19 Useful Phrasal Verbs for

19 USEFUL PHRASAL VERBS FOR BUSINESS!

Native English speakers use phrasal verbs all the time. So, you need to understand their meaning if you want to follow conversations; and they’ll also make you sound great if you use them yourself. In this lesson, you’ll learn 19 really useful phrasal verbs to use in business and at work, or in general. This is the second part of a new series. Learn these phrasal verbs, then use them whenever you can.

1 Print out / print off If you “print out” a document, you make a paper copy of it, often from a printer connected to your computer: “I printed out a copy of the report and gave it to my boss.” 2 Chase up If you “chase up” someone, you try to contact them so they can pay a bill, help you, answer a question, etc.: “There are several clients with unpaid bills that we need to chase up.” 3 Take on If you “take on” work, you agree to do it: “I think I’ve taken on too much work as I just can’t keep up.” 4 Sort out If you “sort out” a problem, you fix it or find a solution to it: “They had to recall their electric scooters to sort out the exploding battery problems.” 5 Pull off / bring off If you “bring off” something, you’re successful, even though it’s difficult to do: “They said they’d complete the project by Friday. Do you think they can pull it off?”

6 Come up If a problem, situation or issue “comes up”, it appears suddenly and unexpectedly: “Something has come up and we won’t be able to meet the deadline.” 7 Call off If you “call off” an event, you cancel it: “I’m afraid we’re going to have to call off our lunchtime appointment as something really urgent has come up.” 8 Carry out If you “carry out” a survey, an experiment, or some research, you do that thing: “They carried out the survey to find out which travel destinations were the most popular.” 9 Cash in If you “cash in” your shares, bonds, etc., you exchange them for money: “These bonds can be cashed in at any time.” 10 Cash in on If you “cash in on” an event, situation or development, you take advantage of it in order to make money: “The supermarket cashed in on the popularity of vegetarianism by bringing out their own range of vegetarian burgers.”

11 Catch onto If you “catch onto” something, you finally understand it and realise what’s happening: “If small businesses fail to catch onto the importance of social media, they could become less competitive.”

14 Keep up If you find it hard to “keep up”, it’s difficult to do all the work you need to do in time for different deadlines: “I’m finding it hard to keep up now that there are only 3 people in the office.”

17 Swallow up

1 If an activity “swallows up” a lot of your time, money or effort, it uses a lot of those things: “This project is swallowing up a lot of our time.” 2 If one company “swallows up” another one (often a smaller one), it buys it, absorbs it, or takes control of it: “The renewable energy company was swallowed up by the oil giant.” 12 Be behind If you “are behind” at work, you have a lot of work to do, and you haven’t done the work you need to do urgently: “I’m really behind at work, so I won’t be able to go to the party on Saturday.”

15 Spell out If you “spell something out”, you explain it simple, clear terms: “During sales meetings, it’s important to spell out the benefits of the product or service to the customer, not just the features.”

18 Bring forward* If you “bring forward” a deadline, you make it happen at an earlier time: “Could we bring the meeting forward to 2pm instead of 3pm, please?” 13 Catch up If you “catch up” on your work, you do all the work that you need to do and that you haven’t had time to do yet: “I need to catch up at the weekend as I’m really behind at work.”

16 Step down If someone “steps down”, they leave their job or resign from their position: “After reports of the illegal payments to potential clients was exposed, she had to step down.”

19 Put back* If you “put back” the date of something, you make it happen at a later time: “We need to put back the delivery date to 10th April instead of 5th April because of the public transport strike.”

A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a particle (usually a preposition). In some cases, the verb can help you understand the meaning of the phrasal verb (the preposition doesn’t really change much): • They’re working away =

They’re working. • They sold off many of their assets = They sold many of their assets.

Very often, the preposition only changes the meaning a little. For example: • I finished the work. • I finished up the work. [I finished all of it.]

Here are some other verbs and phrasal verbs with very little difference in meaning: print-print out, call-call up, close-close down, meet-meet up…

However, in other cases, the particle can help you understand the phrasal verb. For example, up has the idea of “going to a higher level”: • Prices have been going up. (increasing) • We went up the stairs. (to a higher floor)

*BRING FORWARD / PUT BACK

Native speakers are sometimes confused about the meaning of bring forward (which means to make something happen earlier than planned). So, the best thing is to be more precise and to include a specific time. For example: “Let’s bring forward the meeting to 2pm instead of 3pm so we have enough time to discuss everything!” The same is true for put back (which means to make something happen later than planned): “Let’s put back the meeting to 3pm instead of 2pm so we have enough time for lunch!”

GLOSSARY

a bill = a piece of paper with information about how much you must pay for a product, service, etc. a survey = a series of questions you ask people to find out information about their habits, customs, etc. cash = money in the form of notes (paper money) and coins (metal money) shares = if you have “shares” in a company, you own a part of that company a bond = a loan you make to the government or a company in return for interest on the loan and the return of the money after 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, etc. a range of = a series of products that are similar but with small differences: one is more expensive, another has more features, another is bigger… to resign = to leave your job because you’re 65 (the retirement age), or for another reason to swallow = if you “swallow” something, it goes from your mouth to your stomach an oil giant = a large company that extracts and refines oil products