An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pack up' from a native speaker, with lots of example sentences Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'pack up'. After writing such a long post about the phrasal verb 'get into' last week (link here ), I decided to focus on a less common (although equally useful) phrasal verb with fewer meanings this week to give both you and I a break! In this post, I will explain the three different meanings of 'pack up' in English and provide you with lots of example sentences in context to aid your understanding. So, without further ado, let's make a start! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Pack Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'pack' and 'up' Pack Up - Meaning 1: To put things into a container Pack Up - Meaning 2: To stop working 🇬🇧 Pack Up - Meaning 3: To stop doing 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 PACK UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Packed up / Packed up Separable? Sometimes To start things off, let's briefly examine the individual words 'pack' and 'up' and consider their individual meanings. Our base verb is to pack', which is a regular verb that, in its purest form, is used in reference to filling empty spaces. Most commonly, it is used to talk about placing items into a suitcase or container to be transported to a different place or for storage. Unsurprisingly, it is one that is used by excited and happy holidaymakers as they are preparing for their vacations. John packed his suitcase in preparation for his trip to New York. I am going to Spain tomorrow and I haven't even started packing yet. Susan packed the books into the box in order to take them to the second hand bookstore. I am really bad at packing. I never seem to be able to fit all of my things into the bag. Next, we have our favourite prepositional particle 'up', which I know you will all be very familiar with. 'Up' is often used in phrasal verb constructions to convey the idea of an upward movement, as well the concepts of increase ( turn up ), accumulation (stock up), completion (eat up), creation ( make up ) and ending ( break up ), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pack up'.... MEANING 1: To put things into a container Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pack, to pack away, to clear up, to stow, to put away, to tidy up Separable? Yes We'll start the different meanings of 'pack up' with the most commonly used of the three, which is to put things into a container, in order to transport them elsewhere. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Things Belongings Stuff Possessions Gear If you were paying attention in the Basics section, you may be thinking that this one is very similar to the meaning of the base verb 'to pack'. That is indeed correct, but whilst these can often be used interchangeably, there are some subtle differences between them, particularly in terms of the situations in which they are used. Another thing that I mentioned in the Basics section was that one of the ideas that 'up' brings to a phrasal verb construction is the idea of completion and by adding 'up' to the verb 'to pack', it can convey the ideas of finality and permanence, i.e. that when you pack items up, you will be taking them away from the place and will not be bringing them back. For this reason, it is far more common to hear native speakers talking about packing their suitcases for a holiday and not packing up their suitcase because a holiday is only temporary. On the other hand, if someone is moving home, then it is far more likely that they will say that they are packing up their possessions as this is usually a more permanent action. Similarly, at the end of a working day, an office worker may pack his or her bag before leaving the office, however when they leave their job or if they get fired, then they will need to pack up their possessions as they will not be returning again. Moreover, we would say 'pack up' rather than 'pack' when all of the items in a space or place are gathered and stored somewhere. This can also apply if the people were not permanently going away but were coming back another day, like market traders who need to remove all of their goods from the market overnight when they are not there. On the last day of the exhibition, the exhibitors started packing up their stand in the afternoon. After the meeting, we packed up our laptops and headed back to the office. It started raining, so Adam and Lucy packed up the picnic and went home. The street vendors began packing up their stalls as the market closed for the day. Once the camping trip was over, we packed up our gear and drove back to the city. He decided to pack up his belongings and move to a different state for a fresh start. The musicians packed up their instruments after the concert and left the venue. When the construction was finished, the workers packed up their tools and cleared the site. You should note that it is possible to use 'pack up' to talk about both the items that are being collected and moved e.g. things, possessions, as well as for what they are being stored and transported in e.g. van, lorry, car. Come on, let's finish packing up the car and go home. MEANING 2: To stop working Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To break, to break down, to give out, to conk out, to malfunction, to fail Separable? No The final two meanings of 'pack up' are largely British, informal ones, with the first of these being 'to stop working'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Machine Boiler Dishwasher Fridge / Freezer Cooker / Oven As you can see from the list of commonly used nouns above, this application tends to be used most commonly with nouns for machines and appliances that we use regularly, typically in our homes or workplaces. Furthermore, these tend to be more complex in nature with lots of different components and parts that function together in unison. My old car finally packed up on the way to the beach, leaving us stranded on the main road. Tom's laptop packed up just before the project deadline, and he had to borrow one to finish it. Our washing machine packed up last night, so now we need to call a repair technician. After years of heavy use, Kelly's printer packed up and refused to print anything. The air conditioning system packed up during the heatwave, making it unbearable in the office. Although not a machine, one other complex system that this application of 'pack up' can be used with is the human body and this is specifically in reference to body parts that have stopped functioning properly. Most commonly, you tend to hear this with knees, lungs and legs. Note, that this is a highly informal usage. Katy realised her knees were starting to pack up after years of running marathons. After hours of heavy lifting, Roger's back finally packed up, and he had to sit down to rest. From a grammatical perspective, this usage is intransitive and it has no direct object; it is not possible to say 'pack something up' to mean to make it break down or stop working when referring to a body part. MEANING 3: To stop doing something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To give up, to pack in, to stop, to quit Separable? Rarely Our third and final meaning of 'pack up' is one that is just as informal as the previous one and means 'to stop doing something', particularly when it is an activity that someone does regularly or a habit. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Smoking / Cigarettes / Fags Job / Work / Working I would say that the most common noun that I hear this application being used with is 'smoking', or something in reference to it, like 'cigarettes' or 'fags'. This is used as a more informal synonym of the highly common phrasal verb 'give up'. It is also common to hear this used with the noun 'job' to mean to quit your job, normally in a sudden or unexpected manner. Moreover, 'to pack up working', would be used to mean to stop working completely. Aside from these two uses, we can use this for other verb actions that we do regularly, which we stop, such as running, swimming, yoga or playing a sport or a game. On a grammatical note, when a verb action is specified, it needs to be in the gerund ('ing) form. I packed up smoking when I was 21 and I have not touched one since. Simon has decided to pack up his job as he is not happy there. Mike had to pack up running after he got injured in a fall. My mum says that she will never pack up pilates as it makes her feel young and healthy. My Dad has packed up working and taken early retirement. 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 'pack up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get into' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This article is all about the English phrasal verb 'get into'. In it, I will look at 8 different ways to use this surprising little phrasal verb and give you lots of commonly used nouns and example sentences to help you master them and add them to your active English vocabulary. This is quite a long post as there are a lot of different meanings to cover, so, let's make a start! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Get Into - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'get' and 'into' Get Into - Meaning 1: To enter Get Into - Meaning 2: To be chosen for something Get Into - Meaning 3: To become interested in something Get Into - Meaning 4: To start a career in a specific field Get Into - Meaning 5: To become involved in something Get Into - Meaning 6: To reach a state or condition Get Into - Bonus: What has got into you? Get Into - Meaning 7: To put a piece of clothing on Get Into - Meaning 8: To arrive Get Into - Bonus: Common idioms featuring with 'Get Into' Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GET INTO: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 8 Past tense forms Got into / Got - gotten into Separable? Sometimes If you visit my site often, you will know that I like to start each of my phrasal verbs posts with a quick analysis of the words that make up the phrasal verb of choice, in this case they are 'get' and 'into'. We'll start by looking at the verb 'to get', which I know can be problematic for many English learners due to its many meanings and uses. Let's not worry too much about all of the meanings of it here, but rather concentrate on those that are relevant for 'get into', which are 'to arrive' and 'to become'. In addition to its many different meanings, 'to get' can also function as an auxiliary verb, in the place of 'to be', to form passive sentences. One other point to note is that 'get' has two different past participles: 'got' and 'gotten' and the usage of these depends on where you are in the anglophone world. In British and Australian English, 'got' is the more common past tense form, whilst North American English speakers prefer using 'gotten'. Everybody gets old if they are lucky. It's getting very warm in here. He didn't get famous by luck; he worked hard and believed in himself. What time did you get home last night? We got to the airport late and missed the flight. Suzanne got picked to play for the soccer team. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'into', which is a combination of the prepositions 'in' and 'to'. As a result, 'into' is mainly used to describe movement from the outside of something to the inside. When used in phrasal verbs, 'into' can express ideas such as entry (go into), transformation (turn into), collision (bump into) and focus ( look into ). So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's take a look at the various meanings of the phrasal verb 'get into'.... MEANING 1: To enter Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To enter, to go in, to go into Separable? No Let's enter into the world of the different meanings of 'get into' with our first one, which, coincidentally, means 'to enter'....do you see what I did there?! 😉 Nouns commonly used with this application.... House Building Room Car Account As you will see from the list of nouns above, we can use 'get into' to talk about entering or physically going inside a place. You should note however that it only tends to be used by speakers in the following scenarios.... When there is some difficulty entering In the negative sense when we entry into somewhere is not possible for some reason When asking a question about how someone entered a space. On the contrary, if there is no difficulty entering a place, we tend to use 'go into' or another alternative. It took John 30 minutes to get into his apartment this evening as there was a problem with the lock on his front door. Mark tried to get into his car by breaking the window. How did the burglars get into your house? Somehow the cat got into the washing machine. This disease is caused when bacteria get into a person's bloodstream. Note that it is possible to use 'get into' for a car but not for other larger types of transport, such as a train or a plane as we use (illogically) 'on' for these and therefore the correct phrasal verb for these would be 'get onto'. It is also commonplace to use this application to describe non-physical spaces for which we use 'in'. These typically tend to be things like online accounts that need passwords etc. Has anyone been able to get into their email inbox this morning? A virus got into the computer system, causing the company lots of trouble. MEANING 2: To be chosen for something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be selected, to be chosen, to get in Separable? No We all experience moments of good luck in our lives, although it appears that some people have more of it than others. This second meaning of 'get into' is one that could be useful for them as it means 'to be chosen for something' and is usually used for things that we hope to be chosen for. Nouns commonly used with this application: Team School / College / University Office Parliament Power As I mentioned above, this usage of 'get into' is definitely a positive one because the underlying idea of it is a successful application. Typically, there is often an element of prestige or pride when it is used in this context. For example, if you get into a university, it means that you achieved the required grades in your exams and your application to study there was accepted. Likewise, if you get into a sports team, it means that the team manager has seen you play and has given you a place as he thinks you are good enough (note that it is also possible to get onto a team). One point to note here is that in American English, 'college' and 'university' are the same thing, however in British English they are different things, with a college being a place that you can study between school and university or to learn a profession, such as hairdressing or plumbing. My son has got into Oxford University to study English. I am overjoyed! What will you do if you don't get into the university that you want to go to? Mark and Lucy's daughter did not get into the school closest to their house. I got into the team after some of the other players got injured and they needed some replacements. In addition, you can also hear this application of 'get into' in the world of politics as if someone gets into parliament or office, it means that they have been elected or chosen to do the job by their political party or by the public. The prime minster first got into office 5 years ago and has not done much since then! The opposition party is determined to get into power in the upcoming election. If Mrs Smith gets into the Senate, she plans to focus on healthcare reform. MEANING 3: To become interested in something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To develop an interest, to get hooked, to start liking Separable? Rarely The third meaning of 'get into' is a pretty common one that you are likely to often hear being used by native speakers and it means 'to become interested in something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Movie / TV show Book Music Hobby To give you an example of how this one is frequently used, think about when you read a book or watch a movie and initially you find it difficult to enjoy or connect with it. Then, something really exciting happens in the story and suddenly you are no longer paying attention to what is happening around you and you are totally absorbed in the story (this happened to me whilst reading my book on the train this morning). When this happens, you can say that got into the book or the movie. It took me a while to get into the Harry Potter books but once I did, I was obsessed. I couldn't get into that movie, so I turned it off. Jason tried to get into his book but he couldn't concentrate on it as everyone around him was being so loud. We do not only use this application of 'get into' with entertainment however, as we can use it for anything that we are interested in. This can be for something that holds our attention for a few hours to lifelong passions, hobbies and interests that we enjoy doing or learning about. Regardless of what it is, 'get into' is used to describe the moment or time when you became interested in it. Kerry first got into history during 8th grade when she had a brilliant teacher. When did you get into rowing? Steve got into chess when he was living in Russia and now he is the best player I know. Brian got into Bob Marley's music when he was a teenager. A lot of people were into Britney Spears when I was at school but I never really got into her. MEANING 4: To start a career in a specific field Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To become, to enter into Separable? No Following on from the previous section, if you are interested in something, then it is logical that you may do a job that involves elements of the thing that you are interested in. As such, the fourth meaning of 'get into' that we will cover in this post is 'to start a career in a specific field, profession or industry'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Profession Field Teaching / Computing / IT / Law / Journalism / Politics Business / Industry At one point in the past, I seriously considered becoming a schoolteacher and started the process of researching different courses etc. Whilst I was doing this, I attended several public events for prospective teachers called "Get Into Teaching" and although I didn't end up becoming a schoolteacher (I am an ESL teacher for adults instead), I still receive emails from them occasionally. The reason that I am telling you this is because the teaching profession is one that is commonly used with this application of 'get into'. Aside from teaching, other professions that you may hear 'get into' being used in reference to are those that often require an element of training of study as specific skills are required, such as journalism, IT, law and politics. Additionally, it can also be heard in reference to specific industries or fields of work such as show business or the music industry. Roger got into teaching because he loves working with children. Shelley tried to get into journalism after graduating from university. Many people struggle to get into the tech industry without prior experience. Adam got into law after being inspired by his father, who was a judge. It’s not easy to get into acting, but Laura is determined to make it. People who are just starting in this industry don't know what they are getting into. MEANING 5: To become involved in something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To start, to get involved in, to be implicated in Separable? No Moving on to our fifth meaning of 'get into' now, which is in line with the theme of some of the others that we have already covered in the post as it means 'to become involved in something'. Alternatively, it can also be used to mean 'to start something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Relationship Fight Argument / Debate Conversation For this usage, we are focussing more on emotional-based things that are only made possible through interactions with other people. For example, you might get into a fascinating conversation with a stranger at a party, but then they may say something that you disagree with and so you then get into an argument with them. Furthermore, you might get into a relationship with someone only to realise that you are incompatible because you get into fights all the time. It's important to note that I'm specifically talking about romantic relationships here; it would be unusual to hear anyone saying that they got into a friendship with someone as typically we would say 'make friends' or 'befriend' here instead. Tim got into a fight with his brother over something trivial. Hannah got into a really interesting conversation with her manager at the Christmas party. It’s easy to get into a toxic relationship if you don’t set boundaries Sarah and John got into a heated argument over politics at the dinner table. A couple of the schoolchildren got into a scuffle during their break, but the teacher quickly intervened. It’s important to think carefully before getting into a romantic relationship with a work colleague. MEANING 6: To reach a state or condition Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To develop Separable? No For our sixth meaning of 'get into', let's turn our attention away from the idea of being involved in something and focus instead on the idea of reaching a state or condition. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Trouble Difficulties Mess Panic State Habit To clarify, this application is used for when we find ourselves in a new situation, state or condition and as you can see from the list above, these are typically negative in nature. For example, if you get into trouble, then you either find yourself in a problematic situation or in a situation where you have done something wrong and are going to be punished for it. A useful idiom for this particular situation that is useful to know here is 'to get into hot water'. Moreover, if a room gets into a mess, then it becomes untidy and if you get into a panic, then your body enters fight or flight mode and you start panicking. In all of the examples above, a new negative situation is reached, where previously there was no problem, negativity or untidiness. Kate got into difficulties when she was swimming in the sea as the current was so strong. Jamie got into trouble with the police a few years ago but didn't go to prison. Robert got into a state at the funeral and could not stop crying. Peter got into hot water with the tax office. How did this situation get into such a mess?! One other noun that is frequently heard with this application of 'get into' is 'habit' and we use this as a synonym of 'develop' in this sense. It is possible for this to be used with both good and bad habits. During the summer holidays, I got into the habit of sleeping late. Don't get into the habit of skipping breakfast; it is the most important meal of the day. Try and get into the habit of running at least three times a week and drinking more water. Photo: Pexels BONUS: What has got into you? While we are on this subject, I want to make you aware of a very common use of this application, which is the expression 'get into someone', which is usually heard in question form as 'what has got into you / him / her etc...?' We use this particular phrase when someone is not acting as they normally do or a bit strangely. Typically, it is when he or she is misbehaving or displaying some other kind of negative behaviour and we do not know the reason for it. You can probably guess from the picture above, but we can also use it for cats, dogs and other pets too which start behaving in a strange or abnormal way. What has got into you today? You have been in a terrible mood ever since breakfast! My dog has been barking and growling all morning. I don't know what has gotten into him! MEANING 7: To put on an item of clothing Photo: Wix CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To put on, to wear, to squeeze into Separable? No It's time for a complete change of meaning now for our seventh usage of 'get into' as this one is all about fashion and simply means 'to put on an item of clothing'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Trousers / Pants Jeans Dress Clothes Pyjamas Size Pair Firstly, we can use 'get into' here to mean to put on an item of clothing in a general sense. I can't wait to get home and get into my comfortable clothes. Give me 5 minutes to get into something presentable! Following a long day at work, Mike quickly got into his pyjamas and relaxed on the couch. After the hike, they all got into clean clothes before heading out for dinner. However, you should note that more often than not, 'get into' is used in reference to clothing when there is some difficulty putting on an item, typically because it is too small. It may be used in reference to a specific item, such as a pair of jeans or a wedding dress or to talk about a specific size of clothing that a person either manages or fails to put on. Sarah got into her workout gear before heading to the gym. Luke struggled to get into his new pair of jeans because they were a bit tight. Amanda got into her wedding dress with the help of her bridesmaids. I can’t believe how long it takes Miranda to get into her costume for the play! Louise was so happy when she managed to get into a size 8 dress for the first time since having her baby. There is no way that I will get into a medium-sized suit! MEANING 8: To arrive Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To arrive, to reach Separable? No We have now arrived at our final meaning of 'get into' and amazingly I have managed to come up with more brilliant word play again as this meaning is...you guessed it... 'to arrive'! Nouns commonly used with this application.... Towns / Cities (London, Birmingham, New York, Dublin etc.) Station Work Office Normally, this usage is not used as a synonym for 'to arrive' in all situations but specifically when talking about towns and cities, usually when arriving there on public transport. It can also be used for transport buildings such as stations and airports. My train gets into Montreal at 5pm today. I think my plane will get into Los Angeles around 6.30am. What time do you get into Glasgow tomorrow? Lisa and Jean Michel got into Paris just as the sun was setting. By the time the train got into the station, all of the shops had closed. My uncle's plane gets into Heathrow Airport this afternoon. Aside from the nouns mentioned above, we can also use this application of 'get into' to talk about work and places of work like offices. I usually get into the office around 8:30 AM. Margaret always gets into work early to avoid the morning rush. Kevin didn't get into work until after 11 this morning. On a grammatical note, a noun or a proper noun is usually always required after 'into' in this application otherwise the sentence sounds unfinished. If you already know what the city or place of arrival is and do not want to repeat it, you can just use 'get in' (link here ) instead as a noun is not required here and it means the same thing. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common idioms featuring 'get into' To end the post, I want to just make you aware of a couple of useful idioms featuring the phrasal verb 'get into' that are worth memorising and using. To get into the swing of things - This expression is used in situations when you do something new and after a period of uncertainty, you start to understand and get used to the new situation, often with an element of enjoyment too. An alternative to this is 'to get into the swing of it'. I didn't enjoy my new job at first but once I got into the swing of things, I began to enjoy it. To get into your stride - This British idiom is very similar to the previous one and almost means the same thing. If you get into your stride, you start to become confident with something new that you are doing as it is becomes familiar to you. The cyclists were very cautious in the first part of the race but once they got into their stride, there was no stopping them. To get into the festive / Christmas spirit - Our last idiom is one that is really only every used in December (and maybe early January for some) and means to feel the positive feelings that are associated with Christmas and to participate in Christmas-based activities. It took me a while to get into the Christmas spirit this year as work was so stressful. 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 into'. 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 into'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'clear 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 turning my attention to the phrasal verb 'clear up'. I will explain four different meanings that it has, from tidying a room to improved weather, and I will give you lots of example sentences to enable you to learn how it is used by native speakers and in which contexts. So, without further ado, let's get started! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Clear Up - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'clear' and 'up' Clear Up - Meaning 1: To provide an explanation for something Clear Up - Meaning 2: To tidy somewhere 🇬🇧 Clear Up - Bonus: What's the difference between 'to clear' and 'to clear up' Clear Up - Meaning 3: To become cured Clear Up - Meaning 4: To improve (weather) 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 CLEAR UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Cleared up / Cleared up Separable? Yes Before we delve into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'clear up', let's first take a moment to consider the individual words 'clear' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. Firstly, we have the verb 'to clear', which is a regular verb, whose main meaning is to remove obstacles, obstructions and unwanted things from a space or area. In addition, it can also be used as a verb to mean to authorise something, to pass over something without touching or hitting it and to prove that a suspect of a crime is not guilty, with some other less common meanings. The forester is clearing a path through the trees. I had to clear my drive this morning as it was covered with snow. My boss has cleared my request for holiday next week. The dog could clear the garden fence with ease. The suspected murdered was cleared of all charges and released. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', which can be used in phrasal verb constructions to give a number of different nuances and meanings. Unsurprisingly, one of it's primary uses is to denote a movement in an upwards direction or an increase, however it can also add the ideas of improvement (cheer up), collection (gather up) and separation ( break up ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's start looking at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'clear up'.... MEANING 1: To provide an explanation for something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To explain, to clarify, to solve, to resolve, to straighten out, to sort out Separable? Yes Our first meaning of the phrasal verb 'clear up' is one that you may have come across before, especially if you use English for your job and is 'to provide an explanation for something'. Nouns commonly used with this application: Confusion Doubts Mystery Uncertainty Misunderstanding Issue / Problem In order to comprehend this first application, we need to think about what 'clear' can mean as an adjective, which is in this case is 'easy to understand'. If we then convert this adjectival meaning to a verb, we get the idea of making something clear or ensuring that something becomes easy for people to understand. Looking at the list of nouns above, you will note that many of them are used for things where information is missing or required and the action of giving this information is known as 'clearing something up'. This is oftentimes in the form of an explanation. Furthermore, sometimes when there is confusion about a situation, especially in a work environment, it can lead to problems and we can also use this application of 'clear up' to mean to solve a problem and make it go away. The English teacher stayed after class to clear up any doubts the students had about the phrasal verbs that they had covered in the class. Please can you clear up this billing issue? I think you have charged me twice for the same item. Debbie worked quickly to clear up her customer's misunderstanding about the refund policy. I’ll call the client to clear up any confusion about the project deadlines. The mystery of my missing cat has finally been cleared up - he was locked in our garden shed! MEANING 2: To tidy somewhere Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To tidy, to tidy up, to clean up Separable? Yes Like a lot of people, I really enjoy hosting parties and social gatherings at my house where I can catch up with my friends and family, forget about work and relax a bit. The one thing that I dislike about it however is the next day when the place is a complete mess and everywhere needs cleaning and tidying. The reason that I am mentioning this is because our second meaning of 'clear up' is to tidy somewhere. Nouns commonly used with this application: Mess House / Apartment Room Firstly, you should note that this usage is primarily a British one and may sound a little strange to American English speakers, who may be more accustomed to 'clean up' as an alternative. However you should note that 'clean up' may also involve an aspect of cleaning , which 'clear up' does not tend to do. In a nutshell, this application of 'clear up' is used to describe the action of moving items from a place and either putting them in their designated places or throwing them away into the trash, in order to make the space or room look neat and today. Typically, this usage is heard in relation to a messy room or a place with lots of litter and rubbish, particularly following a social event or party. In addition to 'clearing up' the place or space that is a mess, it is also common to use 'clear up' to refer to the out of place items that are causing the mess, such as litter, toys or broken glass. John, can you help me clear up the kitchen after dinner? Helen spent the morning clearing up her desk so she could focus on her work. The kids were told to clear up their toys before bedtime. It took Simon and I hours to clear up the mess after the party. Steve offered to clear up the garden after the storm left branches and debris everywhere. After finishing the project, Mike and Abigail stayed late to clear up the conference room. BONUS: What's the difference between 'to clear' and 'to clear up' Lastly, before concluding this section, it is worth mentioning that when used in this context, 'clear' and 'clear up' have slightly different meanings. Whilst the expression 'to clear up a room' conveys the idea of clearing up the mess in a room in order to make it look tidy, the expression 'to clear a room' conveys the idea of removing all of the items in it, in order to make it empty. A small difference but it can make a big difference in certain situations, so it is definitely worth knowing it! MEANING 3: To become cured Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where it it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To heal, to go away Separable? Sometimes In the previous section, we explored the concept of getting rid of unwanted items from a room or space to improve its appearance. For this third meaning, we are also looking at the idea of eliminating something but in this case, it is illnesses as this meaning is 'to become cured of a disease'. Nouns commonly used with this application: Illness / Disease Cold Cough Infection Rash / Spots / Hives Symptoms Despite even our best efforts to stay well, we all get sick from time to time and whilst it is often an unpleasant experience, the symptoms do eventually go away and we start to feel better again, or in other words the illness clears up. Although we can use 'clear up' to talk about any infection or disease being cured, it is most commonly used in reference to skin conditions such as rashes, hives and spots. I think that this is particularly so as when the rash finally disappears, the skin once again looks is clear. From a grammatical perspective, we can use this application of 'clear up' in both a transitive way (with a direct object) and an intransitive way (without a direct object). We use it transitively particularly when we want to specify a drug or treatment that will cure the issue or help to make it go away.... The doctor prescribed an ointment that should clear up the rash in a few days. This treatment is designed to clear up acne within a couple of weeks. The cream helped to clear the redness from her sunburn up. I'd had a persistent cough for weeks and then I took this herbal remedy and it cleared it up in a day! On the other hand, we use it intransitively when we want to say that a condition improves independently without any drugs, when we do not want to specify the drug or medication that cleared the condition up or when it has already been mentioned and so does not need to be repeated. Remember, that when used this way, we cannot separate 'clean' and 'up'. My cold finally started to clear up after a week of rest and medication. If your symptoms don’t clear up by tomorrow, you should see a doctor. Laura's hay fever usually clears up once the pollen season ends. Kevin's psoriasis was finally starting to clear up when a stressful incident at work made it flare up again. MEANING 4: To improve (weather) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To improve, to brighten up, to let up Separable? No We've now reached our fourth and final meaning of 'clear up', which is a nice and positive one to end the post with as it means 'to improve' and is used specifically when talking about the weather. Nouns that this application is commonly used with: Weather Rain Fog Storm Snow As you can tell from the list above, this particular usage is used in reference to types of weather that people consider bad. In other words, types of weather that disrupt our plans and prevent us from doing things that we want to do, especially when they are outside. Moreover, typical weather scenarios in which this is used are when the sun comes out and the day becomes brighter, when it stops raining, when fog or mist lifts and visibility resumes and when a period of windy or stormy weather comes to an end.  As you might guess, this is one that we say a lot in the UK, often just as a wish! The weather is supposed to clear up this afternoon, so we should be able to go for a walk then. It's been raining heavily all morning, but it looks like it’s starting to clear up now. If the weather doesn’t clear up soon, we’ll have to cancel the village show. Pete and his fishermen friends waited for the storm to clear up before heading out on the boat. It was cloudy when we arrived, but the weather began to clear up just in time for the picnic. The sun finally came out after the rain cleared up, making for a beautiful evening. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. 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 'clear 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 'hold 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 post, I will be explaining the phrasal verb 'hold back', which you may be familiar with already as it is a fairly common and widespread one. Do you know all of the ways that it can be used in English though? Don't worry if not because I will explain each of them in detail for you as we go and provide lots of example sentences to help you master how to use them like a native speaker. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Hold Back - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'hold' & 'back' Hold Back - Meaning 1: To stop something from advancing Hold Back - Meaning 2: To stop yourself from acting or speaking Hold Back - Meaning 3: To withhold something Hold Back - Meaning 4: To prevent someone from progressing Hold Back - Meaning 5: To make a school student repeat a year 🇺🇸 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 HOLD BACK: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Held back / Held back Separable? Yes To begin the post, let's first examine the individual words 'hold' and 'back' to see what they mean on their own. Our base verb in this post is the verb 'to hold', which has a large number of different uses in English. Its main meanings include 'to have something in your hands or arms for a period of time', 'to contain', 'to keep something in a place and prevent it from moving' and 'to organise something official, like an election or a meeting'. Becky left the hospital holding her new baby. Louise and Alex held hands along the beach. This water tank holds 1000 litres of water. The police are holding the suspects in a cell temporarily until their investigation is finished. The government is holding a vote next week to decide who will become the new parliament speaker. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'back', which is one that is fairly common in phrasal verbs but not as prevalent as other particles like 'in', 'up' and 'out'. The general meanings of the word 'back' are all related to 're' words, such as reversal, response, return and restrain. These ideas are also reflected in phrasal verbs that feature 'back', for example 'set back', 'take back', 'go back' and ' get back '. Also, when used as an adverb, the word 'back' can be used to express being at the rear of something (behind everyone or everything else) and therefore away from the front. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'hold back'.... MEANING 1: To stop something from advancing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To restrain, to stop, to halt, to constrain, to block Separable? Yes Let's start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'hold back' with a somewhat literal meaning, which is 'to stop something from advancing'. Nouns commonly used with this application: A person / People Crowd Water Flow Fire As you can see from the list above, this first usage of 'hold back' is applied to nouns for things that physically move forwards on the ground, which of course include people and animals, as well as for things like fire and water, which do so by their very nature. When we hold these back, we stop their progress by blocking them in some way and therefore prevent them from advancing any further. This application combines the literal meaning of 'to hold', as in keeping something stationary, with the notion of 'back', suggesting a rear position with the potential to move forward. Together, they imply that the person, animal or object is prevented from progressing further along its course. The police formed a line to hold back the crowd during the protest. Sandbags were placed along the riverbank to hold back the rising floodwaters. The soldiers worked together to hold back the enemy forces John stretched out his arms to hold back his younger brother from running into the street. In informal spoken English, "hold back" is used when someone is angry and about to become violent, and another person physically restrains them, preventing them from attacking the other person. Thinking about the grammar here, you should note that we need the additional preposition 'from' + the verb in gerund form with this application (as you can see in the sentence before this). Simon was so angry with his boss that his colleagues had to hold him back from hitting him. Karen had to hold back her dog when it lunged at the cat. Moreover, this application is also used by native speakers in hypothetical scenarios with the second conditional to describe situations in which someone would need to be restrained from aggression towards another person because they are so angry or annoyed. If anyone hurt my children, it would take an entire army to hold me back from attacking them. You wouldn't be able to hold me back if I found out that my boyfriend was seeing his ex-girlfriend. Here is a music video of a well known song featuring this first application of 'hold back', however I am note sure if this is meant in a literal sense. What do you think? MEANING 2: To stop yourself from acting or speaking Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To restrain yourself, to repress, to stifle, to suppress Separable? Yes Now we move on to the second meaning of 'hold back', which is another variation on the theme of stopping that we covered in the previous section. For this application, rather than preventing the forward movement of something, we are instead stopping ourselves from acting in a certain way or from saying something. For this usage, we again need the additional preposition 'from' + the verb in gerund ('ing) form to specify the action that we want to prevent. As we are often talking about ourselves here, it is also very common to use reflexive (-self) pronouns. Firstly, let's consider when we use 'hold back' to mean 'stopping yourself from acting in a certain way', which can be used to describe any time that you hesitate to do something or do not do something completely. This would typically be because you are not sure whether or not it is the right thing to do or perhaps because you do not want to make a situation that is already bad even worse. Roger felt nervous during the interview and held back from sharing his most creative ideas. I was about to send the email to the customer but I held back from sending it to reconsider my tone. Mike and Jim planned to invest more money but held back due to the uncertainty of the economy. Adrian couldn't hold back from buying the antique ornaments, despite his wife having told him he could not spend any more money. Another way that this application of 'hold back' is used a lot is in reference to emotions, particularly when we want to stop ourselves from showing a certain emotion or when we cannot stop ourselves from doing so. Typically, these "held back" emotions include crying, laughing, losing your temper (becoming angry) and shouting. Perhaps the most common word that is used with 'hold back' in reference to emotions is the noun 'tears'. 'To hold back the tears' is another way to say to stop yourself from crying. Whilst watching her colleagues argue, Sarah almost burst out laughing at the wrong moment but managed to hold back just in time. Despite the bad news, Sally managed to hold back from crying. Jacob clenched his fists tightly, struggling to hold back his anger. She bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to flow. Steve turned away to hold back the wave of sadness that suddenly overwhelmed him. Jane had to hold back her excitement when she heard the good news to keep the surprise for later. Finally, the other action that we use with 'hold back' is speaking and this can often be for a number of reasons. Perhaps, we do not want to make a situation worse or cause an argument, or maybe we are too shy to express our opinion about something. Either way, the central idea here is that we have something to say or that we want to say, but ultimately do not. Moreover, if someone doesn't hold back, it means that they say exactly what they are thinking, often without caring about what other people think. This is especially common to hear in reference to when people are angry or are in a fierce argument. Lucy wanted to speak her mind but decided to hold back, fearing she might offend someone. Bobby saw the opportunity to criticise his boss but wisely chose to hold back. Maria held back from speaking during the work meeting as she was terrified of speaking English in front of native speakers. Jo lost her temper with her mother in law and didn't hold back; she told her exactly what she thought of her for the first time. MEANING 3: To withhold something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To withhold, to keep back, to retain Separable? Yes We finished the previous section with the idea of holding back from speaking and this brings us nicely to our third meaning of 'hold back', which is 'to withhold something', most commonly information. To clarify, this application means to keep information secret and not make it known to other people. More often than not, we use this particular application when we give people some information about a subject but not all of it and we keep some of the information back. This application is frequently used in social groups where people keep secrets, in businesses when management and directors want to restrict employee access to specific information and for children when certain things are not appropriate for them to know. The witness admitted to holding back key facts from the police out of fear for their safety. The company was criticised for holding back information about the product recall. I suspect that they're holding back the full story until they get more evidence. The report was incomplete because the author deliberately held back some of the findings. Robert was accused of holding back crucial evidence from the investigation. In addition to withholding information, we can also use this application of 'hold back' to refer to things that we use or need, such as money or energy. When we hold some of it back, we keep part of it in reserve in order to use it later. Alan decided to hold back some of his savings in case of an emergency. The football coach instructed his team to hold back their energy for the final quarter of the game. Anne didn't eat all of her cookies at once and held back a few to enjoy after dinner. MEANING 4: To prevent someone from progressing Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To hinder, to impede, to thwart Separable? Yes For the next usage of 'hold back', I want to go back again to the first meaning in this post, which is to stop something from advancing. This is because the next application is the same idea, however rather than talking about something physically moving forwards, we are instead talking about the idea of stopping something or someone from progressing or developing. Vocabulary commonly used with this application.... Someone / somebody Person / people Project Process Plan This usage of 'hold back' is not used very much with tangible, physical objects but rather with abstract nouns. For example, if we talk about holding a person back, we are usually referring to their career or their personal development, or stopping them from doing something that they want to do in their life. Moreover, when we talk about holding something back, we are likely talking about a project, plan or process that is not developing as quickly as it should. Financial constraints are holding back the completion of the new building. The outdated software is holding back the company's ability to compete in the market. Penny decided not to have children as she thought that they would hold her back in her career. Alison's perfectionism often holds her back from finishing projects on time. MEANING 5: To make a school student repeat a year Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? American English Potential synonyms To repeat Separable? Yes We have now come to our fifth and final meaning of 'hold back', which is an American English usage and means 'to to make a school student repeat a year'. This one is typically used when a schoolchild does not pass his or her exams at the end of the school year or does not progress sufficiently during the year and therefore needs to repeat the year. Grammatically speaking, you are likely to hear this in a passive sense, with the idea of a student "being held back" due to poor grades, performance or attendance. In British English, although we would understand the use of 'hold back' within the context of the conversation, we would normally use the verb 'to repeat' instead. The teacher suggested holding Tony back a year because he was struggling to keep up with the curriculum. After failing several exams, the school decided to hold Mary-Sue back in fourth grade. Despite his efforts, Chuck was held back in high school due to poor academic performance. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'turn 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 'hold 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 'try on' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post is all about the English phrasal verb 'try on'. In the post, I will explain its three different meanings and give you lots of examples of each one to enable you to understand, learn and use them, helping you to impress all of your English speaker friends and colleagues 😃 Read on to learn these different meanings and master another phrasal verb! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Try On - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'try' and 'on' Try On - Meaning 1: To wear an item of clothing to see if it fits Try On - Meaning 2: To test someone's limits by misbehaving 🇬🇧 Try On - Meaning 3: To flirt with someone 🇬🇧 I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS TRY ON: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Tried on / Tried on Separable? Yes Regular visitors to this website will know by now that I always start my phrasal verb exploration by looking at the individual words that make it up, so let''s begin by considering the component words 'try' and 'on'. The base verb in our phrasal verb construction 'to try' is a very common English verb whose main meaning is 'to make an effort to do something', often when the task is new or difficult for us. Furthermore, it can also be used to mean 'to test something to see if it is nice or suitable', which is a theme that we will come back to later in the post. I tried to call you yesterday but you didn't answer. Have you ever tried learning Spanish? Mmmm this soup tastes so good, come over here and try it. John tried karate and judo but realised that martial arts weren't for him. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'on', which, as you will know, is used to talk about when something is in contact with a surface, especially when it is above it. Beyond this, 'on' has a huge range of uses and applications in English and exploring all of them would require an entirely new blog, which I unfortunately don't have time to create. One notable application of 'on' though is in reference to clothing as when we wear something we say it is 'on' our bodies. When used in phrasal verbs constructions, 'on' can convey ideas such as continuation ( keep on ), activation (turn on), focus (work on) and encouragement (cheer on), among others. So, now that we have looked at the basics, let's move on to the real reason that you are here and look at the meanings of the phrasal verb 'try on'.... MEANING 1: To wear an item of clothing to see if it fits Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To try, to test Separable? Yes We will start our examination of the phrasal verb 'try on' with the easiest and most widely used of its three meanings, which is 'to wear an item of clothing to see if it fits'. One thing that I find happens quite often and which annoys me greatly when ordering clothes, especially online, is that different clothes shops seem to use different measurements to classify the clothes into size categories. Therefore, if I purchase a medium-sized jumper from one retailer and a different medium-sized jumper from another, one of them is likely to fit, while the other doesn't? This has resulted in me sending a lot of clothes back that I ordered online as they do not fit. Is this the same in your country or is just a British thing? For this reason, we usually need to wear an item of clothing before we give away our hard earned money for it to make sure that it fits and looks good on us. To describe this testing action, we use the phrasal verb 'try on'. Apart from the verb 'to try', there are not really any good synonyms for this exact action, so this really is a good one to memorise if you ever plan to go clothes shopping in an English speaking country. As you can imagine, this particular usage is mainly heard in clothes shops and stores where people want to try an item before they purchase it. Aside from clothes, we also use this application for anything that we wear on our body such as glasses, hats and shoes. This usage is separable and it can be used in either a separated or an unseparated way without any change in meaning. I want to try on this jacket before deciding if I should buy it. Helen spent hours trying on different pairs of shoes at the mall. Can I try on this dress in a smaller size? Before buying the sunglasses, Roger decided to try them on to check the fit and style. You should try on that sweater—it looks like it would suit you perfectly! MEANING 2: To test someone's limits by misbehaving Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To play up, to misbehave, to test someone, to test the boundaries Separable? Yes - always The next two meanings of 'try on' are both mainly British meanings and are slightly informal. with this first one being 'to test someone's limits by misbehaving'. Before I continue with the explanation, it is important to note that this application is always separable with the word 'it' being placed between 'try' and 'on', giving us the expression 'to try it on'. If any of you have ever taught in a classroom, particularly children or teenagers in a school environment, then you will undoubtedly at one point or another have been in a situation in which you could use this application. This is because it is often used to describe when students misbehave for a new teacher to test the limits of what he or she will allow in the classroom. This may also happen to childminders and babysitters too. In other words, students who try it on are just seeing how naughty they can be and what they can get away with. Don’t let him get away with it—he’s just trying it on to see how far he can push you. The kids tried it on with the substitute teacher, but she soon made it clear that any bad behaviour would be strictly punished. Furthermore, we can also use this application in reference to deceiving someone or tricking them, in order to get something from them. This tends to be used in situations where the person 'trying it on' knows that there is not much chance of being successful. Just to add here, that this usage is not just limited to schoolchildren as it can also be applied to any situation where this behaviour is displayed, even a cat or dog may try it on....my cats certainly do so from time to time!! The customer said he’d forgotten his wallet, but I think he’s just trying it on to get a free meal. The shopkeeper caught the teenager trying it on by pretending he’d already paid for the candy. Don’t let them charge you extra for the service—they’re just trying it on to see if you’ll notice. When John said that he hadn't received the email, I knew he was trying it on to avoid doing the work. MEANING 3: To flirt with someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To flirt, to come on to, to pick up, to make a move on Separable? Yes - always Our third and final meaning is one for all the romantics among you as it means 'to flirt with someone'. Similar to the previous application that we looked at, this usage of 'try on' is also formed using the structure 'try it on' but this time we need the additional word 'with + the name of the person', giving us the structure 'to try it on with someone'. If someone 'tries it on with you', then they flirt with you or signal to you in some way that they find you attractive and are interested in a relationship. I find that this particular usage carries quite a negative connotation, particularly as you often hear it when the person who tries it on with the other person is thought to be unattractive or undesirable in some way. Simon is always trying it on with the new girls at work. Katy wasn’t interested when Luke tried it on with her at the party. You could tell that Rachel was trying it on with Stuart by the way she kept laughing at his jokes and touching his arm. What would you say to someone if they tried it on with you and you didn't find them attractive? 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 'try on'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn 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 'turn out', which is a common and versatile English phrasal verb that will help to elevate your English if used correctly. In this post, I will be covering 8 different meanings and uses that it has, from pointing outwards to emptying something, with lots of examples in context to help you understand, memorise and use them. So, without further ado, let's make a start! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Turn Out - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'turn' and 'out' Turn Out - Meaning 1: To point outwards Turn Out - Meaning 2: To switch off a light Turn Out - Meaning 3: To have an unexpected result Turn Out - Meaning 4: To attend something Turn Out - Bonus: The noun 'turnout' Turn Out - Meaning 5: To produce something Turn Out - Meaning 6: To evict Turn Out - Meaning 7: To empty Turn Out - Meaning 8: To appear 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 TURN OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 8 Past tense forms Turned out / Turned out Separable? Sometimes I know that you are here to learn the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'turn out', however before we do that, it's a good idea to consider the individual words 'turn' and 'out' and their individual meanings. Our base verb 'to turn' is a highly versatile and widespread verb, with a large range of meanings and applications, both literal and figurative. I think that the main meanings that people associate with it are 'rotating', 'changing direction' and 'changing from one thing to another'. Moreover, it is also used in many phrasal verbs, with 'turn out' being one of the most common. I turned the handle to open the door. John turned right at the traffic light when he should have turned right. The weather is going to turn cold next week. My son is turning 18 tomorrow. I don't feel old enough to have a child who is an adult! Next, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which needs very little introduction from me. As you will undoubtedly know, the word 'out' is a key word in English and can function as a preposition, adverb, adjective and verb. Furthermore, it is the natural opposite of the particle 'in' and tends to be used in reference to being on, or moving towards the external part of something. When used in phrasal verbs, 'out' can add the ideas of motion or direction (pull out ), exhaustion ( run out ), discovery (find out) and distribution ( give out ). Now that we have covered the basics, let's dive into the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'turn out'.... MEANING 1: To point outwards Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To point out / outwards, to face out / outwards Separable? Yes We will begin with a rarer meaning of 'turn out', which is more of a literal meaning and so should be a nice and easy one to understand and that is 'to point outwards'. Quite literally, this meaning is used to talk about when something turns and faces away from its centre. In addition to this, it can also be used to describe when something turns or points away from an aligned position it is supposed to be in and this particular usage tends to be found with feet and toes a lot. For example, if you turn out your feet, then they are not pointing straight ahead, but instead to the left and right (like in the picture of the ballet dancers above). Other nouns that are used with this first application of 'turn out' are for items that can physically fold or turn, which include mechanical objects or parts like wheels and handles, collars on clothes and edges of surfaces. You will often hear these being referred to in the passive sense i.e. is turned out etc. The dancers turned their feet out in preparation to start the performance. Simon's feet turned out slightly as he walked. The wheels of the bike turned out slightly after the crash. Donna's shirt collar turned out sharply, giving it a retro look. MEANING 2: To switch off a light Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To turn off, to switch off, to shut off, to extinguish Separable? Yes I imagine that many of already know that we can use the phrasal verbs 'switch off and 'turn off' to talk about extinguishing a light, but did you know that we can also use 'turn out' to mean the same thing? This might seem strange and a bit of an idiomatic usage to you as normally in English lights are either on or off and so logically, turning or switching them off would make sense when talking about extinguishing them. The reason that we say 'turn out' as well is because in the past there were many devices that used flames or fire to provide light and when we talk about a fire that is no longer burning, we say that it is out and not off. Of course, nowadays we do not have many of these fire-generated lights anymore, however we still say 'turn out' to describe this action. To note, whilst 'switch off' and 'turn off' can both be used to talk about all electronic devices, 'turn out' is mainly reserved for lights and, less commonly, heat giving devices. I would say that both of the alternatives are also used more commonly than 'turn out'. Please can you turn out the light when you come to bed. Kate forgot to turn out the Christmas tree lights before leaving for the weekend. The city mayor asked all citizens to turn out their lights at midnight to help to conserve energy. MEANING 3: To have an unexpected result Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To prove, to end up, to transpire, to become known, to come to light, to emerge Separable? No Now we have arrived at our third meaning of 'turn out', which is the big one as this is the one that I hear being used by native speakers all the time. It means 'to have an unexpected result' but can also mean 'to happen in a particular way'. Much of the time, this meaning is used by speakers to look back on specific past events or experiences and state what happened, especially if what happened was unpredicted or strange in some way. From a grammatical perspective, 'turn out' can be followed by an infinitive, a 'that' clause or an adjective, so let's take a brief look at each one.... We usually use 'turn out followed by an infinitive (to + verb) to describe unexpected endings and outcomes, discoveries and surprises, similar to the expression 'to prove to be'. Moreover, the verb 'to be' is often the infinitive that is used here. The customer meeting turned out to be better than we had expected. Jenny's ex-husband turned out to be a very horrible person. The rumour about my boss being pregnant turned out to be false. The job turned turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. When we use this application of 'turn out' with a 'that' clause, we again want to give some information about surprise or unexpected outcomes, but we can also use it to refer to revealing information that was previously unknown, so it is a really good one for gossip! This is usually formed by the expressions 'it turned out that...' or 'it turns out that...'. It turned out that John was already married and Sarah was his second wife! Can you believe it?! The parcel that I had ordered still hadn't arrived after two weeks and it turned out that it had been delivered to my neighbour's house and she hadn't told me. Do you remember my English teacher? Well, it turns out that he used to date my sister! After making dinner for everyone, it turned out that nobody was hungry as they had already eaten! If it turns out that he is lying to us, we will stop talking to him. Lastly, we can use 'turn out' with an adjective to describe an unexpected quality of something or to describe how something ends or concludes, again if there is something surprising about the outcome. The cake turned out delicious, despite everyone saying that I could not cook. The weather has turned out ok today hasn't it. Thankfully, the rain has stayed away. The exam turned out easier than I thought, so hopefully I have passed it. Note that this usage does not take a direct object and is not separable. MEANING 4: To attend something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To attend, to turn up, to show up, to gather, to assemble Separable? No Around the world this year, there have been a huge number of political elections taking place, with new presidents and heads of state being elected in many of them. If you have been following these elections on the news in English, then you may have heard our next meaning of 'turn out', which means 'to attend something' and is often used in reference to voters in an election. Nouns that this application is commonly used with: Election Meeting Concert Play / Show Party Funeral To clarify this meaning, we use it primarily when we talk about attending public events, normally those that people go to as a result of being invited or being summoned. It can also be used for social events such as parties, community events and shows, so really any events where lots of people gather together. Note that we do not use this to talk about our own attendance at events but rather people's attendance in general. For example, you would not say that you turned out for an event but rather that a lot of people turned out for an event. As a result, this application is often used by native speakers to describe the number of people who were present at an event or to highlight their enthusiasm for it. Note the usage of the additional preposition 'for' when specifying the event. Thousands of Liverpool FC fans turned out to watch the championship game. Despite the rain, many people turned out for the parade. A huge crowd turned out for the charity concert. Not as many people turned out for the funeral as we had expected. BONUS: WHAT ABOUT TURNOUT AS A NOUN? Furthermore, you should note that the noun 'turnout' also exists, which is usually used in combination with an adjective like high, low or poor to mean the number of people that turn out for something. This is especially common when talking about voting and elections. There was a record turnout for the election this year, with over 75% of eligible voters participating. The turnout for the charity event was lower than expected due to the bad weather. MEANING 5: To produce something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used Everywhere Potential synonyms To produce, to manufacture, to put out Separable? Yes The fifth meaning of 'turn out' is one that you may have come across if you study business English or work in the manufacturing sector as it means 'to produce or manufacture something'. This application is commonly used to talk about manufacturing businesses and the amount of products that they produce, often over a specific period of time. Sometimes, it can also specify that something has been created or made very quickly or in surprisingly large quantities. The factory turns out thousands of engines every month. The company turns out high-quality smartphones at an impressive rate. In May 1921, the car company turned out its five-millionth car. Aside from big business, this meaning of 'turn out' is also applied to smaller businesses and more creative works like novels, art and pottery, which are also produced through effort or process. This bakery turns out dozens of loaves of bread every morning. Sarah turns out beautiful pottery from her home workshop. My favourite author turns out a new novel almost every year. MEANING 6: To evict Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To evict, to turf out, to kick out, to eject, to expel Separable? Yes Our next meaning of 'turn out' is another separable one and is used in reference to people and means to 'to evict someone'. To explain, if you 'turn someone out', you eject them from where they are living and essentially make them homeless. As you can imagine, this one is used particularly in reference to people who rent their accommodation from a landlord or property owner, who decides that they no longer want the tenant to live in their house and seeks to remove them. Often, when this meaning is used, there is an implied meaning of harsh or unfair treatment of the people who have been 'turned out'. Hopefully, this application is not one that you will ever need to use in reference to your own lives, but it may be something that you come across from time to time, so it always worth knowing. Andrew threatened to turn out the tenants if they didn’t pay the rent. The family was turned out of their home after they failed to make the mortgage payments. The villagers were turned out of their cottages to make way for the new development. Roger and Helen were cruelly turned out onto the streets with nowhere to go. MEANING 7: To empty Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To empty, to empty out, to unload, to vacate, to clear Separable? Yes In the previous section, I explained how 'turn out' can be used to describe evicting tenants from the place where they live. This removal of people from their accommodation is, in its purest sense, a form of emptying and this links us smoothly to our next meaning, which is simply 'to empty something'. This application is used specifically in reference to containers and things that hold our belongings, with the two most common of these being pockets and drawers. If you turn out your pockets, you take out everything that is inside them, much like in the picture above. Likewise, if you turn out your drawers, you empty them, typically because you want to find something or you want to tidy them and sort them out. At the policeman's request, Alex turned out his pockets to prove that he hadn’t taken anything. The kids turned out their toy box in search of their favourite game. Lisa turned out her handbag to look for her missing car keys. MEANING 8: To appear (passive) Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be well dressed, to be badly dressed Separable? No We have now come to our eighth and final meaning of 'turn out', which is 'to appear' and is typically used in reference to people, their clothes and their physical appearance. Unlike the previous meanings of 'turn out' that I have covered in the post, this one is primarily used in the passive voice and therefore tends to function more as an adjective and reads 'to be turned out'. Moreover, this is normally accompanied by the adverbs 'well' or 'badly' to specify if the person looks good or bad, giving us the construction 'to be well / badly turned out'. More often than not, this is used in the positive sense with 'well', to say that someone is dressed well, in a sophisticated and stylish manner. Everyone at the party last night was extremely well turned out. There were plenty of well turned out ladies and gentlemen at the opening day of the races yesterday. Please do not let any badly turned out people into the party. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'turn 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 'turn out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'set about' 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 examining the phrasal verb 'set about'. You may not be as familiar with this particular phrasal verb as some of the others that I have covered on this blog as it is not so common and the meanings that it has are all advanced level. If this is the case, don't worry as I will explain its different meanings, giving you lots of examples in context to help you learn them. I'm confident that it will be a valuable addition to your English vocabulary! So, without further ado, let's make a start! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Set About - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'set' and 'about' Set About - Meaning 1: To start doing something Set About - Meaning 2: To attack someone 🇬🇧 Set About - Meaning 3: To place items randomly in a space or room 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 ABOUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Set about / Set about Separable? Sometimes As per usual, let's begin our linguistic exploration by looking at the words that make up our phrasal verb of choice, which in this case are 'set' and 'about'. I'd like to start this section with a question: what word in English has the meanings and definitions? Do you know the answer? You may be surprised to learn that it is in fact the small and simple looking word 'set'! If you guessed 'get', you were wrong! According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'set' has 430 different meanings and uses (yes, you read that correctly). Luckily however, most native speakers only use a small portion of these in their everyday conversations, so don't feel that you must learn all of these in order to become fluent. When used as a verb, 'to set' is irregular as its past tense forms do not change. Moreover, as you can guess, it has a lot of different uses and applications, however the essential key meanings are 'to put something in a particular place', 'to adjust something' and 'to establish something'. Jenny set the table ready for dinner. I've set my alarm to go off at 5.30am tomorrow morning. I set the rules and you have to follow them. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'about', which is used a huge amount in everyday English by native speakers, though it is not very common in phrasal verb constructions. In fact, it is the first phrasal verb with 'about' that I have covered on this website. I would say that the key uses of the word 'about' are to indicate 'the subject of' when used as a preposition and when used as an ad verb it functions as a synonym of 'approximately', often in reference to a number or a size. Another relevant usage that it has is to describe movement within a specific area, such as a room or city, similar to 'around'. The movie is about a woman who falls in love with her boss. There are about 7000 different languages actively spoken in the world Ken spent a few minutes walking about his house and checking that each room was tidy. So, now that we have covered the basics', let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'set about'.... MEANING 1: To start doing something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To start, to begin, to commence, to attempt, to undertake Separable? No The first of the three meanings that we will cover in the post is a highly appropriate one to begin with as it means 'to start doing something'. I'm not sure if you feel the same, but I find that when I have a difficult or long task that I must do, the hardest part for me is often starting it. Once I take the first steps and begin doing it, the rest of the task somehow doesn't seem so difficult. The reason that I am mentioning this is because we use this first application of 'set about' to mean 'to start doing something' and it is often applied to those difficult or time consuming tasks that we delay and postpone. These tasks might include writing a report, doing some research, launching a business, creating a website, learning a new language or doing your family tree. In other words, they are all jobs or projects that take time, energy and potentially hard work to complete. Furthermore, when we use 'set about' in this way, it is often with the inherent idea of determination and energy, i.e. if you set about a job, you do it with energy and enthusiasm. On a grammatical note, this application of 'set about' can be followed either by a noun or by the gerund ('ing form). Following a bit of research online into the usage of this application and based on my own experience as a native speaker, I would say that we tend to use the gerund form more with this application of 'set about'. When Jane got back from her holiday, she set about writing her auto-biography. The voters set about choosing their new member of parliament following the resignation of the previous one. The team set about fixing the broken equipment before the next game. Kate set about completely cleaning her house after her birthday party. The chef set about creating a new recipe for the restaurant's menu. When used with a noun, the typical ones that you will find it with are 'job' or 'task'. Often, the gerund form will then come after these words if they are followed by the preposition 'of'. My team at work is setting about the creation of a new employee committee. After my Dad died, my brother and I set about the task of clearing out his house. Following the financial crisis, Luke set about the tough job of rebuilding his business. Lastly, you should also note that with this particular usage of 'set about', there is no passive form. MEANING 2: To attack someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To attack, to assault, to assail, to hit, to strike, to beat, to beat up, to tear into Separable? No The second meaning of 'set about' is one that is mainly a British English usage and means 'to attack someone'. For this application, we are talking about physically attacking another person, by punching, hitting or kicking them (or a combination), so this is really not a very pleasant usage. Furthermore, we can also use 'set about' to refer to verbal attacks, such as shouting and insulting someone, although this is much less common. On a grammatical note, this usage of 'set about' is not separable and is typically followed by the direct object, which is the victim of the violent attack. We frequently add the preposition 'with' to indicate any weapons involved in the situation. The school bully suddenly set about the smaller boy, leaving all of the other students shocked. As soon as the intruder entered the room, the guard set about him with a baton. In the chaos of the argument, one of the men set about his rival with a chair. A group of protesters set about the police officer, but reinforcements quickly arrived. The knight drew his sword and set about the enemy with fierce determination. MEANING 3: To place items randomly in a space or room Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonms To set out, to place, to put Separable? Yes This third and final usage of 'set about' is the rarest of the three and is in fact a literal meaning of the combination of the two words 'set' and 'about', i.e. 'to place items randomly in a space or room'. To break this down, one of the many meanings of the verb 'to set' is to place something in a position, like a candle on a shelf or a cushion on a sofa. When we combine this with the idea from 'about' of things being positioned in a place or space without a specific order, we arrive at this idea of 'placing items in a space in a random order'. This application is typically used with reference to items in rooms, for example if you want to create a romantic atmosphere, you might set candles randomly about a room. The idea is that they are not placed in a uniform line or pattern. Another example might be in a museum, there are lots of information notices set about in random rooms and exhibits for visitors to read. On a grammatical note, unlike the previous two meanings, this application of 'set about' is separable and we often place the items that are 'set about' in between the words 'set ' and 'about'. The waiter set about plates, glasses, and silverware about the table. Helen set cushions and throws about the living room to create a cosy atmosphere. The theatre director set props and lights about the stage in preparation for the upcoming performance. Lastly, you may also come across 'set about' in the passive form to describe items that are placed randomly in a room or space. Snacks and drinks were set about the picnic blanket for everyone to enjoy. The church altar was set about with candles and sacred objects for the ceremony. 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 'set about'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pull 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. In this post, I am looking at the phrasal verb 'pull out' and how it can be used by English speakers. For example, did you know that we can use it to talk about such diverse areas of life as business deals, cars and the army? If you didn't, then do not worry as in the post I will explain all of its various meanings and give you lots of examples in context to help you understand and use them. So, without further ado, let's make a start. TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Pull Out - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'pull' and 'out' Pull Out - Meaning 1: To pull something from an interior space Pull Out - Meaning 2: To drive onto a road Pull Out - Meaning 3: To withdraw from something Pull Out - Meaning 4: To be removed from an area Pull Out - Meaning 5: To depart Pull Out - Bonus: The idiom 'to pull out all the stops' Photo: Pexels THE BASICS PULL OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Pulled out / Pulled out Separable? Sometimes Before we start our examination of the phrasal verb 'pull out' and its different meanings, let's first begin by looking at the individual words 'pull' and 'out' and what they mean on their own. Firstly, we have our base verb, 'to pull', which is primarily used to talk about taking something with your hands and moving it towards you, often with a degree of effort. Moreover, it can also be used in reference to using force to move something in a particular direction towards something or behind something or someone that is in motion. John pulled the parachute cord but nothing happened. She pulled the chair towards her. What happens if you pull this string? The horse pulled the King's carriage behind it. Secondly, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which functions as the natural opposite of 'in' and is used to talk about movement towards, or being on, the external part of something. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'out' can be used to express concepts such as removal (throw out, take out ), emergence ( come out ), distribution ( give out ) and revelation (point out). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pull out'.... MEANING 1: To pull something from an interior space Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take out, to remove, to extract Potential antonyms To put in, to push in Separable? Yes We will begin the meanings with one that is nice and easy for you as this one is just the literal interpretation of the combination of the two words 'pull' and 'out', i.e. 'to pull something from an internal space'. In simple terms, this first usage of 'pull out' just means to remove an object or thing from inside something and can be used in the same way as the phrasal verb 'take out'. The difference with 'pull out' however is that it tends to be used more when greater force or effort is required to extract the object. Laura's son excitedly pulled out a handful of candies from the jar. Simon reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook to jot down the important points of the meeting. Tracey carefully pulled out the letter from the envelope to avoid tearing it. Susan opened the cupboard under the stairs and pulled out the heavy box with all of her tools inside. With this application of 'pull out', we are not only limited to items being removed from physical interior spaces as this usage also extends to anything for which we use the particle 'in'. This can range from elements like water and air (in the sea, in the air etc.) to abstract uses such as emotional moods and states (in a good mood, in a daydream etc). Sarah's baby accidentally pulled her earring out. I've tried to pull this nail out of the wall but it won't budge. The fishermen pulled the net full of fish out of the ocean. Helen pulled her children out of school and took them on holiday. This song pulled me out of my bad mood. MEANING 2: To drive onto a road Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pull onto, to pull across, to turn into / onto Separable? No Our second meaning of 'pull out' is one that will be useful for all of the drivers among you as it means 'to drive onto a road' or, alternatively, 'moving onto a different position on a road'. You may have noticed that the base verb 'to pull' is used a lot in reference to driving as, in addition to 'pull out', phrasal verbs like 'pull up', 'pull over' and 'pull off' can all be used to describe something related to driving a vehicle. The reasons for this are unclear but one potential theory is the idea that horses and animals once pulled carts before the invention of motorised vehicles and this is just a linguistic hangover from that that time that still persists in everyday English. To clarify, this application can be used in a couple of different ways when referring to driving but they both have the same core meaning, which is 'to move from your current position or lane and into a different lane'. The idea behind this is that when you move along the road in your vehicle, you travel in a lane. This may be a single lane, such as a narrow road in the countryside or it may be a lane on a wide freeway (motorway), with several others to the side of you for other vehicles moving in the same direction. When you move from the position or lane that you are 'in', you simply move ' out ' of it. One of the most common times that you will hear this in use is in reference to when a car turns from a side road, or from the side of a road, into another road and starts driving. This can often be in reference to when this causes an accident or nearly does so. Alice checked her mirrors carefully before pulling out onto the busy street. A car suddenly pulled out in front of me, and I had to slam on the brakes. Always look both ways before pulling out of a parking spot to avoid accidents. The truck slowly pulled out from the side of the road and joined the flow of traffic. Moreover, we can use 'pull out' on wider roads when a car moves from the lane that is it travelling in to another lane, typically to overtake another car. Again, this can again be used in reference to dangerous or careless driving practices. Pete pulled out to overtake the car in front of him without checking his mirrors properly and almost caused a crash. You should always take extreme care when pulling out on a busy highway in order to overtake another vehicle. MEANING 3: To withdraw from something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To withdraw, to renege on, to back out Separable? No For the third meaning of 'pull out', we need to go back to the idea of removal that we get from the particle 'out' because it means 'to withdraw from something'. Nouns commonly used with: Competition / Contest Race Agreement / Deal Organisation Election As you can see from the nouns listed in the box above, this application is used specifically to talk about withdrawing from things that we have promised or undertaken to do. This can range from things like competitions and races, in which the participant decides that they are not able to finish it, to business agreements and deals that are cancelled or blocked as one of the people involved decides that they no longer wish to participate or be involved in it. In other words, it is used when someone withdraws from an activity or agreement that they had previously agreed to take on . The company decided to pull out of the deal after discovering financial irregularities. Several investors pulled out of the project due to concerns about its profitability. The tennis player had to pull out of the tournament because of an injury. Amelia pulled out of the race at the last minute, citing personal reasons. The band announced they would pull out of the festival due to scheduling conflicts. Out of all of the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pull out', I would say that this is the one that is in most common use, especially as it it covers a wide range of different aspects of life in the modern world. We are not quite done with it yet though, as the next meaning is a continuation of this one.... MEANING 4: To be removed from an area Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To withdraw, to leave, to retreat, to evacuate Separable? Yes Sticking with the idea of withdrawal that we covered in the previous section, this fourth meaning of 'pull out' means 'to be removed from an area'. The main difference between this and the previous one is that with this one we have a direct object and the phrasal verb is therefore separable. In other words, there is a person who makes a decision to withdraw the other person from the area rather than the unwilling person removing themselves. The actual usage of this application of 'pull out' is mainly used in geographical contexts and tends to be used in reference to military personnel. If an army general, senior ranking officer or government official orders his or her troops to retreat from an area, then they are likely to ask them to pull out of it and move somewhere else. The government has announced plans to pull troops out of the conflict zone by the end of the year. The commander decided to pull out his forces to avoid further casualties. The president faced criticism for the decision to pull soldiers out before the situation had stabilised. On a grammatical note, as I've already stated, this is a separable usage, however it can be used both separably and inseparably without changing the meaning. The prepositions 'of' and 'from' are typically used after 'pull out' to specify the area from which the troops are being pulled out. MEANING 5: To depart Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pull off, to leave, to depart Separable? No For our fifth and final usage of 'pull out', we are returning to the theme of vehicles again, but this time it is specifically trains that we are thinking about as 'pull out' in this sense means to depart from a train station. This usage is again derived from the idea of pulling that we had with cars earlier in the post, and is coupled with the idea that a train stops 'in' a station, so when it starts to move and depart from the station, it is moving ' out ' of it. Nice and simple! The train began to pull out of the station as passengers waved goodbye to their loved ones. We hurried to the platform just in time to see the train pull out and disappear into the distance. The conductor signalled, and the locomotive slowly pulled out on its journey to the next city. The commuters watched the train pull out as they waited for the next one to arrive. The old steam engine let out a loud whistle before pulling out of the station. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to pull out all the stops' Before finishing the post, I want to make you aware of a commonly used idiomatic expression featuring the phrasal verb 'pull out'.... To pull out all the stops.... If you pull out all the stops it means that you do everything that you can in order to make something happen or be a success. This charming little expression originates from church organs (the large piano-type instruments in churches) as these are fitted with 'stops' which are used to make the music louder or quieter. If you pull out all of the stops on an organ, it creates the maximum, loudest sound possible. To give you an example of this idiom, if you decide to throw a party and you pull out all the stops, it means that you will do everything that you can (and possibly spend a lot of money) to make it the best party ever. Alternatively, if you are planning a work presentation and you want to to make it the best presentation that your manager has ever seen, you may decide to pull out all the stops and add videos, lights and dancing....it doesn't matter what as long as it is the best! The movie producers pulled out all the stops, with breathtaking special effects, a star-studded cast, and a gripping storyline. To get into her dream university, Emma pulled out all the stops: passing her exams, volunteering, and doing well in her interview. For their parents' 50th wedding anniversary, the family pulled out all the stops: a live band, a gourmet dinner, and a stunning venue by the beach. 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 'pull 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 'go up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. The phrasal verb that I will be covering in this post is 'go up', which has a surprising number of common uses and meanings, including fires, explosions, construction and travel. In this post, I will explain each of the different applications of 'go up' in the English language and provide you with lots of examples in context for each one, allowing you to impress all of your English-speaking friends and colleagues! So, without further ado, let's make a start. TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Go Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'go' and 'up' Go Up - Meaning 1: To move higher Go Up - Meaning 2: To increase Go Up - Meaning 3: To be built Go Up - Meaning 4: To catch fire or explode Go Up - Bonus: The idiom 'to go up in flames' Go Up - Meaning 5: To reach a certain point Go Up - Meaning 6: To approach someone or something 🇬🇧 Go Up - Meaning 7: To travel to a more northerly place Go Up - Bonus: To go up against someone I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GO UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 7 Past tense forms Went up / Gone up Separable? No Let's make a start by looking at the meanings of the individual words 'go' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. The verb 'to go' is an essential English verb that is one of the most commonly used in the entire language and so it will need very little explanation from me. It's primary meaning is 'to move from one place to another' but it is also used to mean 'to leave', 'to become' and 'to function', as well as being used to form the 'going to' future tense. 'To go' is an irregular verb in English with a highly irregular past tense form (went) that I always find extremely strange even as a native speaker (why not goed?!). I am going to Manchester to see my Aunt tomorrow. She has gone to the shop to buy some bread. We went to Spain for a holiday last year. I am going home now as I am tired. John will go crazy if he finds out what has happened. I am going to be rich when I am older. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', which is a very common feature in phrasal verb constructions. Aside from denoting a movement in an upwards direction or to a higher place, 'up' can add various ideas and nuances to phrasal verb constructions, such as increase (go up), completion (use up), preparation ( set up ) and termination ( break up ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's dive in to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go up'.... MEANING 1: To move higher Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To climb, to climb up, to ascend, to rise, to scale, Potential antonyms To go down, to descend, to climb down, We are going to start the phrasal verb meanings with a nice and easy one as it is just the combination of the literal meanings of the words 'go' and 'up' that I outlined in the previous section, giving us the meaning of 'to move to a higher place'. Words commonly used with this meaning.... Steps / stairs / upstairs Escalator Slope Hill / mountain Ladder Tree This first application of 'go up' is normally used in reference to physical movement of both people and objects which move to a higher position. Furthermore, it can also be used to describe things like roads and paths which follow a trajectory that goes in an upwards direction and become higher in elevation. You should note that we can also use 'go up' as a synonym of 'to climb' or 'to ascend'. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Lucy has gone upstairs to her bedroom. Matthew went up the escalator as I was going down on the other side. The lorry tried to go up the slope but it was too steep. The cycle route goes up the hill and back down the other side. There are a couple of more specific uses of this application of 'go up' that I also want to make you aware of.... The first is in relation to the curtain in the theatre at the front of the stage. Any theatregoers among you will know that when this curtain goes up, it marks the beginning of the show or performance and so consequently, we now talk about "the curtain going up" in reference to the moment when a show starts. When the curtain goes up in the Grand Theatre, the audience is immediately transported to the 18th Century as the show begins. Secondly, any fans of football (soccer) may already know this, but when a sports team finishes the season as one of the top teams in their league or division, they get promoted to the league or division above and we typically refer to this promotion as 'going up'. Aston Villa have finished the season top of the league and are therefore going up to the Premier League next season. MEANING 2: To increase Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To rise, to grow, to intensify, to gain, to surge Potential antonyms To go own, to drop, to decrease Following on from the idea of an upwards movement that we have just looked at, this second meaning of 'go up' should be a nice and easy progression as it simply means 'to increase'. Whilst in the previous section we talked about things physically moving to a higher place, with this application of 'go up', we are instead thinking more about numbers, levels and amounts becoming higher. Essentially, this can be used to talk about anything that can be measured or recorded in numerical form and therefore plotted on a graph, including prices, temperatures, population, bills and wages. The price of oil has gone up every year for the past 10 years. After the big rainstorm last night, the water level in the river has gone up dramatically. My rating on this app has gone up in the last week. Do you think that wages will go up in line with inflation this year? It's freezing cold today but according to the weather forecast, the temperature is going to go up tomorrow. If we want to quantify how much something has increased over a period of time with a percentage, we can use the sentence "to go up by X%". This is typically with the present perfect tense (Sorry, I know lots of you hate it!) The price of gas has gone up by 5% since the beginning of the year. Interest rates went up by 15% between the years 2021 and 2023. Since the pandemic, petrol prices have increased by 10% from 190p per litre to 209p. MEANING 3: To be built Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be built, to appear Potential antonyms to be demolished, to be knocked down The third meaning of 'go up' that we will cover in this post is 'to be built' and refers specifically to buildings and structures. I think that this is a fairly straightforward meaning as when the majority of buildings and structures are constructed, they go in an upwards direction from their foundations towards the sky. In addition to buildings, you are likely to hear this application being used to refer to structures like tents (particularly large or semi-permanent ones), scaffolding and billboards. You should note that we use 'go up' when the focus of the sentence is solely on the emergence of the buildings and not who is building them. A new skyscraper is going up in the city centre, reshaping the skyline. Luxury apartments are going up on the site where the old factory used to stand. A large tent went up in the park for the weekend music festival. As the scaffolding went up, the restoration of the historic church began in earnest. Several new apartment complexes have gone up in the neighbourhood over the past year. A large shopping mall has gone up where the old warehouse used to be. Aside from buildings and structures, we can also use 'go up' when talking about things like signs and posters that are fixed into a position, normally in a public place. Again, with this we are not concerned with who placed them there, just that they have appeared and are now visible. When we want to refer to the person or people responsible for this, we use the phrasal verb 'put up', (link here ) instead. Posters about the missing little girl have gone up all over the city. A sign went up on highway last week advising of speed cameras. MEANING 4: To catch fire or explode Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To catch fire, to explode, to ignite The fourth meaning of 'go up' that I have for you is a dramatic one as it means 'to catch fire' or, in extreme situations, 'to explode'. When referring to fires, 'go up' is usually used to refer to the object or thing that catches fire, in particular when the fire starts very suddenly or has a great intensity. As this is also the nature of explosions, it functions perfectly to describe these too. When used in a past tense form, 'went up' can be used to talk about the aftermath of a fire or explosion, typically to say that the unfortunate building or thing was destroyed by it. For this application, it is common to add the words 'in flames' or 'in smoke' to describe this. There is smoke coming out of the kitchen. Call the fire brigade and let's get out of here in case the whole building goes up. The old barn went up in smoke within minutes due to the dry wood. When the oven malfunctioned, the kitchen almost went up in flames. Everyone watched in horror as the building went up in flames during the fire. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to go up in flames' I mentioned above the expressions 'to go up in flames' and 'to go up in smoke' to describe when something is damaged beyond repair by fire. However, you should know that both of these expressions can also be used in an idiomatic sense to describe when something totally fails or is completely wasted or destroyed, regardless of whether or not fire was involved. In other words, an epic fail of any sort. When my business failed, all of my hard work over the last 5 years went up in smoke! On the day I failed my driving test, all of my dreams to become a racing car driver went up in flames. MEANING 5: 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 lead (up) to, The fifth meaning of 'go up' is a common one that means to reach a certain point. For this one, we require the additional preposition 'to', giving us the construction 'to go up to...' This application is used in a variety of ways and can be split into two broad categories: physical and temporal (time). If we first take this in the physical sense, we are thinking about things like paths and roads that lead to specific points. For example, if you have a path in your garden that leads to your front door, you could describe it as "the path that goes up to your front door" as your front door is the end point that the path reaches. Likewise, if you think about a tower, you could say that the main staircase only goes up to the 10th floor and does not go up to the top. I walked along the path that goes up to the beach. This road goes all the way up to the border. If we now think about this in a temporal sense, we are concerned with a point in the past or future that something dates back to or will reach. This could be a point in time where historical records end, a point in the past where you can no longer find data about something or a point in the future for where future plans are currently scheduled. This list of number one songs only goes up to the year 2000, so I've no idea what was number one after that. The government's current spending plan goes up to the year 2027. The diary entries go up to 31st October and stop after that. MEANING 6: To approach someone or something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common - informal Where is it use? British English Potential synonyms To approach, to accost The sixth meaning of 'go up' is an informal one that I hear a lot in spoken British English and means 'to approach someone or something'. This is typically when someone walks or runs over to their desired destination on foot. I would say that this is used most in relation to approaching a person or group of people to ask them something or to speak to them, however you will also hear it in reference to a specific place, typically when the place is at the front of something like a room or church. It is useful to remember that 'go up' is used by the person approaching. If you are the person who is being approached by the other person, you would use 'come up' to describe this. I went up to the beautiful girl in the bar and asked her out on a date. Go up to that group of people and ask them if they will take a picture of us. Suzanne went up to the front of the church and gave a speech. Joe went up to Adam and punched him on the nose. MEANING 7: To travel to a more northerly place Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To travel, to go, to head, to visit We are going to end the meanings with another informal meaning of 'go up', which is to travel from your current location to a different place. This is typically one that is further north than where the speaker is at the time of speaking. Normally, we use this particular application in reference to going somewhere for an overnight stay or for a few days, like a weekend. Typically, this is somewhere further north in relation to where the speaker is, for example if you are in England then you would go up to Scotland or if you are in Los Angeles, then you would go up to San Francisco. Of course, not everyone is an expert at geography, so this is not always 100% accurate but often people do have a general idea of what is north and therefore use 'up' when describing this.  For reference, the opposite phrasal verb 'go down' is used when referring to a southward journey. One other time that you may hear this is when someone is travelling from a small town or village to a large one, regardless of whether or not it is further north. We are going up to Edinburgh for a few days next week. My Dad has gone up to Sydney for a few days. We like to go up to London every so often to watch a theatre show. The next time you go up to Yorkshire, can you please take me with you. Photo: Pexels BONUS: To go up against someone Let's finish off with a bonus meaning which incorporates another preposition: 'against'. The phrasal verb expression 'to go up against someone or something' means to enter into competition with someone or something. In other words, to As you can probably guess, this is one that is often used in the world of sport when someone talks about facing a particular competitor or team. Liverpool FC will go up against Arsenal this afternoon. The winner of this darts match will determine who you will be going up against in the final. Furthermore, as this is all to do with competitions and opponents, this can also include the world of politics and can also, less commonly, include any hard obstacles that oppose us doing what we want to do. It could also be used in reference to situations when someone confronts or enters into conflict with someone else. Kamala Harris went up against Donald Trump in the 2024 US election. If you oppose this, you will be going up against the board of directors and they will not make things easy for you. 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 'go 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 'put through' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. In this post, I am focussing on the phrasal verb 'put through' and explaining its different meanings and uses. How many of them do you know already? Maybe you know all of them or maybe just one or two, or perhaps this is a completely new phrasal verb to you. Read on to find out more! TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Put Through - The Basics: Key information & the individual words 'put' & through Put Through - Meaning 1: To transfer a call to someone Put Through - Meaning 2: To cause someone to have a bad experience Put Through - Meaning 3: To pay for someone's education Put Through - Meaning 4: To action something and continue with it until the end Put Through - Meaning 5: To allow someone to the next stage of a competition Put Through - Bonus: Extra meanings and bonuses 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 PUT THROUGH: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Put through / Put through Separable? Yes As always, let's start the post by considering the individual words that make up our phrasal verb of choice and in this case this is the verb 'to put' and the particle 'through'. We use the irregular verb 'to put' a lot in English and it has various different applications and meanings. Perhaps the most commonly used of these is 'to place or move something into a specified position', however it can also be used to mean 'to cause someone or something to be in a particular condition', 'to express something with words' and 'to estimate something'. I put my hands on my hips. Sarah put the shopping in her kitchen cupboards. It's 8pm, so it's time to put the children to bed. This has put me in a difficult position at work. She has put my worries to rest! What did you put in your email? The prepositional particle 'through' is one that you will certainly already be aware of and is primarily used to talk about movement from one side of something to the other via the centre of it and not around the outside of it. It is of course used with physical movement, but we can also use it in relation to time and emotional states, especially when they are negative. In phrasal verbs, the word 'through' is typically used to convey the ideas of completion ( go through ), endurance (push through) and exhaustion of resources ( get through ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'put through'.... MEANING 1: To transfer a telephone call to someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere, business English Potential synonyms To transfer, to connect Separable? Yes If any of you have ever had to make a business call to a company in an English speaking country, then you are likely to have heard this first usage of 'put through' before as it means to transfer a telephone call to someone. This application is normally only used when making a phone call to a business, typically one with a receptionist or with a lot of different departments and people working within it, where it is possible to transfer a call to another person on the same internal network. As such, you are unlikely to ever hear or use this in reference to a personal phone call to friends or family members. Typically, when someone from outside of an organisation telephones the company to speak to a specific person, they will often first speak to the receptionist or to another employee in the business or department. Once it has been established who the caller wishes to speak to, the receptionist will then "put them through" and connect them to the desired individual. Moreover, it is quite normal for the person transferring the call to advise the caller what they are doing. This is often expressed in several different ways, here are some typical examples.... I'm just putting you through I'll put you through now Grammatically, as you can see from the examples above, we tend to either use either the present continuous or 'will' future when doing this. This application is separable and I would say that we almost always use it in the separable way with the caller or the word 'call' being placed between 'put' and 'through'. John, I've got your solicitor on the line. Am I ok to put him through? Don't put any calls through to me this afternoon as I need to catch up on my work. I've just tried to put you through to Alison but her line is busy. Can I take a message? MEANING 2: To cause someone to have a bad experience Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To subject Separable? Yes As many of you may have noticed, many English phrasal verbs typically have at least one negative or unpleasant meaning, and this second meaning is "the negative one." If you have read my blog post about the phrasal verb 'go through', you may remember that one its meanings is 'to suffer a negative experience' and this second application of 'put through' is linked to this as it means 'to cause someone to have a bad experience'. With this, we are simply changing the focus from solely a person's negative experience to the person or thing that is responsible for it. In other words, when we use 'put through', we are placing the blame for something unpleasant or traumatic on someone else. It can also be used when a situation or thing is the cause of the negativity. This can be used on it's own or with a quantifier such as 'a lot' when the person does not wish to specify the nature of their trauma.... My ex-husband has no idea what he put me through. Do you realise how much you have put the children through recently? My boss has put me through a lot in the last year but I am grateful to him as it has made me work much harder. It can also be used with nouns or a noun and a quantifier to describe the nature of the experience.... This situation has put us through so much stress in this past year. Colin's parents put him through abuse when he was a child. You've put me through a lot of pain and I don't think we should stay together. Susan felt terrible for putting her family through so much stress during her illness. The intense court battle put them through years of emotional and financial strain. One other noun that is perhaps used more commonly than any other with this application of 'put through' is 'hell'. Again, this does not necessarily reveal the nature of the bad experience, it just stresses that it was very bad. Our neighbour put us through years of hell. Being bullied at school every day put David through hell, leaving lasting emotional scars. The prisoners were put through hell during their years of unjust imprisonment. MEANING 3: To pay for someone's education Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To finance, to pay for Separable? Yes Let's switch things up to something more positive for our third meaning of 'put through', which is to pay for someone's education. In a nutshell, if someone puts you through school, college or university, then they pay for you to attend the institution until you graduate or get your qualifications. It is worth pointing out here the difference between American and British English when referring to educational establishments. In the USA, a university is typically referred to as 'college', whilst in the UK, a college is normally an educational institution for school leavers and adults, offering both academic and vocational courses. A couple of prestigious universities (Oxford and Cambridge) are made up of different colleges but in general in the UK, the word 'college' does not mean the same as in America. As you might expect, this application is normally heard in reference to wealthy people who can afford to pay for someone's education, however it can also be used to describe when a company pays for a trainee or an apprentice to undertake a course of education that prepares them to work in a specific role in their company. Alex's parents worked multiple jobs to put him through college. Katherine's grandparents put her through law school, insisting on supporting her pursuit of a better future. The scholarship that Debbie received helped her family put her through university without getting into debt. The government program aims to put underprivileged students through higher education by offering full financial aid. One other time that you might hear this is when a person is able to pay for themselves to go to college or university, typically to stress that they have earned the money to pay for the education themselves. In this case, we use the reflexive (-self) pronoun. Emily put herself through college by working nights as a waitress in a restaurant. Steve managed to put himself through medical school by taking out loans and working on weekends. Sam was proud of having put himself through an MBA program despite the financial challenges. Of course, unless you are a very rich or lucky person with good personal connections, this application is probably not going to be one that many of you (or me) will ever experience on a first-hand basis. However, it is still one that I hear in use from time to time so it is definitely worth knowing it. MEANING 4: To action something and continue with it until the end Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To implement, to enact, to see through Separable? Yes Our fourth meaning of 'put through' is 'to action something and continue with it until to the end'. This application is one that you are likely to come across in both the worlds of business and politics as it is typically used with things like plans, processes, policies and laws. We use 'put through' here to describe the entire process of initiating the required work and seeing it through to a successful conclusion, normally in order to ensure that an official change has been implemented. Jonah worked tirelessly to put the new policy through, ensuring it received approval from the board. The finance minister vowed to put the legislation through, no matter how many obstacles arose. They had to negotiate with multiple stakeholders to put through the merger agreement. MEANING 5: To allow someone to the next stage of a competition Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To advance someone, to go through Separable? Yes I'm not sure if it is the same in your country, but on the television in the UK, there seem to be more and more talent competitions in which people compete to become the best singer, dancer or entertainer etc. It's absolutely not my cup of tea, however if it is something that you enjoy, then this fifth and final meaning of 'put through' may be of interest to you as it means 'to allow someone to move to the next stage of a competition'. Again, this is similar to the phrasal verb 'go through', however with 'put through' there is an element of a judge or vote deciding that a competitor can move to the next round, rather than going through to the next round based on point or a score as is often the case with 'go through'. I'm sorry, but I don't think you have what it takes to win this competition and I am therefore not putting you through to the semi-finals. The judges have put me through to the final! Photo: Pexels BONUS: Extra meanings and idioms Before I end this post, I just want to make you aware of a couple of other times that you may hear 'put through' being used by an English speaker, as well as a couple of nice and useful idioms to help you sound more like a native speaker... To put something through a business - If you know anyone who is an entrepreneur or who runs their own business, you may hear them talking about recording personal expenses and costs on their business account, rather than their personal account. This practice is known as 'putting something through a business' and is done as a way of claiming something as a tax relief and therefore not having to pay for it. Put your credit card away, I'll pay for the meal and put it through the business. To put someone through a wall / window - If an English speaker ever tells you that they will put you through a wall or a window, then you should perhaps apologise or move away quickly as it is in fact a threat to hit or punch you very hard. The idea is that they will punch with so much force that you will go through the wall, which is nonsense of course but nevertheless, they are probably very angry with you. If you ever do that again, I will put you through the wall. Do you understand?! To put someone through their paces - This is a lovely idiomatic expression that means to test what someone or something can do by making them do it. It can be used with both people and objects eg. machines and devices alike. I'm going to take the new Mercedes car out this morning and put it through its paces. To put someone through the wringer - This final idiom is an informal expression that is used to mean 'to cause someone to experience a very stressful experience, or a series of unpleasant or horrible experiences'. It can also be used to mean to ask someone a lot of questions, like an interrogation, which can itself also be a stressful thing to go through. Poor Jean, she's really been put through the wringer this year with one problem after another. 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 'put through'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END