with the most powerful people at the top and the less powerful 'kept down' at the bottom, without being given the opportunity to rise up the hierarchy to the top. As such, you will often hear this application in use to refer to governments, leaders and political regimes. The dictator used fear and violence to keep political opposition down. Unfair laws were designed to keep down certain groups in society. The strict school rules were meant to keep down any form of rebellion among students. The oppressive regime worked hard to keep down the voices of dissent. Corrupt leaders often try to keep down the poor to maintain their power. The ruling class imposed heavy taxes to keep down the lower classes. John refused to let anyone keep him down and fought for his rights. The media was censored to keep any criticism of the government down. The government introduced harsh measures to keep down the workers demanding fair wages. In addition to people and groups of people, we can also use this application of 'keep down' to talk about repressing emotions and reactions that come from our emotions. Typically, this is when we feel the emotion inside us but we refuse to express it publicly and keep it inside. Ellie struggled to keep down her anger during the argument. Ben took a deep breath to keep his frustration down and stay calm. Luke tried to keep his excitement down, but his smile gave him away. Despite the bad news, Sally managed to keep down her disappointment and stay composed. MEANING 4: To not vomit Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To not vomit Separable? Yes Now we move on to our fourth and final meaning of 'keep down', which is 'to not vomit' and as you can guess, it is all about being in ill health. Nouns commonly used with this expression.... Food Drink Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner Liquid When someone is ill, specifically with a stomach bug or perhaps because he or she has drunk too much alcohol, vomiting is one of the main symptoms. Annoyingly, when we have a bad stomach, it tends to last for a while and does not usually go away immediately, meaning that we will vomit several or sometimes many times. During these periods, we are not able to hold any food or drink that we consume in our stomachs and when this happens, we can say that "we cannot keep food or drink down". The idea here is that when we eat something, we swallow it and it moves down to our stomach and normally stays there. When we then combine this idea of 'holding' that we get from the verb 'to keep', this idea of being able to hold something in our stomachs is derived. Again, this final usage is separable and takes a direct object, which is the food or drink that we are trying to keep down in our stomach. Sam was so sick that she could barely keep down a sip of water. After the surgery, Terry struggled to keep down any solid food. Jeremy felt awful after the boat ride but managed to keep his lunch down and didn't vomit. The medication helped her keep down her meals without feeling queasy. 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 'keep 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 'keep 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 'show 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 post is all about the phrasal verb 'show off', which is a fantastic phrasal verb for those of you who love to impress other people with your skills and your achievements. In this post, I will explore three different ways to use this common phrasal verb and will provide you with lots of example sentences to show you how they are used by native speakers to help your English sound nice and natural. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Show Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'show' and 'off' Show Off - Meaning 1: To show people something that you are proud of Show Off - Meaning 2: To seek admiration and attention Show Off - Bonus: The noun 'show-off' Show Off - Meaning 3: To emphasise your best features 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 SHOW OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Showed off / Shown off Separable? Sometimes Before we look at the meanings of 'show off' as a phrasal verb, let's first consider what the words 'show' and 'off' mean as separate lexical units. The verb 'to show' is a common irregular verb in English, which in its most basic form means to present or display something for people to look at or watch. Moreover, it can also be used to mean to demonstrate how to do something, to prove something and to express feelings and ideas. I showed a picture of my children. John showed his wife the new car that he had bought. Don't show me that video; I don't want to see it. Can you show me how to change a lightbulb? The results of the test showed that her cancer had gone away. People find it difficult to show their emotions in public. The prepositional particle 'off' is a very common inclusion in phrasal verb constructions and can convey a variety of different meanings. Some of the most notable of these are departure ( set off ), decrease (wear off), separation (take off ) and completion (pay off). Additionally, 'off' can be used in some phrasal verbs to convey the idea of attracting attention, which is the category that 'show off' falls into. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'show off'.... MEANING 1: To show people something that you are proud of Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To show, to display, to demonstrate, to flaunt Separable? Yes Our first meaning of 'show off' is one that we all do from time to time and that is to show people something that we are proud of. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Car House Haircut Skills Items of clothing Humans are social animals and as such, we all (or most of us) need a supportive network of people who love and care for us. We are also naturally pre-programmed to seek validation and approval from those people around us. One of the ways that we do this is by showing them something that we own or that we have done that we are proud of and for this action we can use the phrasal verb 'show off'. When we use this application of 'show off', we are essentially making something visible or obvious to the people around us to attract their attention, so that they will admire it and say nice things, giving is that validation that we often need in the process. On a grammatical note, this usage of 'show off' takes a direct object and is therefore separable. The direct object is the thing that we are showing off and can either be placed between 'show' and 'off' or after them, with no difference to the meaning. Susan bought a new dress and couldn't wait to show it off at the party. Tim loves showing his expensive watch off whenever he meets new people. The artist proudly showed his latest painting off to the guests. Sarah got a new haircut and kept flipping her hair to show it off. The kids were excited to show off their science projects at the school fair. Adam speaks fluent French and Spanish and loves showing off his language skills to impress his dates. The chef showed his culinary skills off by preparing an elaborate five-course meal. The gymnast performed an impressive routine to show off her flexibility. Ryan took off his jacket to show his muscular arms off. MEANING 2: To seek admiration and attention Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To flaunt, to boast, to brag, to crow, to gloat Separable? No Our second application of 'show off' is really just a variation of the previous one that we looked at and just means to seek admiration and attention. Grammatically, there is a key difference with the previous application because this time we do not have a direct object. Thus, if we say that a person is 'showing off', then they are trying to draw attention and admiration towards themselves instead of an object or a skill that they possess. In addition to this, the other main difference between this application and the first is that this one is quite negative in nature and is usually used as a criticism of somebody. The reason for this is that when people are showing off, they are consciously and obviously trying to impress people, which I think many people (including myself) find annoying and irritating. John always shows off when there's a crowd around. Stop showing off; we all know you're good at basketball! Victoria kept showing off in class by answering every question before anyone else had a chance. Carl was showing off at the gym, lifting heavier weights than necessary just to impress people. Instead of being humble about his promotion, Richard just kept showing off. The actor couldn’t resist showing off on stage with unnecessary dramatic gestures. Pete showed off by doing fancy tricks on his skateboard. The student kept showing off by using big words to try and sound more intelligent. STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD! This application of 'show off' is often associated with children and young people as it is something that they often do when they are misbehaving. This is perhaps a combination of being bored and not having fully developed social skills, meaning that they seek attention from the people around them by being loud, cheeky or boisterous. The little boy loves to show off whenever guests come over. Kevin's young daughter started showing off by singing loudly, even though no one asked her to. Calm down and stop showing off! If you carry on, you will be sent to your room. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'show-off' I think you can probably guess the meaning of the noun 'show-off' based on the application that we have just looked at but if not, let me clarify. A show-off is a person who has a tendency to show off all the time to try and impress people and always be the centre of attention. Like with the phrasal verb application, this noun is pejorative in nature and is normally used as mild criticism of someone. Jake is such a show-off; he is always bragging about his expensive gadgets. No one likes a show-off, so try to be more humble. Emma’s a real show-off when it comes to dancing; she loves being the centre of attention. That child is a total show-off, always trying to impress the teacher. MEANING 3: To emphasise your best features Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To emphasise, to accentuate Separable? Yes Our third and final application of the phrasal verb 'show off' is another one that is used to talk about impressing people and this time it means 'to emphasise your best features'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Looks Eyes Figure Legs Suntan As you can see from the list above, we use this application of 'show off' mainly to talk about body parts, specifically those that are visible to other people. When we show these particular bodily features off, we are doing something to make them seem obvious, therefore making us look more attractive as a result. For example, a woman with a body shape that she is proud of may put on a dress that makes it more more evident to people, so that people find her sexier; in this case, we would say that the dress "shows off her figure". Alternatively, if you go on holiday and get a suntan and you want other people to see it, you might wear clothes that reveal lots of your tanned skin when you come home as you want to "show off your tan"(British people do this a lot). Like with the first application, this usage is separable and takes a direct object, which is the part of the body that you want to show off. Kim wore a sleeveless dress to show off her toned arms. Jake styled his hair differently to show his new haircut off. The model wore a high-slit gown to show off her long legs. Claire smiled brightly to show off her perfect teeth. Joseph unbuttoned the top of his shirt to show off his muscular chest. Lucy chose a backless dress to show off her smooth skin. The princess wore high heels to show off her posture and curves. The athlete wore a fitted jersey to show off his strong physique. Paul took off his jacket to show off his broad shoulders. 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 'show 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 'show 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 'shake 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. In this post, I am shaking things up and explaining the phrasal verb 'shake up'. As you will learn in the post, I'm not really shaking things up as I am keeping my usual format but I just wanted an excuse to use it. So, how well do you know this fairly informal phrasal verb and its three different meanings? If you don't know them all, then don't worry as I will talk you through each one and give you lots of example sentences to aid your understanding. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Shake Up - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'shake' and 'up' Shake Up - Meaning 1: To shake something in order to mix it Shake Up - Meaning 2: To make big changes to something Shake Up - Bonus: The noun 'shake-up' Shake Up - Meaning 3: To make someone feel scared or shocked 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 SHAKE UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Shook up / Shaken up Separable? Yes Before we get into the different meanings of 'shake up', let's first take a moment to consider the individual words 'shake' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. The verb 'to shake' is a fairly common irregular English verb that primarily means to move quickly up and down or from side to side with short, often forceful, movements. It can be used transitively with a direct object (you can shake something) or intransitively without a direct object (something shakes) and it can be used to talk about both objects and people. In addition to this first meaning, 'to shake' can also be used to mean to get rid of something and to make something less certain or sure. I shook my husband to wake him up. The speaker was very nervous during his speech and you could see that his hands were shaking. The CEO's shook hands before the meeting started. The whole house started to shake during the earthquake. I have had a cough for weeks and I can't shake it. My trust in my friends was shaken when I learned about their lies. The prepositional particle 'up' is an extremely frequent constituent part of phrasal verbs and can be used to denote an upwards movement or an increase of some sort (go up , move up) to phrasal verb constructions. Moreover, it can also add the ideas of change ( give up ), preparation ( set up ), completion (eat up) and collection (gather up), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'shake up'.... MEANING 1: To shake something in order to mix it Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To shake, to agitate Separable? Yes The first of our meanings of 'shake up' is the one that is closest in meaning to its base verb as it simply means 'to shake something in order to mix it'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Cocktail Bottle Ingredients Contents This application is in fact very similar to the meaning of the verb 'to shake' and can in some cases be used as a direct synonym of it. However, 'shake up' is normally used to talk about things that are made up of different components and when we shake them up, all of these different components within it move around and mix together. This is usually done to prepare something in order for us to be able to use or consume it. For clarity, just using the verb 'to shake' here would often not be as clear enough as it would simply signify that you were shaking something, without the intention of mixing the items together. For example, if I am making a cocktail, then I would tend to use 'shake up' to refer to the action of mixing all of the ingredients together instead of 'shake'. Conversely, I might shake a bag to make sure that no contents remain inside it and in this case 'shake up' would sound incorrect as my intention is to empty the bag and not mix the contents of the bag together. Moreover, we would not use 'shake up' for a solid object that has nothing within it to mix together, for example if you wanted to shake a cushion to remove the dust, 'shake off' would not work. Gramatically speaking, this usage is separable and is used both ways by native speakers. Before drinking the juice, make sure to shake up the bottle to mix the pulp. Roger shook the salad dressing up in order to blend the oil and vinegar properly. You need to shake the paint up before using it to ensure an even colour. Lisa shook up the protein shake to dissolve the powder completely. The pharmacist told the patient to shake up the medicine bottle before taking a dose. MEANING 2: To make big changes to something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reorganise, to reshuffle, to restructure, to overhaul, to reform Separable? Yes Let's move on to the second meaning of 'shake up' now, which is 'to make big changes to something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Organisation System Structure Institution Things Just as in the first application that we looked at where we shake something up in order to change or improve it, this second application is also used to express this same idea, however instead of liquids and ingredients, this time it is organisations. To clarify, 'to shake something up' in this sense means to make important and often drastic changes to an organisation, usually with the aim of making it more efficient and successful. Furthermore, I should highlight that when we use this, we are talking about major and often radical changes to how something is organised or run. It will probably come as no surprise to you to learn that this is one that you will often hear in business English. An expression that is quite common to hear when using this application (and one that you may noted that I used at the start of the post) is "to shake things up". On a grammatical level, as with the first application, this one is also separable and native speakers will use it both separably and inseparably, without any change in the meaning. The new CEO plans to shake up the company by introducing a more flexible work culture. The government is set to shake the education system up with major curriculum reforms. The football club's management decided to shake up their approach to coaching after a disappointing season. A major merger this year is expected to shake up the entire banking industry. The director’s bold new vision has shaken the film industry up, challenging traditional storytelling methods. This startup aims to shake up the tech world with its innovative approach to artificial intelligence. In a bid to boost efficiency, the hospital administration is planning to shake up its management team. The controversial policy changes have shaken the healthcare sector up, leaving many professionals uncertain about the future. We have looked at how the company has been run for the past few years and can see that we need to shake things up if we want to stay in business. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'shake-up' As is often the case with phrasal verbs that describe common actions, there is often a noun that accompanies them to give a name to the action. In this case, we have the noun 'shake-up' (or shakeup in American English), which means a significant change in the way that something is organised or structured. This noun form can be used in any of the situations in which you use the phrasal verb application. The company is undergoing a major shake-up in its management team to improve efficiency. The government announced a shake-up of the education system to modernise teaching methods. After a series of poor performances, the football club underwent a team shake-up ahead of the new season. The tech industry is experiencing a shake-up due to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. MEANING 3: To make someone feel scared or shocked Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To upset, to shock Separable? Always The third and final application of 'shake up' is one that we apply to people and means 'to make someone feel scared or shocked'. Most people are lucky enough to live generally safe and stable lives, in which we can be calm and composed the majority of the time. Life is unpredictable though and we all go through negative experiences from time to time, which can make us feel scared, upset or shocked. When this happens, we can say that the experience has "shaken us up". To put it another way, if something shakes you up, it removes the feeling of calmness and composure that you normally have and replaces it with feelings of shock and fear, meaning that you cannot think clearly or calmly. For example, this may happen if you are ever the victim of a crime, are involved in a car accident or learn some news about the death of a loved one. On a grammatical note, while we can use this application in the active voice, with the negative experience shaking the person up, it is most commonly used in the passive sense to say that a person is shaken up after going through something unpleasant or horrible. The murder shook up the residents of the area, making them fear that others would be killed. Witnessing the robbery shook up the shop assistant and she struggled to speak to the police. The train passengers were really shaken up by the accident. The entire office was shaken up by the news of the CEO's sudden resignation. The audience was shaken up by the terrifying scenes in the horror movie. Claire was deeply shaken up after seeing her childhood home destroyed in the fire. Peter was shaken up by the tragic news of his friend’s death. 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 'shake up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'shake up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'play out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'play out', which is a lesser known phrasal verb with a surprising number of meanings. In the post, I will cover all of the meanings that it has in everyday English and provide you with lots of example sentences in context to help you understand when to use them. So, read on to find out more about this mysterious but useful little phrasal verb.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Play Out - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'play' and 'out' Play Out - Meaning 1: Literal Play Out - Meaning 2: To develop in a specific way and reach a conclusion 🇬🇧 Play Out - Meaning 3: To do something until the end Play Out - Meaning 4: To pretend a situation is happening Play Out - Meaning 5: To feed a rope or a cord Play Out - Meaning 6: To use something until there is none left Play Out - Bonus: The adjective 'played out' Play Out - Meaning 7: To play the end music of something I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS PLAY OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 7 Past tense forms Played out / Played out Separable? Sometimes As is customary on Phrasal Verbs Explained, we'll begin our analysis of the phrasal verb 'play out' by considering the meanings of the words 'play' and 'out'. Our base verb in this phrasal verb construction is 'to play', which is an extremely common regular verb in English that primarily means to spend time doing something fun or recreational and is typically used in reference to sport and games. In addition to this meaning, the verb 'to play' is also used to refer to performing a role or acting and using a musical instrument to make music. When I was younger, I used to play with the other children from my street. John plays football every Saturday. Can you play chess? My nephew spends all day playing video games. The actor plays the lead role in this Hollywood movie. I learned to play the piano when I was a child. The second word in our phrasal verb construction 'out' is one that you will know very well as it is extremely common. It mainly functions as a preposition and adverb but also exists as an adjective, verb and noun. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'out' can convey meanings related to the ideas of revelation (find out), expansion (spread out), removal ( cut out ) and conclusion ( run out ). This latter usage is very relevant to some of the meanings of 'play out' that we will cover shortly. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at he different meanings of the phrasal verb 'play out'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To play Separable? No We'll begin our exploration of the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'play out' with the most straightforward one, which is the literal interpretation of the combination of the two words, namely 'to play outside'. This application is used specifically for children, who typically spend a lot of time playing with their friends rather than working and earning money. It is used to talk about when they play somewhere outside, such as the street, a garden, a park or cycling around on bicycles. Essentially, it covers any form of free play that does not occur inside a house or place of residence. I used to spend a lot of time in my childhood playing out with my friends and I have very fond memories of those times, however I feel like children don't play out so much these days since they always seem to be in the house playing video games etc. Is it the same in your country? Let me know in the comments; I would love to read your thoughts! As children, we loved to play out in the park until it got dark. It’s a beautiful day; why don’t you play out in the garden for a while? When we were kids, we used to play out in the street with our neighbours every evening. The teacher allowed the students to play out in the schoolyard during their break. Kath told her son to play out for an hour instead of staying inside with his video games. MEANING 2: To develop in a specific way and reach a conclusion Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To turn out, to unfold, to happen, to develop, to occur, to take place, to come about, to conclude, to end, to finish Separable? No The second application of 'play out' is an idiomatic usage that means 'to develop in a specific way and reach a conclusion' and I would say that this is the most common of all of its different meanings in everyday English. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Drama / Crisis Argument Story / Tale Court case Scene Events Negotiations You may have noted from the list above that this application of 'play out' is used with nouns for stories and things that develop and change over time, rather than for nouns for constant or unchanging things. This is because we use this application of 'play out' for human situations which change and develop over time until they come to a natural end. Most of the time, we use this application when there is a current or ongoing situation between different people, groups or countries, which may be political, social or economic. As we are not able to predict the future, we do not know how the situation will develop or unfold over time or how it will end or 'play out'. Moreover, we tend not to use it if we are an active participant in the situation with the power to change the outcome; it is more of a passive thing, a bit like you are watching a show or play at a theatre. We don’t know how the negotiations will play out yet, but we’re hoping for a positive outcome. Let’s wait and see how things play out before we make any drastic decisions. The drama between the two politicians played out on live television. No one could have predicted how the situation would play out in the end. The crisis played out over several weeks, with new developments emerging every day. Simon and Suzanne's argument played out in front of everyone at the party, making things really awkward. The detective watched the events play out from a distance, waiting for the right moment to step in. History has a way of playing out in cycles, with similar patterns repeating over time. Their relationship played out like a classic love story, full of ups and downs. The war played out over several years, reshaping the entire region. Additionally, we can use 'play out' in this way to talk about scenes or situations that happen on a large scale in multiple places. It is the same scene that plays out on Christmas Day morning up and down the country every year. You know that when the England Football teams wins a game, the same scene is played out in pubs and living rooms everywhere. MEANING 3: To do something until the end Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To finish, to see through Separable? Yes Our third usage of 'play out' combines elements of the first two meanings that we have covered so far and means 'to do something to completion'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Game Match Song Project This application is typically used for games and things that we can play and it refers to when we continue playing or doing what we are doing until the end. Oftentimes, a decision whether or not to continue playing until the end (play it out) needs to be made. For example, a football team manager may decide to play a game until the end of the 90-minute period or a project manager might decide to continue working on a project until the end rather than cancelling it. In both of these instances, 'play out' can be used to refer to the continuation to the end. On a grammatical note, this usage is separable and therefore takes a direct object, which can either go between 'play' and 'out' or after them. Despite the injury, the goalkeeper decided to play out the rest of the match. The actors played the final scene of the show out with great emotion. Instead of quitting halfway, we should just play the project out and see where it takes us. The team had no chance of winning the game, but they still chose to play it out with full effort. The band played out their last song before leaving the stage. MEANING 4: To pretend a situation is happening Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To act out, to recreate, to enact, to reenact Separable? Yes Do any of you enjoy acting and amateur dramatics? If so, this next usage of 'play out' could be a very useful one for you as it means 'to pretend a situation is happening'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Fantasy / Dream / Feeling / Imagination Scenario Scene Game To give you a bit more clarification on this, when I say "to pretend a situation is happening", what I mean is that you act like the situation is really taking place. With this application, there are two different scenarios that we can use it in. The first of these is that you are an actor or actress playing a role in a show or a movie. Quite simply, if you play out a scene then you perform it by acting. Alternatively, as an acting professional, it is vital that you prepare and rehearse and this may involve playing out different scenes and scenarios in preparation for this. For this first scenario, I should say here that the phrasal verb 'act out' is more common to use than 'play out' and there is no difference in meaning between the two here. The actors played out a dramatic argument to rehearse for their upcoming performance. We decided to play out some scenes from Romeo & Juliet. The second scenario, which you're more likely to encounter, involves simulating situations in order to train or practise for something. This usage can range across many different areas of life, such as the military playing out specific scenarios to improve and perfect their strategies, office workers playing out telephone calls or business situations as job training and children playing out pretend adventures as part of their games. Personally, I really like to do role plays with my students where we can play out different scenarios in which they can practice their English in new ways and it is highly effective. The children played out a pirate adventure in the garden. In training, the firefighters played out different emergency scenarios to prepare for real-life situations. During the negotiation exercise, the office workers played out a scenario where one side refused to compromise. The French teacher asked her students to play out a conversation between a customer and a shopkeeper. The military played out a possible attack scenario to test their defence strategies. The kids played out a hospital scene, pretending to be doctors and patients. The role-playing exercise allowed employees to play out potential conflicts and find solutions. They played out the scene as if they were in a real courtroom trial. One other time that you may hear this application in use is when referring to people in therapy who see mental health professionals. As part of their therapy, they may be asked to play out their dreams, imagination or feelings. MEANING 5: To feed a rope or a cord Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To feed through, to feed, to unwind, to uncoil Separable? Yes Our next application of 'play out' is a rarer meaning that is used only in very specific situations and it is 'to feed rope or cord'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Rope Cord String Wire Cable Hose String wound around a coil. Photo: Pexels For this meaning, we are solely concerned with long, thin items that can be wound into a coil or wrapped around something (like in this picture). This includes ropes that climbers and abseilers use, garden hoses and electrical wires. When you play out one of these long items, you unwind it to allow more of the item to be used, reducing the amount of it that is wrapped in the coil. For example, if you are abseiling down the side of a building, someone will need to stand on the roof of the building to play out the rope to enable you to move down towards the ground ( have never done it as I would be too scared). This is not a particularly common usage and certainly not one that you will need in everyday English unless you are a keen climber or abseiler of course! The sailor played out the rope slowly as the boat drifted away from the dock. The rescue team carefully played the cable out while lowering the stretcher down the cliffside. He played the fishing line out, hoping to catch something big. As the anchor dropped, they played out the chain to ensure it reached the seabed. The rock climber played the rope out steadily to keep his partner secure. The kite flew higher as the child played out more string. The diver signalled to his partner on the boat to play out more air hose as he descended deeper. MEANING 6: To use something until there is none left Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To use up, to run out of, to sell out Separable? No This sixth and penultimate application of 'play out' is another rare one, which means to use something until there is none of it left. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Energy Luck Resources We use this application primarily to say that something we have, either within us (like energy or patience) or outside of us (like food or petrol), has become depleted. Commonly, this is used in the passive voice to say that none of something remains or that the resource from which we obtain something stops providing what we need. For my part, I would be much more inclined to use another phrasal verb such as run out (link here ) or use up in this instance but it is always good to be aware of this in case you hear it or read it somewhere. The miners continued working until the gold was completely played out. John's luck finally played out, and they lost the last of their savings in the gamble. The land had been farmed for generations, but eventually, the soil played out and became barren. After years of overfishing, the once-thriving fishing grounds had played out and no more fish could be caught there. Robert's energy finally played out, and he collapsed from exhaustion. The oil well was productive for decades, but it eventually played out, causing the company to go bankrupt. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The adjective 'played out' There is also an adjective that is linked to this sixth application of 'play out' that I want to make you aware of. If you describe something as "played out", it means that it is old, tired or no longer has the power or energy that it once had. Typical examples of this could be in reference to a person who is extremely tired and lacking energy, either temporarily or permanently due to old age, to policies and ideas that people consider to be old and cliché and the lack of power of a country to influence others that was previously very important and influential. Louise's jokes about millennials being lazy are played out; it’s time to move on. That reality TV show was entertaining at first, but now it’s just played out. The band’s new album sounds exactly like their last three; their style is getting played out. MEANING 7: To play the end music of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To close out Separable? Sometimes I've left this seventh application of 'play out' to last as it is a rather appropriate one for ending the post due to its meaning, which is 'to play the end music of something'. Again, this is a rarer meaning that you will probably only ever come across on television shows and radio broadcasts. If someone plays out a show in this sense, it means that they they play a song at the end of the show, which serves typically as the last part of it. On television shows, the music would be played to accompany the end credits. Typically, the structure 'to play us out is....' is used by the presenter of the show. The host thanked the audience, and the theme song played out to close the show. The live concert played out with a heartfelt ballad as the crowd cheered. The radio show always plays out with the same iconic jazz tune. Now, to play us out, please give a round of applause to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'play out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'play out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get 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. On this website, I have written posts about more than 100 different phrasal verbs in English and now I've finally arrived at the one which combines potentially the most frequently used base verb in phrasal verb constructions 'to get' with the most common prepositional particle 'up'. In this post, I will explain all of the different meanings of the wonderful phrasal verb 'get up', some of which I am sure most of you will know already. I will provide you with lots of examples to illustrate how each one is used, enabling you to use it like a native speaker. Do you know all of the meanings already? Let's make a start and find out.... One point to make before starting is that I have not included any meanings of the phrasal verb construction of 'get up to' in this post. As 'get up to' has numerous different meanings, I have decided to dedicate a separate post to it, which you can find on this link here . TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get Up - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'get' and 'up' Get Up - Meaning 1: To rise from your bed Get Up - Meaning 2: To stand from a lying or sitting position Get Up - Meaning 3: To move from the bottom of something to the top Get Up - Meaning 4: To generate something Get Up - Meaning 5: To become stronger Get Up - Meaning 6: To be dressed as something 🇬🇧 Get Up - Meaning 7: To prepare or organise 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 UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 7 Past tense forms Got up / Got up - Gotten up Separable? Sometimes Before we start looking at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'get up', let's first quickly consider the meanings of the two words that form it: the verb 'to get' and the prepositional particle 'up'. The verb 'to get' is an extremely common verb in the English language that has a large variety of different meanings and applications, which can often seem confusing to English learners. In addition to its various uses, it also functions as an auxiliary (helper) verb to form the passive voice. Two of its key meanings that are relevant for this post are 'to arrive' and 'to receive'. What time did you get home last night? The train got to the station on time. What did you get for you birthday? Sam didn't get any emails yesterday. John got his hair cut at the local barbers. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', which you will all know very well. 'Up' functions as the natural opposite of 'down' and is used to indicate both upward movement and increases. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'up' can add different ideas, which include preparation ( set up ), vertical movement ( stand up ), intensification (speed up), stopping ( give up ) and creation ( make up ), among others. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'get up'.... MEANING 1: To rise from your bed Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To rise, to wake up Separable? Sometimes Some of us love it and some of us hate it but for most of us, one of the first things that we do each day is to get up. In other words, to rise from bed after sleeping, which is the first meaning that we will cover in the post. This application is typically used when we talk about leaving our nice, warm beds, standing up on two feet and beginning our day, whatever we plan to do with it. Do not get this confused with 'wake up', which means to stop sleeping and become awake.  Although the two are closely related, with getting up often occurring shortly after waking up, their meanings are generally distinct. For example, it is common for many people at the weekend to wake up and then lie in bed for a period of time reading or drinking coffee before getting up. Teenagers, are renowned for lying in bed for a long time and not getting up until lunchtime. I get up at 5am every morning to do yoga. What time did you get up this morning? I do not plan to get up early tomorrow, so please let me sleep. Sarah got up at 3am to take her boyfriend to the airport. Lisa is very lazy. She lies in bed all morning snoozing or watching TV and doesn't normally get up until midday. This usage of 'get up' is not restricted to just when we start our day and it can in fact be applied anytime you leave your bed following a period of sleeping, such as after an afternoon nap or a siesta. I had to get up several times during the night as my daughter wsa having nightmares. Jane got up after her afternoon nap and felt refreshed. So far, I have only explained how we use the intransitive form of 'get up' (without a direct object). However, you should know that it can also be used transitively with a direct object, in which case the structure is 'to get someone up'. If you get someone up, it simply means that you make them or cause them to get out of their bed which may or may not involve waking them up too. For example, you may need to get your husband or wife up if they forget to set an alarm, or a teenager may need to get their parents up if they have lost their house key and it is late at night (I may have done that myself in the distant past 🤦🏻). For this transitive usage, you must place a pronoun or person's name between 'get' and 'up' since placing it afterwards will sound incorrect. Sue gets her kids up at six every morning for school. Can you get Alan up? He’s going to be late for work. The nurse got the patient up early to begin his physical therapy. My Dad always got us up with loud rock music on Sunday mornings. Eleanor struggled to get her teenage son up for his morning classes. MEANING 2: To stand from a lying or sitting position Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stand up, to rise Separable? Sometimes This second meaning of 'get up' is one that sometimes causes confusion for English learners when comparing it to the first meaning that we have just looked at as it simply means 'to rise from a sitting or a lying position'. You may have already guessed it, but this application means the same as the phrasal verb 'stand up' and is simply used as another way to describe when a person rises to their feet so that they are standing in an upright position. It is a particularly good one to use when you want someone to stop being lazy or to do something. Roger got up from the chair and walked to the door. As soon as the princess entered the room, everyone got up to greet her out of respect. I fell down, but I quickly got up and kept on running. The old man struggled to get up from the sofa. Emma got up to make an announcement. Paul got up and offered his seat on the bus to the pregnant woman. I told my husband to get up and help me with the groceries. Get up and give me a hand with this and stop being so lazy! Like with the previous application, we can also use this transitively (with a direct object) and this is usually when someone is not able to get up on their own and needs someone to help them. Again, the person's name or pronoun must go between 'get' and 'up' here. Elaine got her father up off the ground after he fell. Simon gently got his girlfriend up from the chair and led her to the dance floor. The paramedic got the injured man up and helped him to the ambulance. Martin quickly got his friend up after he tripped over the cat. You may have also heard 'get up' used sometimes in English language dance music, particularly in older songs and this is usually a call for people to get up out of their seats and start dancing! MEANING 3: To move from the bottom of something to the top Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To go up, to climb up, to ascend Separable? Sometimes The idea of upwards movement that we get from the prepositional particle 'up' is integral to the next meaning of 'go up' that we will cover, which is simply 'to move from the bottom of something to the top'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Hill / Mountain Slope Stairs / Steps / Staircase Road / Street Ladder IS THIS NOT THE SAME AS 'GO UP'? Yes and no. Although 'get up' and 'go up' essentially mean the same thing here, i.e. moving up from the bottom of something to the top, you should note that they are used in different circumstances. We tend to use 'get up' when there is a problem, difficulty or element of surprise involved with the upwards movement. As such, it tends to be used in negative statements and questions. 'Go up', on the other hand, is used more when referring to a general upwards movement to the top of something or when there are no problems or issues in doing so. Jack managed to get up the mountain before sunset. Becky got up the ladder carefully, step by step. I don’t know how he got up that steep rock face without any ropes. John and Sam's could not get up the hill in their car due to the snow. The hikers struggled to get up the rocky slope. Mary got up the stairs, despite her injured leg. How did you get up here? You weren't on the guest list! A couple of other nouns that you may have noticed in the list of commonly used nouns above are 'street' and 'road'. This may seem strange to you as many of these are flat with no upwards movement possible, however you should know that it is very common in English to use both 'up' and 'down' when referring to a movement along a road (I've no idea why!). There is a police barrier in place and you can't get up the street. Did you manage to get up the road ok? Lastly, we can also use this application of 'get up' to refer to the finished action of climbing or ascending something and for this we need the extra preposition 'on', giving us the construction 'to get up on something'. When using this alternative form, we are not focussing on the movement action so much but rather the final result of being in the higher position. Note that this tends to be used more with smaller items that take seconds to climb and not mountains or hills. Get up on the table and have a look; the view is much better from there. Laura got up on her husband's shoulders to watch the concert. Steve got up on stage to receive his award. My cat always gets up on the work surface in the kitchen, despite me telling him every time to get down. MEANING 4: To generate something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To generate, to create, to summon, to muster up, to pluck up Separable? Yes We are now at the mid-point in our journey through the different meanings of 'get up' and this fourth and middle application is 'to generate something from within'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Courage Confidence Strength Energy Determination Motivation To clarify this application, what I mean here is to generate something within yourself and to do this you need to make an effort to produce a feeling or to do something that is difficult or challenging. A common scenario to illustrate this usage is when you find someone sexually attractive and want to ask the person to go on a date with you. In these situations, it is natural to feel very nervous and in order to ask the person on the date, we first need to build the courage to do it within ourselves. To describe this building or generating, we can use 'get up' as an alternative and therefore say 'I got up the courage to ask XXX out on a date'. Alternatively, maybe you have been very ill lately and as a result your energy levels are low. One day, a friend invites you to go for coffee and despite still feeling very tired, you generate the energy from within yourself to go and meet your friend at the café. Again, it would be perfectly normal in English to say that you "got up the energy to go....". Without sounding too much like a self help book, this usage is really all about finding the energy or strength within yourself to do something. On a grammatical note, this application is separable and can be used both separably and inseparably with no change in meaning. Alex finally got the courage up to ask the handsome boy out. Debbie couldn’t get up the nerve to speak in front of the crowd and stayed quiet. I need to get up the energy to clean my apartment but I am so tired! Julian got enough confidence up to confront his boss about the threatening email. Kath got up the strength to finish the marathon. I couldn’t get the motivation up to start my assignment, so I went for a walk instead. Neil got up the willpower to quit smoking. MEANING 5: To become stronger Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To strengthen, to brew, to intensify Separable? No The fifth meaning of 'get up' is one that we use specifically to talk about the weather and it means 'to become stronger or more powerful'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Wind Rain Storm / Weather Waves Sea / Ocean As you can see from the nouns above, this usage is applied specifically when talking about bad weather conditions. We normally use it when we perceive that a period of bad weather is about to start as we can feel the wind getting stronger or the rain getting more intense. We can also use it when we can see or feel that a storm is going to materialise. Moreover, this application is often also used in reference to the sea or the ocean when there are lots of big waves caused by the wind, making it unsafe to swim or sail. A strong wind is getting up; we should head inside and get some shelter. The storm started getting up just as we reached the shore. Dark clouds gathered overhead, and the wind got up quickly. A heavy sea was getting up, making sailing dangerous. You can feel the wind getting up before the rain starts. The waves got up suddenly, forcing the fishermen back to shore. MEANING 6: To be dressed as something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To be dressed as Separable? No This next application of 'get up' is one for all of those among you who love dressing up for parties and social events as it means 'to be dressed as something'. Typically, we do not use this application to talk about dressing in normal everyday clothes, but rather unusual, elaborate or funny clothes. Often, this is when we dress up as a character or for a specific festival, like at Halloween or Christmas parties. Furthermore, we can also use it when we put on clothes to imitate what people wore in the past. It doesn't have to be something strange or bizarre though as you can just use this application to describe when someone wears something considered normal that they just would not usually wear in their everyday life. Grammatically, this application tends to be used more in the passive voice with the structure 'to be got us as / like...' when referring to the thing that we are imitating. To refer to the clothes that we are wearing, we would use the alternative structure 'to be got up in...'. Lucy was all got up in a glamorous 1920s outfit. The marketing team were got up as superheroes for the work convention. Barbara was got up like a movie star from the 1950s. The kids were got up as their favourite cartoon characters for Halloween. Lucas was got up in a tuxedo, looking sharper than ever. Rosie was got up in a shimmering gown, ready for the gala. We can also use this application in the active voice and when this is the case, it is usually with the reflexive '-self' pronoun'. Tim got himself up as a pirate for the costume party. They are going to get themselves us in full drag for this evening's performance. I don't want to get myself up as anything, so I think I will miss the party this evening. MEANING 7: To prepare or organise Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To prepare, to organise, to arrange Separable? Yes Our seventh and final usage of 'get up' means 'to arrange or organise something' and is more common in old or formal English. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Party Meeting Project Show Event Performance In this sense, 'get up' is used to mean to put in some effort to organise and plan an event, party or social gathering. This is not a meaning that I personally use or that would feel natural to me, however it is used by some English speakers and can still be found in literature and formal writing. For this reason, it is one to be aware of in case you happen to come across it. Marcia got up a charity event to raise money for the hospital. The residents got up a petition to protest the new law. Ben got up a team for the local football tournament. We got up a surprise party for our Mum's birthday. Sarah-Jane got up a meeting to discuss the company’s future. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'get up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'get up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'set back' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained, we are focussing on the much overlooked phrasal verb 'set back'. In the post, I will explain three different applications that it has in English and provide you with lots of examples of each one in context. So, sit back (not set back 😉), relax and let's get started! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Set Back - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'set' and 'back' Set Back - Meaning 1: To put something a distance away from something else Set Back - Meaning 2: To delay the progress of something Set Back - Bonus: The noun 'setback' Set Back - Meaning 3: To cost someone an amount of money I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS SET BACK: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Set back / Set back Separable? Yes The phrasal verb 'set back' is formed by combining the verb 'to set' with the prepositional particle 'back' and before we look at the different meanings that it has as a phrasal verb, let's first consider the meanings of these individual words. The word 'set' is distinguished in English as having the most meanings and uses in the entire language. To give you an example, when 'set' is used as a verb, it has more than 30 different uses and meanings! This may seem like a lot but many of them are very specific and I can guarantee that most native speakers do not use all of them. The definition of the verb 'to set' that you should be aware of for this post is 'to put something in a specific place or position'. John set the vase carefully on the table. The teacher set the books in a neat pile on her desk. We set the chairs around the dining table ready for dinner. The jeweller set the diamond into the engagement ring. Roger set his suitcase by the door, ready for his trip. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'back', which is primarily used to describe the notions of reversing or returning and both of these ideas are carried across into the phrasal verbs that it appears in (e.g. give back and turn back). Additionally, it can also add the ideas of delay ( hold back ) and resistance (fight back) to phrasal verbs. You should also note that when 'back' functions as an adverb, it can mean 'at a distance away from something' and this meaning will be key to understanding the first meaning of 'set back' that we will cover. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'set back'.... MEANING 1: To put something a distance away from something else Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To tuck away, to put back, to place at a distance Separable? Yes The first application of 'set back' that we will cover in the post is the literal meaning that we get when we combine the two words 'set' and 'back', which is 'to put something a distance away from something else'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... House / Building Fence Table / Chair Road / Street Wall We use this first application when we are talking about two different things and their spatial relation to one another. To put it another way, let's use an example and imagine that we have an object (X) and we want to talk about where it is situated compared to a second object (Y). If we take the meanings of the individual words that we looked at earlier, we arrive at the idea of placing or putting something (object X) at a distance away from something else (object Y). I should add here that the "distanced" object (X) is often considered to be in the background somewhere. Most commonly, you will will come across this literal application in reference to houses, buildings and man-made structures and their distance from a road or another place of interest such as a river or another building. It is important to note that the additional preposition 'from' is normally required to specify place Y. However, if the context is clear enough, specifying it may not be needed as it might have already been mentioned or is understood. The architects set the new library back from the street in order to create a spacious front garden. The builders set back the fence a few feet to comply with zoning regulations. We set the dining table back from the fireplace to make room for more seating. The developers set the apartment complex back a few more metres than originally planned to reduce noise from the busy road. Helen set back the chairs from the edge of the balcony for safety reasons. One other very common way that this application is used is in a passive sense when we talk about one place being situated a distance away from another. In some cases, 'set back' can function as an adjective here. The house is set back from the main road, providing a quiet and private environment. The new shopping centre is set back from the street to allow space for a large car park. The mansion was set back behind tall trees, making it barely visible from the entrance. The restaurant is set back from the beach, giving diners a peaceful view without the noise of the waves. The office building is set back a few metres from the pavement to create a welcoming entrance space. MEANING 2: To delay the progress of something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To hinder, to impede, to delay, to obstruct, to hamper, to hold up Separable? Yes The second application of 'set back' is definitely the most commonly used of its three meanings and is simply 'to delay the progress of something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Project Plan Efforts Negotiations We are all very busy people with busy lives and many of us have plans and projects that are in progress, whether that be projects at work, wedding plans or efforts to lose weight and improve our fitness. As you will be aware though, life isn't always fair or on our side and oftentimes our plans and projects get delayed for reasons that are usually outside of our control. When these delays occur, we can use the phrasal verb 'set back' to describe them. This is often a time delay, used when the expected readiness or finish date of something is postponed. The project has been set back several times due to financial issues. The company’s expansion plans were set back due to financial difficulties. The loss of the crucial funding has set the development of the new vaccine back and we are now not sure when it will be ready. In addition, it can also be used for when plans do not go smoothly and we need to make changes and amendments to deal with unexpected situations that arise. Adam's ankle injury during training set him back just before the big match. The train strikes have set the government’s efforts to improve public transport back. Many people say that the new government's legislation has set back the rights of many minority groups. Moreover, when we use this application of 'set back', we want to let people know how late something is going to be as a consequence and it is common to use this with the preposition 'by' + the length of the delay. The unexpected storm set back the construction project by several weeks. We are very sorry to announce that a technical glitch has set back the product launch by at least a month. I had a bad cold, which set me back by a day or two, but my thesis is now ready to be submitted. Note that this application is a separable one and I would say that native speakers use it both separably and inseparably in roughly equal measure. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'setback' At this point in the post, it is a really good idea to mention to you that the noun 'setback' also exists and is used just as much, if not even more commonly, than this second phrasal verb meaning. A setback is quite simply a hurdle or obstruction that delays or prevents a procedure or process. It can also be used to describe something bad that happens in your life and stops you from living the way that you wish to or doing something that you want to do. Her knee injury was a major setback for the athlete just before the championship. The project faced a serious setback when the funding was unexpectedly cut. Despite the early setback, the team managed to recover and win the match. The economic downturn was a significant setback for small businesses. Losing the court case was a major setback for our campaign. EXERCISE : Change the example sentences above from the noun 'setback' to the phrasal verb 'set back'. Some of these may need some re-arranging. For example, the first example sentence above could be "The athlete's knee injury just before the championship set her back".  Write your example sentences in the comments section at the end of the post. MEANING 3: To cost someone an amount of money Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To cost, to fetch, to come to, to knock back, to be worth Separable? Always The third and final meaning of 'set back' is all about cold hard cash and means 'to cost someone an amount of money'. This application is an informal one that is always used in a separable way with the structure 'to set someone back + an amount of money'. As you will note, the name of the person who is to pay the cost or a pronoun needs to go between the words 'set' and 'back'. While this application can be used to talk about the cost of anything, it is common to use it when the amount of money that someone has to pay for something is high or surprisingly high or perhaps just when you want to complain about the high cost of something that you have bought. The luxury cruise around the Caribbean set me back nearly £5,000! If you want to upgrade to the latest smartphone, it will set you back at least £1,200. The repairs to Luke's car set him back a small fortune. Buying a house in London can easily set you back half a million pounds. That designer handbag set Simone back a few hundred quid. A meal at that fancy restaurant will set you back at least £100 per person. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'set back'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'set back'. 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 'fall 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. Have you ever heard of the English phrasal verb 'fall off' before? I'm sure that you will have done as it is used fairly commonly in everyday English and in this post, I will explain to you the different ways in which it is used, including idioms and expressions that it features in. In addition, I will give you lots of example sentences in context for each meaning to show you typical situations in which we use it in order to help your English sound more fluent and natural. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Fall Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'fall' and 'off' Fall Off - Meaning 1: To unintentionally drop towards the ground Fall Off - Meaning 2: To decrease Fall Off - Bonus: Can we use 'fall off' as a noun? Fall Off - Bonus: Adverbs commonly used with 'fall off' Fall Off - Bonus: To fall off a cliff Fall Off - Bonus: Some common idioms featuring 'fall off' Photo: Pexels THE BASICS FALL OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 2 Past tense forms Fell off / Fallen off Separable? No Before we delve into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off', let's first consider what the individual words 'fall' and 'off' mean on their own. The verb 'to fall' is a common English verb whose main meaning is to drop from a higher place to a lower one, usually in an uncontrolled way. Furthermore, this meaning can apply to objects and people when they drop or collapse to the ground from an erect or standing position. Among its many other specific uses, one notable meaning of 'to fall' is to refer to something that decreases or becomes lower in some way. 'To fall' is an intransitive verb, meaning that it does not take a direct object, i.e. you cannot "fall something". I will catch you if you fall. Snow has been falling for over six hours now. John fainted and fell on the ground. The number of people going to the cinema has fallen in recent years. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'off', which functions as the natural opposite of the particle 'on' and has a huge number of uses in English, which include the idea of removal of something from a surface, a machine not working, or movement away from a particular place. 'Off' is commonly used in phrasal verb constructions and its inclusion can often imply the ideas of separation (cut off), completion (pay off), departure ( take off ) and deactivation (turn off), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall off'.... MEANING 1: To unintentionally drop towards the ground Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To fall, to fall out, to tumble off, to come off Separable? No Unlike many common English phrasal verbs, 'fall off' is a relatively easy as there are only two meanings: a literal one and a figurative one. This first application that we will cover is the literal meaning and simply means 'to unintentionally drop towards the ground'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Horse Bicycle / Bike / Motorbike Chair / Table / Worktop Ladder Roof / Balcony For this application, we are not just concerned with the concept of falling, but also we want to specify the place that we fell from. As I mentioned in the Basics section, 'off' is the reverse of the particle 'on' and so logically, before someone falls off something, they first need to be on it. Grammatically speaking, we can therefore use 'fall off' with any nouns that we can say that we are 'on', however of course in reality some of these would sound a bit strange. Arthur (before he fell off the step) If we talk about a person falling off something, typically we are referring to situations in which the unlucky individual unintentionally loses their balance, causing them to fall off the surface that is supporting them. This can also include animals too; one of my cats is very playful and often falls off chairs and surfaces whilst playing with his toys. The little boy fell off his bike and scraped his knee. Be careful while riding this horse— he is very unpredictable and you may fall off if you don’t hold on tight! Arthur the cat fell off the windowsill while trying to catch a bird. Steve lost his balance and fell off his ladder while painting the house. The monkey fell off the tree branch after losing its grip. Of course, 'fall off' can be applied to plants and non-living, inanimate objects too. This is usually when they become knocked or detached from the surface that supports them and then fall towards the ground. The book fell off the shelf when the door slammed shut. One of the wheels fell off Helen's suitcase while she was walking. Tim's hat fell off due to a particularly strong gust of wind. A button has fallen off my coat, and now I need to sew it back on. The picture frame fell off the wall during the earthquake. October is here and the leaves have started to fall off the trees. One other grammar point to note here is that it is possible to use the additional preposition 'of' to specify the surface from which someone or something falls, giving us the construction 'to fall off of something'. This is optional, however, and many native speakers do not use the 'of' version (including me), potentially because it is a bit of mouthful to pronounce 'off of'. Moreover, the 'off of' version does sound a little more American to my ears. The child fell off of the swing while playing at the park. My dog is always falling off of the couch while sleeping. Carly's phone fell off of the table when she accidentally bumped it. MEANING 2: To decrease Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To decrease, to reduce, to lower, to wane, to drop, to plummet, to dwindle, to diminish, to lessen, to drop off, to go down Separable? No The second and final meaning of 'fall off' that we will cover in this post is more of a figurative meaning, however it it still a fairly intuitive one and means to decrease. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Number / Amount Rate / Level Quality / Quantity Temperature Price In the previous application, our focus was on things falling to the ground due to the effects of gravity, however this time we are interested in a different type of falling that has nothing to do with gravitational force. We are now focussing on abstract nouns for things that can be measured by numerical or qualitative values. In other words, things that we cannot touch but we can observe through statistics and graphs. We use 'fall off' here to refer to when something that we can measure gets lower in value, number, quality or intensity. In today's world, we are very focussed on measuring and analysing all types of performance through numbers. Therefore, you can find this usage being applied in many different areas of life, from business and sales to natural phenomena. For example, when the temperature drops for a period of time or during the winter, we can say that 'the temperatures fall off'. Likewise, if you are a website owner, you may notice that the number of visitors to your site gets lower or falls off at certain times of the day. My company's sales usually fall off after the holiday season. Attendance at the gym falls off in the winter months. Phrasal Verb Inc's profits fell off sharply last quarter. The crime rate in London has fallen off since the new policies were introduced. The birth rate in many countries is falling off due to economic concerns. The number of job applications fell off after the company reduced salaries. Food production has fallen off due to poor weather conditions. Donations to the charity fell off during the economic downturn. The amount of traffic to my website fell off after the initial launch. This application does not just cover things that can be measured by numbers but also when there is a perceived reduction in the quality or level of something. Sam's enthusiasm for the project fell off when he realised how much work was involved. Robert's energy levels always fall off when he works long hours without a break The quality of the company's products has fallen off since they switched to cheaper materials. The service in this restaurant fell off after it was taken over by the new owners. BONUS: Can we use 'fall off' as a noun? Yes, we can also use 'fall-off' as a noun for this specific application to describe when there is a reduction or decline in the level, rate, or quantity of something. Additionally, the alternative noun 'falling-off' also exists. Whilst both of these can be used interchangeably, 'falling-off' tends to be used more when the fall or decrease is more gradual and less sudden, while 'fall-off' tends to be used for more sudden or abrupt decreases. There has been a significant fall-off in sales since the holiday season ended. A sudden fall-off in investor confidence caused stock prices to plummet. Scientists have noticed a falling-off in air quality due to increased pollution. The business suffered a falling-off in profits after the pandemic. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Adverbs commonly used with 'fall off' When 'fall off' is used to describe a decrease in this way, it is possible (and common) to use adverbs to modify the decrease such as slightly, sharply, massively or unexpectedly. The company's stock price fell off slightly after the earnings report was released. Our sales fell off sharply after we raised our prices. After the promotional period ended, customer engagement fell off drastically. The number of active users on the platform fell off noticeably last month. Due to the bad weather, attendance at the event fell off considerably. Photo: Wix Media BONUS: To fall off a cliff Furthermore, if you want to state that something has experienced a large, sudden or dramatic increase, it is possible to use the idiom ' to fall off a cliff '. After the scandal, the company’s stock price fell off a cliff and it lost 50% of its value overnight. Consumer spending has fallen off a cliff since the start of the economic recession. Sales of the once-popular smartphone fell off a cliff after a competitor released a better model. The public's interest in the TV show fell off a cliff after the main character was killed off. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Some common idioms featuring 'fall off' Before I finish the post, there are some other uses and idioms linked to 'fall off' that I want to tell you about. To fall off the wagon One other idiom that features the phrasal verb 'fall off' is 'to fall off the wagon'. We use this expression specifically for people who start drinking alcohol again after having abstained from it (not drunk it) for a period of time. As you may infer from the idea of 'falling', this tends to be used when the person fails in their efforts to not drink, which is not what they had planned or wanted. Every time that Jane attempts to stop drinking, she ends up falling off the wagon. To lose weight When someone does stay on the wagon and manages to stop drinking alcohol for a period of time, one of the things that may happen to them is that they will lose weight. If someone loses a lot of weight, especially in a short space of time, we can say that the weight falls off them. I tried this new diet and the weight just fell off me in weeks. 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 'fall 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 'fall 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 'take in' 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. In this post, I will be looking at the English phrasal verb 'take in' and explaining 9 different ways to use it. 9 meanings may seem like a lot but it is possible that you know some of them already. For each one, I will give you lots of example sentences in context to show you how it is used. So, without further ado, let's make a start and dive into the different meanings of 'take in'.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Take In - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'take' and 'in' Take In - Meaning 1: To deceive someone Take In - Meaning 2: To let someone live with you Take In - Meaning 3: To arrest someone 🇬🇧 Take In - Meaning 4: To understand or process Take In - Meaning 5: To absorb Take In - Meaning 6: To include Take In - Meaning 7: To go and see something for enjoyment Take In - Meaning 8: To receive money 🇬🇧 Take In - Meaning 9: To make an item of clothing smaller I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS TAKE IN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 9 Past tense forms Took in / Taken in Separable? Yes Before we get into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'take in', let's first take a look at the words 'take' and 'in' and what they mean on their own as this may help us to decipher some of its more idiomatic and figurative phrasal verb meanings. Our base verb in this construction is the super common verb 'to take', which like the majority of the most frequently used verbs in English, is irregular. 'To take' is highly versatile, with many different meanings, which include removing something from a place with your hand, stealing, describing the duration of something and accepting something. I don't have enough time or space to go into all of these in detail but there are plenty of wonderful resources and dictionaries online where you can find this information 😊 Take a piece of paper and pass the rest to your neighbour. Somebody took my car last night whilst I was at home. A flight from London to New York takes approximately 8 hours. I've decided to take the job at the bank. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'in', which I do not need to introduce to you either. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'in' often adds the idea of a movement towards an interior space (go in, fall in). Additionally, it can also be used to add the concepts of inclusion (join in), and absorption (take in) amongst others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'take in'.... MEANING 1: To deceive someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To deceive, to trick, to fool, to cheat, to con, to dupe, to swindle Separable? Yes As you many have noticed if you have been following my posts regularly, there is very often one phrasal verb meaning that is a bit negative or unpleasant. Normally, I put these meanings towards the end of the post but in a break with tradition, in this post we are looking at the horrible one first, which is 'to deceive someone'. Firstly, if you are not familiar with the verb 'to deceive', it means to lie to someone or make them believe something that is not true. This is often done in a selfish or malicious way in order to gain something from the person being deceived. Common synonyms of this that you may know are 'to fool' or 'to trick', however 'deceive' is a bit more negative. We have now established that this first meaning of 'take in' is to make people believe something that is not true and the next thing that you should know is that it is most commonly used in the passive sense with the following construction.... to be / get taken in by someone This is because this application of 'take in' is mainly used to talk about the victims of the deceitful behaviour who believed what they were being told, i.e. the people who were deceived by someone dishonest. For example, you may be taken in by a person who claims to be a friend but who only wants something from you and has no interest in friendship. Alternatively, your grandmother may get taken in by a person pretending to call her from her bank in order to get her personal details and steal her money. In addition to other people, it is possible for people to be taken in by websites, hoaxes, phone calls and letters - essentially anything that can make a person seem careless or stupid. The sad reality is that people there are many different ways in which a person can be taken in. Don't be taken in by his charming smile—he's not as honest as he seems! Julie and I were taken in by the elaborate hoax until we learned the truth. Alex and Laura got taken in by the false promises of the investment scheme. I was almost taken in, but luckily I checked the facts before making a decision. It is possible to use this in the active sense too, but much less common to do so and often this may sound a bit unnatural as speakers' natural inclination tends to be for the passive form here. I can't believe he took me in with that fake story about winning the lottery. The innocent-looking salesman took them in, selling them a useless product. The online advertisement took her in, making her believe it was a legitimate offer. In both active and passive voice variations of this application, it is common to add the word 'completely' to highlight or stress the fact that the person believed the deception 100%. Sandy was completely taken in by the scam and sadly she lost all her savings We were completely taken in by his elaborate disguise and never suspected a thing. He was so persuasive that even the experts were completely taken in by his fake credentials. MEANING 2: To let someone live with you Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To accommodate, to put up Separable? Yes Let's now move on to a much nicer and more positive meaning for our second application of 'take in', which is 'to let someone live with you'. Vocabulary commonly used with this application.... Person Someone Cat / Dog / Animal Friend Relative In contrast to the previous usage that we've just covered, this one is specifically for the kind, generous and charitable people among us who provide somewhere to live or sleep for those people who are less fortunate. Typically, this application is used in reference to people who are homeless or who are experiencing difficulties in their life and need somewhere to live. If you take them in, you give them a bed, shelter and possibly even look after them if required to do so. 'Take in' is most frequently used for giving people a place to sleep on a temporary basis but it is also possible when referring to giving someone a permanent home. It is not just limited to people and it also quite possible to take in a cat, a dog or any other animal. For this, I would only use it when you take pity on an animal and give it a home as it is stray or has no owners; I wouldn't use it if you are adopting a puppy from a breeder etc. After the hurricane, they took in a family who had lost their home. Sally decided to take in a stray dog that she had seen wandering the streets. When his parents passed away, Ben's aunt took him in and raised him. I owe Anne and Alan a lot; they were kind enough to take me in when I had nowhere else to go. The elderly couple often takes in exchange students during the summer. He was homeless for months until a kind stranger took him in and helped him get back on his feet. We couldn't leave the kitten outside in the cold, so we took it in for the night. During the war, many families took in refugees who had fled their countries. MEANING 3: To arrest someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To arrest, to apprehend Separable? Yes Our third meaning of 'take in' brings us back to the world of criminals and unpleasant people as it means 'to arrest someone' and is specifically used in the context of the police, law enforcement and criminals. This usage is more or less a literal meaning of the combination of the two words 'take' and 'in' as it describes the action of the police taking the suspected criminal in to the police station, where he or she will be interrogated and possibly charged for a crime if found guilty. Most of the time, there is enough context to be able to omit the words 'to the police station' when using this application. You should note that this usage is primarily a British English one and American speakers would be more likely to use the phrasal verb 'bring in' here instead. The police took the suspected criminal in for questioning after the robbery. Rob and Callum were taken in by the authorities after being caught trespassing. The murder suspect was taken in without incident and is now in custody. The police officers took in several protesters for disturbing the peace. Adam was taken in on suspicion of fraud and is awaiting trial. They had no choice but to take him in after finding evidence of the crime at his house. MEANING 4: To understand or process something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To understand, to absorb, to notice, to grasp, to sink in Separable? Yes The fourth meaning of 'take in' is 'to understand or absorb something' and this one is all about what enters our brains via our senses. Nouns that are commonly used with this application.... Details Information To clarify, for this one we are concerned with the idea of allowing something to enter into our brains in the form of information. This may be something that we see, hear or read. If you take some information in, you let it pass into your brain and be processed, with the ultimate goal of clearly understanding it. This application is often used for schoolchildren and students as it is the objective of a teacher or lecturer that his or her students take in everything that is being taught. In the same way, it is my aim that all of you reading this are able to take in the information about this phrasal verb that I am giving you here 😊 Moreover, we can also go one step further and use it in situations when you process some information that you have learned and what the consequences of it will be. In this sense, it can essentially be a lightbulb moment or a moment of realisation. Helen needed some time alone to take in everything that had happened that day. I had to read the science article twice to fully take in the details. It is very important to take in constructive criticism and use it to improve yourself. Tim paused for a moment to take in what Miranda had just said. The students listened carefully, trying to take in every word of the professor's explanation. Of course, there are times when we are not able to understand things because we are too tired to learn, we aren't interested in the subject or it is simply too difficult. In these situations, we can also use 'take in' in the negative sense to say that we were not able to process, understand or absorb the information. I tried so hard to listen during the class but I just couldn't take most of it in. Lisa struggled to take in the news of her promotion, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. During the lecture, Neil found it difficult to take in all the complex concepts. It was a lot of information to take in at once, so I had to review my notes later. As I mentioned earlier, we can also use 'take in' to talk about things that we see with our eyes or that we notice. This is often in situations when we have to look at something for a period of time in order to fully understand what is happening or to see all of the small details of something, for example if you discover a crime scene or if you admire a painting in an art gallery. The 'taking in' action here refers to the absorption of all of the details and information into your brain, a bit like a sponge. The breathtaking view from the mountaintop was almost too much to take in. Sylvia stood staring at the painting in the art gallery, taking in every single detail. When I walked into the classroom, it took me a few seconds to fully take in what I was seeing. Take a minute to look around and fully take in your surroundings. MEANING 5: To absorb something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To absorb, to take up Separable? Yes In the previous section, we looked at how we can take in information to our brains that we can use, which is fundamentally the action of absorbing something, which coincidentally is the next meaning of 'take in' that we will look at. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Water Oxygen Air Food Nutrients / Minerals / Vitamins As you can see from the list above, this meaning is specifically used in reference to substances and materials that are required by living organisms to fulfil a job and enable them to survive. The action of 'taking in' in this sense can be done in different ways, such as breathing, eating, drinking and digestion. Plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis in order to produce oxygen. Our bodies take in nutrients from the food we eat, keeping us healthy. Fish take in oxygen through their gills while swimming in water. Additionally, it can also be heard in reference to non-living things that absorb water or liquid, like sponges and clothing material, however this is less common since a phrasal verb like 'soak up' may be preferred here instead. The sponge quickly took in all the spilled water on the table. The fabric of the shirt takes in sweat, keeping you dry during exercise. The soil wasn't able to take in any more rain, leading to flooding. MEANING 6: To include Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To include, to encompass, to cover Separable? No Let's move on to the sixth usage of 'take in' now, which simply means 'to include'. When used in this sense, 'take in' is interchangeable with both 'to include' and 'to cover' when we we want to specify different things that are part of a whole. Common situations and scenarios in which you may come across this usage of 'take in' include organised tours for tourists, data sources for statistics and studies and subjects that are included in books or educational talks and lectures. Bear in mind, however, that this is much less commonly used than both 'to include' and 'to cover' and may often not be a native speaker's first choice to use, so it may come across as unnatural. It is nevertheless good to have it in your active vocabulary to give some variety to your English, which can be particularly handy for exams and language level tests. The Paris tour takes in several famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Her responsibilities at work take in managing budgets, leading meetings, and training new employees. The hiking trail takes in some of the most scenic views of the valley. Our study takes in data from over 50 different countries. We've come up with a road trip itinerary that takes in a few national parks along the way. The English course takes in a wide range of topics, from basic grammar to advanced writing techniques. Mark's interests take in music, photography, and traveling. The book takes in historical events as well as personal anecdotes from the author. MEANING 7: To go and see something for enjoyment Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To go and see, to check out Separable? No Our seventh meaning of 'take in' is 'to go and see something for entertainment' and for this one we are combining elements of several of the meanings that we have already covered in the post so far. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Film / Movie Show / Concert Game / Match Museum / Art gallery What do you like to do at weekends? Do you like to go and watch a movie at the cinema? Or, perhaps you like to see your favourite football team play? Maybe, if you are someone who enjoys art, you might visit a museum or an exhibition. Did you know that for all of these you can use the phrasal verb 'take in'? Simply put, if you take in a movie or a show at the theatre, you go and watch it for pleasure. The same can be said for a music concert, an orchestral recital or even visiting a museum. We decided to take in a movie after dinner. While visiting New York, I took in two Broadway shows. During our trip to Rome, we took in all of the famous museums and galleries. He loves to take in live concerts whenever he has free time. Becky and Laura took in an art exhibition at the local gallery over the weekend. We had some free time, so we took in a football game at the stadium. Although this is a wonderful usage of 'take in' to have in your active vocabulary, you should note that it is rarer in usage than 'to visit' or 'to go and see'. MEANING 8: To receive money Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To take, to bring in, to make, to earn, to gross Separable? No We are now onto our eighth meaning of 'take in', so really well done if you have made it here. I hope that you have been able to take in everything that you have read so far! This eighth meaning takes us into the world of business and finance and means 'to receive money'. Firstly, let me clarify that this meaning is not used in reference to individual financial transactions, i.e. one single instance of money being exchanged for goods or services. Instead, we use this application of 'take in' to refer to the money that a business or company makes from its total sales or from the total payments that it receives (revenue). This could be from the sale of a product or from sales of tickets to an event. It may also be one that you hear on the subject of movies and how much money they make from people going to see them in the cinema. The café takes in around £500 a day from coffee and tea sales. The charity event took in a lot of donations from generous attendees. Abigail's clothes shop takes in most of its income during the holiday season. Trevor started a small side business and began taking in extra cash every month. The theatre took in record earnings after the show’s success. The movie has been hailed as a massive success after taking in $100 million dollars at the box office. MEANING 9: To make an item of clothing smaller Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To make smaller, to alter, to adjust Separable? Yes We are here at our final meaning of 'take in'. For this one, first have a think about a time when you ordered an item of clothing online to be delivered to you and when it finally arrives, you try it on and realise that it is too big! The solution for this may be have it 'taken in'. This is because the last meaning of 'take in' is 'to make an item of clothing smaller'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Dress / Frock Trousers / Pants Jacket / Coat Skirt Shirt If someone takes in an item of clothing, they alter its seams in order to make it smaller, narrower or tighter so that it is the right size for the person who will be wearing it. You should note that as most people do not carry out the 'taking in' work themselves and must instruct a professional to do it for them, you will often hear this application being used in the passive causative sense. e.g. to get / have something taken in. Phoebe decided to take in the dress at the waist to get a better fit. After losing weight, Paul had to take in most of his trousers to avoid having to buy a new wardrobe. The seamstress offered to take in the jacket sleeves since they were too loose. If this shirt is too big, I can take it in a little for you. The tailor suggested taking in the sides of the blouse to give it a more flattering shape. 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 'take in'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy...I promise to reply! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pick out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. My post today is all about 'pick out', which is a moderately common English phrasal verb that I'm sure many of you will have heard being used before. In this post, I will explain 5 different ways that you can use this, with lots and lots of examples to help to make it make sense! So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Pick Out - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'pick' and 'out' Pick Out - Meaning 1: To remove something Pick Out - Meaning 2: To select somebody or something Pick Out - Meaning 3: To recognise Pick Out - Meaning 4: To make something obvious Pick Out - Meaning 5: To play music with difficulty 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 PICK OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Picked out / Picked out Separable? Yes 'Pick out' is formed by combining the verb 'to pick' with the prepositional particle 'out' and so to help us with our exploration of this phrasal verb, let's first take a moment to consider the meaning of each word individually. The verb 'to pick' is a diverse regular English verb with a couple of distinct meanings, both of which will feature later in this post. Perhaps it's most common meaning is as a synonym of 'to choose' and is used specifically when there is a group or selection of different options to choose from. The other main meaning that it has as a verb is 'to remove something, typically with your fingers' and is often heard being used with nouns like flowers and fruit. I was always the last one to be picked for the football team at school. Which university did your son pick in the end? There are so many choices, I don't know which one to pick! John picked some flowers to give to his girlfriend. In September, we go and pick fruit to sell at the market. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which, when used as an adverb, is related to being on the external side of something or indicating movement from the inside of somewhere to the outside. When used in phrasal verbs, 'out' can add ideas such as a movement towards an external place or space ( go out ), emergence ( come out ), completion ( work out ) and experimentation (try out), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pick out'.... MEANING 1: To remove something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take out, to remove, to extract Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'pick out' that we will cover in this post is a nice and easy one as it is the literal meaning that we get when we combine the individual meanings of 'pick' and 'out' and that is 'to remove something from an internal space with your fingers or hands'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Food Seeds Splinters A frequent scenario where you might encounter this application is with food and eating. This often occurs when there's something in your dish that you dislike, causing you to remove it (pick it out) and set it aside on your plate or pass it to someone else (particularly when it's a green vegetable on a burger at a well-known fast food chain - I think you know what I mean!). Another time that this usage may arise is if some food gets stuck between your teeth and is visible to others. You may then want to pick the offending food out, ensuring that your smile stays as nice and attractive as ever. Besides food, this application of 'pick out' may be used to describe any time that you use your fingers to remove something from an internal space, whether that be a hole, a bag, a pocket etc. You may be wondering what the difference is with 'take out' and although the two can often serve as synonyms of one another, you should note that 'pick out' tends to be used when more precision or care is required to remove the object, often when the interior space is smaller, which is why the emphasis is on the fingers. Laura carefully picked out the seeds from the watermelon. The surgeon had to pick out the shards of glass from the wound. I need to pick out the lint from this sweater before I put it on. The dentist carefully picked out the food stuck between the patient's teeth. Emily used tweezers to pick out the splinter from her finger. Roger bent down to pick out the debris from the fish tank. The chef picked out the burnt pieces from the dish before serving it to the customer. MEANING 2: To select somebody or something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pick, to select, to choose, to decide on, to single out, to opt for Separable? Yes Our second meaning of 'pick out' is the most commonly used of all of its applications and means 'to select somebody or something from a group'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Person / Someone Dress / Items of clothing For this meaning, we are going back to the other meaning of 'to pick', which is to select or choose. We are then combining this with the idea of picking one person or thing out of a number of options. When this application is used, it is typically when the speaker is presented with a selection of different items and must choose one or several of these to use or to give special attention. For example, a bride-to-be may go to a wedding dress shop to pick out a wedding dress from a selection in her size or a magician may ask you to pick out a card from a selection that they offer to you in their hand. Most of the time, 'pick out' and 'pick' can be used interchangeably, however I think that 'pick out' tends to be used more when the chosen item is meant to be treated in a special or unique way. For example, you may pick out a pair of glasses at the opticians because they are your favourite and are different to the others. 'Pick' could also be used here, but I think that 'pick out' adds more emphasis to the uniqueness and separateness of the glasses. Conversely, if you now think about a football team captain choosing players to be on his or her team in school, we would normally use 'pick' here to describe the action of choosing the players for the team as they will all be equals. 'Pick out' would sound a bit strange to my ears as it could mean that the person 'picked out' was distinct or special in some way, setting them apart from the rest of the team. You should note that this is just a feeling rather than a rule. Helen picked out a beautiful dress from the rack for the party. The teacher asked his students to pick out their favourite books from the library. Can you help me pick out a gift for her birthday? They picked out the best strawberries from the basket for dessert. I picked out a few interesting articles from the magazine to read later. She picked out a unique name from the list for her baby. From all the applicants, the hiring manager picked out the most qualified candidate. MEANING 3: To recognise Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To recognise, to distinguish, to make out, to discern, to perceive Separable? Yes On to our third meaning of 'pick out' now, which is quite simply to recognise somebody or something from a group or selection. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Person Face Voice As you will note, we are back on the same theme of choosing here, but this time, instead of choosing something from a number of options for a particular purpose, we are choosing something or someone that we recognise from a group. This application can be used for detecting and recognising a person or a thing with any of our five senses. For example, if you look at a class photograph from a school, you may be able to pick out some people's faces who you know amongst the group of people. Likewise, if you listen to a group of people laughing, you may be able to pick out one person that you know's individual laugh from all of the other people laughing at the same time and any wine lovers among you may be able to pick out notes of certain fruits in your favourite wines. When I looked at the crowded photograph, I could easily pick out my brother because of his bright orange jacket. It took a while, but John finally managed to pick out his wife's voice among the noisy crowd. Detective Novak was able to pick out the suspect’s face from the surveillance footage. Despite the dim light, I was able to pick out the outline of the house in the distance. Tom has an incredible ability to pick out subtle differences between similar wines. While listening to the orchestra, Debbie could easily pick out the sound of the violins. With his keen sense of smell, Jonas was able to pick out the scent of lavender in the blend. MEANING 4: To make something obvious Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stand out, to highlight, to set apart Separable? Yes Let's move on to our fourth meaning of 'pick out' now, which is a very logical next step as it means 'to make something obvious'. To clarify, with this meaning, I am not talking about an action that is obvious for people to see but rather changing the appearance of something. This is either to make it easier to see with your eyes by distinguishing it from its surroundings or for decorative purposes to make it look prettier or nicer. In both cases, the main purpose of this meaning is to draw people's attention to something and make them notice it. Grammatically speaking, this application can be used in an active sense but most of the time it tends to be used in the passive form of ' to be picked out in.... ". Normally, this is followed by a colour, a texture or a decoration of some sort. The lighting in the gallery was designed to pick out the intricate carvings on the sculpture. Emily wore a belt to pick out her waistline and give the dress more shape. Simon's intricate design was picked out in gold thread, giving the fabric a luxurious look. The names of the competition winners were picked out in bold letters on the announcement board. Inside the church, the stained-glass window was beautifully picked out in shades of blue and green. Kath's initials were picked out in silver embroidery on her handkerchief. The edges of the painting were picked out in a darker colour to create depth. The lettering on the monument was picked out in white paint to make it easier for people to read. The floral pattern was picked out in vibrant colours, in order to make it stand out against the plain background. MEANING 5: To play music with difficulty Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To play Separable? Yes Let's start this final application with a question; can you play a musical instrument? I learned the piano when I was a child and I can just about remember some very basic tunes now but sadly nothing more. The reason that I ask is because this final meaning is all about musical instruments and means 'to play music with difficulty'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Song Tune Melody Chords Notes Typically, there are several situations in which this application of 'pick out' is used, which I have listed below for you.... When you play a song slowly as you are not very used to playing it When you play a song that is too difficult for you, especially if you have recently started learning When you play a song by ear or from memory and do not have sheet music to help you As you can see from all of the example situations above, we use this application when someone is uncertain about playing a song on an instrument and there is an element of difficulty involved for the musician. It isn't just deftly playing a song with ease in the style of Chopin, Beethoven or Fats Domino. Sammy sat at the piano and began to pick out the melody of his favourite song. The child prodigy managed to pick out a simple tune on the xylophone. Sally picked out a few chords on the guitar while humming softly. With some effort, Adam picked out the opening notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on the keyboard. Harry picked out a lively tune on the banjo, much to everyone at the party's delight. As the band warmed up, the pianist picked out a few notes to test the keys. She picked out the melody by ear, even though she’d never seen the sheet music before. Tony picked out a haunting tune on the violin and the sound echoed through the empty room. The beginner picked out the scale on the piano, hesitating over a few notes. 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 'pick out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'pick out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END