is evidence just does not add up: make sense

- Jim was asking after you: inquire about

- Sheila was right, so Paul had to back down: yield in an argument

- We hadn't bargained for there being so much traffic, and we missed the plane. :
take into account

- Helen's ability was borne out by her sister. : confirm the truth

- Henry broke down and wept when he heard the news. : lose control of the
emotions

- He broke off to answer the phone. : stop talking

- The party finally broke up at 3.00 am. : come to an end

- The crisis was brought about by Brenda's resignation. : cause to happen

- The team tried for years to win the competition and they finally brought it off. :
succeed in doing sth

- Sitting in the damp brought on his rheumatism. : cause the onset of an illness

- You have brought this on/upon yourself. : cause trouble to happen to oneself

- After much discussion, I brought about the committee round to my point of view. :
influence someone to your point of view

- I feel I ought to bring up another small matter : mention

- Jane had a difficult role to play, but she carried it off. : complete successfully

- The attack was successfully carried out. : complete a plan

- This new hair style is beginning to catch on. : become popular-colloquial

- Let me explain how the situation came about. : happen

- It all comes down to whether you are prepared to accept less money. : be in the
end a matter of

- The government has come in for a lot of criticism over the decision. : receive -
especially criticism, blame

- I'm afraid that deal did not come off after all. : take place successfully
- All the flowers have come out.
When the news came out, everyone was shocked. : appear

- Look, something has come up, and I can't meet you. : occur-usually a problem -
colloquial

- We've come up against a bit of a problem. : meet a difficulty

- The play didn't come up to our expectations. : equal - especially expectations,

standard

- We still haven't come up with a solution to the problem. : think of - an answer, a

plan, a solution...

- Don't worry, you can count on me. : rely on

- I can't come to your party, something has cropped up. : happen unexpectedly

- Dog licences have been done away with.

What if they do away with the old man. : abolish - colloquial
murder

- We are having our living room done up. : decorate - colloquial

- A white sports car drew up outside the door. : come to a stop

- The contract is being drawn up at the moment. : organize - especially a document

- Drop in any time you're passing. : pay a visit - colloquial

- The baby has just dropped off. : fall asleep

- We ended up staying there for lunch.

The car ended up in a ditch. : finish in a certain way, or place

- You have to face up to your responsibilities. : have courage to deal with -

especially responsibilities

- Everyone fell about when Jane told her joke. : show amusement - especially
laughing

- If the worst comes to the worst, we've got our savings to fall back on. : use as a
last resort

- It was an unlikely story but he fell for it.

I fell for you the moment I saw you. : - be deceived by
- fall in love with
- Peter has fallen out with his boss. : quarrel with

- The plan fell through at the last minute. : fail to come to completion

- Old Mr Smith didn't feel up to walking all that way. : feel capable of doing sth

- Thanks for the information about that book. I'll follow it up.
We;l follow up this lesson next week. : - act upon a suggestion
- take more action

- I had the feeling I wasn't getting my meaning across. : be understood - especially

get an idea across

- What are you getting at exactly? : imply - about personal matters

- This cold weather really gets me down. : make to feel depressed - colloquial

- It's time we got down to some real work. : begin to seriously deal with

- Susan was punished but Alice got off.

They were lucky to get off with such light sentences. : avoid punishment

- He must be getting on for seventy. : approach a certain age/time/number

- Sue is getting on very well in her new job. : make progress - especially in life

- I couldn't get over how well she looked. : be surprised

- I'll be glad to get this awful business over with. : come to the end of something
unpleasant.

- Sorry, but I haven't got round to fixing the lap yet. : find time to do something.

- The children are getting up to something in the garden.

What have you been getting up to lately? : do something - usually bad when about
children - colloquial

- His false identity papers gave him away. : betray somebody

- The cheese had begun to give off a strange smell. : send off a smell or gas

- When our money was given out we had to borrow some. : be exhausted

- The rest of the time was given over to playing cards. : abandon, devote

- Why don't you give up? You're getting on my nerves. : stop - colloquial
- The escaped prisoner gave herself up. : surrender

- After ten days the ship was given up for lost. : believed to be dead or lost

- The management has gone back on its promise. : break a promise

- I don't go in for that kind of thing. : make a habit of

- Are you thinking of going in for the race? : enter competition

- This milk has gone off. : become bad - food

- Something funny is going on. : happen - usually negative

- There weren't enough life-jackets to go round. : be enough

- When it came to actually stealing the money, Henry couldn't go through with it :
complete a promise or plan

- This new record is growing on me. : become more liked - colloquial

- I think we should hang onto the car until next year. : keep - colloquial

- My teacher has (got) it in for me. : be deliberately unkind to someone

- I put up with the problem for a while but in the end I had it out with her. : express
feelings so as to settle a problem

- I don't believe you. You're having me on. : deceive - colloquial

- Mark and Sarah really hit it off at the party. : get on well with - colloquial

- They hit upon/on the solution quite by chance. : discover by chance - often an idea

- We won't hold out much hope that the price will fall. : offer - especially with hope

- Sorry I'm late, I was held up in the traffic. : delay

- John was always held up as an example to me. : use as an example - i.e. a model
of good manner

- I don't hold with the idea of using force. : agree with - an idea

- Well done! Keep up the good work! : continue

- The company has laid down strict procedures for this kind of situation. : state a rule
- especially lay down the law
- Sorry to let you down, but I can't give you a lift today. : disappoint, break a promise

- We haven't let Tina in on the plans yet. : allow to be a part of a secret

- As Ivy was young, the judge let him off with a fine. : excuse from punishment

- We're planning a surprise for Joe, but don't let on. : inform about a secret -
colloquial

- If City lose, they'll never live it down. : suffer a loss of reputation

- The play quite lived up to my expectations. : reach an expected standard

- The police have promised to look into the problem. : investigate

- We look on this town as our real home. : consider

- If you're passing through Athens, look me up. : visit when in the area

- The automatic parking of this car makes for easier parking. : result in

- The thief made off with a valuable necklace. : run away with

- Joe made out that he hadn't seen the No Smoking sign. : pretend

- I couldn't quite make out what the notice said. : manage to see or understand

- Janet is really odd. I can't make her out. : understand sb's behaviour

- I think you made up the story! : invent

- Our success makes up for all the hard times. : compensate for

- You have missed out a word here. : fail to include

- Five people got promoted, but I missed out again. : lose a chance - colloquial

- None of the children would own up to breaking the window. : confess - colloquial

- John has packed in his job. : stop an activity - colloquial

- She paid him back for all his insults. : take revenge - colloquial

- The weather seems to be picking up. : be better - colloquial

- I asked Jim to name a suitable day, but I couldn't pin him down. : force to give a
clear statement
- The car is playing up again. It won't start. : behave or work badly

- I pointed out that I would be on holiday anyway. : draw attention to a fact

- It was a tricky plan, but we pulled it off. : manage to succeed

- Let's push on and try to reach the coast by tonight. : continue with some effort -
colloquial

- Harry is clever but he can't put his ideas across. : communicate ideas

- Jenny's poor performance was put down to nerves. : explain the cause of

- Sue has put in for a teaching job. : apply for a job

- Please don't put yourself out making a meal. A sandwich will do. : take trouble - to
help someone else

- The crowd put the gymnast off, and he fell. : discourage, upset

- We can put you up for a few days. : offer a place to stay

- I can't put up with all this noise! : tolerate, bear

- In big cities tourists usually get ripped off. : charge too much - colloquial ( often
used with passive )

- Don't run yourself down so much! : criticise

- I think the batteries are running down. : lose power, allow to decline

- Guess who I ran into at the supermarket! : meet

- I don't think we can run to a holiday abroad this year. : reach an amount / have
enough money

- Let's run over/through the plan once more. : check

- I ran up a huge telephone bill at the hotel. : let a bill get longer without paying

- We've run up against a slight problem. : encounter - usually a problem

- I went to the station to see them off. : go to a place to say goodbye to someone

- I saw through these intentions at once. : realise the truth about

- Jean is always sending up the French teacher. : make fun of by imitating

- We must set about re-organizing the office. : start working

- I think this rain has set in for the day.

When the bank crisis set in, most governments were caught unawares. : establish
itself - especially weather

- This document sets out all the Union demands. : give in detail in writing

- I've set out the refreshments in the hall. : arrange, start an action

- An inquiry into the accident has been set up. : establish

- We were set upon/on by a gang of hooligans. : attack

- Slowly, the realisation that I had won began to sink in. : be understood gradually

- Someone slipped up and my application was lost. : make a mistake - colloquial

- Don't worry, Mary will sort out your problems. : find a solution - colloquial

- The company agreed to stand by its original commitment. : keep to an agreement

- I will not stand for this kind of behavior in my house! : tolerate, bear

- The abbreviation e.g stands for exempli gratia in Latin. : represent

- If the director is ill, you will have to stand in. : take the place of

- The engine won't stand up to the strain. : resist, bear stress

- The chairman has stepped down after criticism from shareholders. : resign -
colloquial

- Production at the Leeds plant has been stepped up. : increase

- She will stick up for him and make any excuse possible. : defend - especially for
yourself, your rights

- His disguise took everybody in. : deceive

- I know you are unhappy, but don't take it out on other people! : make somebody
else suffer because of one's own feelings

- Dave takes off the prime minister really well. : imitate - colloquial
 - My granddad has taken on a new lease of life since her operation. : acquire a new
characteristic

- She has taken on too much with a full-time job as well. : do something extra

- Ann has taken out life insurance. : sign an insurance agreement

- The army tried to take over the country.

The company was taken over by a multinational. : gain control of

- You'll soon take to your new boss, I'm sure. : develop a liking for

- The meeting took up a whole morning. : time - occupy time

- Paul talked me into going skiing, against my better judgement. : dissuade from,
persuade into

- Our teacher told us off for being late. : scold

- I'm afraid your party doesn't quite tie in with our arrangements. : be in agreement
with

- The police tracked down the killer and arrested him. : trace the whereabouts of

- Let's try out the new washing machine. : test something

- Another company offered me a job but I turned him down. : reject an offer

- He turned out to be an old friend of Helen's. : happen to be in the end

- Don't worry about that missing book, it's bound to turn up sooner or later. : be
discovered by chance

- These painkillers wear off after about 2 hours. : lose effect - usually a drug

- The hotel bill worked out at over $500. : calculate - also work out at for specific
amounts