If you love idioms, you’ll get a kick out of phrasal verbs. Both idioms and phrasal verbs play a fundamenal role in business communication, and knowing how to use them right will help you feel more confident at work. However, they are one of the trickiest things to learn in English because understanding the meaning of the individual words won't guarantee understanding the whole sentence.
Let's start by having a quick look at the differences between idioms and phrasal verbs, and keep reading to learn 10 of the most popular phrasal verbs in the workplace.
An idiom has a meaning you can’t figure out from the individual words. Knowing the words “hot” and “potato” won’t help you understand the idiom “hot potato” if you’ve never heard of it before.
A phrasal verb, on the other hand, is a phrase that consists of a verb and either an adverb, a preposition, or both. In some cases, they are idiomatic. For example, “hold up”, when it’s used as a phrasal verb, doesn’t mean to hold something in your hand and raise your arm. Instead, it means “to delay”. So if you’re in a long line that’s moving really slowly and you’re getting frustrated, you may shout, “What’s the hold up?”
Here are a few phrasal verbs you’ll likely hear during your workday. Pay close attention to the examples and try to create your own sentences with them!
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[Article originally posted in August 2017]