19
Making progress A
Beginning and ending phrasal verb with collocations
definition of phrasal verb
example
new businesses / political movements / buildings spring up
suddenly appear or begin to exist
At the turn of the century, new left-wing political movements sprang up.
new buildings / factories / cafés sprout up
suddenly appear or begin to exist
Pavement cafés have suddenly sprouted up all over the town.
open up opportunities/ possibilities or opportunities/ possibilities open up
make possible or become possible
The new shopping centre will open up all sorts of job opportunities.
break up a meeting/party or a meeting/party breaks up
end, people start to leave
I’m sorry to break up the party, but it’s getting very late.
finish with magazine/ scissors/salt
no longer need
Can you let me have the magazine when you’ve finished with it?
trend/business/price bottoms out
reach a low level and stay there
The share price fell steadily last year but has now bottomed out.
game/match/anger/protest/ conflict peters out1
gradually become less strong and then stop completely
The crowd started shouting and protesting, but the protests soon petered out when they saw the armed police.
wind up a business/interview/ meeting
end
Jack intends to wind up his business soon.
1
an interesting phrasal verb in that, unusually, to peter does not exist as a verb on its own
B
Helping and hindering progress We couldn’t continue when our cheap supply of materials dried up1.
Things’ve been falling apart2 since the new manager arrived.
We had some staffing problems but the new HR person has magicked them away4.
How’s progress with your business?
We can’t do anything at the moment because the money’s run out. We’re pressing on3 though we’ve had lots of problems. We can’t do anything at the moment because the money’s run out.
42
My PA has really improved things recently, so I hope we can hang on to5 her. The CEO’s whittling away (at)6 the authority of middle managers.
1
4
2
5
came to an end not working well 3 continuing in a determined way
English Phrasal Verbs in Use Advanced
We got up to the third stage of our plan but haven’t made much progress since.
made them disappear, as if by magic keep 6 gradually reducing
