A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition.
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Usage of “voted in”
Is it correct to write voted in in the following sentences?
Members may vote in a new leader.
Board members will be nominated and voted in by the team.
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Usage of “track down”
I recently read (in a website) the following sentence. (I replaced the usernames with placeholders.)
[username1], if this is still happening, there is a good chance your IP got
blocked due to ...
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0answers
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What is the meaning of “get owned by” [closed]
I watched a video titled below;
"KJU(initial of name) gets owned by an angry pakistani reporter".
The story ends up with a reporter slapping KJU.
So do these have the same meaning; 'A slap(or ...
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0answers
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New verbs we make by adding “up, off” etc [closed]
help him out or help him
Can anyone tell me what is the difference between two sentences I mentioned above?
what about the list below?
write & write down
come & come up
take & take up
...
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1answer
88 views
“Sent” vs “sent off” vs “sent out”
When do we use one over another?
I sent a letter.
I sent off a letter.
I sent out a letter.
Here I found a similar topic but I am still confused.
sent = sent to one or more people
...
2
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2answers
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Why are prepositions out of place with many phrasal verbs?
Please, restrict your answers to etymological info. I browsed some other questions and found some good info here: Is it correct to change the common structure in these phrasal verbs?, which is more ...
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4answers
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What does the phrase “I’m down with” mean?
I was wondering about the meaning of:
I am down with something.
Also, I was wondering whether people say:
I am up with something.
If so, what does it mean?
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5answers
950 views
Should we say “borrow from” instead of “borrow off”?
I hear and read the term "borrow off" frequently however I say "borrow from" as that makes more sense to me. Is it grammatically incorrect to say, "may I borrow the book off your friend"? In my mind ...
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1answer
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How should I use the phrasal verb “to d**k around”?
To waste time
Stop dicking me around and get to the point.
Would you please stop dicking around with her?
To take advantage of
You're dicking him around, you know?
Don't ...
3
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4answers
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Throw away/in/out for rubbish?
Is it best to use "throw away" or "throw in" for an expression when you ask someone not to throw something, like "Don't throw them away/in/out (the rubbish bin)."
Specifically, if one doesn't know ...
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5answers
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Looking for the opposite of “drill down”
I am a programmer working on a chart component that allows to drill down on selection of a node. Drilling down will show the details of that node (like its children etc.). But I am struggling to find ...
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2answers
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Meaning of “hammer a socket on it and pop it off”
In a discussion on a pick-up truck car wheel theft, one person gave an advice to the victim that he "should have bought some locking lugs". This advice was disapproved by someone else in the ...
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3answers
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word for the act of each person in a group put in some money combined to buy something
What's the verb/phrasal verb to describe the act of giving/putting in a share of money towards a total amount to buy something as a group where each of the other members in the group put in their ...
0
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1answer
68 views
“Bring down X” vs. “bring X down” [duplicate]
I am unable to understand the difference between these two sentences:
I want him to bring down the opponents.
I want him to bring the opponents down.
Which is right and when should each ...
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2answers
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“Plugging in X” vs. “plugging X in”
Does one say
Plugging in that value into the previous equation...
or
Plugging that value in the previous equation...
or something else?
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2answers
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What exactly does “sweep me off my feet” mean? (And why?)
Although the phrase "sweep me off my feet" probably means, "make me fall in love with you in a short time", what does it exactly mean, because "sweeping" can be difficult to be associated with "love". ...
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2answers
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Is “Cutting Across the Afternoon of Life” grammatical? [closed]
I'm using this for a title of short story. The title has to reflect the last line of the story, which is as follows:
A long, dark shadow cuts across the countless cubicles.
I've thought of ...
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2answers
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Why is it “objections to moving”, not “objections to move”? [closed]
I got this sentence from the Economist:
There are two primary objections to moving to the chained CPI.
My question is, why have they used moving instead of move after objections to?
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4answers
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break/burst into + '-ing' form
Is it possible to use a verb in the -ing form with these phrasal verbs?
I mean, dictionaries I use contain only some exemplary sentences with a noun following the phrasal verb (break/burst into ...
3
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1answer
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“is to” + verb, “was to” + verb
I've got a sentence that I can't quite well understand. My problem in the sentence is the "were to play" part.
How does it change the meaning of the sentence? Does it mean that this was an action in ...
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1answer
75 views
Can one use “known from” as “known for”?
I wonder if we can use the form "known from" instead of "known for" (saving the same meaning, of course).
For example: "NY is known from its beautiful Empire State Building"
instead of "NY is known ...
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1answer
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What does “switch off” mean? [closed]
I read a blog post which includes the following sentence:
I hear many PhD students say they feel stressed because they can’t switch off.
What does the term switch off mean in the sentence above?
...
1
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1answer
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“impede” vs. “impede on”
I can’t figure out whether the following sentence needs the word on or not:
It was getting crowded, impeding our ability to move around.
It was getting crowded, impeding on our ability to ...
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1answer
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Proper use of “drop” and “drop off”
Can I use drop to say I will leave something somewhere?
I will drop the books at your house.
I will drop off the books at your house?
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5answers
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Why “go off”, as in “alarm went off”?
I was wondering why does something goes off, when it in fact does the opposite
bomb goes off - it blows up
alarm goes off - it turns on
Why not goes on?
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vote
1answer
264 views
“Take the role” vs. “take over the role” vs. “take on the role”
Is there a significant difference between the three expressions, or can they be used interchangeably?
I'm trying to say that a colleague of mine succeeded to another after the latter had quit his ...
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3answers
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Topography of phrasal verbs
Is there an exhaustive list of the prepositions/adverbs/particles that can contribute to a phrasal verb?
And is there any 'verb-part' that can be used with the entire list?
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2answers
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Is there any difference between “stoop down” and “stoop”?
According to Longman, they are the same, but I wonder if this is correct or if so, which one is more common.
For example:
Dave stooped down to tie his shoes.
Dave stooped to tie his shoes.
...
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3answers
527 views
“Listen to music” or “listen for music”
Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?
The music for which we heard last night at the concert was exceptionally good.
The music to which we listened at the concert last night ...
1
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1answer
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Meaning of “broken off short”
What does "the handle broken off short" mean when referring to an axe?
Does it mean the handle is broken off and it is a little far from the rest, or that it is broken close to the axe and there is ...
2
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2answers
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“Wash hands of” — why not “off” instead of “of”?
The phrase "wash hands of" is supposed to mean giving up or having nothing to do with something.
But why is it "of" and not "off"? Using "off" sounds more like giving it up and distancing oneself ...
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1answer
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Is there any book about origins of phrasal verbs' meaning?
In Macmillan dictionary, 3rd meaning of roll up:
[TRANSITIVE] if you roll a car window up, you turn a handle or push a button
so that the window goes up
I've learned 'roll up' below:
...
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2answers
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“Roll” vs. “roll up” [closed]
Are these two verbs the same? According to Longman, they are the same.
Here are some made up sentences:
I rolled this (up) into a ball.
Let's roll (up) our sleeves.
(I made up these ...
3
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2answers
354 views
Is “catch up” used in formal language as in “We will catch up sometime”?
I wrote "we will catch up sometime" to one of my new friends. When I searched the Internet I found that people used it in informal situations. Is it okay to use this in formal writing as I did since ...
3
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5answers
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Is there any phrasal verb to mean “teeth are falling out because one is getting older”?
The sentence would be:
He is Xing now.
Where X means "losing teeth" or "teeth are falling out" because he is getting older. I am assuming such phrasal verbs or words exist because it would be ...
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2answers
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What does “urge to kill” mean?
I've got an answer to my comment at Stack Overflow, and I don't get what it means.
I've googled and looked over several dictionaries with no help. Seems like it is some specific slang/phrasal verb, ...
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3answers
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Developing a crush or infatuation
For "crush" in meaning:
2 informal a brief but intense infatuation for someone, especially someone unattainable
What word would replace the terribly technical developing a crush?
Does one only ...
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3answers
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“Differ to”, “differ with” or “differ from”
In what ways are differ to, differ with and differ from different?
Providing examples would be really appreciated.
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3answers
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Is “get someone up” the same as “wake someone up”?
Is using get up in this expression correct?
I am sorry I woke you up.
I am sorry I got you up.
I use get up for wake up all the time, but in this expression it sounds a bit odd.
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3answers
173 views
What is the difference between “carry out a crime” and “commit a crime”
Do these both have the same meaning?
John carried out a crime.
John committed a crime.
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6answers
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Difference between “run into”, “come upon” and “come across”
These phrasal verbs have a similar meaning (please correct me if not):
run into
come across
come upon
Are there any nuances to choose between them? For example, I might be wrong but I mostly see ...
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5answers
98 views
Sum up the users? Or sum up the number of users?
Let's say that there is a list of users and I want to know how many users are in the list.
Would I 'sum up the users,' 'sum the users,' 'sum up the number of the users,' 'sum the number of users,' or ...
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6answers
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“Login” or “log in”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“log in to” or “log into” or “login to”
Is there accepted terminology for the process of logging in?
As a verb, would you say "Go to ...
1
vote
2answers
88 views
What does “to beat someone to something by some time period” mean?
Beat me to it by about 30 seconds
(Source: The first comment under this answer.)
I can't find "beat to" in my phrasal verb look up table, nor this usage makes any sense to me. But it looks like ...
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2answers
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What's the meaning of “dummy up”?
What does "dummy up" mean here?
The cops wouldn't tell me who the owner was, but we're a military town, so I took a chance. Called my insurance (USAA) and as luck would have it, that was the other ...
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2answers
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How do you define broke and broke into?
How do you define broke and broke into here?
OP: "If you're not making six figures by the time you're 40, you fail at life."
P1: "whew... I just made it... broke into 6 figures at 39."
P2: "I broke ...
2
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0answers
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Placing the preposition [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it correct to change the common structure in these phrasal verbs?
I'm really confused about where to put the preposition.
She cut her hair off.
Vs
She cut ...
5
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3answers
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“Went” vs. “went along”
At work, he made up lies as he went along.
At work, he made up lies as he went.
Is one of the above wrong?
5
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2answers
647 views
Etymology of “end up” and “wind up”
What is the etymology of the phrase "end up", and of the meaning of "wind up" that means essentially the same thing?
To clarify, I mean the specific meaning of "wind up" that means the same as "end ...
