An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go out', with examples and exercises. 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. AS THIS IS MY FINAL POST OF 2023, I WANT TO WISH ALL OF MY READERS A HAPPY NEW YEAR. MANY THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT THIS YEAR. The phrasal verb 'go out' is a commonly used phrasal verb with a varied range of meanings, some of which you are more likely to hear at this time of year. In this post, we will look at seven different meanings that it has in English, as well as some common idioms that it features in. So, without further ado, let's get started.... GO OUT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go out', let's first examine the meanings of the constituent words 'go' and 'out'. The verb 'to go' is one of the most common English verbs and is primarily used to talk about movement or travel from one place to another, but it also has a number of different meanings, including 'to become' and 'to function'.'Going to' is also used a way of expressing the future tense in English. The prepositional particle 'out', like most prepositions in English, has a multitude of different meanings and uses and can function as a number of different classes of word (adverb, adjective etc.). First and foremost, it is used as the opposite of 'in' and refers to movement towards the exterior of something or being situated on the outside of something. As an adjective, it can be used to mean 'not at home', 'no longer in a competition or group' or 'extinguished (of a power source)' among many other things. Now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of 'go out'.... MEANING 1: To leave your house The first meaning of 'go out' is to leave your house or place where you live, or less commonly a workplace or place where you habitually spend a lot of time. This meaning of 'go out' comes from the use of 'out' as an adverb to mean 'not at home'.... I am going to be out all day tomorrow, so can you please arrange for the delivery to arrive the following day. I called in at your house but you were out. In addition to this, the verb 'to go' then adds the element of leaving the house or movement away from it. Examples of usage.... I am going out in 5 minutes, so I don't have time to chat now. After John had an argument with Lisa, he went out for a bit to give them both a chance to calm down. Helen's not here at the moment, I'm afraid. She's gone out for the day and I'm not sure what time she will be back. We use 'go out' to refer to any time that we leave our house or place of residence, however it is often used specifically by native speakers to mean 'to leave your house to go somewhere to socialise', such as a bar, restaurant or party. The additional preposition 'for' can also be used here to specify what you are doing. Examples of usage.... We are going out tonight with some friends who we have not seen for a long time. Roger and Sophie went out for a meal last night at the new restaurant in town. Are you free later? Shall we go out for a drink? EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER In recent years in British English the informal expression 'to go out out', with the double repetition of the particle 'out', has started to be used to talk about when people go out to socialise. However, 'going out out' is normally reserved for when people have a big, extravagant night out and spend a lot of money, wear their best clothes and often finish the evening drunk. Examples of usage... Are you going out tonight or are you going out out? I can't remember the last time that my wife and I went out out. It's not so easy to do when you have children. MEANING 2: To be extinguished The second meaning of 'go out' is 'to be extinguished', or in other words, to no longer be burning or emitting energy in heat or light form. This form of 'go out' is commonly used with the nouns 'fire' and 'light', but can also be used with other nouns for sources of energy. You may remember from earlier in the post that another meaning of 'out', when used as an adverb, is to describe when sources of energy are extinguished....so if a candle is out, it's no longer burning and if a light is out, it's no longer shining (in the same way as when it's 'off'). When we combine this meaning of 'out' with the verb 'to go', we get the specific meaning of a power source stopping emitting light or heat. Note that we normally only use this application when the power source is extinguished without human intervention. Other nouns that this application of 'go out' is used with, especially in American English, are 'power' and 'electricity', to describe when there is a blackout or a power cut. Examples of usage.... The fire went out whilst John and Lisa were sleeping. When the children were telling each other ghost stories, the lights in the room suddenly went out and everyone started screaming. The power has gone out all over the city due to the storm. MEANING 3: To leave a competition The next meaning of 'go out' is 'to leave a competition', or in other words, 'to be eliminated from a competition, so that you can no longer compete in it and win it'. Similarly to the previous two meanings of 'go out' that we have looked at, this one is also derived from an adverbial usage of the word 'out'. In addition to meaning 'not at home' and 'extinguished', 'out' can be used as an adverb to mean 'no longer active in a competition or activity' and combining this meaning with the verb 'to go', it gives us the idea of being eliminated from a competition and leaving it. As you will undoubtedly have guessed, this application of 'go out' is used primarily with sports and games to describe when a player or competitor is eliminated from competing and can no longer play or win. One notable exception to this is with card games as when a person 'goes out' in cards, it often means that they have got rid of all of their cards and, by doing so, have won the game. Examples of usage.... Aston Villa went out in the third round of the Championship cup after losing to local rivals Birmingham City. If one of the players catches the ball after you hit it, you automatically go out of the competition. The objective of the game is to go out and win the competition by being the first player to place all of your cards on the table. MEANING 4: To have a romantic relationship with someone The fourth meaning of 'go out' is an informal application and means 'to have a romantic relationship with someone'. This meaning of 'go out' is a synonym of the verb 'to date' and more than likely derives from the idea of people going out on dates when they are in the early stages of a relationship. Although 'to go out' and 'to date' can often be used interchangeably, I would say that the meaning of 'go out' has evolved slightly and is often used to describe something more long-term than 'to date', often even to describe a relationship until a couple gets married. 'To date', on the other hand, tends to be used more for a short-term or casual relationship. On a grammatical note, this usage of 'go out' is often used with continuous tenses, especially when the relationship in question is ongoing. Moreover, the additional preposition 'with' is required here when specifying who a person is in a relationship with. Examples of usage.... John and Lisa have been going out for over three years but have no plans to get married. He's very attractive. Is he going out with anyone at the moment? Since when has Roger been single? I thought he was going out with Ashley. Debbie and Mel went out with each other for a while but decided to remain friends. MEANING 5: To cease to be popular or fashionable The next meaning of 'go out' is 'to stop being popular, fashionable or trendy. For this meaning, we need to firstly consider that one of the meanings of the particle 'in' as an adjective is 'trendy', 'fashionable' or 'popular'. As I stated at the beginning of the post in the Basics section, 'out' usually functions as the opposite of 'in' and consequently, if we describe something as 'out', it means that it is no longer popular or in fashion. Furthermore, when we say that something 'goes out', we are talking about the time when it becomes unfashionable or no longer popular. This is normally used for nouns to describe music, clothes, fashion, societal trends and even words and vocabulary. Sometimes, we also use the expression 'to go out of fashion' as an alternative way to express this. Grammatically, this application of 'go out' tends to be used with past tenses as we are not always aware when something is becoming unpopular in the present moment. Examples of usage.... Flared trousers and platform shoes went out in the 1970s. Swing music went out years ago but there are still some people who enjoy listening to it. Here is a list of some social etiquette rules that have gone out of fashion but should be brought back. MEANING 6: To recede (tide) The sixth meaning of 'go out' is a much more limited application than the others that we have looked at so far and means 'to recede'. This is a very specific usage as it is used specifically to refer to the tide (the twice daily movement of the oceans caused by the moon). When referring to the tides, we say that the tide is 'in' when the sea is close to the land and that it is 'out' when it is far from the land. Furthermore, to describe the movement of the oceans and tides, we state that they 'come in' when the sea water moves towards the beach and that they 'go out' when it moves away from the shore. Note that we do not use this to talk about individual waves but rather for the general tidal movement towards and away from the land that occurs over a period of hours. Examples of usage.... The tide is in at the moment but when it goes out again i will reveal the rocks on the beach. We had a nice walk along the beach as the tide was going out. MEANING 7: To be announced or published The seventh and final meaning of 'go out' is 'to be announced or broadcast' and is used to talk about when information and programmes are transmitted to the general public. Here, we use 'go out' to talk about the time or the moment when the information or the programme is released and made public. Whilst 'go out' is used universally in English for the transmission of information and messages, it is worth noting that 'go out' to describe the transmission and broadcasting of TV programmes, radio programmes and podcasts is more of a British English usage. Examples of usage.... New episodes of the podcast go out at 7pm every Sunday evening. The information went out to all news agencies. IDIOM ALERT!! Before I end this post, I want to make you aware of some common idiomatic phrases and expressions that exist featuring the phrasal verb 'go out'... My heart goes out to.... - This is an expression that is used when you want to express sympathy for someone who is experiencing problems or troubles in their life. I've heard your bad news and my heart goes out to you! If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. To go out of your way to do something - If you go out of your way to do something, it means that you make a big effort to do something that you perhaps would not normally do. John has gone out of his way to make your visit pleasant and all you have done is complain! To go out on a limb - If you go out on a limb, it means that you express an opinion that is different to that of other people and you are perhaps the only person in the group who expresses it. I am going out on a limb here but I didn't enjoy the film at all. I know you all loved it, but I thought it was terrible. To go out with a bang - Lastly, if you go out with a bang, it means that you finish doing something in an exciting or dramatic way. It is our final day at university tomorrow and we are intending to go out with a bang by playing some tricks on the lecturer. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE Re-write the following sentences using 'to go out'.... I need to leave the house shortly, so please be quick. Suddenly, all of the lights in the room turned off by themselves. The England football team were eliminated from the competition in the first round. They have been dating for several weeks. This hasn't been popular since the turn of the century. The tide is in at the moment, so we need to wait for it to recede again. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'WRAP UP' How long did it take you to WRAP UP all of these presents? You should WRAP UP if you are going outside. Let's WRAP this meeting UP, it's getting late. He WRAPPED UP all of the points of the meeting very succinctly. Linda was totally WRAPPED UP in her problems and she didn't think about her husband's. John has been completely WRAPPED UP IN COTTON WOOL for his whole life. This brings us to the end of the post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'go out' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below.

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'wrap up', with examples and exercises. 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. 'Wrap up' is a phrasal verb that you will often hear a lot around Christmastime in English speaking countries, especially in the US and the UK where it tends to be very cold at that time of year. Aside from it's more "wintry" meanings, 'wrap up' does also have several other meanings that can be heard all year round and in this post we will look at all of these different meanings, both wintry and non-wintry. So, without further ado, let's get started.... WRAP UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we look at the meanings of 'wrap up', let's just take a minute to examine the constituent words 'wrap' and 'up', as this can often help us to understand some of the more idiomatic meanings of a phrasal verb. The verb 'to wrap' is a semi-common verb in the English language, which means to cover something with paper or some other kind of soft material, such as cloth. More often than not, the action of 'wrapping' is done by a folding or winding action. Make sure that you do not confuse it with the similar sounding verb 'to rap', which has very different meaning. Aside from its literal meaning of 'towards the sky' ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️, the prepositional particle 'up' is commonly found in phrasal verb constructions and can often be used to add an idea of completion or readiness, among many other things. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different phrasal verb meanings of 'wrap up'.... MEANING 1: To cover something in paper or material The first meaning of 'wrap up' is to cover or to enclose something in soft material, typically paper or cloth, much like the meaning of the verb 'to wrap'. This application of 'wrap up' is most commonly used for presents and gifts, which is why you are likely to hear this more at Christmastime when it is customary in many anglophone countries for people to exchange gifts. We can use the verb 'to wrap' as a synonym here, but often the phrasal verb 'wrap up' conveys the idea of completion or readiness, i.e. when a gift has been wrapped up, it is ready to be presented to the lucky recipient. Grammatically, this application of 'wrap up' is separable and the direct object can go either between 'wrap' and 'up' or after them, without changing the meaning. Examples of usage.... I have bought my husband's Christmas present but I haven't wrapped it up yet. Helen spent all evening wrapping up birthday presents for her son. You have wrapped this up so nicely, I don't want to unwrap it and undo all of your hard work! MEANING 2: To put on warm clothes The second usage of 'wrap up' is another one that you are likely to hear during the wintertime in many English-speaking countries as it means 'to put on warm clothes'. I guess this is similar to the previous meaning that we have just looked at, however this time the thing that we are covering with material is ourselves, rather than a present. Often, this application of 'wrap up' is used as an imperative or when someone gives a warning that the weather is cold and therefore they should be put on thick, warm clothes in preparation for it. As you can imagine, this is often something said by attentive mothers and grandmothers! You may often hear this this used with the additional adjective 'warm' as this is a common collocation for this application of 'wrap up'. Examples of usage.... It's freezing cold out there. Make sure you wrap up warm if you are going to go out! Lisa had seen that it was snowing outside, so she wrapped up in thick wooly clothes before going out to the shop. MEANING 3: To complete or conclude something The third meaning of 'wrap up' is slightly informal and means 'to complete, conclude or finish something, normally in a way that is considered satisfactory'. We tend to use 'wrap up' in this way when we are talking about processes or tasks that tend to revolve more around speaking than physical action. Two of the most common places in which you would hear this application of 'wrap up' are in business meetings and negotiations and also on film and TV sets. When used in business meetings or negotiations, 'wrap up' is used to talk about bringing the things to an end but still ensuring that all of the topics are covered and discussed. On TV and movie sets, 'wrap up' is used to talk about finishing the filming process of a particular scene or of the entire production in general. Examples of usage.... Ok, we have 30 minutes left of our allotted meeting time, so let's try and wrap things up now. Can we wrap it up now please. This has been going on for far too long. Production of the movie wrapped up in August this year and it is expected to be ready for audiences by Christmas. BONUS As I have just mentioned, 'wrap up' is commonly used in film and movie production to talk about when the filming of a scene or an entire production is concluded. As a result of this, the expression "it's a wrap" has come to be used in this industry when a scene or an entire movie or show is finished. It is normally said as a way for the director to let all of the crew members and actors know that the filming of that particular scene etc. has finished. MEANING 4: To provide a summary of the main points The next meaning of 'wrap up' is 'to summarise* or to recapitulate something', or in other words to give the main points or details about a given subject. As a British English speaker, this usage seems more American to me, however I would certainly understand the meaning if I heard it in a conversation. Examples of usage.... To wrap things up, I would say that the main points to note from today's meeting are.... Thanks very much, John, for wrapping that up so well. *Summarise is spelt summarize in US American English MEANING 5: To be absorbed in something For our fifth and final meaning of 'wrap up', we are looking at the way that the past tense form 'wrapped up' can be used as an adjective to mean when a person is absorbed in something. If someone is 'wrapped up' in something, then they are absorbed or captivated by it and their attention is focussed solely on that one thing, so that they do not notice other things that are happening around them. This could be used for when someone's attention is captivated in the short term by some form of entertainment, or it could be used to talk about something more long term, for example when someone is so focussed on the things happening in their own life that they do not notice someone else's problems etc. Examples of usage.... Jim was so wrapped up in what was happening outside on the street that he failed to notice that all of his colleagues had left the office. I'm so sorry, Julie. I've been so wrapped up in my own problems over the last few weeks that I haven't even asked you how you have been doing! IDIOM ALERT Before I finish this post, I want to make you aware of the idiom "to wrap someone up in cotton wool". This idiom means to protect someone from the dangers and difficulties in life and normally refers to parents in relation to their children. Furthermore, you can also say that a person has been "wrapped up in cotton wool", when referring to a child who has been overprotected and sheltered for their whole lives. Example of usage.... John and Helen are such overprotective parents, they've wrapped their daughter Alice up in cotton wool her whole life. She will have a shock when she goes to university! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to wrap up'.... How long did it take you to cover all of these presents in paper? You should put some warm clothes on if you are going outside. Let's finish this meeting, it's getting late. He summarised all of the points of the meeting very succinctly. Linda was totally absorbed in her problems and she didn't think about her husband's. John has been completely protected from dangers and difficulties for his whole life. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'GO OVER' John WENT OVER the road to go and speak to Lisa who was on the other side. In a shock move, the leader of extreme right quit his party and WENT OVER to the extreme left party. Could you please GO OVER the finance report and check it is all ok before I submit it to the board of directors. Before a performance, I always GO OVER my lines a few times to make sure I know them off by heart. The President's speech was WENT OVER very well with the audience. The meeting was supposed to finish at 5pm but WENT OVER until shortly after 6pm. This brings us to the end of the post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'wrap up' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. LASTLY, I WANT TO WISH ALL OF MY READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS! THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT THIS YEAR! JAMES

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go over', with examples and exercises. 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. 'To go over' is a common phrasal verb in the English language with a range of different meanings, including to cross something from one side to the other, to exceed a limit and to describe how something is perceived by an audience. Read on to find out all of its different meanings, as well some idiomatic expressions that it can be found in.... GO OVER: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we start looking at the meanings of the phrasal verb 'go over', let's firstly have a look at the words 'go' and 'over' and their individual meanings. The verb 'to go' is one of the most common verbs in the English language and is all about movement, specifically from one place to another. In addition to this main meaning, it can also be used to mean 'to leave' and 'to become' and is commonly used to form the 'going to' future tense construction, e.g. "I am going to watch this movie tonight". The prepositional particle 'over' is an interesting one as it has several distinct meanings, depending on what word class it is used as. As a preposition it tends to mean 'above' or 'in a higher position than', as an adverb it is first and foremost used to mean 'across' or 'movement across' and as an adjective it means 'finished' or 'ended'. Moreover, in American English 'over' can also be used as an adverb to mean 'repeatedly' or 'again'. So now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the various meanings of 'go over'.... MEANING 1: To move across from one place to another This first meaning of 'go over' is a literal meaning of the verb 'to go' and the adverb 'over' combined, meaning 'to move across from one place to another'. Broadly speaking, there are two main ways that this literal form of 'go over' is used.... The first is simply moving from a start point and across something to arrive at the desired end point. The list of things that could be crossed is extensive but typically includes roads, fields, bridges and rivers. We do also use 'go over' to talk about when we go to a different country, especially when a sea or an ocean lies between the countries and this is typical when talking about travel from the UK or Europe to the USA or vice versa. The second way that 'go over' can be used literally is with the idea of moving past something by going above it, thus incorporating the prepositional meaning of 'above' that 'over' possesses. For this second variation, typical examples could be when a person goes over a hill or when something moves through the air and it goes over something such as an airplane, a superhero or something that has been thrown. Examples of usage.... In order to go over the bridge by foot, you must pay a small fee of $2. John went over the field to get his horse from the other side. Steven has gone over to the USA to study at Yale for a year. I miss him terribly! We went over the English Channel when we were going to France on the airplane. Sarah is no longer allowed to play football with her brothers as every time she kicks the ball, it goes over the fence. MEANING 2: To change allegiance For the second meaning of 'go over', we are going to continue with the theme of an across movement from a start point to an end point, however this time the movement is abstract rather than physical, as it means to change allegiances from one side to another. For those of you who are unsure of the word 'allegiance', it means 'loyalty or support given to a particular cause, person, group of people or belief' and this could be used with political parties, sides of an argument or debate or even a sports team. When a person decides, for whatever reason, to change side or allegiance, we can say that they 'go over' to the other side. This is a similar usage to the phrasal verb 'come over' (link here), however with 'go over' the perspective is from the starting point where the person leaves and with 'come over' the perspective is from the end point. Examples of usage.... John left the Left Party a long time ago and went over to the Green Party, despite them being much less popular. Louise was offered a large amount of money to go over to their rival basketball team, however her allegiance to her home team was too strong and she turned it down. MEANING 3: To examine or check something carefully The next meaning of 'go over' is 'to examine or to check something carefully', normally a document, essay or some kind of written work. Typically, you would use 'go over' in this sense when you have created a document or completed a form and you want somebody else to check it for you, to ensure that there are no mistakes and that everything is correct and suitable. This usage of 'go over' comes from the idea of moving your eyes across a document from above and thus includes the idea of movement from 'to go' and 'across and above' from 'over'. Examples of usage.... I've finished the report and I've asked my boss to go over it before I submit it to the customer. I can't believe that I did not see that spelling mistake on the website. I went over it four or five times before I published it! IDIOM ALERT This particular usage of 'go over' where we check a form of written work or document has given rise to a common idiom that is used in everyday English: 'to go over something with a fine-tooth comb'. This idiom is used to mean that you will search for something or examine something as thoroughly and carefully as possible. A variation of this idiom that may also hear is 'to go through something with a fine-tooth comb'. The board has been over the plans with a fine-tooth comb and has decided to give the project the green light. When I lost my gold bracelet, we went over the house with a fine-tooth comb but we weren't able to find it anywhere. It turned out that it was in the car! MEANING 4: To revise or rehearse something another time Our fourth meaning of 'go over' is primarily to do with the idea of repetition and is used to mean 'to revise' or to 'rehearse'. Once again, this application takes the idea of movement from 'go' and combines it with the idea of repetition from the adverbial usage of 'over'. This usage is actually quite similar to the one that we just looked at in the last section, as it also involves looking at something. This time, however, we are not looking at it to make sure that it is correct, but rather we are looking at it again, either to revise something and learn it, such as before an exam, or to practise or rehearse something, like when you are preparing for a performance or speech. This could also be used with the idea of discussing something for another or a second time, especially if the subject in question is one of disagreement or contention. Examples of usage.... Let's go over our lines one more time before the performance. I want to make sure that I know them perfectly! He's gone over the practice questions so many times, I don't think it will be possible for him to fail! Oh not this subject again! We've gone over this so many times and I do not want to discuss it anymore. MEANING 5: To be received or perceived by people The fifth meaning of 'go over' mean 'to be received' or 'perceived' by an audience and is used specifically to talk about performances, demonstrations, speeches and multimedia - in other words for anything which has an audience. When we talk about how something 'goes over', we are specifically talking about how it is perceived by an audience and accordingly this will be followed with a adverb such as well or badly. If we want to specify the audience who are perceiving or receiving the performance, we need the additional preposition 'with'. This application is very similar in meaning and usage to the phrasal verbs 'come across' (link here) and 'come over' (link here). Examples of usage.... The singer's comeback performance went over really well with the audience and her singles and albums streams and downloads have increased dramatically as a consequence. The minister's speech last night did not go over well. MEANING 6: To exceed a limit Last but not least, we have our sixth and final meaning of 'go over', which is to exceed a set or expected limit. For this usage, we are again taking the idea of movement from the verb 'to go' and combining it with the prepositional meaning of 'over' to mean 'more than'. The idea here is that something moves past a limit or deadline and this can be applied to time and speed limits and also physical capacities. It is very common to use 'go over' in the business world to talk about meetings and engagements that continue on after the intended finishing time. Alternatively, if you go over the speed limit in your car, your speed exceeds the highest permissible speed on that particular road and if you spend more than the agreed amount on your credit card, you go over your limit. Examples of usage.... The meeting was scheduled to finish at 2pm, however it went over and it did not finish until nearly 4pm. Lisa lost her driving license last year as she went over the speed limit multiple times. IDIOM ALERT!! Before I finish this post, there are two more idioms with 'go over' that I want to tell you about and these are very interesting as they are actually the same idiom, just with two separate meanings. The idiomatic expression in question is 'to go over someone's head'. The first meaning of 'to go over someone's head' is frequently used in the business world and means 'to ask permission or to obtain authority from someone who is higher up in the organisational hierarchy than the person you would normally ask'. In other words, instead of asking for permission from your boss, you ask permission from your boss' boss. I needed emergency authorisation to take time off for a family emergency and I knew my boss wouldn't allow me to have the time off, so I went over her head and asked the MD instead. The second meaning of 'to go over someone's head' is used to describe when someone does not understand something because it is too complicated for them or they lack the requisite basic knowledge to comprehend it. Typical examples of when this can be used would be when someone tries to explain something technical to someone without any technical knowledge and when someone from another country does not know a cultural reference from the country that they are in and therefore does not grasp the intended meaning. I told John a joke about social media and he didn't laugh or find it funny. It went over his head because he doesn't use social media and didn't understand the reference. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to go over'.... John crossed the road to go and speak to Lisa who was on the other side. In a shock move, the leader of extreme right quit his party and joined the extreme left party. Could you please read through the finance report and check it is all ok before I submit it to the board of directors. Before a performance, I always practise my lines a few times to make sure I know them off by heart. The President's speech was very well received by the audience. The meeting was supposed to finish at 5pm but continued until shortly after 6pm. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'KEEP ON' (other variations may be possible) My dog KEEPS ON barking every someone comes to the front door. Helen KEEPS ON about the movie she saw last night! I am so cold, so I am going to KEEP my coat ON. The company decided to KEEP Roger ON for another 6 months. John's parents used to KEEP ON at him about giving up smoking when he was younger. Despite a few setbacks, Lisa is KEEPING ON track with her current work project. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'go over' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'keep on', with examples and exercises. 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. The phrasal verb 'keep on' is a great phrasal verb to know and use in order to make your English sound more native as it is used a lot in informal, spoken English. Unlike some other phrasal verbs, there is one general theme that runs through all of the meanings of 'keep on', which is the idea of continuation. We explore all of these meanings in this post, including uses that are particular to British English, as well as a number of different idioms that it features in. So, without further ado, let's get started.... KEEP ON: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we look at the individual meanings of the phrasal verb 'keep on', let's take a minute to examine the meanings of the individual words 'keep' and 'on'. The main verb that we are interested in for this post is the verb 'to keep', which has two key meanings in English; the first is the idea of possession and the second is the idea of continuation. As previously mentioned, the idea of continuation is the theme behind all of the meanings of 'keep on' and this is that one that we will revisit again in this post. In addition to 'keep', we have the prepositional particle 'on', which has a huge number of applications in English, however the application that we are interested in for this post is when it is used an adverb to indicate the continuation of something. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the meanings of the phrasal verb 'keep on'.... MEANING 1: To continue to do something After reading the first part of this post, it should come as no surprise to you that the first meaning of 'keep on' is 'to continue to do something', or 'to repeatedly do something again and again'. For this usage, we are simply combining the 'continuation' meaning of the verb 'to keep' with the 'continuation' meaning of 'on', giving us a double continuation. This usage of 'keep on' can often therefore be used as a synonym for 'keep', however whilst 'keep' can be used to talk about a continuation or a repetition of both active and stative verbs*, 'keep on' tends to be used more for active verbs only e.g. eating, talking, asking etc. Normally, 'keep on' is used to by native speakers to talk about an action that they or someone else continues to do, without any positive or negative connotations. Sometimes though, it can be used to describe a repeated action that we find annoying or irritating. Alternatively, it can also be used to encourage people to continue what they are doing. Grammatically, 'keep on' is always followed by the 'ing / gerund form of another verb, unlike 'to continue' which can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund. Examples of usage.... My business is doing really well, so I am just going to keep on running it in the same way for the moment. He keeps on asking me to go out on a date with him and he won't take 'no' for an answer. My neighbours keep on playing their music really loudly late at night and it keeps on waking me up! The bullies will keep on bullying you until you fight back. Don't give up, keep on working at it and success will be yours! *Stative verbs are verbs which state a condition or a state and not an activity. Typical examples would be to believe, to belong, to love etc. MEANING 2: To talk about something persistently For our second meaning of 'keep on', we are staying with the theme of 'continuation and repetition' as this meaning is 'to talk persistently or excessively about something'. This application of 'keep on' is, again, used to express annoyance, irritation or boredom about the way that somebody talks a lot, or persistently, about a particular subject. Normally, for this application we require the additional preposition 'about' to specify the subject in question that the person always talks about. If you have read my post about the phrasal verb 'go on' (link here), you may remember that one of its meanings was very similar to this and it can therefore often be used as a synonym of 'keep on'. The only difference is perhaps that we can use 'go on' for someone who talks a lot in general and also about a specific topic, whereas 'keep on' tends to only be used when there is a specific subject. If you really want to get native speaker points, you could also combine the two and say that 'someone keeps going on about...'. Examples of usage.... My parents went to see a show last week and now they constantly keep on about it, saying it was the best show that they have ever seen. The interviewer was trying to get the actor to talk about his new film but instead he just kept on about the latest political developments. In the run-up to the election, the winning party kept on about how it was going to make lots of changes to improve the economy but we have not seen any yet. MEANING 3: To continue to wear something Our third meaning of 'keep on' is 'to continue to wear something', such as clothes, a hat, glasses or even a wig (more to follow on this in the upcoming Bonus section). For this usage, we are taking the adverbial meaning of 'on' where it is used to mean 'to wear something' and combining with the continuation meaning of 'keep'. This particular application is used in situations where you have the choice to remove an item of clothing or something that you are wearing and you decide not to remove it. In other words, you 'keep it on'. This application of 'keep on' is separable and is normally used separably with the item of clothing going between 'keep' and 'on'. Examples of usage.... It was so cold in the house that I kept my coat and gloves on when I went inside. John kept his glasses on to go swimming and regretted it when they fell off and sank to the bottom of the pool. Are we allowed to keep our shoes on or do we need to take them off before we enter? IDIOM ALERT! This particular application of 'keep on' has given rise to a common idiom in English, which has several variations. 'Keep your wig on' and its alternative forms 'keep your hair on' and 'keep your shirt on' is an expression in English that is used to tell someone to calm down and not be so angry about something. I would certainly exercise caution when using this as if it used in the wrong situation, it could make the person even angrier and the situation even worse. Examples of usage.... Oh keep your wig on, Karen, it's really not that important! Will you please tell John to keep his shirt on and to stop overreacting! MEANING 4: To continue to employ someone The fourth meaning of 'keep on' is one that is used often in business English and that is 'to continue to employ someone'. This is normally heard when an employee reaches the end of a probationary or trial period after starting within a company and the company then makes a decision as to whether or not they wish to keep the employee on their books or not. Grammatically, this application of 'keep on' is separable and takes a direct object, with the employer being the subject and the employee being the direct object. It tends to be used much more in a separable way by native speakers, with the name of the person or the personal pronoun going between 'keep' and 'on'. Another way that this application of 'keep on' is used is with rental contracts and agreements for houses and apartments. Here, a person can choose to 'keep on' a contract and continue to rent the house or property in which they live. In contrast to the employee example, the person renting is usually the subject and the contract or house is the direct object. Examples of usage.... I thought that my company was going to dismiss me after my trial period had ended, but to my sheer amazement they kept me on! A management decision was taken yesterday that due to the increasing costs that the company is facing, we will not be keeping any of the new employees on when their temporary contracts expire. We have decided to keep the apartment on for another 3 months. MEANING 5: To nag someone The fifth and final meaning of 'keep on' requires the additional preposition 'at' and means to nag or pester someone. In other words, to continuously and persistently moan at someone about something or ask them to do something that they do not want to do. Again, this is a synonym of the phrasal verb 'go on at'. This usage is primarily a British usage but would certainly be understood elsewhere. As mentioned above, the additional preposition 'at' is required here for the person who is the victim of this negative activity. In addition, the extra prepositions 'about' and 'to' can be used here to specify the reason for the nagging or the nagger's desired result. Examples of usage.... My mother keeps going on at me about how untidy my room is but I don't think it is! Roger's wife is always going on at him to finish painting the bedroom. The teacher is always going on at her students about how they are dressed. IDIOM ALERT! We have already looked at one common idiom featuring the phrasal verb 'keep on', however there are a few others that I want to tell you about before I finish this post. To keep on the straight and narrow = This idiomatic expression means to behave in an honest and lawful way, without getting into trouble. Some people stay on the straight and narrow their whole lives, however there are others who need to be kept on the straight and narrow and I am sure you all know at least one person like this. To keep on top of something = If you keep on top of something, you remain knowledgeable or in control of something. This particular idiom is often used in the workplace to talk about being on schedule with your workload and emails. To keep someone on their toes = This idiom is used to mean that something or someone always causes you to be alert and ready for action. This could be to talk about different things, from a strict manager in the workplace to a naughty dog who you constantly need to watch. To keep on track = This final expression means to remain on schedule with something that you are doing and is again something that you will often hear in the workplace in the English speaking world. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to keep on'.... My dog continues to bark every someone comes to the front door. Helen won't stop talking about the movie she saw last night! I am so cold, so I am not going to take my coat off. The company decided to renew Roger's contract for another 6 months. John's parents used to nag him about giving up smoking when he was younger. Despite a few setbacks, Lisa is on schedule with her current work project. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'GET DOWN' (other variations may be possible) For this next yoga position, you need to GET DOWN onto the floor and lie on your front with your hands stretched out in front of you. I GET DOWN from time to time during the winter. Despite her sore throat, Helen managed to GET the soup DOWN that Roger had made for her. Ok we let's GET DOWN to business. I managed to GET DOWN all of the journalists' comments during the press conference. Lisa and Jenny are GETTING DOWN on the dance floor. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'keep on' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'get down', with examples and exercises. 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. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'get down', which is great phrasal verb to have in your active vocabulary and has various different meanings that sometimes contradict one another, such as feeling depressed and dancing wildly and enjoying yourself. Read on to find out the different ways that the phrasal verb 'get down' is used in English.... GET DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Let's start this post in the normal way and consider the constituent words 'get' and 'down', as this is a great way to gain some insight into some of the phrasal verb meanings that we will look at shortly. Firstly, we have the favourite verb of native English speakers, 'to get', which has an extensive number of meanings and applications in English. There is not enough time or space in this post to cover all of them, however the most relevant meanings for the phrasal verb 'get down' are the meanings 'to arrive at a place' and 'to become'. The prepositional particle 'down' is one used regularly in phrasal verb constructions and is used to denote a low or lower position, usually relative to the speaker, or movement towards a low position when used as an adverb. In addition to this meaning, 'down' can also be used in a plethora of different ways, such as to describe something negative like depression or sadness and something that is recorded in written form. Now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'get down'.... MEANING 1: To move from a higher place to a lower place The first meaning of the phrasal verb 'get down' that we will look at is one that I think is closest to a literal meaning and that is 'to move from a higher position to the floor or a lower position'. This meaning is all about movement from a high place to a lower place, with the focus being on 'arriving' in the lower position. This can be used with many different nouns and typically you would hear this with words like horse, mountain, tree and roof - in other words, anything that a person or thing can go up and sit or stand on. Sometimes we also add the additional adverb 'back' between 'get' and 'down' to emphasise that the descent to the ground is a return journey. Examples of usage.... Whilst we were climbing the mountain, it started to get very foggy and we were not sure how we were going to get down. When you get down to the ground floor, please can you ask the concierge to call me. My cat climbed the tree in my garden and was so scared by how high he was that he could not get back down again. So far with this meaning, we have talked about 'get down' to mean 'to move to a lower place' without a direct object (intransitively), however we can also use it with a direct object. This is for when we want to move something from a high place to a lower place, similar to the phrasal verb 'take down' that I have recently also written about. Often, we use 'get down' instead of 'take down' when there is a level of difficulty or challenge to the action of getting something down e.g. if something is stuck in a place. Typically, this transitive use of 'get (something) down' is for when we need to move something that is stored in a high place, such as a shelf or an attic down to ground level. Examples of usage.... In the end, we had to call the fire brigade to come and get the cat down from the tree. I'm just going to go into the attic to get my suitcase down. John's kite flew away and ended up stuck in a tree and he could not get it back down again. MEANING 2: To lower oneself to the floor For the second meaning of 'get down', we are going to stay with the same idea of moving to a lower position from a high one, however this time we are talking about when you lower your body so that you are closer to the ground. This would typically be when you lower yourself from a standing position to be on your knees, to be on your hands and knees or to be in a lying down position. You may be familiar with the expression 'to get down on all fours', which means to lower your body onto your two hands and two knees. Moreover, 'get down!' can also be used in an imperative form. This could be when commanding someone to remove themselves from a high place (as per the previous section) or it can also mean to move your body closer to the floor, possibly to hide yourself or to avoid something dangerous. Examples of usage.... There was an emergency and everybody had to get down on the floor and lie flat. For this next yoga position, you will need to get down on your hands and knees. Get down! People will be able to see you if you are standing up and it will ruin the surprise! MEANING 3: To depress someone If you are familiar with the song Rainy Days & Mondays by The Carpenters, and the lyric "rainy days and Mondays always get me down", then you will already have a good idea of what this third application of 'get down' means. If not, then the meaning is to make someone feel sad, unhappy, depressed or demoralised. This usage is a direct combination of the meaning of the verb 'to get' as in 'to become' and the adjectival meaning of the word 'down' to mean 'sad'. It is mainly used by people to describe when they experience temporary periods in their life when they feel sad or low. Grammatically, we use 'get down' without a direct object when we feel sad or unhappy about something, without explicitly stating a cause. Furthermore, it is also possible for something to get you down, for example rainy days and Mondays, and in this case the sad or depressed person becomes the direct object of the sentence. Examples of usage.... I always get down in winter. I think it is something to do with the lack of sunlight. Like everyone, Helen gets down from time to time, but in general she is a happy person. If I spend too much time thinking about my relatives who have died, it gets me down. MEANING 4: To write something The fourth meaning of 'get down' is to write something down, so that it is recorded and can be referred back to at a future time. This is, in fact, a synonym of the phrasal verb 'take down' that I have also recently written about (click here to read it). With 'get down' in this sense, the meaning of 'down' that is relevant is the meaning 'to record something in written form', with the verb 'to get' adding the idea of completing the action of transferring the information to a written record. Grammatically, this meaning of 'get down' takes a direct object and can therefore be separated without changing the meaning and we tend to use the separable version more. Moreover, this application of 'get down' is often followed by the words 'on paper'. Examples of usage.... Did you get all of the key information in the speech down? I managed to get the person's telephone number down before the line cut out. The author spent half an hour getting the details of her dream down on paper as she wanted to include them in her next book. MEANING 5: To swallow food, drink or medication The fifth meaning of 'get down' is 'to swallow food, drink or medication, often when the swallowing action is performed with some difficulty. For this usage, the 'down' meaning is quite clear as it is the direction that something swallowed goes in and the function of 'to get' is to add the idea of completing the action, especially when there is some difficulty involved. This difficulty may come from the person swallowing who may have a sore throat or a medical issue, or it may come from the thing that the person is swallowing, i.e. something tough, chewy or bad tasting. An informal expression that people sometimes use, especially in British English, 'get it / this down your neck!', which is used as an encouragement or invitation to someone to eat or drink something, Examples of usage.... The tablets that I have to take are enormous and I have great difficulty getting them down. We quickly got our lunch down and then went back to work. You look really cold. Here, get this cup of tea down your neck. It will warm you up in no time. BONUS INFORMATION Whilst we are on the subject of food and drink, you should also know that we use 'get down' to talk about when we spill food and drink on our clothes or our bodies when eating and drinking. If you get something down yourself, it means that you have dropped some food or drink on your clothes and it will probably leave a stain. Example of usage.... You're such a messy eater! You've got half of your dinner down yourself. MEANING 6: To focus on something and start doing it For this sixth meaning of 'get down' we require the additional preposition 'to'. When you 'get down to something', it means that you start to focus on something and start doing it. This is normally used for activities which involve a lot of attention or concentration and so it is something that you will often tend to hear in the business world. Examples of usage.... Come on everyone, we've wasted enough time. Let's get down to work. We finally got down to talking about the recent problems that have affected our co-operation and we seem to have resolved them. Whilst we are on this meaning of 'get down', there is a very common expression that I want to make you aware that fits in nicely here.... Get down to business - I am sure many of you will already be familiar with this expression as it used a lot, both in business English and in general English.'To get down to business' means to stop making small talk and to start talking about the subject that needs to be discussed. As you can imagine, this is commonly used at the start of meetings and is regularly prefixed with the word 'let's'. Example of usage.... Ok, now that everyone is here, let's get down to business! MEANING 7: To dance Our seventh usage of 'get down' is an informal one to mean 'to dance', often in an energetic or uninhibited way'. It can also be used to mean to have fun, relax and enjoy yourself, however it is used far less in this way. This is primarily an American usage, however it is known and used in British English too, particularly since it has been featured in many pop and dance songs over the last forty years. The origins of this particular usage date back to the 1970s and is another example of a word that has entered the English language from African American slang. Examples of usage.... I saw you and your friends getting down on the dance floor last night. It looked like you were having a lot of fun. Come on everybody, let me see you all get down to this next song! IDIOM ALERT!! The idiom 'to get down to brass tacks' is an expression which means 'to start talking about the basic and most important facts about something', i.e. the things that people really want to discuss in a situation. This idiom first arose in American English in the late 1800s and has since spread across the Atlantic. Despite the strangeness of the idiom, nobody knows exactly what its origins are. Example of usage.... The diplomats didn't spend long making small talk in the meeting and quickly got down to brass tacks. A COUPLE OF FINAL MEANINGS... Ok, so before I finish this post, there is one more meaning of 'get down' that I want to tell you about. ' To get something down' is an idiomatic expression that is becoming more and more common in modern English vernacular and means 'to master something and be able to do it very well or perfectly'. If you've got something down, it means that you are skilled at doing something. Examples of usage.... I was terrible at this computer game when I first started playing it but now I've got it down! Wow, you're amazing at that, you've got it down! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to get down'.... For this next yoga position, you need to lower yourself onto the floor and lie on your front with your hands stretched out in front of you. I feel depressed from time to time during the winter. Despite her sore throat, Helen managed to eat the soup that Roger had made for her. Ok we let's start to focus on the subject in question and start work. I managed to write down all of the journalists' comments during the press conference. Lisa and Jenny are dancing madly on the dance floor. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'RIP OFF' (other variations may be possible) It was December 1, so I RIPPED the November page OFF my calendar. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and RIP OFF the band aid. The two boys ran into the clothes shop and RIPPED OFF $100 worth of shirts. John realised that he had been RIPPED OFF when buying his new television when he learned that Roger had bought the same model at half the price. The singer has obviously RIPPED OFF the other singer's song but refused to admit it when they were asked about it. I am not paying that much! That is a RIPOFF! That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'get down' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Rip Off', with examples and exercises. 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. 'Rip off' is an informal and relatively modern phrasal verb, whose roots ultimately go back to American prisons at the beginning of the twentieth century. Aside from its literal meaning, it has several idiomatic meanings that all derive from one central idea, which we will examine in this post. So, without further ado, let's get started.... RIP OFF: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we look at the individual phrasal verb meanings of 'rip off', let's first take a quick look at the meanings of the individual words 'rip' and 'off'. 'To rip' is a verb with several meanings, but the main meaning that most of you are likely to be familiar with already is 'to pull something apart by using force, often in a quick and careless manner' and is similar in meaning to the verb 'to tear'. It is used primarily when referring to thin materials that can be split or pulled apart, such as paper, clothes and plastic bags and is usually a form of damage. Furthermore, 'to rip' also started being used in American prisons at the beginning of the twentieth century to mean 'to steal' and this usage is one that features heavily in the phrasal verb meanings of 'rip off'. We then have the prepositional particle 'off', which functions as the opposite of the preposition 'on' and has many different applications in English. When used as an adverb, 'off' can refer to something that is no longer contacting or touching a surface, or is no longer attached to something. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'rip off'.... MEANING 1: To remove by violently tearing The first meaning of 'rip off' is the literal meaning of the combination of the words 'rip' and 'off' that we have just looked at and is therefore 'to remove something in a violent manner, so that it is no longer attached'. As with the main meaning of the verb 'to rip', the action of 'ripping off' is usually done in a quick and violent manner. However, in contrast to the meaning of the verb 'to rip', the action of 'ripping off' is often done in an intentional way, with the sole desire of removing or detaching something and it does not always mean that the item is damaged as a result. That being said, it can also be used to describe when something has been damaged and the result is that a part of an item has been ripped off. Another way that 'rip off' is used in this way is in relation to a person's clothes. We can use 'rip off' with clothes when an item of clothing is pulled so much that it rips and is no longer able to be worn (think of the Incredible Hulk or Hulk Hogan). Alternatively, we can also use 'rip off' to describe when a person removes their clothes (or someone else's) in a quick and hasty way, normally without damaging the clothes. Examples of usage.... John ripped off a bit of paper towel to use to soak up the coffee that he had spilled. My new sweater doesn't fit me and I can't return it to the shop as I have ripped off the label! Roger and Helen ripped off each others' clothes in a moment of passion. IDIOM ALERT! As you can probably imagine, this first meaning of 'rip off' can be used with band aids (plasters in UK) for when we need to remove one from our skin as quickly as possible so as not to prolong the pain and unpleasant feeling that removing a band aid can cause. However, 'ripping off the band aid' has also developed to become an idiomatic expression to describe when we carry out a horrible but necessary action in a quick way, so that the pain and fear surrounding it is as short as possible. In other words, we do something necessary, yet unpleasant, as quickly as possible so it is out of the way. Example of usage.... It will be horrible confessing to your wife that you have lost your wedding ring but you just need to rip off the bandaid and get it over with! MEANING 2: To steal something The second meaning of 'rip off' is to steal something. This is perhaps the rarest of the meanings of this phrasal verb that we will cover, however it provides the basis for the others that will follow and so logically it works better here. As you may recall from earlier in the post, the verb 'to rip' has been used in American prison slang to mean 'to steal' since the early twentieth century. The phrasal verb form 'rip off' then developed and evolved from this during the 1960s in African American vernacular to mean to steal from, or also to swindle or cheat, someone. For this usage, we use 'rip off' with a direct object, which is the item that is stolen, and this can go either between 'rip' and 'off' or after them without changing the meaning. Examples of usage.... John has just ripped off a couple of cans of lager from the local store. The seasoned criminals casually went into the boutique and ripped a pair of designer shoes off without the staff noticing. MEANING 3: To overcharge someone The third meaning of the phrasal verb 'rip off' is an informal usage that means 'to charge someone too much money for a product or service'. The idea behind this meaning links back to the previous one of theft that we have just looked at, however it develops this idea further to encapsulate the concepts of 'cheating' or 'swindling' someone by fraudulent methods. In modern English, when we say that someone has been 'ripped off', we mean that the person has paid too much money for a product or service and therefore they have been cheated or exploited by the vendor. Another way that this can be used is not when a person has been charged too much money for a product, but rather when the product that has been sold is broken or damaged in some way, thus continuing this central idea of cheating the buyer. Grammatically, when we use 'rip off' in this way, the victim of the cheating activity is the direct object and can go between or after 'rip' and 'off' as a proper noun or between them only as a pronoun. Examples of usage.... How much did you pay?! You've been well and truly ripped off! If you pay more than $5 for a loaf of bread, then you are being ripped off. The taxi driver rips tourists off all the time as they do not know their way around the city. I bought a new car last week but I think I have been ripped off as it has a lot of problems and faults that the seller did not tell me about. MEANING 4: To copy someone's work Our fourth and final usage of 'rip off' is to 'copy someone's work', generally with the intention of presenting it as your own work. This can be in the form of written words, ideas, concepts or designs, however regardless of the form that it takes, the general concept is that one person's work has been imitated or copied, normally without their permission. Again, this takes us back to the root concept of 'theft', as this is essentially one person or company stealing the ideas and work from somebody else. Examples of usage.... As soon as I heard this new song, I could tell that the artist had ripped off an older song and didn't think that anyone would notice! Hey! Stop ripping off my work and think for yourself for a change! BONUS INFORMATION Before finishing this post, I want to make you aware of the uses that the noun 'rip-off' or 'ripoff' has in modern everyday English. Perhaps the most commonly used meaning of the noun 'ripoff' is used when referring to the price of something that is unreasonably highly priced, especially in comparison to the actual perceived worth or value of the item. $4 dollar a gallon of gas for your car is an absolute ripoff! You can buy it for $3 a gallon at the gas station down the road. A second usage of 'ripoff' as a noun is used for goods, products or work that are either stolen or are copies of other, more superior, work. While some people appreciate this painting, others are convinced that it is a ripoff of a painting by Cezanne. Lastly, we can also use 'rip off' in adjectival form and the adjective 'ripped-off' can be used to describe goods or products that are stolen or, less commonly, counterfeit or copies of something else. My brother's friends is selling some ripped off smartphones at a really good price. Let me know if you are interested! EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to rip off'.... It was December 1, so I tore the November page from my calendar. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get the horrible thing over and done with. The two boys ran into the clothes shop and stole $100 worth of shirts. John realised that he had paid too much for his new television when he learned that Roger had bought the same model at half the price. The singer has obviously copied the melody of the other singer's song but refused to admit it when they were asked about it. I am not paying that much! That is far too much! EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'BREAK UP' (other variations may be possible) BREAK the chocolate bar UP into individual squares and add it to the mixture. John and Helen BROKE UP last week and they are no longer together. The meeting BROKE UP at 4pm sharp and everyone went back to their desks. I can't hear you properly, the line is BREAKING UP. Lisa's children BREAK UP tomorrow for the summer holidays. We all BROKE UP laughing when we saw what Roger had done. The answers will be available on next week's post. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'rip off' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'break up', with examples and exercises. 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. 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.... BREAK UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS 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 separate into smaller pieces 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. Examples of usage.... 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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'. Examples of usage.... 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) 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'. Examples of usage..... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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! BONUS INFORMATION 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. Examples of usage.... 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. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to break up'.... Separate the chocolate bar into individual squares and add it to the mixture. John and Helen separated last week and they are no longer together. The meeting finished at 4pm sharp and everyone went back to their desks. I can't hear you properly, there is interference on the line. Lisa's children finish school tomorrow for the summer holidays. We all burst into fits of laughter when we saw what Roger had done. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'TAKE DOWN' (other variations may be possible) Can you reach up to the top shelf and TAKE DOWN a loaf of bread for me? The billboard advertisement was TAKEN DOWN after a complaint from a member of the public. TAKE DOWN the patriarchy now! Despite having poor eyesight, John managed to TAKE DOWN the car's registration plate. Roger was a sore loser and told Helen in a threatening way that he would TAKE her DOWN the next time that they played golf. He is so conceited and arrogant, someone is going to TAKE HIM DOWN A PEG OR TWO one day. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'break up' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Take Down', with examples and exercises. 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.... TAKE DOWN: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS 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 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'. Examples of usage 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 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. Examples of usage 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 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. Examples of usage 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 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'. Examples of usage 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. IDIOM ALERT! 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'. Examples of usage 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. BONUS: TAKE DOWN AS A NOUN 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. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to take down'.... Can you reach up to the top shelf and get the loaf of bread down for me? The billboard advertisement was removed after a complaint from a member of the public. Dismantle the patriarchy now! Despite having poor eyesight, John managed to make a note of the car's registration plate. Roger was a sore loser and told Helen in a threatening way that he would beat her the next time that they played golf. He is so conceited and arrogant, someone is going to put him in his place and show him that he's not as important as he thinks one day. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'GIVE OUT' (other variations may be possible) The local restaurant was GIVING OUT passers-by free samples of their food earlier. These new speakers that I have bought GIVE OUT a high quality sound. John was lifting a heavy box when his back GAVE OUT, meaning that he had to take a month off work. The farmer estimates that he has about a week until his grain stock GIVES OUT. The local aid agency is GIVING OUT information about how to help with the rescue efforts. Lisa's teacher was always GIVING OUT to her for being late to class. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'take down' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Give Out', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my blog 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. 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.... GIVE OUT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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! BONUS INFORMATION 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. Example of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 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. Examples of usage.... 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 someone 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. Examples of usage.... 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. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to give out'.... The local restaurant was offering passers-by free samples of their food earlier. These new speakers that I have bought emit a high quality sound. John was lifting a heavy box and he strained his back, meaning that he had to take a month off work. The farmer estimates that he has about a week until his grain stock is used up. The local aid agency is providing information about how to help with the rescue efforts. Lisa's teacher was always scolding her for being late to class. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'PUT UP' (other variations may be possible) Have you ever PUT UP a tent? The company has PUT adverts UP around the city as part of their new marketing campaign. Roger will not PUT UP WITH his children being cheeky for long. The house is going to be PUT ON the market in the next week. I am PUTTING my friend UP until his apartment is ready to live in. We PUT our prices UP on 1st April this year. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'give out' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Put Up', with examples and exercises. 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. 'Put up' is a common phrasal verb in English that is used in many different areas of life, ranging from things as diverse as construction to resistance. It has a broad variety of different uses, many of which are used for quite specific situations and I will do my best to cover all of these in this post. So, without further ado, let's get started.... PUT UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS Before we look at the different phrasal verb meanings of 'put up', let's break down its component words to see if they can offer us any clues to the phrasal verb meanings that we will look at shortly. Firstly we have 'to put', which is certainly one of the favourite verbs of English native speakers as it is in frequent use in everyday English. The general idea behind it it is to move or place something into a position, but it does also have other meanings, such as causing emotions or states to change and expressing something with words. The prepositional particle 'up' is one that features in many phrasal verb constructions and is generally used to refer to movement to a higher place or position. Furthermore, it can also be used for increases in numbers, rates and percentages etc. Now we have covered the basics, let's dive into the different phrasal verb meanings.... MEANING 1: Literal Before we look at the idiomatic meanings of 'put up', I want to begin with the literal meaning, which you may well be aware of. When we combine 'put' and 'up' in the literal sense, we are talking about placing something in a position that we perceive to be in a higher position than us e.g. a high shelf or a storage space near the ceiling. Moreover, this is used when there is a movement upwards and into a space, such as the little boy in the picture who has put his finger up his nose. Examples of usage.... I've had to put the ball of string up on the top shelf to stop the cats playing with it. John discretely tried to put his finger up his nose but to no avail as all of his colleagues saw him. MEANING 2: To construct something If you are familiar with a certain well-known Joni Mitchell song, you will know the lyrics "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" and the usage of 'put up' here is our second meaning, which is 'to construct something, so that it is in an erect or an upright position'. This is commonly used with nouns such as buildings and walls, for which there is a building process and at the end of it there is an upright standing structure. This application is for both permanent and temporary structures and thus can also be used with other nouns such as tents, barriers and police cordons. Additionally, we can use it for imaginary walls and barriers, such as emotional walls that people 'put up' to stop themselves being emotionally hurt. Grammatically, this form of 'put up' takes a direct object and can therefore be separated, although we tend to place the object at the end a bit more, however placing the object between 'put' and 'up' is fine to do and not wrong. Examples of usage.... They demolished the old church and put up an apartment block in its place. We managed to put the tent up in less than 20 minutes! Police have put up a cordon around the crime scene whilst the investigation takes place. Lisa put up an emotional wall after her divorce to avoid getting hurt like that again. MEANING 3: To place something on display The third meaning of 'put up' is to place something somewhere so that is it on display for people to see. This is normally used with things that are hung on walls such as pictures, posters, notices or mirrors. However, it can also be used for signs, cameras and anything that can be placed in a suspended position above the ground. The idea behind this meaning is to put something in a position where it is visible to people. Logically this would need to be somewhere high for optimised visibility, which is why the particle 'up' is required. Notably, this application is also used for decorations, in particular party decorations and Christmas decorations and lights, as these are normally suspended. Strangely, we do also use this for a Christmas tree, even though it is placed on the ground and not suspended from anything. On a grammatical note, this usage of 'put up' is separable and takes a direct object, which is the item that is suspended. One extra thing to note here is that the opposite of 'to put' in phrasal verb constructions is often the verb 'to take' and therefore the phrasal verb to express the opposite action of this meaning of 'put up' is 'take down' and not 'put down'. Examples of usage.... The local council have put up a network of CCTV cameras around the city to improve public safety. Our cat went missing a week ago. We've put posters up all over the neighbourhood and are hoping that someone finds him soon. We put up our Christmas decorations on 12th December every year and take them down again on 6th January. MEANING 4: To tolerate This fourth meaning of 'put up' is a really common one that you may already be familiar with and means 'to tolerate'. For this usage we require the additional preposition 'with'. If you 'put up with something', you accept and live with a situation that you do not like, you do not agree with or is not ideal. It is in regular use in English, especially in spoken English, and is more commonly used and informal than its synonym 'to tolerate'. On a grammatical note, you cannot separate this usage of 'put up' and the indirect object always has to come after the word 'with'. If the direct object is a verb action, it needs to be in the gerund ('ing) form. Examples of usage.... I don't think I can put up with this for much longer! Lisa only puts up with Roger's snoring because she loves him. Nobody should have to put up with being bullied at work. MEANING 5: To provide money (as financial support) Our fifth meaning of 'put up' is to provide money in order to support someone or something financially. If you propose to 'put up money' for something, you are essentially offering to provide the finance for something, such as a project, a business startup or an event in order to make it possible. As you can imagine, this application is used a lot in the world of finance and investment as companies and trust funds are often looking for investors to put up funds in order for them to grow and expand. Aside from the finance sector however, this usage of 'put up' can also be used to describe any time a business or a person is provided with the money to undertake a project of venture. It is not really used for personal lending or borrowing for non-business purposes though, as the words 'lend' or 'loan' would normally be used more naturally here. Examples of usage.... The company is doing so well that it is now looking for investors who are willing to put up the capital to enable it to expand into overseas markets. We have asked the bank to put up the money and we are waiting for their decision. Helen's rich grandfather put up the money for her to buy a new premises for her shop. MEANING 6: To make something available for sale Meaning number six of 'put up' is 'to place something onto the market in order to be sold'. Here, the additional words 'for sale' are normally used. You may already be familiar with the expression 'to put something on the market' and this form with 'put up' is a synonym of this. The most common example of this that you are likely to hear is with houses as when someone decides to sell their house, they put it up for sale. It can equally be used to talk about placing anything on the market to be sold though. Another variation of 'put up for sale' is 'to put something up for auction', i.e. when you decide to sell something via a public sale to the highest bidder. A further possibility here is 'to put something up for rent', when you decide to rent it out, normally on a long term basis, rather than sell something. Examples of usage.... After a long period of deliberation, we have decided to put our house up for sale. The apartment was put up for rent by the new owners not long after they had completed the purchase. I've sorted out all of my old clothes and put the best ones up for sale. MEANING 7: To propose someone for election The seventh meaning of 'put up' is one that you often hear around the time of a political election as it means 'to propose a candidate for election'. This is used when a political party has decided the person who will represent them in the election and they would say that they "are putting up this candidate for election", therefore formally naming the person that they have chosen. Another similar usage to this, albeit in a very different area of life, is used when parents decide that, for whatever reason, they cannot look after their child and so opt to put it up for adoption. I guess we use 'put up' in this sense as by doing so, the child is being made available to the public so that the most suitable people can adopt and take care of it. Examples of usage.... The Green Party have announced the candidate that they are putting up for election in this constituency. My parents put me up for adoption when I was a baby, so I have no memory of them. MEANING 8: To accommodate someone temporarily The eighth meaning of 'put up' is to accommodate another person in your house on a temporary basis. This is normally used when a friend or a member of your family finds themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to live or stay and so they stay at your house temporarily. In other words, if you put someone up, you provide them with a place to sleep for a short period of time. Grammatically, this application of 'put up' is only used in a separable way with the person who is temporarily staying at the other person's house always going between 'put' and 'up'. Moreover, this usage of 'put up' is used equally commonly in both an active and a passive way, depending on if the person speaking is the person staying at the other's house (passive) or is the person who is letting their friend sleep at theirs (active). Examples of usage.... I am having a new kitchen fitted at my house, so my brother is putting me up for a couple of nights whilst the work is carried out. My brother is having a new kitchen fitted, so we are temporarily putting him up until it is completed. Can you put me up for a few days until I make up with my wife? MEANING 9: To resist something For the ninth meaning of 'put up', we are thinking about the idea of resistance as here we often combine 'put up' with nouns such 'fight' or 'resistance' to give the idea that something is opposed, fought or resisted in some way. With this usage, we do not tend to separate the words 'put' and 'up' and place the appropriate noun after the phrasal verb. Examples of usage.... There is no way that the local residents are going to accept this without putting up a fight. The army put up little resistance when the neighbouring countries' troops invaded. MEANING 10: To increase a price Our final meaning of 'put up' is more of a British usage that unfortunately has been used a lot over the last few years and that is 'to increase a price'. For this usage, we are talking specifically about when a decision is made by a company or a business to increase prices, rather than prices increasing in general. In fact, normally companies are forced to put up their prices due to a rise in general prices such as wholesale and overhead costs. This usage is separable and is fine to use in both a separable and inseparable way, without affecting the meaning. Examples of usage.... Due to an increase in our overheads, we have had to put up our prices to ensure that we still make a profit. We are putting up our prices on 1st January, so please check out our website in the coming weeks as the new prices will be published on there. Before we finish this post, I want to make you aware of some other expressions and specific uses that the phrasal verb 'put up' is featured in. Put up or shut up - This is an idiomatic expression that we use when we want to tell someone to either justify what they said, or else keep quiet. To put your hand up - This is something that is used very commonly in classrooms and, to a lesser extent, business meetings and other group activities and is simply when someone puts their hand in an elevated position above their head to signify that they know the answer to a question or want to speak. To put your hands up - The plural form is very different to the singular and is used to express when a person puts both hands in an elevated position in front of their face to show that they are surrendering. This is normally to the police when they are being arrested for a crime. Moreover, 'put your hands up' is also used in many modern pop songs in a different way as a call to start dancing or show appreciation. To put your feet up - This final expression means 'to sit down and relax' and is normally used after a period of hard work. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to put up'.... Have you ever constructed a tent? The company has placed adverts around the city as part of their new marketing campaign. Roger will not tolerate his children being cheeky for long. The house is going to be placed on the market in the next week. My friend is staying at my house until his apartment is ready to live in. We increased our prices on 1st April this year. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'WORK OUT' (other variations may be possible) I normally WORK OUT at the gym at least four times a week. Scientists have been trying to WORK OUT what dark matter is for many years. Can you WORK this sum OUT without using a calculator? The electoral committee are currently trying to WORK OUT a procedure for future elections. Despite their best efforts, things in their relationship didn't WORK OUT. Lisa tendered her resignation at her company and agreed to WORK OUT her notice period. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'put up' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James