separable phrasal verb: talk into

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The phrasal verb for today is an easy one, and it’s also very commonly used in English. It is “talk into”. We use it when we want to talk about persuading someone to do something that they previously did not want to do. For example:

At first, Gary didn’t want to come to the party, but Jim managed to talk him into it.

Gary was talked into coming to the party by Jim. (passive voice)

A: Karen says she doesn’t want to help us with this project.

B: Let me speak to her. I think I can talk her into helping us.

I tried to convince my husband to go to Paris for our vacation, but he wouldn’t listen. I’ve never been able to talk him into anything. He’s so stubborn!

Ben is such a persuasive person. He can talk anybody into anything!

This expression can only be used about situations where someone is talking to another person face to face or on the telephone. If someone who is on the radio or on TV persuades a person to do something, we don’t use this idiom to describe that situation. Instead, we would use the verbs “persuade” or “convince”.

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