Essential Phrasal Verbs for English Fluency

Posted on Mar 12, 2025 in Administration and Management

Essential Phrasal Verbs

  • Run into: Come across/meet someone. John works in that office. I quite often run into him in the streets around here.
  • Get round: Overcome (a problem). I can’t think of a way to get round the problem.
  • Take to: To develop a liking for something or someone. She has a very pleasant manner. I’m sure the children will take to her at once.
  • Come into: Inherit something. He expects to come into a lot of money in his grandfather’s will.
  • Take after: Be alike/resemble someone. My father and I have the same personality. I take after him much more than my mother.
  • Go back on: Retract from. If they go back on their promise, I’ll never trust them again.
  • Be up to (1): Depend on. You must make your suggestions to the director. Then it’ll be up to him to decide.
  • Be up to (2): Be occupied with (usually something mischievous). There are some strange noises coming from Jane’s room. What on earth can she be up to?
  • Catch up with: Reach the same level. He missed a week of school through illness, so he will have to catch up with the other pupils.
  • Put up with: Tolerate, bear, stand something. I don’t think I can put up with this noise any longer.
  • Make up for: Compensate for. I’m sorry we had to cancel the party, but to make up for it let’s all go to the cinema.
  • Do away with: Get rid of/abolish. The growing use of credit cards may ultimately do away with the use of cash altogether.
  • Look down on: Despise. I’m afraid they’re very snobbish. They look down on their poorer relations.
  • Turn in: Go to sleep. It’s past midnight and I’m tired. I think I’ll turn in.
  • Turn up: Arrive or appear. I waited nearly an hour for them, but they didn’t turn up.
  • Fall through: Fail to be completed. After all the trouble you’ve taken, I hope your plans don’t fall through.
  • Break out: Begin, start. There is a very real fear that war may break out soon.
  • Look up: Improve, become better. We’ve had some hard times recently, but things are beginning to look up again.
  • Go off: Explode. The emergency services thought that the bomb might go off at any moment.
  • Break up: To finish. The schools break up next week. It’s almost holiday-time.
  • Come out: Appear (be published). Her new book is due to come out next month. I wonder what the critics will think of it.
  • Fall off: Decrease. The number of tourists visiting Spain begins to fall off in September.
  • Come up: Be mentioned. The subject of higher salaries will probably come up at the meeting.
  • Go down: Be received with approval. Don’t get so nervous about your speech tonight. I’m sure it’ll go down very well.
  • Break down: Lose control of emotions. She’s not a very strong person. I’m afraid she might break down when she hears the news.
  • Fall out: Have an argument. They haven’t spoken since that argument. How silly to fall out over such a stupid thing.
  • Hold on: Wait. I think we’re going in the wrong direction. Hold on, I’ll look at the map.
  • Drop in: Informally, non-announced visit. I live at Hall Street. Drop in if you’re in the district.
  • Drop off: Fall asleep. The meeting was long and the room was hot. I was afraid I might drop off.