首页 / english

Verb Phrase from BBC

What is a phrasal verb?

• chicken out
  • decide not to do something because you are scared
  • Mark said he’d go sky diving 跳伞 but chickened out at the last minute.
• freak out
  • lose emotional control (from shock, excitement, fear etc.)
  • Ellie’s freaking out because she’s doing a presentation for 100 people tomorrow.
• get into (something)
  • start
  • Everyone’s here at the meeting now so let’s get into it.
• pick (something) up
  • grab and lift something
  • Please, pick up your clothes from the floor. It’s a mess in here!
• turn (something) on/off
  • start or give power to something electrical or mechanical
  • The bath is ready now, so you can turn off the tap.
• stand up
  • rise to your feet
  • Here, take my seat. I’ll stand up.
• look after (someone or something)
  • to take care of someone or something
  • I’ll look after you when you come home from hospital. I’ll make you meals and help you shower.
• come back
  • return
  • Daniel’s been travelling for a year, but he’s coming back next week.

Phrasal verbs for your morning routine

• go off
  • start making a noise (alarms)
  • I knew the cookies in the oven 烤箱 were ready when the timer went off.
• wake up
  • open your eyes and stop sleeping
  • The smell of freshly brewed 酿造,冲泡 coffee is a great way to wake up.
• sleep in
  • continue sleeping after the time you usually wake up
  • After a long week of work, Sarah allowed herself to sleep in on Saturday morning.
• get up
  • stand up after being in bed
  • My daughter got up at 5 am because she was so excited about her birthday.
• put (something) on
  • dress yourself in something
  • He quickly put on his running shoes and headed out for a morning jog.
• work out
  • train the body through exercise
  • I try to work out at the gym at least three times a week.
• pick (something) out
  • choose (something) carefully
  • Can you help me pick out a gift for my sister’s birthday?
• get dressed
  • put on your clothes
  • I turned up to an online meeting in pyjamas because I forgot to get dressed.
• work on (something)
  • spend time learning, studying or doing something
  • The team decided to work on the project collaboratively to achieve better results

Phrasal verbs for housework

• clean up
  • make something clean
  • The house was a mess after the party, but everyone helped to clean up.
• throw (something) away
  • dispose of or discard something that you don’t want
  • He decided to throw away his old magazine collection after they got wet.
• wash up
  • clean anything you’ve used while preparing food (British English)
  • If I cook, will you wash up the dishes?
• put (something) away
  • place something in its original place after using it
  • The students were told to put their textbooks away before the next activity.
• take (something) out
  • remove something from somewhere
  • After moving house, they took out their fragile 脆弱的 items from the boxes.
• hang (something) up
  • suspend 中止 something above ground
  • Instead of putting wet towels 毛巾 on the floor, it’s better to hang them up to dry.

Phrasal verbs for friendship

• get on (with someone)
  • like someone and have a friendly relationship with them
  • My sister and I really get on. We have a lot of fun together!
  • Arturo gets on with his colleagues. They have similar personalities.
• fall out (with someone)
  • stop being friends with someone after an argument
  • Mia and Nathan fell out after Mia lied and didn’t apologise.
  • Jake fell out with his roommate about household responsibilities.
• run into (someone)
  • meet someone unexpectedly
  • Fatima ran into her neighbour at the supermarket.
  • Two childhood friends ran into each other in a London coffee shop.
• hear from (someone)
  • receive communication from someone, e.g. via phone, email or letter I was thrilled to hear from my long-lost friend after years of being out of touch. Do you know how Uncle Jim is? I haven’t heard from him in a while.
• make up (with someone)
  • become friends with someone again after having an argument
  • It took time, but eventually the siblings made up and repaired their relationship.
  • We’re all waiting for you and Charlie to make up. It would be a shame to lose the friendship.
• hang out (with someone)
  • spend time relaxing or socialising with someone
  • At the weekend, my friends and I hang out at the local coffee shop.
  • I love hanging out with my younger cousins they’re so funny!
• catch up (with someone)
  • talk to someone about what’s been happening in your lives since the last time you spoke
  • Family reunions are a great time to catch up with relatives you don’t see often.
  • I caught up with Lina last week – so much has happened since I last saw her!

Phrasal verbs for education

• be into (something)
  • have an interest in something
  • Many teenagers nowadays are into gaming and spend hours playing with friends.
• take (something) up
  • start participating in an activity
  • During retirement, Mr Johnson took up gardening to stay active and spend time outdoors.
• read up on (something)
  • learn about something through reading
  • Before starting his business, Jack spent weeks reading up on entrepreneurship.
• brush up on (something)
  • improve your existing skills that may be a bit weak
  • Mark did a refresher course to brush up on his accounting skills before starting his new job.
• work on (something)
  • put effort and concentration 专注 into doing something
  • She needs to work on her time management so she can meet deadlines more easily.
• fall behind
  • progress more slowly than others doing the same activity
  • Because of her illness, Sarah fell behind in her coursework.
• catch up (on something)
  • spend extra time doing something because you did not do it earlier
  • Once Sarah recovered from her illness, she took some time to catch up on her coursework.
• hand (something) in
  • give a finished project to the person or people who need to see it
  • Once Sarah had caught up on her coursework, she handed it in to her teacher.

Phrasal verbs for money

• fork out
  • spend a lot reluctantly 勉强
  • I forked out a large part of my savings for my cat’s medical bills this month.
• splash out (on)
  • spend a lot enthusiastically 热情 in a way that shows a lot of excitement and interest about somebody/something
  • After our wedding, we splashed out on a safari in South Africa for our honeymoon.
• pay (someone) back
  • return money that you borrowed from someone
  • My dream is to pay my parents back for all the money they spent on my education.
• run out of
  • spend all your money, leaving nothing left
  • Unfortunately, we ran out of money before we finished building the shed 棚子, and we couldn’t pay for more materials.
• live on
  • have a particular amount of money that you use to buy the (essentials). in other words - sustain yourself on the money you have (neutral)
  • Since retiring, my grandparents are able to live on their state pensions.
• get by
  • live with difficulty with the money you have. in other words - sustain yourself on the money you have (negative)
  • I get by with my salary, but I don’t have enough to save up or treat 对待，当作 myself to luxuries 奢侈品.
• save up
  • accumulate your money by not spending it, usually for a purpose
  • My sister is saving up to buy a house.

Phrasal verbs for health and fitness

• warm up
  • do light exercise or stretches to prepare the body for the main workout
  • Let’s warm up before the race by doing a light jog around the field.
• work out
  • train your body through exercise
  • I try to work out at least twice a week. It helps to relieve stress.
• cool down
  • do light exercise or stretches after the main workout to help your muscles recover
  • After running, I cool down by walking for five minutes, then stretching.
• stick to (something)
  • continue doing something consistently 一贯的, even if it’s difficult
  • I’m really proud of my daughter for sticking to her football training programme.
• give up
  • stop doing something and accept defeat
  • After six attempts at jumping two metres and failing, she gave up.
• give (something) up
  • stop doing or consuming something that’s bad for you
  • I’ve given up ordering takeaway pizzas because I want to eat more healthily.
• cut down (on)
  • reduce how much you do or consume something
  • I really need to cut down on sugary 含糖量 snacks 零食 after meals if I want to feel healthier.
• cut (something) out
  • eliminate 消除 something from your life completely
  • Lifting weights was giving me neck pain, so I’ve cut that out of my workout routine.

Phrasal verbs for technology

• log/sign in
  • enter your username and password to access a computer system
  • I can’t log in because I’m struggling to remember my password!
• log/sign out
  • to exit or end your computer session
  • Remember to log out of your online banking after use so no one else can access your details.
• sign up
  • register or create an account for a service or website
  • If you want to be the first to hear about concert 音乐会 tickets, sign up to the mailing list.
• scroll through
  • move through information or images on a screen with a dragging or swiping motion
  • I want to read more books, but first I need to break the habit of scrolling through social media whenever I’m bored.
• turn/switch (something) on
  • give power to, or activate a device or system
  • I was bored, so I turned the TV on and started watching.
• turn/switch (something) off
  • stop the power of a device or system
  • Remember to turn off your computer before you leave the office.
• turn (something) up
  • increase the volume or intensity 物体的，程度的，情感的，集中度的强度 of something
  • I can’t hear the TV - can you turn it up?
• turn (something) down
  • decrease the volume or intensity of something
  • The party next door is so noisy. Shall we ask them to turn the music down?
• set (something) up
  • start or prepare a programme or device so that you can use it
  • My grandparents have finally got wi-fi, but I need to help them set it up.

Phrasal verbs for travel

• look forward to (something)
  • anticipate 预期,预见并提前行动,期盼 something good or exciting happening in the future
  • He’s really looking forward to his summer holiday by the beach.
  • My parents are really looking forward to their book club event this weekend.
• get away
  • escape from your usual responsibilities and go on holiday
  • I’m feeling burnt 烧毁，烫伤，比喻耗尽 out. I’d love to get away for a few days and spend time in the countryside.
  • We’ve had a hard year. Let’s get away at some point in the winter months.
• pick (someone) up
  • collect someone and take them to another location, usually in a vehicle like a car
  • The taxi picked the woman up from her house and took her to the airport.
  • The bus picks us up every morning and takes us to school.
• hurry up
  • go faster
  • Hurry up! We’re going to miss our flight!
  • We really need to hurry up if we want to catch the train.
• get in/out
  • enter/exit a vehicle with a small space (car, taxi, truck, lorry, van, helicopter), and immediately sit down
  • I got in the car and then started driving.
  • Once they arrived, they got out the taxi and walked into the airport.
• get on/off
  • enter/exit a vehical standing on your feet (bus, plane, train, tram, boat)
  • We’re at our stop - let’s get off the bus.
  • After she got on the bus, she realised it was the wrong one.
• set off
  • Begin your journey
  • Grandpa set off at 6am to make sure he arrived at the airport early for his flight.
  • Once we had prepared the picnic 野餐 food, we set off towards the park.
• check in
  • Register your arrival at the airport, at a hotel, or some kind of facility.
  • After checking in at the hotel reception, she gave them the room key.
  • Before going through airport security, you have to check in at the airline’s desk.
• take off (plane)
  • leaves the runway
  • The plane took off smoothly and then we were in the air.
  • You have to put your phone in airplane mode while the plane takes off.

Phrasal verbs for feelings

suppressed 往往带有更强的阻止，消除，不让其发生的意味，restrain更多的是控制，限定在一个范围内

• bottle up (feelings/emotions)
  • keep feelings hidden and suppressed 压制（情感，反应，行为），阻止（信息，证据，出版物），抑制（生长，发展）instead of talking about them
  • He tends to bottle up his anger, which often leads to stress.
  • Don’t bottle up your emotions; it’s important to talk about how you feel.
• open up
  • share your feelings freely and openly
  • After years of keeping everything inside, she finally opened up to her therapist 治疗师.
  • He finds it hard to open up about his past, even to close friends.
• hold back/hold (something) back
  • hesitate 踌躇,犹豫,不情愿,有所顾虑 or restrain 身体、情感或行动上的抑制,阻止（增长或发展） oneself from saying or doing something
  • He wanted to tell her the truth, but he decided to hold back.
  • She had to hold back her tears during the emotional movie.
  • I tried to hold back my laughter during the meeting, but it was impossible.
• break down
  • lose control of your emotions and start crying
  • After weeks of stress, he finally broke down and cried.
  • She broke down in tears when she heard the sad news.
• blow up
  • lose emotional control in an angry way
  • He blew up at his work colleague for making the same mistake again.
  • The teacher blew up when the students wouldn’t stop talking.
• freak out
  • lose emotional control (from shock, excitement, fear etc.)
  • Don’t freak out, but there’s a spider on your shoulder!
  • She freaked out when she saw her favourite popstar on the street.
• calm down
  • return to a state of calmness or relaxation after feeling intense emotions
  • After taking a few deep breaths, I started to calm down.
  • He needed a few minutes to calm down after the argument.
• chill out
  • relax
  • They spent the weekend chilling out by the beach, forgetting about their worries.
  • You need to chill out and stop worrying so much about the exam.

Phrasal verbs for sleep

• lie down
  • put yourself in a flat 名词是公寓，平面，主要含义是平面，平的，零增长的, usually horizontal position
  • He lay down on the sofa to watch some TV and ended up falling asleep.
  • The doctor asked him to lie down while she examined him.
• stay up
  • continue to stay awake longer than you would usually
  • We stayed up late watching movies until 2am.
  • The kids wanted to stay up past their bedtime past（gone by recently; just ended）超过就寝时间 to see the fireworks 烟花.
• doze/nod off
  • go to sleep slowly and gradually 缓慢，渐进，非突然, often without intending 计划，打算 to and often during the day
  • He dozed off during the lecture because he was so tired.
  • It doesn’t matter how interested Dad is in the film, he always nods off.
• crash out
  • fall asleep rapidly because you’re very tired
  • After the long hike, everyone crashed out as soon as they got back to the cabin.
  • We crashed out at a friend’s place after the party because we were too tired to drive home.
• sleep through (something)
  • sleep and not be woken up by a loud noise or some kind of disturbance
  • She slept through her alarm and was consequently late for work.
  • He slept through the thunderstorm and didn’t wake up until morning.
• sleep on (something)
  • think about something while sleeping before making a decision
  • I’m not sure about the offer. I’ll sleep on it and give you an answer tomorrow.
  • Before making any decisions, it’s always good to sleep on it and think it over.

Phrasal verbs for work

• take (something) on
  • accept responsibility for a task or project, often in addition to one’s usual duties.
  • She decided to take on a new project at work, even though she was already busy.
  • He’s always willing to take on extra tasks to help the team.
• come up with (something)
  • think of or create an idea, solution, or plan.
  • She came up with a brilliant marketing strategy that boosted sales.
  • We need to come up with a new approach 方式，核心含义是是接近 to meet the deadline.
• put (something) in
  • contribute something to achieve a goal
  • He’s been putting in a lot of effort 费力的事(体力,精力,脑力,付出了很多) to improve his performance at work.
  • They put in long days and weekends to complete the project before the deadline.
• knuckle down
  • start working very hard, especially after a period of not doing much.
  • Let’s get rid of 摆脱; be ride of: 摆脱 all the distractions 分心 and knuckle down so I can get this project done.
  • The team needs to knuckle down and focus if they want to finish the project on time.
• get ahead (of something or of your schedule) 进步，提升
  • make progress 取得进步 and move past others 超越他人, or complete your tasks earlier than expected
  • She worked hard to get ahead in her career and eventually became a manager.
  • In order to get ahead in this company, you need to be proactive 积极的，未雨绸缪的 and take initiative 主动性.
• look into (something)
  • investigate, or get information before you take action
  • The HR department is looking into the complaints 投诉 made by the employees.
  • We need to look into new software options to improve our workflow.
• get back to (someone)
  • speak to someone again later to give them a reply after you’ve looked into something
  • I’ll get back to you with more information after I discuss it with the team.
  • Can you get back to the client about their inquiry as soon as possible?

Phrasal verbs for eating

• crunch 侧重于食物的脆性和因此产生的清脆响亮的咀嚼声
• munch 侧重秩序性，通常是响亮的咀嚼动作，带有享受的含义，不一定强调食物的脆性
• snack on (something)
  • eat small amounts of something casually 随意地（行为）休闲地（着装）顺口地（言语）偶尔地（频率）, between meals
  • She likes to snack on almonds while she works.
  • The kids were snacking on biscuits while watching the film.
• munch on (something)
  • eat something casually, usually in a way that makes a crunching 咀嚼 sound
  • He’s munching on his apple.
  • They munched on popcorn 爆米花 at the cinema.
• dig in or tuck in (to something) 享用
  • start eating excitedly or enthusiastically 激情的，热情的 in a way that shows a lot of excitement and interest about somebody/something. Often used to give people permission to start eating
  • The food looks delicious — let’s dig in!
  • The children tucked into their pancakes 煎饼 with delight 喜悦.
• eat up or eat (something) up
  • finish all the food on your plate. Often used as an imperative 急迫；命令
  • Eat up! You’ve got a big day tomorrow — you’ll need the energy!
  • You’d better eat up all your vegetables before you leave the table!
• pig out
  • eat a lot of food in a greedy wanting more money, power, food, etc. than you really need way, often more than you need
  • After the long hike, she pigged out on sugary doughnuts 甜甜圈.
  • We usually pig out on snacks when we have movie nights.
• eat out
  • eat somewhere outside of the home, like a restaurant or cafe
  • I love eating out, but it can be expensive if you do it all the time.
  • We’ve got no food in the house, so why don’t we eat out this evening?

Phrasal verbs for climate change

• heat up
  • increase in temperature
  • The planet is heating up due to a high level of CO2 in the atmosphere 大气层.
  • If you put food in the microwave, it heats up.
• rely on (something)
  • depend on something; need something for another thing to function
  • Humans rely on fossil 化石 fuels to heat our homes and fuel our cars.
  • When I broke my ankle, I relied on my family to help me around the house.
• dry up
  • lose liquid 液态 and become dry
  • This valley used to be a lake but it dried up centuries ago.
  • The juice you spilled 溢出 on the floor has finally dried up.
• die out
  • gradually become extinct 绝种 e.g. species
  • If we don’t protect their habitats, many species will die out before the end of the century.
  • Some traditional skills are dying out in modern society.
• wipe (something) out
  • eliminate something, e.g. a species, in a sudden and destructive 毁灭性的 way
  • Pollution 污染 and deforestation 毁坏林木 have wiped out entire ecosystems 生态系统.
  • The hurricane wiped out the entire neighbourhood, leaving only destruction and debris 瓦砾.
• cut down on (something)
  • use or do less of something
  • One way to combat climate change is to cut down on our use of fossil fuels.
  • I’m going to start cutting down on sugar to improve my health.
• fight for (something)
• push for (something) 争取
  • try really hard to achieve something or make it happen
  • The community is fighting for cleaner air and water in their neighbourhood.
  • The workers are pushing for higher wages 按照小时，周结算的薪水 and better conditions.
• take part in (something)
  • participate 参与 in an activity or event
  • I took part in a beach clean-up event and together we removed 200 bags of rubbish.
  • Every year, we take part in a fundraising 筹资，募资 challenge to raise money for sustainability sustain 是持续, sustainability 是可持续的 projects.

Verb Phrase

• out of 源自，来自
  • This table is made out of wood 这张桌子使用木头做的
  • She spoke out of experience 她都是经验之谈
  • She is out of a small town in the countryside. 她来自乡下的小镇上
• out of 缺乏，用尽
  • We are out of milk 我们把牛奶喝完了
  • He felt completely out of breath after running.
  • She is out of practice. 她疏于锻炼了
• out of 离开，在…之外
  • He walked out of the room. 他走出了房间
  • She is out of town this week 她这周不在城里
• out of 因为，出于（原因和动机）
  • He did it out of love 他出于爱才这么做
  • She apologized out of politness 她处于礼貌而道歉
  • Don’t make a decision out of fear 不要因为恐惧而做出决定
• out of 在…之中
  • Out of ten applicants, only two were chosen. 所有申请人中，只有两个被选中了
  • So out of all the kids he’s the oldest? 所以，在所有孩子中，他是最年长的
• out of 超出…范围，不在某种状态
  • The situation is out of control 情况失控了
  • He is out of danger now 他已经脱离危险
  • That’s out of my league 那超出了我的能力范围
• work out - 顺利发展 After working out a design.
• bank on - 指望 I wouldn’t bank on Chris coming on time — he’s always late
• set apart - 与什么不同 Nissan has a proud history of pioneering innovative technology that set us apart
• auto plants - 汽车厂 the company announced that it’s reducing the number of its auto plants to 10 from 17