Phrasal Verbs Topics is designed to help intermediate to advanced learners of English improve their knowledge of phrasal verbs. It can be used as a self-study guide by learners, or used by teachers in their EFL/ESL classes whether online or classroom based learning and teaching.
See also . . .
Phrasal Verbs – Bb and Examples
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back out |
Before the election, the president promised to cut taxes if he won. But after being elected he backed out, saying they couldn’t afford to.
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| They’d agreed to increase wages, but backed out when their profits fell. | |
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back up |
When writing your essay, state your thesis and then back up what you say with examples to show that it’s true.
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| The prosecutor backed his
claim up with enough evidence to prove it. |
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| I’ll back you up if anyone says you’re lying. I know what you’re saying is true and I’ll do whatever I can to help you. | |
| We trust Sue and backed her up when the company accused her of stealing. | |
| base on |
They always base their new designs on the latest market research.
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| Our prices are based on the cost of production and
customer expectations. |
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bear on / upon |
The judge said that the new evidence didn’t bear on the case and couldn’t be presented in court. |
| We only need information that bears directly upon
the issue being looked at. |
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beat up |
Brad told us about the time he was beaten up on the street by a gang of thugs and had to go to hospital.
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| He said the police beat him up to make him sign
the confession. |
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begin with |
All our classes begin with some conversation practice. The teacher comes in and asks us how we are and what we’ve been doing.
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| His first name is Rick, which begins with the
letter ‘r’. |
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believe in |
Not many people believe in ghosts these days, but when I was young many people believed in them. |
| Our boss believes in the power of positive thinking
and teaches us about it. |
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belong to |
Who does that big Harley Davidson motorbike in the carpark belong to? Is it yours? |
| The DVD isn’t mine. It belongs to the school, so I
can’t lend it to anyone. |
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black out |
The storm blacked out the city and there wasn’t any electricity for over an hour. |
| The city was blacked out when the power plant
workers went on strike. |
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| Jim drank so much whisky that he blacked out. We had to throw water on his face to wake him up. | |
| I don’t remember anything about it, so I
must have blacked out. |
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blow away |
I lost my favourite hat today. I was standing on a cliff when a strong gust of wind blew it away and it went sailing down into the sea.
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| If you stand downwind
your cigarette smoke will be blown away from us. |
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blow out |
Becky blew out the candles on her birthday cake, and then she made a wish. |
| Make sure the flame in the lamp doesn’t blow out.
Lighting it isn’t easy. |
|
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bounce back |
It’s been a bad year for our company, but I’m sure we’ll bounce back and do better than ever next year.
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| It didn’t take David Beckham long to bounce
back after his injury. |
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break away |
The people in the south of the country wanted to break away and form their own separate state. |
| After the conflict, a few politicians broke away to
form their own party. |
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break down |
When Katie was driving to work her car broke down, so she left it on the side of the road and took a taxi instead. |
| Talks between the army
and rebels broke down after more bomb attacks. |
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| She broke down at the funeral, so I gave her a tissue to wipe the tears from her eyes. | |
| He broke down and cried
when his son’s body was returned from the war. |
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break in |
You should break in your new football boots by wearing them at training for a while before using them in a real match.
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| Martina was having a conversation but I had to break in and tell her that her daughter was on the phone and needed to talk to her urgently. | |
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break into |
The thieves broke into the house and stole some valuable paintings and jewelry. |
| Someone broke into our computer network and
stole some important data. |
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break off |
William broke off his engagement to Kate after they’d had an argument, but they soon made up and eventually got married.
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| The two sides couldn’t agree, so they broke the
negotiations off. |
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break out |
Many people were angry when the government increased the price of oil and petrol, and protests broke out on the streets of the city.
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| A prisoner broke out of jail, but the police caught him quickly and put him back inside. | |
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break up
|
The signal on my phone was breaking up and I couldn’t hear what he was saying. |
| The phone’s signal was
getting weak so I said, ‘You’re breaking up.’ |
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bring along |
When we go to the beach, why don’t you bring some friends along as well? |
| Would you like us to bring along some food
and drinks? |
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bring back |
When she hears that song, it brings lots of memories back from when she was young. |
| Reading my old diaries brought back the feelings
I’d had many years ago. |
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| bring down | Rebel fighters want to bring down the government and take control of the country. |
| Huge street protests eventually brought the
corrupt president down. |
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bring forward |
The meeting was scheduled for next week, but we’ve had to bring it forward to tomorrow.
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| The judge agreed to bring forward the trial date to
help speed things up. |
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bring on |
Sally’s crying. What brought that on? Don’t tell me someone asked her about her old boyfriend! |
| I never drink alcohol
because all it does is bring on a headache. |
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build on |
We’ll have to build on our success and keep working hard in order to stay ahead of our competitors. |
| If we build on our market share, we could end up
dominating the sector. |
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build up |
My son’s going to the gym to build up his muscles. He wants to get big and strong so no-one will try to pick on him.
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| Now she’s building her stock portfolio up by
buying shares in banks. |
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bump into |
You’ll never guess who I bumped into at the mall today. It was Jenny! She just got back from India. |
| My wife comes from a huge family. She’s always bumping into relatives. | |
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burn down |
The house burned down in the fire. There was nothing left but rubble and ashes. |
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The fire burned their factory down, but their insurance will pay for it. |
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butt in |
Maria interrupts people too much. When someone is speaking, she’ll butt in before they’ve finished talking to tell us what she thinks.
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| She needs to learn how to join in a conversation
without butting in. |
