An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'keep up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Wix Media 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. 'Keep up' is a phrasal verb that I have wanted to write about on here for a long time as it is a really commonly used one in everyday English. Therefore, if you can learn to use it, you will definitely impress your English-speaking friends and colleagues. In this post, I will explain the different meanings that 'keep up' has and you give you lots of example sentences for each one to show you the kinds of contexts in which to use it. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Keep Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'keep' and 'up' Keep Up - Meaning 1: To stop something from falling Keep Up - Meaning 2: To continue or maintain something Keep Up - Meaning 3: To move at the same speed Keep Up - Meaning 4: To stay updated about something Keep Up - Meaning 5: To make regular payments Keep Up - Meaning 6: To stop someone from going to bed Keep Up - Bonus: Common expressions featuring 'keep up' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS KEEP UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Kept up / Kept up Separable? Sometimes If you have visited my website before, you will know that to begin each post I always look at the individual words that form a phrasal verb, so let's now take a look at the words 'keep' and 'up' and what they mean on their own. 'To keep' is a common irregular English verb which has two main meanings. The first of its meanings is 'to have possession of something' and can be used for anything that we receive and choose not to give or sell to other people. The other main meaning of 'to keep' is 'to continue something' and is often combined with other verbs in the continuous ('ing) form to specify the action being continued. Aside from these two meanings, the verb 'to keep' can also mean 'to own animals', 'to delay someone' and 'to stay fresh'. I don't want the book back; you can keep it. I promise to keep this safe until you come back. Why do you keep lying to me? My cat keeps bringing me mice from the garden. We keep pigs and sheep on the farm. What is keeping John? Why is he so late? This food won't keep if it is left outside the fridge. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', whose function in phrasal verbs can often be to add the idea of an upwards direction or increase to the base verb ( go up , get up ). In addition to that, 'up' can also introduce different ideas to phrasal verbs like completion (use up), appearance ( show up ) and resistance ( stand up ), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'keep up'.... MEANING 1: To stop something from falling Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To prop up, to hold up, to uphold, to buttress, to support Separable? Yes Let's start the meanings of 'keep up' with the one that is closest to the literal meaning of the two words 'keep' and 'up' combined and that is 'to stop something from falling'. For this application, we are taking the idea of continuation that we get from the verb 'to keep' and combining it with the idea of a high position that we get from the word 'up', creating the idea of not letting something fall or drop from the high position that it is in. Ben used a stick to keep up the collapsing tent. Lorraine held the ladder steady to keep Mike up while he fixed the gutter. The old shelf is barely kept up by a single rusty bracket. Cyril tried to keep up the sagging ceiling with a makeshift support beam. We stacked books underneath the bed frame to keep it up after one of the legs broke. Paul had to put on a belt in order to keep his loose trousers up. One particular use of this application that is worth mentioning here is to do with football (soccer) and is something that many players of the sport do as a practice exercise. When they bounce the ball continuously on their knees, head or other body part without letting the ball drop to the ground, we say that they are keeping the ball up. This particular activity even has its own (unimaginative) name, which is keepie uppie....look it up if you don't believe me! During one of his training sessions, Kevin managed to keep the ball up for three minutes without dropping it. MEANING 2: To continue or maintain something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To continue, to maintain, to sustain, to uphold, to perpetuate Separable? Yes The second application of 'keep up' that we will cover in the post is a continuation of the first one that we just covered and coincidentally means 'to continue or maintain something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Quality Spirits Strength Effort Morale Weather Traditions In the previous section, we looked at how we can use 'keep up' to refer to making physical objects stay in a high position. Now, we turn our focus to more abstract or non-physical nouns like levels, numbers or figures and keeping these high These levels may be something measurable, like prices or numerical values, or they may be something like 'effort' or 'quality', which are based on judgment rather than values (when high means good). By ensuring that a level of something remains high, we arrive at this idea of continuation. Please note that we only tend to use 'keep up' in this way with nouns and not verbs. If you want to express a continuing verb action, then the phrasal verb 'keep on' (link here ) would possibly be used instead. Sue worked overtime to keep up her income after losing a client. They raised interest rates to keep up the value of the currency. We launched a new campaign to keep sales up during the off-season. Keep up the good work! Some common nouns that are used with this particular application are 'strength', 'morale' and 'spirits'. For example, if you are running a marathon, you may take an energy drink with you to keep up your strength over the 26-mile course. Likewise, if you are in a good mood on a Sunday evening, you may listen to some music to keep your spirits up and not allow your mood to drop as Monday morning gets closer (we all know that feeling!). Lastly, it is essential that soldiers fighting in a war keep their morale (mood) up as a group. The government introduced new policies to keep up public morale during the crisis. Despite the bad reviews, the company tried to keep up its reputation. You need to keep your strength up, so drink this. He struggled to keep up his enthusiasm after so many setbacks. We spent the evening with Kath to keep her spirits up. Moreover, this application of 'keep up' can also simply be used to mean 'to continue something that has already been started', not always with a specific emphasis on a continuation of a high level or quality. Many green-fingered people also enjoy keeping up their gardens. I started learning Portuguese but I didn't keep it up as I found it difficult. Lisa is sure to keep her diet up as she wants to lose weight before her holiday in August. Gladys and Beryl have kept up their gardens ever since their husbands died last year. It is hard to keep up the maintenance of the building when you have a full time job and children to look after. Lastly, we can also use 'keep up' in this way to talk about things continuing which are outside of our control, such as the weather and other people's behaviour. If the snow keeps up, we will have to leave soon to make sure we get home. The neighbour's dog kept up it's barking last night and I couldn't sleep. MEANING 3: To move at the same speed Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To match, to compete, to contend, to vie with, to equal, to keep pace with Separable? No We now move on to our third meaning of 'keep up', which is probably the most common of all of its meanings: 'to move at the same speed as someone or something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Car Person Conversation Emails Workload Progress This application of 'keep up' is, at its core, all about two or more people or things which are moving in the same direction or following the same path. One of them is the leader or the one in control of the movement in some way; the other are the people or things trying to maintain the same speed and it is from their perspective that we use 'keep up' here. Note that for this application that we require the additional preposition 'with' to specify the name of the person or thing in the lead or in control of the movement. If you keep up with someone or something, you stay at the same level as them or equal to them. As you can imagine, this application is often used to refer to walking, driving, running and races of all types. Rebecca walks so fast that I find it difficult to keep up with her. The younger soccer players struggled to keep up with the pace of the game. You’ll have to walk faster if you want to keep up; I'm not going to slow down. My old car couldn’t keep up with the others on the highway. Pete trains every day to keep up with the rest of the team. I was running as fast as I could, but I couldn’t keep up with Tony. Even on his bike, Wayne couldn’t keep up with the speeding truck. We do not just use 'keep up' in this way to talk about physical movement however. You can also hear it in reference to nouns for things that we need to follow and respond to in order to always be up to date or have all of the latest information, like 'workload', 'emails' and 'conversations'. For these things, the emails, workload or conversation are the things that are progressing and so we use 'keep up' in the exact same way to talk about staying at the same pace as them and not falling behind. It's hard to keep up with all the emails I get every day. Elisabeta couldn't keep up with the English conversation because they were talking too fast. The office had to hire more staff to help keep up with the increasing workload. Suzanne struggled to keep up with the demands of her new job. It’s difficult to keep up with everything when you’re juggling work and family. KEEP UP! Lastly, if you are not following a conversation closely and you miss important information, your fellow interlocutors may tell you to 'keep up!' once they realise that you have not been following what they have been saying. MEANING 4: To stay updated about something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To stay up to date, to compete Separable? No One thing that is certain in life is that things are constantly changing and nothing ever stays the same; whether that be on a worldwide scale or in the small details of our daily lives. In order to talk about staying ahead of these changes, we need a verb. This is where our fourth meaning of 'keep up' comes in as it means 'to stay updated about something'. Just as we talked about using 'keep up' to refer to moving at the same pace as things like emails and conversations, we can also use it for anything that changes or develops over time, which we are not always directly involved in. On a large scale, if we keep up with the news, we are always aware of the latest developments on a national or international level. Likewise, someone who keeps up with technology will always have the most modern equipment and will understand how it works. You can use this for anything that changes over time though, for example older people often find it difficult to keep up with changes in language, social trends and fashion, whilst many people are not able to keep up with changes in law and legislation in their countries. I always try to keep up with the latest tech trends by reading industry blogs. It's hard to keep up with all the new features they add every month. Liz keeps up with current events by watching the news every morning. To keep up with your studies, you should review your notes daily. Joe subscribes to newsletters to keep up with developments in artificial intelligence. We've launched a podcast to help professionals keep up with changes in their field. Are you keeping up with the latest updates on the trial? I find it challenging to keep up with social media these days. I can't keep up with all the new slang my kids are using. When considering things on a smaller scale, we can often use this application of 'keep up' to talk about staying updated on all of the changes that happen in the lives of our friends and family members. I can't keep up with Sandy and all her boyfriends; she seems to have a new one every week! I've been keeping up with what they have been doing on holiday on social media. Alternatively, if you work for a business in a specific field of industry, you will undoubtedly have competitors in the market and it is a key objective of all businesses to at least keep up with their competitors (or hopefully get ahead of them) and ensure that the are ahead of the pack. Keeping up with the competition requires constant innovation. If you don't keep up with your competitors, you will immediately be at a disadvantage. MEANING 5: To make regular payments Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To maintain Separable? Yes Our next meaning of 'keep up' is a more specific one and means 'to make regular payments'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Credit card Mortgage Rent Loan Debt For this one, we are primarily concerned with situations in which we commit to a payment agreement such as credit and must therefore make regular payments over a period of time to pay this credit amount off. If you keep up with the payments, it means that you make your regular payments at the required time and do make late payments or miss them completely. On a grammatical level, we require the additional preposition 'with' again here to specify the financial agreement or debt. This is a separable usage, however it is used more commonly in an inseparable way. Note that if you do use it separably, the word 'payment' (or similar) should be included along with the finance type e.g. 'mortgage payment' and the preposition 'with' is then not required. It's been tough, but I've managed to keep up with my mortgage payments. If you don’t keep up with your credit card bills, you’ll get charged interest. Fiona is struggling to keep up with her student loan repayments. They warned him that if he couldn't keep up with the rent, he might be evicted. He works two jobs just to keep up with his car payments. You need to keep up with your insurance premiums to stay covered. They were unable to keep the monthly payments up on the loan. We need to budget better if we want to keep up with all our bills. What happens if I can't keep my mortgage repayments up? As long as you keep up with the payments, your account will remain in good standing. MEANING 6: To stop someone from going to bed Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To keep awake Separable? Yes We have now reached our sixth and final meaning of 'keep up' and this one is all about bed and sleep as it means 'to stop someone from going to bed'. The word 'up' has many different uses and meanings in English depending on the context and one quite common usage is when we use it as an adverb to mean 'not in bed'. For example, a friend called me by accident at 7am last week but it was not a problem as I was already up and having breakfast, i.e. I wasn't still in bed sleeping. When we combine this idea with the verb 'to keep' meaning 'to continue', we arrive at the idea of stopping someone from going to bed so that they continue to be 'up'. This may be because you have a small baby who is crying and won't sleep, guests at your house who stay later than you hoped or because your teenage son or daughter is out late and you want to wait for them to get home before going to bed. In addition to preventing someone from going to bed, we can also use 'keep up' in this way to talk about stopping someone from sleeping, especially if it is due to noise, worry or stress. On a grammatical level, this application is almost always used separably with the person who stays up going between 'keep' and 'up' either as a name or a pronoun. Don't forget that this usage is transitive and something always has to keep a person up normally against their wishes. If the person chooses not to go to bed, we would use 'stay up' instead. The noise from the party next door kept me up all night. Sorry if I kept you up with my late-night phone call. The baby’s crying kept the new parents up for hours. I didn’t mean to keep you up; go and get some rest. The thunderstorm kept me up until 3 a.m. That scary movie really kept me up last night. I hate to keep you up, but can we talk for a few more minutes? The excitement of the trip kept the kids up way past bedtime. Paul was kept up by anxiety about his big interview the next day. The bright streetlights outside our window kept us up all night. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common Expressions Featuring 'Keep Up' We have almost finished our exploration of the phrasal verb 'keep up' and there are just a couple of expressions that I want to make you aware of before the end.... Keeping up with the Joneses - This rather strange sounding expression is one that is used fairly commonly to talk about when people compete with one another to always have the most modern equipment and cars etc in order to be better than the other people in your neighbourhood or group of friends. John and Sandra didn’t really need a new car, but they bought one anyway just to keep up with the Joneses as their neighbours have just bought one. Keeping up with the Joneses has left the Smith family drowning in debt. Keeping up appearances - This expression is used to talk about people who pretend that they are happy in front of other people or that everything is normal when that is not the case. In other words, they do not want to show others how sad they really are or how bad their situation in life really is. Even though they were struggling financially, the Smith family kept up appearances by hosting lavish dinners. Lisa was heartbroken after the divorce, but she kept up appearances at work, smiling and pretending that nothing had happened. Keep your chin up! - If someone tells you to 'keep your chin up", what they actually mean is 'to stay happy or cheerful', typically when the situation is unpleasant or difficult. It is a statement of support of the person, acknowledging that are experiencing a hard time. Keep your chin up; everyone believes in you, and you’re stronger than you think. Marie told me to keep my chin up after I didn’t get the job I really wanted. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'keep up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'keep 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 'give 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. Are you already familiar with the phrasal verb 'give out'? Even if you are, it may surprise you that it can be used in English in no less than 6 different ways! In this post, we will examine the different ways to use it in English, from commonly meanings such as distributing something by hand to the less common and regional meaning of reprimanding someone. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Give Out - The Basics: Key information and the words 'give' and 'out' Give Out - Meaning 1: To distribute by hand Give Out - Bonus Information: Giving out punishment Give Out - Meaning 2: To emit Give Out - Meaning 3: To stop functioning Give Out - Meaning 4: To be completely used up Give Out - Meaning 5: To broadcast Give Out - Meaning 6: To reprimand 🇮🇪 I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GIVE OUT: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Gave out / Given out Separable? Sometimes Before we look at the different meanings of 'give out', it is a good idea to familiarise ourselves with the constituent words 'give' and 'out', as this can often apply some much needed logic to the phrasal verb's meanings. The verb 'to give' is one that you will definitely know already and primarily means to freely and willingly transfer the possession of something to another person. This is not the only meaning of 'to give' however and another of its meanings is 'to yield under pressure', which was historically used for people who owed money and only paid it back after being pressured (or threatened). Nowadays though it tends to be used more for the physical world around us for things that can bend or break when pressure is applied to them. Furthermore, another much less common meaning of 'to give' that is relevant for 'give out' is 'to produce a sound, especially from your mouth e.g. a cough or a sigh'. We then have the prepositional particle 'out', which is the natural opposite of the preposition 'in' and is used for external spaces and movement towards an external space from an internal one. Moreover, we can also use it to describe movement away from the speaker or the subject of the conversation. Aside from these key meanings, 'out' is a very diverse word and can be used as an adverb, adjective and verb for different purposes. So, now we have looked at the meanings of its component words, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'give out'... MEANING 1: To distribute by hand Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To distribute, to hand out, to pass out, to pass around, to issue Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'give out' is to distribute something by hand and is normally used when talking about giving items to a group of people rather than to an individual. This first meaning is perhaps the closest to a literal meaning of 'give out' that we have as it describes the action of giving objects away other to people, with the idea that the items in question move away from the speaker as they are passed into the hands of the recipients. It is worth noting that the usage of 'give out' in this sense is more much specific than that of 'to give' as we only use 'give out' when we talk about passing items to people by hand. Also, in contrast to the verb 'to give', 'give out' does not necessarily mean that the recipient will own the new item as it may be just temporary, for example when safety glasses are given out to people on a factory visit. This application of 'give out' is frequently used with identical or similar items that are duplicated or mass produced for many people to use or consume, including paper documents, things to eat or drink or items of clothing. Another time that you will hear 'give out' used in this way in English is around Christmas when people talk about Santa Claus giving out presents to well-behaved children (in this case not by hand). With this meaning, the item that is given out to people is a direct object and can therefore be inserted between 'give' and 'out' or after them. At the beginning of the exam, the teacher gave out the wrong exam papers to the students. John, could you please give the textbooks out to the rest of the class. Free cakes are being given out outside the bakery. You'd best hurry though as they are almost all gone! Photo: Pexels BONUS: To give out punishment Another way that you may hear 'give out' in this sense is when talking about the issuing of punishments, penalties and fines. Although we often do not physically hand objects directly to people in this instance, 'give out' is still used to describe when these punitive sanctions are issued by an authority. The judge gave out a sentence of life imprisonment to the convicted felon. Teachers should only give out punishment when the student really deserves it. MEANING 2: To emit Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate ​Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To emit, to send forth, to discharge, to release Separable? Yes The second meaning of 'give out' that we will look at means 'to emit' and is used primarily with non-physical nouns that are detected by our senses, such as sound, light and smell. As a general rule, I would say that this meaning of 'give out' is used most commonly in everyday language to describe noises that we make with our voices such as screams, sighs and cries. Aside from this, we do also use 'give out' for other noises, smells, lights and gases that are emitted and produced and due to their nature, these can often feature in more conversations about more scientific and technical topics. As with most phrasal verbs though, 'give out' is slightly informal and so for very formal documents and scientific papers you are more likely to come across a synonym such as 'to emit'. On a grammatical note, 'give out' in this sense is separable, however we naturally do not tend to separate it very much. Helen gave out a squeal of joy when she realised that Roger had bought her a puppy for her birthday. The sun gives out an enormous amount of light, heat and energy every second. I bought a cheap pair of earbuds last week and I was really pleasantly surprised to discover that the sound that they give out is brilliant quality. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. MEANING 3: To stop functioning Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To break down, to fail, to collapse Separable? No The third meaning of 'give out' is 'to stop functioning' and can be used for both people and equipment alike. When talking about equipment and devices, we can use 'give out' to mean that something has stopped working and this is often (but not always) used when the malfunction is permanent and the equipment will not work again, for example because it is old or overused. You may hear this being used with such items as an engine, batteries and household devices. As I mentioned above, we can also use 'give out' in this way for people, however it is not used to talk about an entire person, but rather a specific body part such as internal organs or legs. In some cases, such as a heart or a liver, we will say that the internal organ 'gave out' and we infer directly from this that the person died as a result. When talking about other parts of the body e.g. legs, we know that the person probably didn't die as a consequence, but it may nevertheless have had some other negative ramification for them. This form of 'give out' is not separable and does not take a direct object and the device or body part in question is the subject. I had my car for 22 years before the engine finally gave out and I had to replace it. The batteries are about to give out on our remote control and will need changing soon. The doctor says that my grandfather doesn't have much time left until his heart gives out, but he refuses to accept it and carries on like he did before. John's legs gave out just before the finishing line of the 10km race and his friends had to help him finish. MEANING 4: To be completely used up Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To run out, to exhaust, to deplete Separable? No The fourth meaning of 'give out' is used to describe supplies of something and means 'to be completely used up or exhausted'. This sense is very similar to that of the phrasal verb 'run out' and if you want to refresh your memory on that, click here . As I mentioned above, this is used for supplies of something and so therefore is typically reserved for nouns for objects that we store and which can be depleted over time until we have none left such as grain, food, fresh water and gas. This is not the a particularly commonly used meaning of 'give out', however it does still exist in everyday English and therefore you may come across it somewhere. After three days of trekking through the jungle, our food gave out and we had to hunt for our own food for the remainder of the trip. The farmer doesn't expect his grain supplies to give out any time soon, but he always buys extra just in case. MEANING 5: To broadcast Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To broadcast, to make public Separable? Yes For the last two meanings of 'give out', we are going to be focusing on usages that are more specific to the British Isles and this fifth one, meaning 'to broadcast', is one that is primarily used in British English. In addition to this usage being localised to British English, it is also quite old-fashioned, however I want to make you aware of it as there are still some vestiges of it that continue to exist in modern English. So, the construction 'to give out that...' is a slightly archaic construction to mean 'to make something public' but we do not really use it much in that way anymore. We still do use 'give out' with nouns such as 'news' and 'information' though as a way of saying that they were communicated to people and in this sense this meaning still lives on in modern British English. Cheers of joy could be heard from every corner of the city when it was given out that the war had ended. I had to give out the terrible news that jobs were being cut in the business and that there would be redundancies. MEANING 6: To reprimand Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Irish English Potential synonyms To reprimand, to scold, to criticise, to complain Separable? No The sixth and final meaning of 'give out' that we will look at in this post is an informal Irish usage and means to reprimand, scold, criticise or complain to someone. As you can probably work out from the different meanings, it is generally associated with being angry or annoyed with another person and is frequently accompanied by the additional preposition ' to ' when specifying the recipient of the person's anger. My schoolteacher used to give out to me all the time for talking in class. Lisa's teenage daughter got home later last night and so she's been giving out to her about it all day. 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 'give 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 'give 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 'turn around' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Wix Media 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 'turn around', which is one that you may know as it is used commonly by native speakers in everyday conversations. In the post, I will explain the different meanings that it has, including some useful applications of it to use in business English. Furthermore, I will give you lots of example sentences to show you the types of context in which this practical phrasal verb is used. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Turn Around - The Basics: Key information and the words turn' and 'around' Turn Around - Bonus: Is it 'turn around' or 'turn round'? Turn Around - Meaning 1: To rotate Turn Around - Meaning 2: To drastically improve something Turn Around - Meaning 3: To change the perspective of something Turn Around - Meaning 4: To supply or produce something Turn Around - Meaning 5: To prepare something for use Turn Around - Meaning 6: To quote what someone said or did Turn Around - Bonus: The noun 'turnaround' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS TURN AROUND: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Turned around / Turned around Separable? Yes The first step in our exploration of the phrasal verb 'turn around' will be to look at 'turn' and 'around' as individual words and consider they mean on their own. The verb 'to turn' is an extremely versatile word in English that can be used in many different ways and situations. It is perhaps used the most to talk about movement in a direction, either when this movement is circular or if there is a change in direction. Alternatively, we can also use 'to turn' to talk about changing something (often in phrasal verbs) and to flip something from one side to the other, among other things. The Earth turns on its axis at a very high speed. Carrie turned to face her mother. Turn right at the traffic lights. The weather is turning and winter is coming. Christine turned her back on her friends. The prepositional particle 'around' is not one that we see being used in phrasal verbs very often, especially when compared to particles like 'on' and 'up'. The particle 'around' is used as a preposition and adverb to denote different types of movement: in a circle, around the edge of something or moving to face the opposite direction. When used in phrasal verbs, 'around' can add ideas of movement in multiple directions or to different places (run around), wasting time (mess around), reversal (come around) and avoidance ( get around ), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the rather splendid phrasal verb 'turn around'.... Photo: Pexels BONUS: Is it 'turn around' or 'turn round'? As English learners, many of you may have noticed 'get round' being used as an alternative to 'get around'. It is possible therefore that you are wondering if there is any difference between the two forms and why some people use one and not the other? The simple answer is that there is no difference between them and you can use either of these. 'Get around' is used pretty much everywhere, however 'get round' is mainly used in British English...perhaps we are just too lazy to pronounce the extra 'a' here in the UK 🤷 MEANING 1: To rotate Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To rotate, to spin, to turn Separable? Yes Here we go then, let's start things off by considering the literal meaning of the combination of the words 'turn' and 'around' as outlined above, which is 'to rotate', or in other words 'to move in order to face a different direction'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Planets / Earth Records / Discs Cogs Wheel Furniture Car / Airplane Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about this application of 'turn around' is the Earth (unless you believe that the Earth is flat of course). Our lovely little planet is constantly turning around on its axis in a circular direction, giving us morning, afternoon, evening and night. Examples of other nouns for things that turn around are records and discs, food in microwaves, cogs, wheels and clock hands. My fan turned around slowly as it oscillated. The windmill turned around steadily in the fresh breeze. The clock's second hand turned around smoothly. Isaac's toy top turned around rapidly on the floor. John watched as the food turned around in the microwave as it cooked In addition to physical objects, we can also use 'turn around' to describe when people and animals rotate in a circular direction. Most of the time, we use it to refer to when they turn  in a half turn (180°) to face the opposite direction from the one that they were facing before. Moreover, it is also possible to hear it in reference to complete turns (360°) and anything else in between as long as there is some rotation and you are not facing the same way. as when you started. Beth heard a noise behind her and turned around. When I called Mike's name, he turned around and smiled. Bingo the dog turned around three times before lying down. I told Anthony to turn around and face the wall. As I walked past, Phil suddenly turned around and stared at me. The dancer turned around gracefully on stage. Turn around slowly; I want to see all of your outfit! For those among you who love your grammar, you may have noticed that in all of the example sentences so far, 'turn around' is used intransitively. In other words, the thing or person that is turning around is the subject and we are not stating who or what causes this spinning action. We can of course also use this application to talk about making or causing something to face a different direction. Typically, we do this when referring to household items and furniture that we can physically pick up and move so that they face a different direction. In addition, we use it for vehicles and modes of transport, however we when we do this, a movement in the opposite or return direction is also usually implied. Amanda turned the chair around to face the window. Carly turned the sign around so the message was visible. I turned the picture frame around because it was crooked. Malcolm turned the box around to read the label. At 9am, the shopkeeper turned the door sign around to display the word "open". They turned the table around in order to fit it better into the room. Lydia turned the mirror around to avoid looking into it. The driver turned the car around and went back home. The plane turned around shortly after take-off. If you kids do not stop arguing, I will turn the car around and we will head back home. MEANING 2: To drastically improve something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To improve, to rectify, to redress, to straighten out Separable? Yes Our second meaning of 'turn around' is 'to drastically improve something' and is one that you may often hear in both business and everyday English. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Business / Organisation Economy Life Game / Match To be able to understand this application a bit better, we need to use our imagination to think about how something progressing over time as a sort of journey. As with vehicles, which move in a direction towards a geographical direction, we can also imagine the progress of something moving over time towards an expected future result or outcome. If we change the direction of this movement so that a different result is expected, we can say that we '"turned it around". You should note that this is typically used when the result of something is completely changed from an expected negative outcome to an expected positive one. Most commonly, you will hear this application when talking about businesses, organisations and financial economies. If someone turns a business around, he or she makes changes to the business to reverse it's fortune, changing it from a company that is losing money or failing into a successful company that makes money. The new CEO turned the company around in just one year. Joe and Kathy hired a consultant to help turn around their declining sales. Charlotte turned the struggling restaurant around and made it profitable. We need a solid strategy to turn this project around. An emergency loan helped them turn the business around. Outside of the business world, this application of 'turn around' can be used for anything that is declining or not going well over a period of time. Perhaps the most frequent scenarios are to talk about sports matches and life in general. If something happens to turn a sports game around, the team that is losing at an early stage of the game will score goals or points to take the lead and therefore completely reverse the outcome of the game. Likewise, if something turns your life around, it completely transforms your life from one that is hard or unhappy into a happy and healthy life. It is of course also possible to turn your own life around, often by hard work and determination. His leadership turned the team around after a losing season. The coach turned the program around and took them to the championships. The introduction of the substitute turned the game around and the team went from being 1-0 down to 2-1 ahead. After years of being stuck in the same job with no prospects, I decided to turn my life around and started a university degree. MEANING 3: To change the perspective of something   Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To change perspective Separable? Yes Let's move on to our third meaning of 'turn around' now, which is rarer than the first two that we have looked at and means 'to change the perspective of something'. This usage is a nice and simple one, which links nicely to the first two and simply just means 'to see something from another person's perspective or from another angle'. In other words, 'to change the way you view something'. Furthermore, we can also use this one to mean to change the way you think about something or approach it, often to give you a different answer to the one you already have. Try to turn around the situation and see it from Claire's point of view. When I turned the issue around, I quickly realised I was partly to blame. If we turn the argument around, his actions might actually start to make sense. Let’s turn it around for a second; what if they were right all along and we were wrong? You have to turn your thinking around if you want to see the full picture. MEANING 4: To supply or produce something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common - Business English Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To supply, to produce, to generate Separable? Yes For our fourth meaning of 'turn around', we are heading back to the world of business English again as this one means 'to produce' or 'to supply'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Order Report Proposal Design With this application, we can refer to any output from a business, whether that be a manufactured product or a service. If a business turns something around, then it creates or produces it. The thing to note with this application however is that when we use it, we normally state a time period in which the business must or had to provide the product or service. Therefore, you will find that speakers will mainly use 'turn around' when they want to talk about when a business does this in a very short period of time, which is often viewed as challenging, difficult or impressive. I would say that in other, more normal, circumstances when time is not such an important factor, an alternative verb like 'to produce' would be preferred instead. We can turn around the report by Friday if everyone sticks to the schedule. The design team turned around the mock-ups in just 24 hours in order to win the order. How fast can you turn around the edits on this video? There is just no way that we can turn an order of that size around in a week. Our bakers can turn around large orders of over 500 loaves of bread in less than a day. Thanks for turning that proposal around so quickly; we really needed it. MEANING 5: To prepare something for use Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To prepare, to clean up Separable? Yes The next meaning of 'turn around' that we will look at is 'to prepare something for people to use' and is specifically heard when the thing being prepared has previously been used by other people. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Room Airplane Train Car Have you ever taken a flight before and noticed how quickly the flight crew prepare the airplane after the previous flight so that it is ready for you and your fellow passengers to board? It is normally very quick, particularly with low-cost airlines, however the time is not the important thing here; what is important is that this action of preparing the aircraft for use after previous passengers is known as 'turning around'. We say in this situation that the flight crew and ground staff are turning the plane around ready for the next flight. We are not just limited to airplanes with this usage though and we can use it for any time something is cleaned or tidied up after being used, ready for the next people to use it. You should note however that we only tend to use it to talk about commercial settings, i.e. when someone is paying for a service. The cleaning staff needs at least 30 minutes to turn the hotel room around before the next guest arrives. We have to turn around the conference hall quickly before the next session starts. The flight crew turned around the aircraft in record time so it could depart on schedule. There's only a short window to turn the rental car around before the next customer picks it up. The theatre employees turned the dressing rooms around between shows to accommodate the new cast. MEANING 6: Used to quote what someone said or did Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To say, to tell Separable? No After reading the title of this section, you are likely to be thinking that the next meaning of 'turn around' is 'to quote what someone said or did'. Do not be fooled by that as this is not the case; we actually use 'turn around' as a way of quoting what someone did or said. I imagine that this sounds very strange to you, so let me explain..... Often in informal conversations, English native speakers use the phrasal verb 'turn around' + the word 'and + a verb' to quote what another person has said. This is particularly the case when the person says something unexpected, shocking or without caring about how other people would react to it. It is used as a way of adding extra dramatic emphasis to a story or gossip etc and I hear it in informal conversations ALL THE TIME. I have absolutely no idea why we use it in this way, especially as most of the time nobody is physically turning around in the true sense, but we do. Any ideas, please write them in the comments and enlighten me! Out of nowhere, Sally turned around and said, "Let’s move to Spain!". I made a suggestion and he turned around and snapped, "Nobody asked you". I helped Barry all day and he turned around and said thatI hadn't done anything. I was trying to be nice, and Mary turned around and snapped, "Why are you even here?" Last night, my mum turned around and told me that she and my Dad are getting divorced. George turned around to his boss and said, 'You know what? I quit". Then Eric turned around and yelled, 'Don’t ever talk to me like that again!'. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'turnaround' I couldn't finish the post without writing about the noun 'turnaround' that was derived from the phrasal verb. When used as a noun, 'turnaround' has several meanings, all of which come directly from the phrasal verb meanings that we have already discussed in the post. The first and most common one links back to the second meaning of the phrasal verb, 'to drastically improve something' and is therefore used to describe a big improvement in something, where the expected outcome changes from a negative one to a positive. After several difficult years, the company's financial turnaround surprised all the investors. Pamela's health showed a dramatic turnaround after the new treatment. After a series of losses, Chelsea FC's sudden turnaround was remarkable. Another fairly common meaning of 'turnaround' is directly linked to the fourth application that we covered and is used to talk about the time that it takes to produce or supply something. Like with the phrasal verb, this one is common in business English to talk about commercial transactions and orders etc. The standard turnaround for printing orders is 72 hours. Please note that due to high demand, the turnaround time for custom furniture has increased to three weeks. The customer was impressed by our quick turnaround on the design revisions. Lastly, you may also hear the noun 'turnaround' in reference to the fifth meaning in the post (to make something ready for use) as it can be used to talk about the period of time spent preparing something for other people to use. This is especially common with airplanes. The plane had a quick turnaround at Heathrow Airport before its next flight. Ship turnarounds at the port have become faster thanks to the new loading system. We need to reduce the turnaround of rental cars to keep up with the increasing demand. 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 around'. 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 around'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'break 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 'break up' is used frequently in English and has several common meanings, as well as some less common, regional meanings. A common theme among many of the meanings that it has is the idea of 'ending' or 'finishing' and that something no longer exists as a whole unit anymore, however there are some other different meanings in addition to this. So, without further ado, let's take a look at them.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Break Up - The Basics: Key information and the words 'break' and 'up' Break Up - Meaning 1: To break into small pieces Break Up - Meaning 2: To end a romantic relationship Break Up - Meaning 3: To end a meeting or gathering Break Up - Meaning 4: To be interrupted (signal) Break Up - Meaning 5: To finish for holidays 🇬🇧 Break Up - Meaning 6: To start laughing or crying uncontrollably 🇺🇸 Break Up - Bonus Information: The noun 'breakup' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS BREAK UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Broke up / Broken up Separable? Yes To begin, let's first take a look at the meanings of the individual words 'break' and 'up' as these may provide some insight into the phrasal verb meanings of 'break up'. The verb 'to break' is a commonly used verb in English with a variety of meanings. Perhaps the most frequently used meaning is to cause something to stop working by damaging it, by using force either to separate it into separate pieces or to stop it functioning somehow. In addition to this meaning, 'to break' as a verb can also be used to mean 'to briefly interrupt or stop something' and 'to bring something to an end', among other meanings. The prepositional particle 'up' will be no stranger to any regular readers of this blog (or to any learner of English) and is primarily used to talk about movement to a higher place or away from the ground. So, now what we have covered the basics, let's move on to the meanings of 'break up'.... MEANING 1: To break into smaller pieces Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To disintegrate, to break down Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'break up' that we will cover in this post is 'to divide or separate into smaller pieces'. This meaning can be used both transitively, with a direct object, and intransitively, without one. Firstly, let's look at the transitive use, where 'break up' takes a direct object, as I think that this is the more commonly used of the two variations. When we 'break something up', it means that we separate it into smaller pieces, so that it no longer exists as a complete unit. This is usually done by applying some force to the object that needs to be 'broken up' and this can either be done in an intentional way, where something needs to be separated into pieces as part of a process, or it can be in a purely destructive way. If you have read my post about the phrasal verb ' break down ', you may remember that we also use this to mean 'to separate something into smaller pieces'. While these two phrasal verbs can be used as synonyms in certain situations, there is a small difference. We tend to use 'break down' with items that can be separated and dismantled into separate parts to be put back together again in the future e.g. furniture, and these items are not truly broken as they will function again in the future. On the other hand, the particle 'up' in phrasal verb constructions often carries the meaning of a permanent end and and we would therefore use 'break up' more for separating something into pieces permanently, e.g. bread or a chocolate bar, with the idea that something is truly broken and will not function in the same way again. Although we often tend to use 'break up' in this way with objects that we can break using our hands, it can be used with any items that we cause to break into separate, often many, pieces. As this form takes a direct object, it can be used separably and the placement of the direct object does not affect the meaning. We often use the words 'into pieces" or "into bits" after this usage of 'break up' to describe the end result of the 'breaking up' action. John broke the bar of chocolate up into small pieces in order to make his favourite dessert. He broke up the bread and passed it around to the others in the group. The old picture frame was too large to fit into the car, so Helen had to break it up into smaller pieces in order to take it to the rubbish tip. Now let's look at the intransitive use of this meaning of 'break up', where there is no direct object. If we say that something 'breaks up' then we mean that something separates into smaller parts by itself, i.e. without direct intervention from a person. This can also be used to mean when things disintegrate or disperse. Examples of nouns that this intransitive form is used with are things like clouds, items that fall from space through the atmosphere and icebergs. However, it can also be used for any objects that can break into separate pieces without any specified human intervention to cause it. Interestingly too, we can say that when countries separate into smaller parts that they also 'break up' without a direct object. Luckily, the meteor broke up in the Earth's atmosphere and only tiny fragments of it fell to the ground. The clouds broke up at just the right time for the people to be able to see the solar eclipse. When the civil war ended in 1876, the country broke up into three smaller independent states. MEANING 2: To end a romantic relationship Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common British or American? Both Potential synonyms To separate, to end Separable? Sometimes The second meaning of 'break up' is another hugely common one and means 'to end a romantic relationship'. If a couple 'breaks up', then it means that their romantic relationship has ended, although this does not necessarily mean that the split is permanent and many people can and do get back together or ' make up ' again after breaking up. The signification of 'break up' here again links back to the idea that something no longer exists as a complete unit, as the couple becomes separated into two separate parts. While we do predominantly use 'break up' in an intransitive way without a direct object, it can also be used with a direct object when another person, be it a family member or another interested person, tries to cause the couple to separate. Thankfully, as most people are good and decent people, this usage with a direct object is rarer, but still very much in use when needed. Roger and Lisa have broken up! I can't believe it, I thought that they would stay together forever! If you break up with your partner, it can be an extremely painful and sad time. The couple broke up for a short period last year and got back together again when they realised how much they missed each other. Helen has always loved John and she has been trying to break his relationship with Lucy up for years now. Luckily for Lucy he doesn't feel the same way about her! MEANING 3: To end a meeting or a gathering Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To adjourn Separable? Yes Meaning number three of 'break up' is used principally with groups of people and means 'to end a meeting or gathering'. This application of 'break up' is used in the business world in reference to meetings, specifically when talking about when a meeting ends and the attendees are free to leave. Once again, this meaning carries the idea of something ending (the meeting) and no longer existing as a complete unit. Outside of the business world, and arguably more common, is the usage of 'break up' to mean 'to end a social gathering, 'generally a party'. Typically, a person who breaks up a party would be an authority figure such as a police officer or a parent. Alternatively at smaller, more intimate parties, the first people to leave would be the ones accused of 'breaking it up'. One other way that this application of 'break up' can be used is when talking about a physical fight and someone intervenes to stop it or 'break it up'. The meeting broke up at 4pm exactly and all of the attendees went their separate ways. The police came and broke up the house party after several of the neighbours had complained. I'm sorry to have to break up the party, but I need to get off now as I have work early in the morning. The schoolboys got into a fight on the playground and the headteacher had to intervene and break it up. MEANING 4: To be interrupted (signal) Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To be interrupted, to drop out Separable? No Our fourth meaning of 'break up' is to interrupt a signal, typically of a phone or video call. For this meaning we are moving away from the idea of ceasing to exist as a complete unit and instead linking back to the meaning of the verb 'to break' as in of 'interference'. This usage of 'break up' is used almost exclusively with communication signals for telephone and video calls and is used when it is not consistent, therefore causing problems for someone to hear what the other person is saying or only hearing some of the words. It is typically used when one of the people is in a place with bad or patchy reception. 'Break up' in this sense is used intransitively and is not separable as there is not normally a person or thing intentionally causing the interference on the line. We often tend to use this application of 'break up' with continuous verb forms and often with the verb 'to keep'. I called my parents from my hotel on holiday but the line was so bad and it just kept breaking up, so I couldn't hear half of what they were saying. I can't hear you, the signal keeps breaking up! The phone signal is really bad up the mountain and it breaks up constantly when you try and call someone. MEANING 5: To finish for holidays Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To finish Separable? No Meaning number five of 'break up' is a really good one if you live in the UK as it is a British usage to mean 'to finish school or work for a holiday or vacation'. This is very commonly used for schools and educational institutions and is used to refer to the last day of the term or semester before the holidays begin. Aside from this, it is also used by workers to refer to the last day that they work before having time off or going on vacation somewhere. You should note, however, that 'break up' is not used when leaving a school or employment permanently or before taking time off for illness or bereavement - only for a holiday break. 'Break up' in this way is always used without a direct object and native speakers typically just use the words "break up" along with a day or date to specify when their last day will be. We often use the additional preposition 'for' to specify the reason or duration of the holiday. My drive to work was so quick this morning as the kids have broken up for the summer holidays now and the roads are really quiet. When do the schools break up for Christmas? I break up today for two weeks, so I need to get all of these emails done and finish this report for my boss. MEANING 6: To start laughing or crying uncontrollably Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? American English Potential synonyms To crack up, to burst into tears Separable? No For our sixth and final meaning, we are going to switch sides of the Atlantic Ocean and talk about an American usage of 'break up', which is 'to begin to laugh or cry uncontrollably'. We can use this form of 'break up' intransitively when people start laughing or crying or we can use it with a direct object when something causes the person to laugh or cry. Interestingly, 'break down' can also be used a synonym here, in both British and American English, for when someone becomes emotional or starts crying. For those interested in a British alternative to the uncontrolled laughter, 'crack up' would be a good alternative here. John expected everyone to break up laughing when he told his best joke, but nobody did! She broke up in tears when she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend! Photo: Pexels BONUS INFORMATION: The noun 'breakup' Before I finish the post, I just want to give you some extra information on the different ways that the noun 'breakup' or 'break-up' can be used. Typically and most commonly, breakup as a noun is used to describe the ending of a romantic relationship however it can also be used to talk about when familial relationships are cut and members of a family no longer see each other. Strangely, we do not tend to use the phrasal verb form for these familial relationships though. Aside from the ending of a relationship, we also use 'breakup' as a noun to describe when countries and empires separate into smaller nations, as well as other items that can be separated into smaller parts, similar to Meaning 1 at the beginning of the post. Sue is still getting over the breakup with her partner last year. It hit her hard! Breakups can be difficult for people to deal with. The breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire occurred with the onset of the First World War. 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 'break up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'break 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 'take down' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. In this post, we are looking at the English phrasal verb 'take down' and all of the different meanings that it has, as well some of its other applications, including its uses as a noun. You may already be familiar with some of its meanings, however I'm sure that one or two will be new to you. So, without further ado, let's get started.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Take down - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'take' and 'down' Take down - Meaning 1: To remove something from a high place Take down - Meaning 2: To dismantle a structure Take down - Meaning 3: To write something Take down - Meaning 4: To defeat someone Take down - Bonus Information: The idiom 'to take someone down a peg or two'. Take down - Bonus Information: The noun 'takedown' I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS TAKE DOWN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Separable? Yes Past tense forms Took down / Taken down Before we examine the different uses of 'take down' as a phrasal verb, let's first of all break it down into its constituent parts, as this can often provide a bit of logic when applied to the seemingly illogical phrasal verb meanings. Firstly we have the common English verb 'to take', which you will certainly be very familiar with as it is one of the ten most common verbs in the English language. The general idea behind the verb 'to take' is 'to remove something from a place', but it can also be used to express the ideas of movement, acceptance and endurance, among others. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'down', which is a common feature in phrasal verb constructions and generally means a lower position, or movement towards to a lower position when used adverbially. As with almost all prepositions in English, it is used in many diverse and different ways, however it is worth mentioning here that one of its uses as an adverb means 'to be recorded in writing or in written form'..... I have all of the details down on paper, so I can refer back to them if I need to. So, now that we have got all of the basics covered, let's move on to the different phrasal verb meanings of 'take down'.... MEANING 1: To remove something from a high place Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To remove, to get down, to bring down, to lower Separable? Yes The first meaning of 'take down' that we will look at is more or less a literal meaning as it is 'to remove something from its position in a high place, so that it ends up in a lower place'. This can be used for things which are positioned in a physically high place such as a high shelf (like in the picture above) or on top of a wardrobe, however it can also be used for items that are suspended above the ground, such as decorative lights, or affixed to walls in an elevated position, such a as poster or a notice. If you have read my recent post about the phrasal verb ' put up ', you may recall that the third meaning of 'put up' that I covered was 'to place something on display'. Moreover, as I also mentioned, 'put' and 'take' are often used in English for opposite actions, especially in phrasal verb constructions, and 'take down' is no exception to that rule as it is used to remove something that has been placed on display. Grammatically speaking, this meaning of 'take down' does take a direct object and is separable. You can put the object between or after the phrasal verb, without changing the meaning or intonation. Another variation of this meaning that I want to mention here is one that is predominantly used in American English and means to 'lower something without removing it' and the prime example of this would be trousers / pants. In British English, we may also say 'take down' here or the alternative 'pull down'. Could you help that lady and reach up there and take down a bag of flour for her from the top shelf as she can't reach it. We are having our living room painted today, so I have had to take down all the pictures and photos from the wall. Helen gets sad and depressed when she has to take her Christmas decorations and lights down. Could you take down your trousers please, so that the doctor can see the wound on your leg. MEANING 2: To dismantle a structure Photo: Pexels ​CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To dismantle, to take apart, to disassemble, to deconstruct Separable? Yes The second meaning of 'take down' is to dismantle an upright structure. In other words, this is removing each part of the structure until it is no longer standing and only the constituent parts remain. Once again, this action in direct contrast to one of the meanings of 'put up' that I recently posted about (i.e. to build a structure). Much like its opposite, it can be used to talk about buildings, tents, fences and any other standing structures that can be dismantled and removed. Furthermore, this usage of 'take down' can also be used to talk about dismantling non-physical structures such as social systems and governments. For this however, it tends to be used by activists and people with strong opinions and is therefore used much more forcefully and negatively. The crew took down the enormous building, steel beam by steel beam. The local council has taken down the tired old road signs in the city and has put up new modern ones in their place. Our neighbour has put up a huge fence between our gardens and we have asked him to take it down and replace it with a shorter one. Cries of "take down the government" could be heard during the rally. MEANING 3: To write something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To note down, to write down Separable? Yes The third meaning of 'take down' is a commonly used one in the world of business English and means 'to write something down so that there is a written record of it'. If you remember from earlier on in the post, I mentioned that one of the meanings of 'down' as an adverb is to be recorded in written form and this phrasal verb meaning is simply an extension of that meaning. If we take something down, we note it on paper, or in word processed form, so that we can refer back to it at a later time or date. As such, this application is often used when there is a degree of seriousness to the situation, such as 'taking down' the registration number of a car involved in an accident or 'taking down' all of the details regarding a customer complaint so that you can look into it later. John has taken down my address and has promised to send me hard copies of the photos from today's workshop in the post. A car just drove into my car when I was reversing and damaged the back. It sped off again so quickly afterwards that I did not have a chance to take down the registration number. Lisa is going to take down all of the minutes of today's meeting and she will send you all a copy by email once she has written them up. MEANING 4: To defeat someone Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To defeat, to beat Separable? Yes The fourth and final meaning of 'take down' means 'to defeat someone', usually in a convincing or conclusive way. Furthermore, in some, more extreme, cases it can also mean to kill someone or destroy something. I believe that this particular application of 'take down' can be traced back to combat sports, in particular wrestling, as when a person is defeated, they are often 'down' on the floor. This usage of 'take down' is still very much used in combat sports but has spread to become acceptable for all sports or competition. It is definitely more of an informal usage and can often be used as a threat to someone, either of physical violence towards them or simply that they will be defeated. This meaning is separable and tends to be used much more commonly with the pronoun for the defeated person (me, you, him etc.) or thing (it) being placed between 'take' and 'down'. If you are using the name of the person or thing that is defeated, then you are fine to place this either between or after the phrasal verb, however if you are using a pronoun, then it needs to go between 'take' and 'down'. Many people have tried to take down Roger but no one has succeeded yet! You'd better be worried because I am going to take you down next time! The boxing world champion has threatened to take down his next opponent before the end of the first round at their match this coming Saturday. Photo: Pexels IDIOM: To take someone down a peg or two Before we take a look at the bonus material, I just want to make you aware of an English idiom that features the phrasal verb 'take down'. To take someone down a peg or two is an expression that means 'to show someone that they are not as important as they think they are'. This is often reserved for arrogant and self-important people who think they are better than other people. When we take them down a peg or two, we do or say something that stops them acting in that superior way. A couple of alternatives to this idiom also exist. One of these is 'to take someone down a notch' and the other is 'to bring someone down a peg or two'. She thinks she is so much better than everyone else and one of these days someone is going to take her down a peg or two. The arrogant footballer was taken down a peg or two when he started playing football for a professional team and he realised that he was no longer the best in his team. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'takedown' As I mentioned at the very beginning of the post, the phrasal verb 'take down' also has a noun derivative 'takedown' (or 'take-down'), which has several different meanings: The first of these links back to wrestling and refers to when a fighter is knocked or wrestled to the ground by their opponent. Alternatively, this could also be used for the act of successfully taking someone down a peg or two. The next use of the noun 'takedown' can be used to describe when something is harshly criticised in great detail in writing, in a speech or on a tv show. The last use of 'takedown' as a noun is to describe when the police arrest multiple people at the same time. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'take down'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'take down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END