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An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'grow up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them. This post is all about the well known phrasal verb 'to grow up', which many of you will be very familiar with, however are you familiar with the other less well known meanings? In this post, I will explain each of the different meanings for you and provide you with lots of example sentences to make it easier to learn them. So, without further ado, let's make a start.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'grow up' mean? The phrasal verb 'grow up' has three main meanings in English: To grow in an upwards direction To grow from a child to an adult To start to develop TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Grow Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'grow' and 'up' Grow Up - Meaning 1: To grow in an upwards direction Grow Up - Meaning 2: To grow from a child to an adult Grow Up - Bonus: 'Grow up!' used as an imperative Grow Up - Bonus: 'To grow up into' Grow Up - Bonus: 'To grow up' + a gerund Grow Up - Bonus: The noun 'grown-up' Grow Up - Meaning 3: To start to develop Grow Up - Bonus: More example sentences with 'grow up' Grow Up - Bonus: Potential IELTS questions Grow Up - Bonus: Other open questions for further practice I love writing this blog and helping learners but I get very little feedback so I don't always know if it is helpful for you. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like and share it or leave a comment at the end. I would be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GROW UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Grew up / Grown Up Separable? No To begin with, let's look at the individual components of the phrasal verb 'to grow up', as this will help us to understand its rarer figurative meanings. Firstly, we have the base verb of our phrasal verb construction, 'to grow', whose principal meaning is to increase in size or height. 'To grow' is an irregular verb and is mainly used to talk about people, animals and living things, however it can be applied in more abstract contexts, like business, numbers, popularity and feelings. Our new baby is growing so fast. I keep watering my plants but they don't ever seem to grow. My follower count on social media has grown this year. Our business is expected to grow over the next 12 months. I have a growing feeling of unease in my stomach. Next, we have the prepositional particle 'up', meaning in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. 'Up' features extremely frequently in English phrasal verbs and in addition to conveying the idea of a movement in an upwards direction to the verb, it can also add ideas like increase (add up), improvement (look up), preparation (set up), ending (break up) and creation (make up), among others. Do you know which of these will apply for the meanings of 'grow up'? Read on to learn more.... MEANING 1: To grow in an upwards direction Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To grow, to shoot up Separable? No Let's start the meanings off with a nice and simple one as this first one is simply the literal combination of the two words, i.e. to grow in an upwards direction. This is in fact just a variation of the verb 'to grow', with additional emphasis on the upwards direction. As the idea of 'up' is already implicit in the idea of the verb 'to grow', the use of 'grow up' to describe something growing in size is not normally necessary in English. As a result, this literal usage is very rare. If we do use it, it is mainly for describing the growth of plants, trees and flowers, to emphasise that they are growing in an up ↑ direction, rather than down ↓ or out ←→(across). We do not use 'grow up' to describe people getting taller. To do this we only use 'grow'. It is also possible to use the construction 'to grow up + noun' to talk about when a plant grows up against the surface of another object. Photo: Pexels Photo: Pixels Plants grow up and not down or out because they need sunlight. The ivy has been growing up the wall for many years. Another form that we can use and that you should be aware of is 'to grow upwards'. The prefix -wards in English is always used to identify a direction of movement, so 'to grow upwards' is a nice alternative way to say that something is growing in an up direction. This is also a very natural way of saying it. Furthermore, if growth is happening towards something e.g. the sky, we can use the construction 'to grow up towards + noun'.... The sunflower that we planted last year is growing up towards the roof of the house. Plants naturally grow upwards in search of sunlight. MEANING 2 - To grow from a child to an adult Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage ​Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To mature, to age Separable? No In English, this second usage of 'grow up' is by far the most common one in use and is therefore the one which you probably already know, which is 'to grow from a child to an adult'. This application is usually used to describe the PROCESS of growing from an adult to a child over time. This can be in a physical sense and also in a mental or spiritual sense. 'Grow up' is only used to describe people and is not generally used to talk about animals or businesses. In usage, it is often used by adults to refer to their past or the period of time when they were a child..... I grew up in Birmingham, close to a really big park, which we played in every summer. When I was growing up I hated school but now that I am an adult, I wish I could go back! He was born in Edinburgh but he grew up in Glasgow. I had blond hair when I was growing up. Also, children often use it to talk about what job they want to do when they become an adult.... When I grow up I want to be a doctor and have an enormous house with a swimming pool. What does your daughter want to do when she grows up? My daughter wants to be a police officer when she grows up. WHAT IF WE WANT TO USE IT AS AN IMPERATIVE? 'Grow up' is often used by native speakers in the imperative form ("Grow up!") to show annoyance when someone is acting in a silly way or like a child. If you want to add some extra impact to this, you could insert 'the hell' or 'the f**k' between 'grow' and 'up' to show that you are very annoyed. Oh grow up, John! It's really not funny! Whoever is playing these jokes on me needs to grow up! It's not funny! Seriously, Matt, it's about time that you grew the hell up and stopped acting like such a baby. Photo: Pixels BONUS #1: To grow up into If we want to talk about who or what a person will be at the end of the growing up process, it is necessary to add the extra preposition 'into'..... I see that you have grown up into a fine young man! There are many child actors who grow up into Hollywood film stars. BONUS #2 : To grow up + gerund One way to talk about something that we did often or regularly when we were children is to use the simple past form of the verb (grew up), followed by the verb or action in the continuous ('ing) form. This is often (but not always) with verbs related to the senses e.g. to watch, to listen to etc. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and Madonna and so I still love their songs today. My mother is Polish, my father is German and I live in the USA, so I grew up speaking three languages. BONUS #3: 'Grown-up' as a noun Before we finish this section, I just want to make you aware of the existence of the noun 'grown-up', which is used commonly in everyday English when dealing with children. A 'grown-up' is simply just a synonym for the noun 'adult' and simply refers to someone who has finished the growing up process and is no longer a child. It tends to be used a lot when talking to children and is often what a child will say instead of 'adult'. Moreover, it can also be used as an adjective. Grown-ups always talk about boring things. I was allowed to sit at the big dinner table with the grown-ups today. That was a very grown-up thing to say! Mary has a grown-up daughter who lives in London. MEANING 3 - To start to develop Photo: Pixels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To develop, to spring up Separable? No Our third and final application of 'grow up' is a much rarer and more advanced idiomatic one, meaning 'to begin to exist'. This meaning is not used to talk about people, but rather things that are founded, created or developed by people and these things include businesses, towns and cities as well as abstract items such as theories and academic schools of thought. As it is used to talk about the origin of things, it is often found in historical contexts. The idea grew up in the 17th century during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The river made trading possible and as a result many towns grew up alongside it. A vibrant community grew up around the shared love of art and creativity. New businesses are starting to grow up in the formerly abandoned neighborhood. Photo: Pixels MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES WITH 'GROW UP' If you can memorise some of the sentences below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker. You'll need to use your imagination to complete some of them. When I grow up I want to....... When I was growing up I...... He / she is growing up so fast! It's about time you grew up and got.... I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in a world where..... [Person] and I grew up together. [Gerund] is a natural part of growing up. It is very close to the city where I grew up. Photo: Pixels POTENTIAL IELTS QUESTIONS Should children grow up in the city or in the countryside? Where did you grow up? Describe it. Is it better to grow up with or without siblings? Photo: Pexels OTHER OPEN QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER PRACTICE What is your favourite memory of when you were growing up? Did you have a skill or talent when you were growing up that you no longer have? What was it? If you could have grown up in a different place, where would you have chosen to live? Has your taste in music changed since you were growing up? How has the village, town or city where you grew up changed since that time? Photo: Pixels We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'grow up' more confidently and naturally. Please feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'get across' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go by' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. How well do you know the English phrasal verb 'go by'? Did you know that there are at least three different ways to use it in English and that it can be used to talk about subjects as diverse as time, rules and names. In this post, I will unpack all three of its meanings and explain all of them for you. In addition, I will give you lots of example sentences for each one to show you how it is used by native speakers. So, let's make a start and find out exactly what the phrasal verb 'go by' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Go By - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'go' and 'by' Go By - Meaning 1: To pass Go By - Meaning 2: To use as a rule or guideline Go By - Meaning 3: To be known as something I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS GO BY: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Went by / Gone by Separable? No To begin our exploration of the phrasal verb 'go by', it is important to consider the two words 'go' and 'by' and what they mean on their own.... Go - The verb 'to go' is one of the most common verbs in the English language. Its main main meaning is to move from one place to another and besides this, it can be used to mean 'to become', 'to leave', 'to pass' and 'to lead to a place'. In addition, we use 'going to' to express futurity in English, particularly for things that are planned or expected to happen in the future. 'To go' is one of the most irregular verbs in English, with 'went' and 'gone' forming its past tenses. I am going to London later. We go on holiday to France every year. Kelly has gone to her brother's house. My dad went mad when he found out about the party. This year is going to be a great year for our country. By - This little prepositional particle can often be a source of confusion for English learners as it has several different meanings. It can be used to mean 'next to' or 'near' as well as 'at the latest' and can also be used to talk about how something is done. It is not a preposition that we commonly see in phrasal verbs but when it does appear in them, it can add the ideas of quick actions (drop by) and survival (get by), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go by'.... MEANING 1: To pass Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pass, to pass by, to go past Separable? No Our first application of the phrasal verb 'go by' is one that can be used to talk about both time and physical objects and means 'to pass'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Time Hours Days Years Cars / Traffic People Runners Let's first consider this application from the perspective of time. When we talk about time going by, we are essentially talking about our perception of how time passes. In other words, we refer to how quickly or slowly we perceive time to be passing at a given point in time or how quickly git passes over a period. For example, when we are interested or engaged in something, time seems to go by quickly and the opposite of this is true when we find something dull or boring. The lesson always goes by fast when the students are engaged. The weekend went by so quickly. The holiday went by in a flash. The meeting was so long and boring and the time went by very slowly. The afternoon went by at a snail’s pace. In addition, 'go by' can also be used with nouns for time periods in the plural form (days, months, years etc) to refer to how something changes and develops during the period in question, which can range from very short term to extremely long term. When using it this way, the standard pattern is "as the [time period] goes / went by,....." As the days went by, Suzanna started to feel more confident. As the weeks go by, you’ll notice an improvement in your English. As the days went by, the weather gradually got better. As the weeks went by, the project became more and more complicated. As the years go by, you begin to appreciate the small things more. As the decades went by, the town changed beyond recognition. IN DAYS GONE BY One useful little expression that I want to make you aware of here is 'in days gone by', which is actually another way to say 'in the past'. People tend to use this expression when they are referring to things that used to happen or be a certain way in the past but is no longer the case, often with emotional or nostalgic undertones. Let's now turn our attention to using this application of 'go by' with physical objects and people rather than time. In this case, we are referring to when someone or something physically moves past us. This could be when you are walking along the side of a road and cars on the road go by you, it could be when you are watching a marathon race and the runners go by you as you stand and cheer or it could be when you are sitting outside a café and people go by on the pavement. One thing to note here is that we often use this when there is little or no interaction between the person or thing going by and the person speaking. The 'going by' action is simply something that we observe. Joseph didn’t even look at me when he went by. The pretty lady smiled as she went by. I tried to stop him, but he just went by without saying a word. Children were laughing as they went by. Cars were going by all night and I struggled to sleep. A bus went by just as I reached the bus stop. We saw a police car go by at high speed. Trucks kept going by on the main road. WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY One little expression that we have with this application that I love is 'to watch the world go by'. If you watch the world go by, you sit somewhere quietly and watch people as they go about their daily lives or just look at what is happening around you in the environment. One of my favourite things to do on my days off is to sit outside a café and watch the world go by. MEANING 2: To use as a rule or guideline Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To follow, to comply with, to observe Separable? No The second of our three applications of the phrasal verb 'go by' that we will consider is one to use in times when we need some guidance or advice on how to do something and means 'to use as a rule or guideline'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Rule Guideline Instructions This is a great application if, like me, you enjoy structure and following rules and doing things the way that they are supposed to be done. When doing something, if you go by the rules, it simply means that you follow all of the rules or guidelines that you have been given. This can also be used to talk about following instructions or advice that someone gives you. You have to go by the rules or it will go wrong. We always go by the instructions on the label and we have never had a problem. Just go by the guidelines and you’ll be fine. The football referee has to go by the rules, not personal opinions. In this company, we go by strict procedures and these must be adhered to. Furthermore, it is also possible to use 'go by' in this way for instances when we form an opinion, make a decision or take action on something based on the information that we have about it, which in many cases can be limited. We can only go by the data that we have. We made the decision going by the available evidence. Doctors usually go by the symptoms when making a diagnosis. We’re going by last year’s figures for now. It’s hard to decide when you only have a few facts to go by. This can also be for when people use their own opinions or judgement as the basis for making a decision or taking an action. I usually go by my instincts. My nan tends to go by first impressions. Martin went by what he thought was right. You shouldn’t always go by appearances. IDIOM: IF IT IS ANYTHING TO GO BY One common expression with this application that you may hear native speakers using is "if XXX is anything to go by". We use this when we are making a prediction about what we think will happen with something in the future and base this prediction on a past example or some current evidence (the XXX) that is available to us. If last year is anything to go by, this year's event will be very popular. If the early reviews are anything to go by, the film will be a success. MEANING 3: To be known as something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To use, to be known as Separable? No The third and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'go by' is a nice and simple one to end the post with and means 'to be known as something'. There are a lot of famous singers, authors and actors in the world who do not use the name that they were given by their parents, but rather a name that they have chosen themselves. When a person does this, we can say that they 'go by' this particular new name and therefore they will be known by the majority of the public by this. For example, Elton John has gone by this stage name for his entire career but his real name is in fact Reginald Dwight. Moreover, JK Rowling also goes by the pen name of Robert Gilbraith for some of her books. On a more normal day-to-day level, this application can also be used for when people prefer to be called a shortened variation of their name or their nickname, e.g. somebody with the name Michael may prefer to go by "Mike" or someone may prefer to go by a name that is completely different to their real name because that's what their friends call them. You can also use this to refer to the name that you are known as online. She was christened Elizabeth, but she goes by Liz. Online, Debbie goes by “StarGazer.” The surgeon goes by “Doc” at work. Smith prefers to go by her surname. He goes by his middle name. The author goes by a pen name. The company used to go by a different name. This area goes by several names depending on who you ask. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'go by'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'go by'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'carry off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. In this post, I will explain the phrasal verb 'carry off' for you. This is a relatively rarer phrasal verb that can be used to talk about a variety of different things including doing difficult things, winning awards and even dying! In the article, I will explain all of the different meaning of 'carry off' for you and will give you example sentences for each application to show you how and when native speakers use them. So, let's get started and find out what the phrasal verb 'carry off' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Carry Off - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'carry' and 'off' Carry Off - Meaning 1: To remove something and take it elsewhere Carry Off - Meaning 2: To successfully do something difficult Carry Off - Meaning 3: To win a prize Carry Off - Meaning 4: To cause someone to die I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS CARRY OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Carried off / Carried off Separable? Yes 'Carry off' is a phrasal verb that is formed from the verb 'to carry' and the prepositional particle 'off'. While I know that most of you will be familiar with these words already, let's quickly just take a quick look at them to remind ourselves what they mean.... Carry - 'To carry' is a semi-regular English verb whose main meaning is 'to transport something from one place to another, often using your arms and hands'. Less commonly, we can use it to talk about having an infectious disease that you can pass to other people and about something having consequences. You may have noted that I wrote that it is a semi-regular verb and the reason for this is that both past tense forms drops the 'y' at the end of 'carry' and add 'ied'. The groom carried his new bride into their new home. I can't carry more than three plates at one time. We all had to carry the coffin at the funeral. He has been carrying the virus for many years. A crime like this can carry a harsh punishment. Off - The prepositional particle 'off' is an extremely common word in English that can mean a lot of different things depending on the context that it is used in. Some of the many meanings that is has include 'not functioning', 'moving away from a place' and 'being separated from something'. When used in phrasal verbs, 'off' can add different ideas like separation (take off), deactivation (turn off), departure (run off) and reduction (wear off) among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the meanings of the phrasal verb 'carry off'.... MEANING 1: To remove something and take it elsewhere Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take away, to carry away, to steal, to remove, to kidnap Separable? Yes Our first application of the phrasal verb 'carry off' refers to the general idea of 'removing something from a place' and can be used in a couple of different contexts, so let's take a look at them.... Nouns commonly used with this application.... Player Person Object / thing Firstly, I should point out that this usage is really the literal meaning of the combination of the two words 'carry' and 'off' when it is used in the sense of moving away. We therefore use it to describe when someone or something is literally carried or moved away from where the speaker is, or was, to another place. The soldiers carried off the injured man to safety. I wish that a knight in shining armour would carry me off into the sunset. You should note that we often use it to talk about when people or things are removed by some kind of force and taken or transported to a different place. Often, the source of this force is a naturally occurring phenomenon such as wind or water. The floodwaters carried off several cars. The wave carried off John's hat. The storm carried off parts of the fence. The current carried off the small boat. Strong winds carried off the roof of the shed. In contrast, when the action of 'carrying off' is done by people, it can be used have a negative meaning and can mean 'to steal' or 'to kidnap', depending on if an object or person is the object of the action. The thief carried off a painting from the gallery. Someone carried off my bag while I wasn’t looking. The dog carried the bone off into the garden. The kidnappers carried off the victim in a van. The eagle carried off a small animal. Lastly, this application can be used to refer to when a person is physically 'on' something and is removed from it and taken away. There are few real-life examples of when this last usage can be found but two to note are when people are on football pitches / sports grounds and stages. If a football player is injured during a match and can not walk, he or she will need to be carried off the pitch for medical treatment. Likewise, if an actor on a stage is picked up and carried to the backstage for any reason, we can say that they are carried off the stage. Remember also that 'off' functions as the natural opposite of 'on', so we could technically use this with any noun for which we use 'on' in the physical sense. Two men carried off the injured player on a stretcher. At the end of the performance, the dancers carry the singer off stage. On a grammatical note, although this usage is separable, it is normally used in an inseparable way and this sounds usually more natural to native speakers' ears. MEANING 2: To successfully do something difficult Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To pull off, to succeed Separable? Yes Let's now look at the second of the four meanings of the phrasal verb 'carry off', which is 'to successfully do something difficult'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Performance Role Task Plan Negotiation Outfit It is a well known concept that for people to grow and develop, they constantly need to push their boundaries and do difficult or challenging things that are outside of their comfort zone. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don't and in the times when we do succeed in doing something difficult, we can say that we "carried it off". We can use this application to talk about a time when a person successfully tries to do something that many people would consider to be too hard to do and which therefore has a high chance of failure. For example, tt might be successfully doing a performance of something that is known to be very difficult or it may be running a marathon in under four hours when you have never done one before. Regardless of what it is, the key idea for this application is that it is used when something that someone tries to do has a high chance of failure and many people (but not everyone) expect the person's efforts to fail. The actress carried off the role brilliantly, even though she was nervous. The critics said that I carried off the performance with confidence and charm. Despite the pressure, the young actor carried the scene off perfectly. The team carried off a very ambitious project in just three weeks. Against all expectations, Michelle carried off the plan successfully. Henry carried the negotiations off despite very tough conditions. Marlene carried off the presentation even though the technology failed. One more area that this application can be used in is in the area of fashion and style. If a person chooses to wear a bold outfit or item of clothing or have a haircut that is unusual and it suits them and makes them look good, we can again say that they "carried it off". This would often be used in situations when the outfit etc would not suit the majority of people but it does suit this one person in particular (that is sadly never me!). Not everyone can wear that colour, but Simone carries it off. Luke somehow carried off the unusual outfit. Lesley carried off the bold look with ease. That bright red dress is really ugly but Emma carried it off effortlessly. The prince is one of the few people who can carry off a hat like that. It’s a risky style, but Lucy managed to carry it off. MEANING 3: To win a prize Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To win, to clean up Separable? No The third application of the phrasal verb 'carry off' is a rarer one that means 'to win a prize'. Nouns commonly used with application.... Prize Trophy Award Medal Competition Win / Victory This one is quite a nice and simple meaning that is derived from the idea that when someone wins an award or trophy, they will usually take it home with them and away from the place where the ceremony took place, taking us back to the first application of removing something from a place. Furthermore, we can also use it to talk about when a player or team wins a match or competition, especially if they are not expected to win, also nicely linking back to the second application. My daughter carried off first prize in singing competition. Leonardo DiCaprio carried off the award for best actor. The team carried off the trophy after a tough final. We managed to carry off several prizes at the running festival. The film is expected to carry off three major awards at the ceremony. Miranda carried off the title of champion for the second year in a row. Our team carried off the win in the last few minutes of the match. They carried off a narrow victory after extra time. MEANING 4: To cause someone to die Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To kill Separable Yes We have now arrived at our fourth and final application of the phrasal verb 'carry off' and once again please accept my apologies as we are ending on a negative meaning, which is 'to cause someone to die'. To begin, let me clarify that for this application we are talking about natural causes of death like illnesses, diseases and old age and not other people or murderers. This application is quite rare and not one that I am overly familiar with myself in day to day spoken English, however it is one that you may come across in literature or in the news. On a grammatical level, we tend to use this application a lot in the passive voice to say that a person was carried off by an illness etc. George's grandfather was carried off by a sudden illness. The disease carried off thousands of people in the region during the post-war years. My mother was carried off after a long struggle with cancer. Many villagers were carried off by Covid-19 during the epidemic. At its peak, the plague carried off entire families. The harsh winter carried off many elderly people. The fever carried off several soldiers. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'carry off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'carry off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'wash up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. 'Wash up' is a common English phrasal verb that has different meanings depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you are. In this post, I will look at these two main meanings as well as another less common one that is used everywhere. As usual, for each application I will provide you with lots of example sentences to show you how and when to use each one, helping you to boost your English level and impress the people around you 😃 So, let's make a start and find out what 'wash up' is all about.... QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'wash up' mean? The phrasal verb 'wash up' has three main meanings in English: To wash the dishes To clean yourself To be carried to land by water Keep reading to learn more about how to use each one! TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one) Wash Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'wash' and 'up' Wash Up - Meaning 1: To wash the dishes Wash Up - Meaning 2: To clean yourself Wash Up - Meaning 3: To be carried to land by water Wash Up - Bonus: The adjective 'washed-up' I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS WASH UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Washed up / Washed up Separable? Sometimes The phrasal verb 'wash up' has three distinct meanings that we will look at in this post, but what do it's individual words 'wash' and 'up' mean on their own? Let's briefly take a look at these and remind ourselves.... Wash - 'To wash' is a regular English verb whose main meaning is to make something clean by using water and soap. In addition to this, it also has a less common meaning that is 'to move something in a particular direction with water or the flow of water'. My car is so dirty; I need to wash it! I can't come to the party tonight as I am washing my hair. The water washed the litter along the street. Up - The prepositional particle 'up' is the most common little word that can be found in phrasal verb constructions and can add a variety of meanings and ideas to them. Of course, it can add the idea of an upwards movement or an increase (go up), however when it appears in a phrasal verb, it rarely means upwards. Moreover, it can add different ideas such as completion (eat up), positive change (cheer up), creation (set up) and intensification (heat up), among others. So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'wash up'.... MEANING 1: To wash the dishes Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Common Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To do the dishes Separable? Yes For the first meaning of 'wash up', we are going to start on my side of the Atlantic Ocean and talk about a common British English application, which is 'to wash the dishes'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Plate Cutlery Dishes Glass Pan Pot When I was 15 years old (a long long time ago), I got my first ever job, which was working in the kitchen of a busy country pub and restaurant in a small English village near to where I lived. I had lots of small tasks in my role but the main one was washing all of the pots, pans, knives and utensils that the chefs used by hand, or in other words, washing up. Put quite simply, 'washing up' is just the action of hand washing all of the items used in cooking and eating a meal so that they are clean and can be used again once they are dry. If you are lucky, you may have a dishwasher, meaning that you do not normally have to wash up after a meal but some people like to do it (not me). As I mentioned, this is mainly a British English term but it is also used in Australian English and other parts of the anglophone world. In American English however the term 'do the dishes' is more common. We also do say that in the UK but it is not as common as 'wash up'. On a grammatical level, this usage of 'wash up' is separable and the dirty item to be washed can go between 'wash' and 'up' or after them. It is also common to refer to this task as 'washing up' and people will often talk about "doing the washing up". I’ll wash up after dinner if you cook. Robert always washes up straight after eating. We need to wash up these cups before the guests arrive. Beth washed up all the plates and glasses. I’ve already washed up, so the kitchen is clean now. It’s your turn to wash up tonight! I need to do the washing up, then we can watch the film. Let’s leave the washing up until tomorrow. MEANING 2: To clean yourself Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? American English Potential synonyms To wash, to freshen up Separable? No Let's jump on a transatlantic flight for our second meaning of 'wash up', which is one that is more common in American English and means 'to clean yourself'. For this usage, instead of focussing on an object that we want to make clean, we are focussing on ourselves and our bodies. We can use this application to talk about having a complete body wash, e.g. having a shower, but it is more common to use it to talk about washing either your face, your hands or both. When someone 'washes up', it is typically in preparation for something and the idea is that the person washes and gets clean before doing something. This is most frequently heard at mealtimes. For example, if someone comes home from work, they may go and wash up and change their clothes before sitting down for their evening meal with their family. As a British English speaker, I am familiar with this usage but it is not one that I would ever use in my daily life; in contrast, British speakers would use 'wash your hands / face' or 'freshen up' as alternatives here. Unlike the previous application, this one is not separable. I need to wash up before dinner. Go wash up; it’s time to eat! Sue went to the bathroom to wash up. Gary told the kids to wash up after playing outside. I’ve already washed up, so I’m ready to go. I just need a minute to wash up and change. Malcolm splashed some water on his face to wash up. Jenny went upstairs to wash up before going out. MEANING 3: To be carried to land by water Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms Separable? No We have now arrived at our third and final application of 'wash up', which is a slightly rarer one that is used universally and means 'to be carried to be land by water'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Body Bottle Litter Photo: Pexels Have you ever heard about the shipment of rubber ducks that was lost in 1992 when the container that they were inside fell off the ship and into the ocean? It is a true story and since then, thousands of rubber ducks have been appearing on beaches all over the world, in places from Japan to Scotland. In this instance we can say that the rubber ducks have been '"washing up" on beaches for over 30 years. To clarify, we can use this application to describe when something that is floating in water is transported by the movement of the water until it finally arrives on land (normally a beach or the shores of a river or lake) where the movement then stops. It can be used for anything from products to pieces of shipwrecked boats and even dead bodies! Grammatically speaking, we normally use this in the passive voice, e.g. something is or gets washed up as our focus is on the object (we know that the water is moving it). We often add the extra prepositional particle 'on' here to specify the place where the item was washed up. A dead fish was washed up on the beach after the storm. Pieces of driftwood were washed up along the coastline overnight. The tide washed up seaweed all over the sand. After the heavy rain, rubbish was washed up on the riverbank. A message in a bottle was washed up on a remote island. Several jellyfish were washed up by the strong currents. The storm washed up debris onto the shore, making it difficult to walk. Old fishing nets were washed up near the harbour. You can learn more about the rubber ducks and other interesting items that have been washed up on shores around the world on this link.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3smkhv Photo: Pexels BONUS: The adjective 'washed-up' So now you know all about the phrasal verb 'wash up' and what it means but did you know that there is also a common adjective that is derived from it: 'washed-up'? While we can use this adjective to describe something that has been washed up on a beach (as in the third phrasal verb application), we more commonly use it to talk about a person who is no longer successful at what they do, perhaps because they are old or because the world has moved on. It is a fairly informal usage and can often be considered offensive, so definitely exercise caution if you do wish to use it. He used to be a famous actor, but now he’s just a washed-up Z-list celebrity. The media quickly labelled him a washed-up footballer after his injury. The actress refused to believe she was washed-up and kept auditioning for new roles. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'wash up' more confidently and naturally. Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'wash up' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. Want to understand native speakers more easily and use phrasal verbs more naturally? If yes, check out my downloadable phrasal verb workbooks, which include clear explanations, common learner mistakes, exercises, speaking practice and answer keys to help you master the phrasal verbs that native speakers use every day. Browse the workbooks here. Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'fall in' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This blog article is all about the phrasal verb 'fall in'. This useful little phrasal verb has at least 4 distinct uses in English and can be used to talk about different subjects like accidents, old buildings, military marches and new friends. In the article, I will explain all of these meanings for you and give you lots of example sentences for each so that you know when and how to use them. So, let's make a start and find out what 'fall in' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Fall In - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'fall' and 'in' Fall In - Meaning 1: Literal Fall In - Meaning 2: To collapse Fall In - Meaning 3: To form a line Fall In - Bonus: The idiom 'to fall in line' Fall In - Meaning 4: To become friendly with someone I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS FALL IN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Fell in / Fallen in Separable? No The phrasal verb 'fall in' is formed by combining the base verb 'to fall' with the prepositional particle 'in' and before we look at what this little combination of words means in English, let's first just consider the individual words 'fall' and 'in' on their own. Fall - 'To fall' is a common English verb whose main meaning is 'to move in a downwards direction, typically in a very quick and uncontrolled way'. When used this way it is often followed by prepositions like 'down', 'on' and 'in' which give extra meaning to the falling action. In addition to this main meaning, 'to fall' can also be used to mean 'to decrease', 'to be on a certain day' and 'to change state'. It is an irregular verb and when used in the past tense, it can often be confused by learners with another irregular verb 'to feel' (fell & fallen vs felt & felt). The pavement is very icy; be careful that you don't fall! Many buildings fell down during the earthquake. I fell over when I was out jogging yesterday. The number of website visitors fell by 10% last month. My birthday falls on a Saturday this year. Jane always falls asleep when watching television. In - If you are able to read and understand this blog article, then you will undoubtedly know the word 'in' and will therefore require little explanation from me about this. In short, the word 'in' is used to talk about being in or moving towards interior spaces and it functions as the opposite of the particle 'out'. When used in phrasal verbs, 'in' can often carry this idea of movement into or towards an inside space (move in) as well as ideas like joining an activity or situation (join in), arrival ( come in ) and beginning (set in). Now that we have covered the basics, let's now move on to the main event, i.e. the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall in'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A2 - Elementary Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To tumble in, to drop in Separable? No The first of the meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall in' that we will look at is the easiest and most obvious of all its meanings as it is just the literal meanings of the two words combined, i.e. to fall and land in or inside something. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Water Ocean / Sea / River / Lake Swimming Pool Hole Crack Bath We use this literal application to describe any situations in which a person, animal or object drops from somewhere and ends up in an internal space or a completely new environment. I think most commonly this is used with nouns for bodies of water such as sea, ocean, lake and river to describe when a person accidentally accidentally falls and lands in one of these. Aside from this, we can use this application with nouns that describe spaces that are enclosed except for the top, which therefore allow people or things to fall inside. Be careful near the edge of the dock or you might fall in. Luke slipped on the wet stones next to the canal and fell in. One of the children leaned too far over the boat's edge and nearly fell in. Mary lost her balance while reaching with the fishing net and fell in. The dog ran too fast along the riverbank and fell in. WHAT ABOUT FALL INTO? As you can see from the examples above, we use 'fall in' when the water, hole or internal space is clear from the context. However, if you want to specify this information, we need the particle 'into' rather than 'in'.... The little boy leaned too far over the edge and fell into the pool. Pam lost her footing and fell into a deep hole in the ground. My dog chased the ball and accidentally fell into the lake. One of the hikers tripped on a rock and fell into a narrow crevice. Kevin's phone slipped from his hand and fell into the water. Another time that you may hear this literal usage being used in a slightly different sense is when someone is already in something and falls to the floor. For example, it is very common for people to fall in the shower, i.e. they are already in the shower cubicle when they fall. In this case we do not use 'fall into the shower' as there is no change from where the person fell to where they ended up e.g. they fell in the shower and landed in the shower. My mum fell in the bath and hit her head. Photo: Wix Media One last usage of this literal application is one that I am sure most of you know, whether you are romantic or not, and that is 'to fall in love', which if you weren't sure means 'to develop a deep romantic connection with someone, normally your partner or spouse'. This one is heard in so many pop music songs, it is very difficult to avoid it! I fell in love with you the moment that I saw you! We've fallen in love with each other and we are going to get married. MEANING 2: To collapse Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To collapse, to cave in, to subside Separable? No The second meaning of the phrasal verb 'fall in' that we will look at is all to do with buildings and means 'to collapse'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Floor Ceiling Roof Wall Specifically for this application, we are not usually talking about an entire building that collapses but rather parts of it, particularly those which are supported in the air like the roof. If these supported parts of a building collapse and fall towards the interior of the building, we say they "fall in". Note that we would not say this if the part of the building fell and landed outside of the building's walls. Of course, this normally does not happen in buildings that are occupied and well maintained but rather with derelict and unused buildings that have been empty for a long time. Moreover, you may hear this in cases where buildings are damaged by natural disasters or wars. In addition to buildings, you can also use this with other structures like bridges or mines, however it is less common to do this. Part of the old roof suddenly fell in during the storm. The ceiling of the house is likely to fall in now that the fire has weakened the beams. The ground fell in beneath Fred's feet when the old tunnel collapsed. The walls of the abandoned house slowly fell in over the years. The bridge began to shake and then part of it fell in. A section of the mine has fallen in, trapping several workers underground. The rotten wooden floor suddenly fell in under the weight of the furniture. When they removed the support beam, the whole structure began to fall in. MEANING 3: To form a line Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To get in line, to queue up, to line up Separable? No Unlike the previous two applications of the phrasal verb 'fall in', the third one has nothing to do with physical falling and more to do with the military and means 'to form a line'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Soldiers Troops Recruits Cadets What is the first thing that you think of when you read the word 'army'? Many of you might say fighting and weapons, especially with what is happening in the world right now, however I imagine that some of you will think of a military parade where hundreds or thousands of military personnel are walking or standing in perfect lines. When the soldiers take their place in the line and become a part of this large military formation, we can sat they 'fall in' (or that they 'fall in line' - more about this later). This may be a line in a marching parade or it may be a line on the military base where they are inspected e.g. first thing in the morning. The sergeant shouted for the soldiers to fall in immediately. The recruits quickly fell in outside the barracks. At six o’clock sharp, the platoon fell in for inspection. The officer ordered the troops to fall in on the parade ground. When the whistle blew, the cadets fell in in two neat rows. The commander told everyone to fall in and prepare to march The battalion fell in before the ceremony started. Additionally, it is also possible to hear the variations 'to fall in behind someone' and 'to fall in beside someone', meaning to walk behind and next to someone respectively. This is again something that you will hear in the military but it is also possible to hear these variations used for normal people when they are walking in a line or in groups, e.g. school children on a class trip or tourists on a tour. The late arrivals hurried to fall in behind the rest of the platoon. The children were told to fall in behind the teacher for the walk back to school. Two new recruits fell in beside the others in the second row. The officer ordered the latecomers to fall in beside their assigned partners. The scouts quickly fell in behind the group and the march continued. The walking tour guide asked the new people to fall in behind the others as they set off to their next destination. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to fall in line' Whilst we are still on the third application of 'fall in', I want to make you aware of a nice and useful little expression featuring it that you can use to elevate your English and impress your friends and colleagues: 'to fall in line'. We can use this expression to talk about both people and organisations when they begin to follow the rules that they are expected to follow and behave in the way that they should. It is typically used after a period of time when they have not followed the rules or have not done what an authority has asked them to do. The company warned that employees who refused to fall in line with the new rules could face disciplinary action. If the smaller countries refuse to fall in line, the agreement could collapse. Eventually, the younger players fell in line and followed the captain’s instructions. MEANING 4: To become friendly with someone Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To become friendly with, to befriend Separable? No Our fourth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'fall in' is one that is more common in British English and means 'to become friendly with someone'. For this application, we also require the additional preposition 'with' to specify the people concerned. To give you more context for this one, this application tends to be used when someone makes friends or starts spending a lot of time with another person or group of people by chance or when you don't plan or expect to meet new people. It often implies that the person who has 'fallen in' with the others starts to join in with their activities or even starts to think and act like them. Examples of this range from positive ones, for example when someone is travelling alone and makes friends with other travellers who they they then travel with, to negative ones when someone starts to spend time with a bad crowd of people and he or she changes negatively as a consequence. While travelling in Spain, Pierre fell in with a group of backpackers. Linda fell in with some old friends at the conference. On the train, I fell in with a couple who were also visiting the city and we had dinner that evening. Johannes fell in with the wrong crowd when he moved to the city. During the festival, we fell in with a group of musicians and followed them around all evening. Leanne quickly fell in with the other students in her class. On the hike, we fell in with another group heading the same way. Ron worried that his son had fallen in with a bad crowd. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'fall in'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'fall in'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'bring down' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is all about the English phrasal verb 'bring down'. This nice little phrasal verb can be used to talk about a variety of different subjects including reductions, sadness, sport and airplanes. In this post, I will explain all 6 different ways to use it and give you lots of example sentences for each usage. In addition, I will give you a couple of idiomatic expressions with it that native speakers use all the time. So, let's get started and find out what 'bring down' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Bring Down - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'bring' & 'down' Bring Down - Meaning 1: Literal Bring Down - Meaning 2: To reduce something Bring Down - Meaning 3: To depress someone Bring Down - Meaning 4: To make something fall to the ground Bring Down - Meaning 5: To land Bring Down - Meaning 6: To make someone lose power Bring Down - Bonus: Common idioms featuring the phrasal verb 'bring down' I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS BRING DOWN: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 6 Past tense forms Brought down / Brought down Separable? Yes The words 'bring' and 'down' are both very common words in English but what do they mean on their own? Let's quickly take a look at these before we continue on to the meanings that we get when we combine them.... Bring - We use the verb 'to bring' in a number of different ways in English, with perhaps the main common meaning being to transport something with you one from one place to another, towards where the speaker is, was or will be. Another very common meaning of the verb 'to bring' (and one that is essential for this phrasal verb) is 'to cause someone or something to be in a specific situation'. 'To bring' is an irregular verb, with 'brought' as both its past tense forms. Bring me a glass of water! My friend is bringing his new girlfriend to the party later. Are you bringing a guest to the wedding next week? I forgot to bring my laptop home with me. The movie brought me to tears. Down - The prepositional particle 'down' is one that features in many phrasal verbs and can add various different ideas to them, depending on the context. Perhaps most obviously when 'down' appears in a phrasal verb it can add the idea of a downward movement or an decrease ( go down ). In addition to this, it can also add ideas like suppression (calm down), writing (note down), failure ( break down ) and finality (shut down) among others. So, now that we have looked the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'bring down'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take down Separable? Yes We will start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'bring down' by looking at the literal meaning of the combination of these two words. When used in the literal sense, 'bring down' simply means to transport something with you from a high or elevated place to a lower one. This may be something like bringing an object from an upper floor of a building to a lower one, or bringing an injured skier from the top of a mountain to the valley floor to get treatment. On a grammatical note, this literal usage is separable and the object can go between 'bring' and 'down' or after them with no change in meaning. Nigel carefully brought down the boxes from the top shelf. Thelma brought a suitcase down from the attic. Can you bring that ladder down for me? They brought the old furniture down from upstairs. I’ll bring down your coat when I come downstairs. Steven brought down the books from his bedroom. Marian went upstairs and brought a blanket down for the guests. TO BRING VS TO TAKE Many English learners often confuse the verb 'to bring' with the verb 'to take' and while they essentially mean the same thing, there is a difference in their usage. We use 'to bring' to talk about a movement towards where the speaker is or where the speaker was or will be. In contrast, 'to take' is used more to refer to transporting an object away from where the speaker is or to a place where the speaker was not or will not be. MEANING 2: To reduce something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To reduce, to decrease, to lower, Separable? Yes As I mentioned earlier in the post, the particle 'down' is often used to refer to decreases and reductions and this second application of 'bring down' is a good example of that because it means 'to reduce something'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Prices Costs Taxes Level Rate Blood pressure Heart rate For this usage, we are concerned with situations in which we do something in order to reduce the level or rate of something. In other words, we want the number of something to be lower than it is and therefore we do something in order to make this happen. Classic examples of this application can be found in the world of business and commerce when talking about prices and taxes, which people can decide to reduce or bring down for various reasons. Another environment in which you may hear this application is in the medical world as 'bring down' can often be used to describe when medical professionals intervene in a patient's care in order to bring down their high blood pressure, heart rate or temperature. The new management managed to bring down the cost of production. The company brought its prices down during the sale. We need to bring down our monthly expenses. The government is working hard to bring down inflation. New measures helped to bring unemployment rates down. This medication can bring down your blood pressure. They are trying to bring down the number of accidents on this road. The company is aiming to bring its carbon emissions down. Note that we do not normally use 'bring down' to talk about when the rate or level or something decreases on its own without intervention. To do this, the phrasal verb 'come down' (link here ) would be used. MEANING 3: To depress someone Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To depress, to sadden Separable? Yes Our third application of 'bring down' is the negative one (there is always one) and means 'to depress someone' or 'to lower someone's mood'. If you think about your mood, rather than being a binary choice between good and bad, it is more on a scale that constantly moves between the two. When we are happy and content (as I hope all of you reading this are), we can say that we are in a good mood, however for most of us it can only take something small to change our mood and push it towards the bad end of the spectrum. When this happens, we can say that something 'brings us down'. The idea here is that when we are in a good mood, we associate it with a feeling of being high and when we are in a bad mood, we talk about being down. You should note here that this usage tends to be used more for when something makes you feel sad, depressed or less positive rather than anger or irritation. Moreover, in addition to one person's mood, it is also possible to use this to talk about when something brings down the collective mood or atmosphere in a social situation where lots of people are present. It could even be used to talk about the national mood or feeling in a country. Grammatically, this is a separable usage and is used often with pronouns (me, him, her etc), which must go between 'bring' and 'down'. All this negative news is really bringing me down. Don’t let one bad comment bring you down! The gloomy weather is starting to bring everyone down. Thinking about the past sometimes brings him down. He always talks about problems; it really brings down the mood at parties. The constant criticism is starting to bring her down emotionally. Financial worries have really brought us down lately. He didn’t mean to bring things down, but the topic was quite heavy. MEANING 4: To make something fall to the ground Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To take down, to knock over, to knock down Separable? Yes The next application of the phrasal verb 'bring down' that we will cover is one that has the potential to be a little violent and means 'to make something fall to the ground'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Person Player Airplane Bird Animal Building In certain contexts in English, the word 'down' can be used as an adjective to describe something that is has fallen and has landed on the ground. For example, if a tree falls in very strong wind, we can say that a tree is 'down'. This usage is very important for this application as it simply means to cause something to fall to the ground. There are several different areas in which we use this, so let's take them one by one.... In contact sports such as football, rugby or boxing this usage is very common to describe when one player tackles, pushes or hits another player and makes them fall on the ground. In this sense, it is very common to use it in the passive sense, with the focus on the player who is on the ground. The defender brought him down just outside the penalty area. Kelly was brought down by a late tackle, preventing her from scoring the goal. The boxer was brought down by a single punch. We can also use 'bring down' in this sense to talk about things that can be knocked over or can collapse and fall to the ground as a result of a force, including nouns like buildings, trees and fences. This is often used to talk about the consequences of strong and powerful forces like bad weather, explosions or war. The storm brought down several large trees overnight. The earthquake brought down dozens of houses. The fire weakened the structure and brought it down. Workers are planning to bring down the wall tomorrow. The final area that in which you may hear this application being used is in reference to things that fly, both living and non-living. Typically, if someone shoots and kills or injures a bird or animal, we can say that they brought it down. Note that we can also use this for non-flying animals. Likewise, if an airplane crashes, it is possible to say that it was brought down by whatever caused the crash. More information on airplanes to come shortly! The hunter brought down a duck with a single shot. He managed to bring down a deer after a long chase. The missile brought down the enemy plane. Bad weather nearly brought the helicopter down. MEANING 5: To land Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To land Separable? Yes For the next application, we are going to stay with the theme of airplanes but this time in a more cheerful sense as it simply means 'to land' or in other words 'to cause an airplane to descend through the sky until it is safely on the ground'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Airplane / Aeroplane / Plane Aircraft Helicopter Space shuttle In this sense, 'bring down' means the same as the verb 'to land', however we do not tend to use it in the same situations. While we tend to use the verb 'to land' to talk about standard landings at airports etc, 'bring down' is used to describe situations in which an airplane comes safely down to the ground but with a sense of difficulty or emergency or when something is unexpected or not normal. The focus here is more on the hard work and skill of the pilot who successfully lands the airplane in the non-standard circumstances and not the landing itself. The pilot skilfully brought the plane down on a short runway. She managed to bring the aircraft down safely despite poor visibility. Joe calmly brought the plane down after a warning light came on. Sebastian brought the helicopter down in thick fog. Despite the icy runway, Melissa brought the plane down without any issues. The crew brought the aircraft down safely after a bird strike. Edward brought the plane down using only manual controls. MEANING 6: To cause someone to lose power Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To oust, to topple, to overthrow, to depose Separable? Yes We have now arrived at our sixth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'bring down' and this one is a good one for all of your revolutionaries out there as it means 'to cause someone to lose power'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Ruler / Leader Regime Government Empire Opponent Rival When we talk about someone or something being brought down in this final sense, we are focusing on things like governments and regimes that hold power over people and control what they do. If someone or something brings them down, it makes them lose their power, much like in a revolution or putsch. It doesn't just cover regimes and administrations however as it can also be used for individual people who are in positions of power. While this is also a separable usage, I would say that we tend to use this application in an inseparable way more. The scandal eventually brought down the government. The opposition is trying to bring down the prime minister. Public protests helped bring down the regime. The vote of no confidence brought down the administration. The investigation could bring down several high-profile figures. One mistake was enough to bring the entire company down. This lawsuit might bring down the corporation. One other way that you may come across this application is in reference to competitions and sport as it can also mean 'to defeat'. This is normally used with the leaders or current champions of a sport or a team / player viewed as being superior. It will take a strong performance to bring down the current champion. No team has managed to bring them down this season yet. Alfie is determined to bring down his biggest rival. The underdog team finally brought down the league leaders. Photo: Pexels BONUS: Common idioms featuring the phrasal verb 'bring down' So now after reading all of the different meanings that 'bring down' has, you will have a pretty good idea of how and when to use it and to finish the post, I want to give you a couple of expressions featuring it to really maximise your expertise.... To bring the house down - Although this expression looks like it means something negative and destructive, it actually is a very positive one and means 'to cause an audience to clap and cheer very loudly to show their appreciation for a performance'. In other words, if a performance is so good that all of the people watching it react in a loud and positive way, you can say that the performance " brought the house down ". This expression originated from the idea that if the reaction of the crowd to a performance was very loud or thunderous, it could make the building fall down. The comedian absolutely brought the house down with his final joke. Her performance was incredible; she brought the house down and got a standing ovation. To bring someone down a peg or two - The second of our two idioms featuring 'bring down' means to make someone realise that they are not as good or talented as they think they are. This one is typically used when someone is acting in an arrogant or self-important way and if you can bring them down a peg or two, it is quite a satisfying feeling 😊 Emily was always boasting about her success, but that mistake really brought her down a peg or two. Lucas was getting a bit too confident, so the coach’s criticism really brought him down a peg or two. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'bring down'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'bring down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'turn off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. In this post, I will be explaining 'turn off', which is a wonderful phrasal verb that can be used to talk about many different things such as driving, showers, lights and sexual attraction. In this post, I will explain its 3 different meanings for you and provide you with lots of example sentences for each one to make it clear when and how you should use them. So, without further ado, let's make a start and find out what the phrasal verb 'turn off' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Turn Off - The Basics: Key Information and the individual words 'turn' and 'off' Turn Off - Meaning 1: To turn from a road Turn Off - Meaning 2: To stop something functioning Turn Off - Meaning 3: To cause someone to lose interest in something Turn Off - Bonus: The noun 'turn-off' I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS TURN OFF: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Turned off / Turned off Separable? Yes As you will learn in the post, the phrasal verb 'turn off' has three distinct meanings, however what exactly do the individual words 'turn' and 'off' mean individually? Let's start the post by taking a look at these.... Turn - The verb 'to turn' is one that is common in English and primarily means to move in a circular direction or to move in order to face a different direction. In addition, we can also use 'to turn' to mean 'to become' when talking about a change of state or age and it is commonly used with prepositional particles like 'off' and 'on' to form phrasal verbs linked to these movements or changes. Unlike many of the commonest verbs in English, 'to turn' is regular and both past tense forms take the '-ed' ending 😃 The Earth is constantly turning. I turned my head to look at the sun. It is turning cold; I am going to go inside. My Dad is turning 80 later this month. She hurt her back when she turned over in bed last night. Off - The prepositional particle 'off' is an extremely common word in English that functions as the natural opposite of the word 'on'. Some of its core ideas include moving away from a place or position, separation, disconnection, removal and not being on or supported by a surface and these ideas are often carried across into phrasal verbs (head off, cut off , lop off, fall off ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's consider the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'turn off'.... MEANING 1: To turn from a road Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To turn left/right, to pull off, to come off Separable? No We are going to start the meanings of 'turn off' with a really common one that will be useful for any of you who drive a car and that is 'to turn from a road'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Road Street Path / Pathway Route We use 'turn off' in this way to refer to when we are travelling along a road and we then leave the road by turning either left or right to join another. This is usually when travelling along a main road or highway and leaving it in order to travel on a smaller or narrower one. If you remember from the Basics section, I mentioned that the natural opposite of 'off' is 'on' and when we travel along a road, we say that we are 'on' it. Therefore, when you leave the road, you come 'off' it and the only (safe) way that this is possible is by turning the car to a different direction. Photo: Pexels To clarify, we use 'turn off' to mean turning either left or right, normally at a junction or intersection. We often use it when the direction is not relevant or important and therefore does not need to be specified; in order to do this you would say 'turn left' or 'turn right' instead. We do not always just use this application of 'turn off' with cars as it can also be used for walking, running or moving along paths, trails or tracks and leaving them. You should note that it is common to use the extra prepositions ' at ' to specify the place where you leave the road and 'onto ' to specify the smaller road that you travel along after leaving the main road. This usage is inseparable. We turned off the main road and drove into a quiet village in search of a shop. You need to turn off at the next junction. Sandra turned off the motorway to get some petrol. If you turn off here, you’ll reach the beach faster. They turned off the path and walked through the middle of the forest. I think we turned off too early; we’re lost now. The car turned off onto a narrow country lane. Don’t forget to turn off before the bridge. MEANING 2: To stop something functioning Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To switch off, to deactivate Separable? Yes The second of the applications of the phrasal verb 'turn off' that we will explore in this post is perhaps the most common of its three meanings and is 'to stop something from functioning'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Machine Device Tap / Faucet / Water Cellphone / Telephone Heating Television WiFi You can see in the list above that there are a lot of nouns that it is possible to use this application with. In fact, there are a lot more than than this and the reason is that we can use 'turn off' in this way for anything that requires a flow of electricity, water or gas through it in order to function. This therefore includes all electrical devices and plumbing fixtures (taps, showers etc) that we describe as 'on' when there is a flow and they are functioning. Typically, for all of these items that can be 'on' or 'off', there is a switch, button or tap that needs to be pressed or turned in order to stop their flow and operation of the item and this is how we arrive at this meaning of 'turn off'. On a grammatical note, unlike the previous application, this one is separable and native speakers use it separably all the time. There is no change in meaning if it is used separably or inseparably. Please can you turn off the lights when you leave the room. Don’t forget to turn off the oven. Mike turned off the TV and went to bed. Can you turn your phone off during the meeting? Mary turned off her alarm before it woke everyone up. Make sure you turn off the engine before getting out of the car. I always turn my laptop off at night. They turned the off heating because it was too warm. There is something wrong with the oven and it won't turn off! Turn the computer off and back on again and that should resolve the issue! COMMON ERROR TO AVOID! One error that I often hear my students make is to say 'to close' something, particularly with water taps and faucets, when they mean 'turn off'. You should note that 'to close' and 'to turn off' have different meanings in English and while sometimes your interlocutor may understand what you mean from the context if you do say 'to close', you may end up confusing them! MEANING 3: To cause someone to lose interest in something Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To switch off, to check out Separable? Yes If you have read many of my phrasal verb posts, you may have noticed that there is often a slightly negative application that comes at the end. This third and final application of 'turn off' is no different and means 'to cause someone to lose interest in something'. For this application, there are three main ideas that we will cover, which are to make you feel bored and uninterested in something, to stop feeling sexual attraction and to make you start to dislike something.... Firstly, we can use 'turn off' just to refer to when we stop feeling interested or excited about something. This can either be something that we like in general or it can be when we get bored and stop paying attention to something (however 'switch off' is more common for this). I would say that while you may hear it being used in this way, it is more common to use 'put off' here. The long introduction really turned me off the film. Phil's negative attitude turned me off the idea completely. Too many ads can turn people off a website. That single experience turned her off travelling. The slow pace of the book turned him off reading it. Rude customer service can quickly turn customers off a brand. If we now change our perspective from being interested in something to being interested in someone, we arrive at the idea of sexual attraction and desire for another person. If something turns you on, it makes you feel sexually excited and likewise if something turns you off, it stops you feeling that sense of sexual attraction or excitement. Note that this can be used to talk about attraction in general life when you stop finding someone attractive or it may be in the moment of passion when your sexual desire goes away. Typically, this is used when one thing or action changes the way someone feels. On a grammatical note, we normally use this in a separable way, often with a pronoun or name of the person experiencing the dislike going between 'turn' and 'off'. It is common to add a second pronoun or the name of the person who you no longer like after the word 'off'. His bad kissing really turned me off. That comment on animals rights completely turned her of him. Smoking is something that really turns me off. Colin's arrogance turned Michelle off straight away. Bad hygiene can turn people off instantly. The way he spoke to the waiter turned me off him. Her rude behaviour really turned me off her. Sometimes if someone does something really bad, not only can it can make us stop being sexually interested in them, but it can also make us dislike the person or even feel disgusted by them in extreme cases. You should note that we can also use this application of 'turn off' to describe when someone does something that gives us a feeling of dislike too. The teacher’s strict approach turned him off the subject and he's never liked it since. That film turned me off horror movies completely. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The noun 'turn-off' Like with many phrasal verbs, 'turn off' has a noun that is derived directly from its meanings and the noun 'turn-off' has two distinct meanings that I will make you explain for you now.... The first of these links back to the first phrasal verb application regarding roads and paths and is simply another word for a junction; i.e. the place where one road meets or intersects with another. Take the second turn-off after the petrol station. We missed the turn-off for the village and had to drive another five miles. The second of the meanings of the noun 'turn-off' is used for anything that makes you lose interest or stop liking something. This is most commonly heard in the world of dating and relationships where a 'turn-off' is something that stops a person feeling sexual desire towards someone else.... Bad hygiene is a real turn-off for me. His arrogance was a huge turn-off. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'turn off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'turn off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'catch on' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'catch on', which is one that can be used to talk about a variety of different subjects like understanding, fashion and being realistic. It has two main meanings in English and in the post I will explain both of these for you, as well as its other lesser known meanings, including one that is used in Irish English only. As per usual, I will give you lots of example sentences in context to show you how each one is used. So, let's get started and find out what 'catch on' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Catch On - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'catch' and 'on' Catch On - Meaning 1: Literal Catch On - Meaning 2: To become popular or fashionable Catch On - Meaning 3: To understand something Catch On - Meaning 4: To start thinking realistically 🇮🇪 I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS CATCH ON: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 4 Past tense forms Caught on / Caught on Separable? Sometimes Before we get started with the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'catch on', let's first take a moment to consider the meanings of the individual words 'catch' and 'on' and what they mean on their own.... Catch - 'To catch' is a common irregular verb with several meanings that can be frequently heard in contemporary everyday English. The most common meaning of 'to catch' is probably 'to stop something that is travelling through the air and not let it fall to the ground'. Another extremely common meaning that it has is 'to capture a person or animal that is trying to escape or move away from you'. Additionally, some lesser used meanings of 'to catch' include 'to travel with public transport', 'to get an infectious disease' and 'to make contact with something and get stuck to it'. The aim of the game is to catch the ball when it is thrown. Whoever catches the bouquet of flowers will be the next person to get married. The police caught the criminals after a long car chase. James catches the train to work every day. My sister has caught a cold, so she is not coming to the party. My coat got caught in the car door. On - The prepositional particle 'on' is one that is extremely common in phrasal verbs and typically functions to give ideas like contact and continuation or sometimes both ( go on , carry on , put on ). Furthermore, when 'on' appears in phrasal verbs it can add ideas like activation (turn on), focus (work on) and transfer ( pass on ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'catch on'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B1 - Intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To snag Separable? Yes Let's begin by easing ourselves in gently with the first meaning of the phrasal verb 'catch on', which is the literal meaning. It may surprise you to learn that this one is not as commonly used as some of its other meanings. You should also note that when used literally, 'catch on' is a prepositional verb phrase and it is not strictly a true phrasal verb usage, however it is one that you are likely to come across and so I wanted to include it for you. Nouns commonly used with this application..... Clothes (Coat, Trousers, Pants, Sleeve) Hand Finger Foot With so many different meanings of the verb 'to catch', you may be wondering what the literal meaning of 'catch on' could be. To clarify, the meaning of the verb 'to catch' that we are taking literally is 'hitting something and sticking to it', which is essentially what this first meaning is. We simply then add the prepositional particle 'on' to specify what the thing sticks to. Let me explain by way of an example. Imagine that you are walking through an area that is overgrown with grass, plants and weeds etc. As you are walking, you move past a rose bush with lots of sharp thorns (like the picture above) and one of the thorns sticks into your trouser leg, meaning that when you move it again, your trousers tear. In this situation, you could say that " you caught your trouser leg on a thorn ". On a grammar note, this usage is always used in separable way in active sentences. It is also very common to use it this way in the passive voice, particularly with the 'get' passive: 'to get something caught on something'. Active sentences.... Norman caught his sleeve on a nail as he walked past the fence. Abigail caught her necklace on the door handle and almost broke it. Philip caught his backpack on a low branch while hiking. I caught my coat on the corner of the table as I stood up. Marianne caught her hair on the zip of her jacket. Rob caught his trousers on a piece of wire climbing over the fence and ripped a big hole in them. Passive sentences.... The fishing line caught on a rock at the bottom of the river and the fisherman could not get it out again. The kite string caught on a lamppost and wouldn’t come free. Kate's necklace got caught on the door handle and snapped. As he climbed over the fence, Mark's trousers got caught on a piece of wire. Lucy tried to pull away, but her scarf had got caught on a nail. The curtain got caught on the window latch and wouldn’t close properly. One other time that you may come across 'catch on' in a (kind of) literal sense is with the expression to 'catch on fire', which just means to begin burning. The old wooden shed caught on fire after lightning struck it. One of the candles tipped over and the curtain caught on fire. MEANING 2: To become popular or fashionable Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To become popular / trendy, to take off, to blow up Separable? No For our second application of the phrasal verb 'catch on', we are going to look at one of the two most common meanings, which is 'to become popular or fashionable'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Idea Style Trend Fashion / Look Movement Meme One thing that we can all be certain about in life is that everything changes from one day to the next and nothing stays the same forever. One area in which this is most obvious is with things that become popular with people; in society, new styles of clothes, music artists and hairdos are constantly becoming trendy and then being replaced by something else newer when people grow bored of them. In these instances when something first becomes popular with people, we can say that it " catches on ". This is similar to the usage that we have with 'fire' that I mentioned in the last section as if something catches fire, the fire tends to increase very quickly until the whole object is burning and in this figurative sense, the fire is the trend that burns through society. We can use this application with anything that becomes popular or mainstream among people, however we can also use it when something does not become popular when it was expected to. On a grammatical note, this usage is inseparable. Sometimes, we add the additional preposition 'with' to specify the group of people with whom something becomes popular. That new fitness trend is really starting to catch on. The idea didn’t catch on at first, but now it’s everywhere and everyone is talking about it. It took a while, but the concept eventually caught on. Some trends catch on quickly, while others fade away. That hairstyle never really caught on outside the big cities. His music is finally catching on with a wider audience. The product failed to catch on in the European market. For some reason, the trend never quite caught on with younger people. It was popular for a while, but it didn’t really catch on long-term. MEANING 3: To understand something Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To realise, to understand Separable? No Let's now move on to our third meaning of the phrasal verb 'catch on', which is the other of the commonest applications, especially in spoken English, and means 'to understand or to realise something'. To explain further, we do not really use this application for when someone understands something easily or immediately, rather it is mainly used when someone takes time to understand something. This is particularly the case if he or she found it difficult to understand it. Alternatively, we can also use 'catch on' in this way to talk about when someone is late to realise that something is happening, specifically when all of the other people understand it or know what is happening. Like with the previous application, this one is also inseparable. It is sometimes followed by the additional preposition 'to' to specify the thing that is understood or realised. It took me a while, but I finally caught on. Kerry eventually caught on to what was happening after we'd been trying to show her for 10 minutes. Alma didn’t catch on at first, but eventually she understood the joke. Ben’s quite quick; he usually catches on straight away. By the time I caught on, it was too late to say anything. It took them ages to catch on to what we were doing. They haven’t caught on yet, but they will soon. Jeremy caught on that something wasn’t right. MEANING 4: To start thinking realistically Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Common Where is it used? Irish English Potential synonyms To wake up, to see sense Separable? Yes Our fourth and final usage of the phrasal verb 'catch on' is one that is limited geographically to the Emerald Isle (Ireland) and means 'to start thinking realistically'. To give you more information, this application is used in situations in which a person is being naïve about something or has ideas about things that are never going to happen in reality. It tends to be quite critical or corrective in tone as the speaker often wants the other person to stop believing that something will happen or is possible when it is not. As I mentioned, this is an Irish English and even though I am from the UK just across a very small sea from there, I have to admit that I have never heard it before. Michael needs to catch on and realise how serious this is. You’d want to catch on; that’s never going to work. Marie hasn’t caught on yet if she thinks Brendan’ll change. They need to catch on and stop wasting money like that. Catch on, will you? You can’t keep doing this. Paul’d want to catch on fairly quickly in that job. If you don’t catch on soon, you’ll be in trouble. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'catch on'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'catch on'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'make for' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is all about a phrasal verb that is relatively less well-known than many others: 'make for'. This nice little phrasal verb is one that can be used to talk about many diverse subjects like cocktails, emergencies and good television. In this post, I will explain its three different meanings for you, with lots of example sentences for each one and also give you a nice little idiom that that features it. So, let's get started and find out exactly what the phrasal verb 'make for' means.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Make For - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'make' and 'for' Make For - Meaning 1: Literal Make For - Meaning 2: To go towards somewhere Make For - Bonus: The idiom 'to make a beeline for someone / something' Make For - Meaning 3: To make something possible I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS MAKE FOR: KEY INFORMATION Usage Medium Number of meanings 3 Past tense forms Made for / Made for Separable? No Let's start the post in the usual way by analysing the individual words that make up the phrasal verb that I will be explaining; in this case 'make' and 'for'. Make - The verb to make is one that you are likely to have learned very early in your English learning and is extremely common. As a verb, 'to make' has a large number of uses, of which the most common ones are probably 'to create' or 'to form', 'to cause' and 'to force'. Despite how common it is, 'to make' is a verb that is often confusing for English learners as it is often mixed up with the verb 'to do' and common mistakes occur like 'to do a mistake' (for reference it is to make a mistake 😉 ). As with the majority of the most common verbs, 'to make' is irregular.... I am making dinner for my wife this evening. The children were making a lot of noise. We made a mistake and ended up losing a lot of money. My parents made me go to university. For - The prepositional particle 'for' is not one that is typically found in phrasal verb constructions; in fact this is the first time I have covered it on this website! We use 'for' in English for several different reasons, with perhaps the most common one being to talk about purpose or intended benefit. In other words, we use it to explain why something is done or to describe the person who benefits from something or is helped by it. In addition, we can also use it to talk about the duration of an action and to talk about how much something costs, among other meanings. The black bin is for normal waste and the green bin is for garden waste. I have a bought an engagement ring for my girlfriend. The flight from London to New York lasts for 7 hours. I paid £300 for this sofa. Now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings that we get when we combine these two words to form the phrasal verb 'make for'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To prepare for, to cook for Separable? Yes We are going to start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'make for' with the literal version of the combination of these two words, which is 'to create or make something for the benefit of another person'. As this one is so literal in meaning, it is not really classed as a true phrasal verb but I wanted to include it in the post just in case you wondered about it. I will keep it short as I am sure that the meaning is one that you are already very familiar with. When we talk about making something for someone, we are typically referring either to when we make something for them to eat or drink, e.g. a meal, a cup of coffee or a cocktail. Additionally, we could be talking about physically creating something for someone to have or to use, e.g. you might make a jumper for someone by knitting one. One last usage to be aware of is 'to make time for someone', which is commonly used to talk about ensuring that you have enough time in your life to spend with a friend, family member, partner or spouse. Rita made a cake for her sister’s birthday. I’ll make some tea for you. Ron made a sandwich for his son. Jo and Mike made a special meal for their guests. Loretta made a scarf for her grandmother. I will always make time for you, darling! Note that it is very common for speakers to drop the word 'for' when the indirect object pronoun (me, him, her etc.) comes directly after the word 'make'.... My husband makes me a coffee every morning. Joseph made her a playlist. We can also use this literal sense to describe when something is made with a specific purpose. This can be literal or it can be used to describe when one thing is very suitable or even perfect for a purpose. This knife was made for cutting meat. This room was made for weddings! They are the perfect couple; they were made for each other! MEANING 2: To go towards somewhere Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To head for, to go to, to travel to, to move to Separable? No The second meaning of the phrasal verb 'make for' that we will look at in this post is the first of the true phrasal verb meanings and is 'to go towards somewhere'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Door Exit Home Shelter To clarify this meaning, we use 'make for' when we want to talk about moving in the direction of a specific place or point. However, although this application does mean the same as 'go to', there are some differences in nuance and usage between the two that you should know. While we use 'go to' in a neutral way to talk about a movement, we tend to use 'make for' more when there is something dramatic, urgent or deliberate about the movement. Consider the following sentences.... When the fire alarm went off, the people went to the exit. When the fire alarm went off, the people made for the exit. In sentence 1, the tone is very neutral and is absolutely fine to use, however in the second sentence the tone is more urgent and the idea that is conveyed is that the people moved quickly and directly to the door as a result of the alarm. The best way that I can explain for when to use 'make for' in this way is when you see or visualise your destination and you go directly towards it with purpose or speed, making reaching this end point your only objective or intention in that moment. As a result, this application of 'make for' can often be found in stories and descriptive writing and is not as common as the more neutral 'go to'. On a grammatical note, this application is never separable and must always be followed by the destination or end point (this could be a pronoun like 'it' or 'there' if this is clear from the context). When the lights suddenly went out, everyone made for the exit. As the storm grew stronger, we made for shelter. Hearing footsteps behind him, Steve quickly made for the main road. The deer froze for a second, then made for the trees. The hikers checked their map and made for the summit of the hill. Ben waved goodbye and made for his car. The children spotted the ice cream van and immediately made for it. Photo: Pexels BONUS: The idiom 'to make a beeline for someone' Admittedly, as a native speaker, I am aware that English has some very strange and bizarre expressions and this idiom that I am going to tell you about now is definitely included in this! The expression 'to make a beeline for someone / something' is a common saying that people use to talk about when a person or animal goes directly to someone or something, like I have just explained in the previous section. For example, the moment my brother goes into a pub, he makes a beeline for the bar to get a beer (true fact - he loves beer!) or if you see someone that you want to talk to at a party, you may make a beeline for them and ignore all the other people that you pass on the way. The kids made a beeline for the swimming pool. Spotting a familiar face in the crowd, Sandra made a beeline for him. My wife got home from her run and immediately made a beeline for the fridge. MEANING 3: To make something possible Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To make possible Separable? No The final meaning of 'make for' that I will explain for you is the most advanced of the three and means 'to make something possible'. When we want to say that something (or a combination of things) contribute to, result in, produce or create something, we can often use 'make for' to express this. This application is quite formal and can be used to talk about subjects as diverse as movies, football, work and politics. It is generally used to deliver statements and is therefore often used in the simple present tense. Nevertheless, it is a high level usage and one that you could potentially use as a synonym for words like 'result in' or 'creates'. Good communication makes for a successful relationship. A clear structure makes for an effective lesson. Lack of sleep makes for a bad day at work. Warm weather makes for a perfect picnic. Too much noise makes for a stressful environment. Political instability makes for economic uncertainty. Poor planning rarely makes for successful outcomes. The argument between the competitors made for brilliant television! Short deadlines don’t always make for quality work. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'make for'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'make for'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'throw up' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context Photo: Pexels Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native. This post is all about 'throw up', which is a common English phrasal verb that is used to talk about topics like illness, surprise and haste, among other things. In this post, I will explain five different ways to use it, and provide you with lots of example sentences for each one so that you can impress your friends and family with your exceptional phrasal verb skills. So, let's make a start and find out what the phrasal verb 'throw up' is all about.... TABLE OF CONTENTS   (Click to jump to each one) Throw Up - The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'throw' and 'up' Throw Up - Meaning 1: Literal meaning Throw Up - Meaning 2: To vomit Throw Up - Meaning 3: To build something quickly 🇬🇧 Throw Up - Meaning 4: To reveal something of interest or note 🇬🇧 Throw Up - Meaning 5: To leave a job or career 🇬🇧 I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 Photo: Pexels THE BASICS THROW UP: KEY INFORMATION Usage Common Number of meanings 5 Past tense forms Threw up / Thrown up Separable? Yes We form the phrasal verb 'throw up' by combining the verb 'to throw' with the prepositional particle 'up' and before we start looking at the phrasal verb meanings, let's first quickly consider these two words as individual lexical units..... Throw - The verb 'to throw' is an irregular verb in English, whose main meaning is to send something through the air, most commonly with your hands. In addition to this, 'to throw' also has a number of less common meanings, which most notably for this blog post are 'to carelessly or casually put something somewhere' and 'to quickly move a part of your body'. Furthermore, 'to throw' is commonly used in phrasal verbs and like many common verbs, it is irregular. John threw the ball to Jane. Can you throw that pen to me? Ben hurriedly threw the boxes in the loft. Kate threw her head back and laughed loudly. Up - If you are a regular visitor to this website, you will know that 'up' is a super common particle in phrasal verbs and appears in many common ones. Sometimes, it can be used to add the literal meaning of a movement upwards or an increase to the base verb ( go up ), however most of the time it is used to add ideas and meanings to the verb that are not so obvious, such as completion (use up), creation ( set up ), improvement (smarten up) and disruption ( break up ). So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'throw up'.... MEANING 1: Literal Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level A1 - Beginner Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To toss up, to fling up Separable? Yes Let's begin our exploration of the phrasal verb 'throw up' with the easiest and most obvious of all its meanings, i.e. the literal one: 'to throw something in an upwards direction'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Ball Confetti Mortarboard caps Mud Dust Water Hands Photo: Wix Media As the meaning of this is easy to understand, I don't think we need to spend too much time on it, but just to confirm, it is simply used to talk about propelling an object upwards into the air with your hands. This is something that a tennis player does when starting a game or what university graduates traditionally do as part of their graduation ceremony. Usually, the words 'into the air' follow the words 'throw up' here. The students threw their graduation caps up into the air when the ceremony ended. Barbara threw a paper aeroplane up into the air, and it glided gently back down. The rugby player threw the ball high into the air, hoping his teammate would catch it. Sam closed his eyes and threw his father's ashes up into the air, letting the wind carry them away. Although this application is elementary level English at its most basic level, you should know that we can also use it in more advanced ways too. One such way is when something causes either an object or material to rise into the air as a result of movement or an impact with the ground. For example, a runner may throw water up as they run through a puddle or if something heavy falls and hits the ground, it may throw dust, dirt or rocks up into the air. The car sped down the dirt road, throwing up clouds of dust behind it. The construction trucks rumbled past, throwing up stones and grit from the road. The strong wind hit the waves, throwing up white foam along the shore. The explosion threw up a thick cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles. One other way that you can use this application in a more advanced way is with body parts, typically your arms and hands. If you throw your hands or arms up, it means that you move them very quickly upwards towards or above your head and is typically as a result of a strong emotion, shock or to protect yourself. If you are a good dancer (like me 😉), you may also throw your hands up on the dance floor, which is in fact a lyric that you may hear occasionally in dance music songs. Eleanor threw up her hands in frustration. Paul threw up his arms when he realised he had won. The crowd threw up their hands as the band finally came on stage. Startled by the noise, Melanie threw up her arms to protect her face. Throw your hands up in the air and get down to the funky beat! MEANING 2: To vomit Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level B2 - Upper intermediate Usage Common Where is it used? Everywhere Potential synonyms To vomit, to be sick, to bring up, to barf, to puke, to bring up Separable? Yes I think that this second application of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is the one that you are most likely to know as it is the most common and means 'to vomit'. For any of you who are not clear on what the verb 'to vomit' means, it is to eject food or drink from your stomach out of your mouth, typically when you are ill, drunk or on a boat. It is generally a rather unpleasant experience! One thing to note here with this application is that it is very informal and therefore it is unlikely that your doctor or medical physician would use this. It is a very common way to talk about vomiting in informal conversations among native speakers though. On a grammatical note, it is used the majority of the time in an intransitive way (without a direct object) to talk about and focus on the action of throwing up itself. Vincent felt so sick that he had to run to the bathroom and throw up. Marlene threw up after eating something that had gone off. The smell was so strong it nearly made me throw up. Ashley drank far too much wine and ended up throwing up outside the restaurant. Sarah's son woke up in the night and threw up all over the bed. I think I’m going to throw up; I feel terrible! My daughter gets motion sickness and sometimes throws up on long journeys. Dave suddenly turned pale and threw up in the sink. We can also use this application in a separable, transitive way when we want to focus on the the food or drink that was eaten and then came back out again. You should note that this is much less common in everyday English and whilst it is technically separable, most native speakers still use it inseparably.... Tom threw up his lunch after going on the rollercoaster. The baby kept throwing up her milk so her worried parents took her to the doctor. Jeremy drank too quickly and threw up everything he’d eaten. Jacob has accidentally swallowed a coin and we are hoping that he will throw it up again soon. MEANING 3: To build something quickly Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? Mainly British English Potential synonyms To build, to erect, to construct, to put up Separable? Yes The third of our applications of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is one that is also fairly informal and is used in reference to building and construction, meaning 'to build something quickly'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Building House Structure Fence Wall If we consider the action of throwing, we can say that it is stypically an action that is done with some speed or force, otherwise the object that is thrown would just fall to the ground without travelling very far. When we combine this idea of speed that we get from throwing with the idea of a building rising into the air during the construction process, we arrive at the idea of building something quickly. While speakers do often use this to talk about places where lots of new buildings appear seemingly out of nowhere in a neutral way, you should note that this can also carry a note of criticism that the buildings are of poor quality because not much care was taken in the hurry to build them. Furthermore, this application is not just used to talk about buildings and can extend to other structures that can be built by people such as tents, fences and walls too. While using 'throw up' in this way would be understood by most native English speakers, including Americans, it is definitely a more British English usage. The scout leaders threw up a temporary shelter in less than an hour. The housing developers threw up a row of cheap flats on the edge of town. After the storm, volunteers threw up makeshift tents for the displaced people. The company threw up an office block in record time. We threw up a fence around the site overnight to secure everything. A few food stalls had been thrown up near the festival entrance. The army threw up defensive walls along the border. Within weeks, new houses had been thrown up across the hillside. MEANING 4: To reveal something of interest or note Photo: Wix Media CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Medium Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To produce, to yield Separable? Yes Our fourth application of the phrasal verb 'throw up' is one that is often used to talk about surprise and revelation and means 'to reveal something of interest or note'. Nouns commonly used with this application.... Results / Findings Ideas Problems / Issues Questions To clarify, we use this application of 'throw up' to refer to situations in which unexpected facts or information become known for the first time, normally as a result of something that someone has done or said. Often, this new information then raises problems or issues for the people who receive the information. For example, this could be when the results of an investigation into something produce answers that were not anticipated or it may be when a court case or public debate raises ethical or moral questions that had not been considered or discussed beforehand. The main idea behind this application is that the results are surprising or different to what we expected, for example we would not use it if the results of an investigation were as expected. As with the previous application, this one is also most common in British English, where it can be found regularly in journalism, the media and academic writing. The investigation threw up several unexpected findings. The latest survey on religion has thrown up some surprising results. Our new IT system quickly threw up technical problems after it was installed. The political debate threw up some interesting points about education reform. That court case threw up some important ethical issues, which we are still discussing today. The trial threw up conflicting testimony from key witnesses. The merger threw up unexpected legal complications. The audit threw up some irregularities in the company’s accounts. MEANING 5: To leave a job or career Photo: Pexels CEFR Language Level C1 - Advanced Usage Rare Where is it used? British English Potential synonyms To give up, to quit, to leave, to abandon Separable? Yes Here we are at the final application of the phrasal verb 'throw up', which is a rarer one that means 'to leave a job or a career'. Nouns commonly used with this applications.... Job Career Position Office Post If you throw up a job or a career, it simply means that you quickly or suddenly leave your job, abandon your career or stop doing something professionally. This is normally used when it is by choice and not when it is forced and can often imply that that there was some drama or conflict that led to the 'throwing up' action. Again, this is another primarily British usage, although I must say that I don't think I have ever heard it before in conversation (maybe I just haven't been paying enough attention). Some sources say that it is a bit old-fashioned, which could perhaps explain why I don't know it. Let me know if you ever come across it and where; I'd be interested to know! Andrew threw up his job after a disagreement with his manager. Wendy threw up her post as company director with immediate effect. The finance minister threw up his office following the scandal. My Dad shocked his colleagues when he threw up his position and walked out. After years of frustration, Matilda finally threw up her career in finance. Photo: Pexels We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'throw up'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts. Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'throw up'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!! Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊 THE END