IES BEN ARABI Depto.

Inglés

PHRASAL VERBS WITH MULTIPLE MEANINGS

●BREAK DOWN:

▪Stop working-My car broke down yesterday night when I was coming back home.

▪Divide into small parts-Plastic breaks down into small particles but it never disappears.

▪Begin to cry- When he heard the news ,he broke down and started to cry.

●BRING UP :

▪Start talking about a topic- It is a great idea! You should bring it up tomorrow at the meeting!

▪Educate-He was brought up in a strict English boarding house.

●PICK UP :

▪Collect somebody that is waiting- Why don´t you pick me up tomorrow at 8?

▪improve after a bad period- Business is picking up this month. We´ve made lots of money.

▪Learn a new language or skill – Where did you pick up that beautiful French accent?

●PUT ON:

▪Place clothing or jewellery on- Why don´t you put on that dress?

▪Produce or present a show- Last year my students put on a fabulous Grease performance.

●BREAK UP:

▪Divide into small parts- Break up the chocolate and melt it in a pan.

▪Separate after a relationship- The couple broke up last month because they quarrelled a lot.

●TAKE OFF:

▪ Leave the ground and fly. – The flight didn´t take off when it was planned.

▪ remove your clothes- Why don´t you take off that awful dress

▪ become successful – Adele´s career took off when she released her second album.
●WORK OUT-

▪exercise-I´m going to work out three times a week at the gym, I need to lose weight.

▪resolve, have a positive outcome-We can work it out.

●SET UP:

▪Establish-They set up the new shop in Oxford Street.

▪trick, deceive-They tried to set him up.

▪assemble- The tried to set the computer up.

●PASS OUT:

▪give, distribute-The teacher passed out the test to the students.

▪faint, lose consciousness- It was so hot in the class that I felt I was going to pass out.

●TAKE OUT:

▪remove something from your pocket-When you get to school , take your books out of your
backpack.

▪borrow- I took out ten books from the library.

▪bring someone on a social encounter- Take your girlfriend out to the movies!

●BLOW UP:

▪Explode- The factory blew up due to a gas leak.

▪explode in anger- He blew up when he found out that his mistake had made the company
lose some money.

●BACK UP:

▪make an extra copy-You should back up your files so you won´t lose them.

▪move backwards-He crashed his car into a tree while backing up.

▪give moral support- My co-workers backed me up when I complained to the boss.