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I have another intransitive phrasal verb for you today, and it is “peter out”. Normally “Peter” is a man’s name, and we don’t use it as a verb except in the case of the phrasal verb “peter out”. It is used when we want to talk about something becoming less and less until it gradually stops. For example:

The applause slowly petered out after the band left the stage.

At first, everyone had a lot of enthusiasm for the project, but it eventually petered out when they found out how much work it was.

We had many customers when we first opened our store, but they have really petered out since the shopping mall was built down the street.

I think interest in our product is petering out. Maybe it’s time we started to advertise it again.

We often use this expression when talking about positive emotional responses such as enthusiasm, interest, excitement, etc. We DON’T use it when talking about something negative gradually stopping.

The phrasal verb I have for you this week is “back down”. It is intransitive which means that it doesn’t take an object. It is used when we want to talk about a person who gives up trying to win an argument or challenge with another person. For example:

Jason never wins an argument because he always backs down if you challenge him.

Whenever someone wanted to fight my brother in high school, he backed down immediately. He really hates fighting.

The strike continued for a long time because both the company and the employees refused to back down. In the end, the company backed down first.

I hate debating things with Tom. Once he starts arguing about something, he never backs down.

This expression can be used in any situation because it’s neither formal nor casual.

Have you ever been selected to sit in business class or first class on an airplane even though you just had a ticket for the economy section? Well, if you have, today’s phrasal verb will be very useful for you. The phrasal verb “bump up” has two meanings:

1. to put someone in a higher group (usually on an airplane). For example:

I can’t believe it! The airline bumped me up to first class for my flight to Hawaii!

I was bumped bumped up to first class for my flight to Hawaii! (passive voice)

I’ve never been bumped up to business class or first class on a flight, but many of my friends have.

2. to arrange for an appointment to be earlier than scheduled. For example:

I’m afraid the doctor has to leave the office at 4:00, so we’d like to bump up your appointment to 2:30. Would that be alright with you?

My appointment was bumped up to 2:30. (passive voice)

We had to bump up the time for the meeting to 11:00 a.m. Could you please tell everyone about the change in schedule?

As you can see, the preposition “to” always comes between either the words “business class/first class” or the new time for the appointment.

Today’s phrasal verb, “blow up” has a few different meanings. Some of them you may know and some of them you may not. Let me go over the different meanings for you now.

1. to inflate something with air using one’s mouth. For example:

Can you help me with these balloons? I need to blow them up before the party starts.

I had to blow up an air mattress for my daughter, so I’m really out of breath now.

2. for someone to cause something to explode. For example:

Did you hear about what happened to the mayor’s car? Somebody blew it up yesterday! He was killed instantly.

The mayor’s car was blown up yesterday, and he died in the explosion. (passive voice)

On the TV show 24, people are constantly blowing things up.

Things are constantly being blown up on the TV show, 24. (passive voice)

3. for something to explode. (intransitive) For example:

The plane blew up after it crashed into the mountain.

There was a gas leak in my friend’s trailer, and it blew up. Luckily, no one was in it at the time.

4. to enlarge a photograph. For example

I can’t see the people in this picture very well. Can you blow it up for me?

We can blow this photo up a little, but if we do it too much, the image won’t be clear.

5. to lose one’s temper and get angry at someone. (usually used with “at” and is inseparable) For example:

My mom blew up at my dad yesterday when he came home drunk again.

I blew up at my friend yesterday after she kept me waiting for half an hour. I hate it when she’s late!

As I wrote above, the third meaning is intransitive, so it doesn’t take an object. The difference between the second meaning and the third one is that in the second meaning, somebody intentionally causes the explosion, but in the third meaning, the explosion happens naturally or we don’t know the cause of it.

With the fifth meaning, we use the preposition “at” after the phrasal verb. This means that the person gets angry directly when talking to another person. If we say, “I blew up at my friend.”, it means I got angry when talking to my friend and shouted at him or her.

Today’s phrasal verb is “get across”. It is used when we are trying to explain something to another person or other people, and we want to make them understand what we are talking about.

This phrasal verb is often followed by the preposition “to” if we use an object in the sentence. However, it’s not always necessary to include an object and, if we don’t, then “get across” will be intransitive.  For example:

This is a difficult idea. I hope I can get it across to you.

The teacher was trying to explain the meaning of the word “patient”. I understood it, but I don’t think she was able to get it across to the lower level students.

I tried to make my boss understand my idea for saving money at the company, but I don’t think I was able to get it across to him.

I understand the point you’re trying to make, but I think using some charts and pictures during your presentation will help you to get it across.

A: Do you think everyone understood what my concept for the project was?

B: Yes, I think you were able to get it across very well.

I would say that we usually say “to” when we’re trying to explain something to a specific person. However, when we’re explaining something to a larger group of people, we often drop the “to”.

So, this is the phrasal verb for this week. I hope I was able to get it across!  🙂

This week’s phrasal verb is “pan out”. Unlike many phrasal verbs, it has only one meaning, so today’s entry will be quite short. It is used when we talk about someone’s plans and if they ended successfully or not. For example:

I heard you were trying to get a new job. How did that pan out?

Apparently, James was planning to start his own company. I wonder if that panned out or not.

I wanted to go to Italy for my vacation, but it didn’t pan out.

We almost always use this expression as a question (How did that pan out?), or in the negative (It didn’t pan out.)

In the case of the question, we are basically asking, “Was that situation successful or not?” In the case of the negative sentence, we’re basically saying, “No, it wasn’t successful.” or “It couldn’t be done.”

However, it sounds strange in English if we say, “It panned out.” Instead, we would say something like: “It was very successful.” or “It worked out well.” or something like that.

Today’s phrasal verb “look up” has three meanings. The first two are both separable, but the last one is intransitive. Let me go over the three meanings for you:

1. to find the meaning for something in a reference book or on the Internet. For example:

I didn’t know the meaning of this word, so I looked it up in a dictionary.

I looked up some good restaurants in Paris on the Internet. I want to try some of them when I’m there next week.

2. for someone to visit someone else when they’re in the area where they live. For example:

Please look me up if you ever come to New York. I’d love to see you.

I’ll be in Toronto next month, so I’m going to look up my old friend from university while I’m there. I heard she moved to Toronto about three years ago.

3. for a situation to improve (often used with “things”). For example:

My job was really bad when I first started, but things are looking up now.

The economy was in really bad shape a year ago, but things are starting to look up now.

So that is the phrasal verb for this week. As I mentioned already, the third meaning is intransitive which means the sentence doesn’t have an object.

The phrasal verb for this week is “make up”, and it has several different meanings. Let me go over them for you:

1. to invent a story or an excuse. For example:

We had to write an essay about our families. I didn’t want to write about my real family, so I just made it up.

A: I don’t want to go to Rick’s party, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings.

B: Then just make up an excuse.

2. to put on cosmetics. For example:

Jane made herself up for the party, but she usually doesn’t wear make up.

3. to compensate for a difference (usually with money). For example:

The CD costs $20.00. If you give me $5.00, I’ll make up the difference.

4. to clean and organize a hotel room. For example:

I’m going out now. Can you please have the maid make up my room?

The room will be made up by the maid. (passive voice)

5. to repeat an exam because of being absent for the first one. For example:

I missed the final exam because I slept late, but my professor said I could make it up on Tuesday.

The exam can be made up on Tuesday for people who missed it. (passive voice)

6. to constitute something – (inseparable). For example:

Asian people make up about 50% of the population of Vancouver.

About 50% of Vancouver’s population is made up of Asian people. (passive voice)

7. to reconcile after an argument (for friendships, family members and romantic relationships) – (inseparable). For example:

My girlfriend and I had a big fight on Saturday night, but we’ve made up with each other since then.

Why are you so angry with your brother? I wish you two would just make up. I’m tired of listening to you argue all the time.

As I mentioned above, the last two meanings for “make up” are inseparable. As a reminder, this means that the object of the sentence, whether it’s a noun or a pronoun, must come after the word “up” in the phrasal verb. In the case of the last meaning, to reconcile with someone, please note that we have to use the preposition “with” if we use an object in the sentence. If we don’t use “with”, as in the last sentence, it becomes intransitive, which means that the sentence has no object at all.

Today, I have a very short entry for you about the phrasal verb “run out”. We often can add the preposition “of” at the end of it, but it’s not necessary. We use this when we want to talk about using all our supply of something, and there is no more of it left. For example:

We ran out of sugar, so we need to get some more at the supermarket today.

I ran out of gas while I was driving my car to work. I had to call the motor association to help me.

Billy didn’t finish the marathon because he ran out of energy before he got to the finish line.

Do we still have any cookies? I hope we haven’t run out. My friend is bringing her children over today.

This is a very useful expression, and we use it a lot in English.

The phrasal verb I have for you this week is “lead on”. It is used when we want to say another person gives false hope to someone about a romantic relationship. For example:

I thought that girl really liked me, but she was just leading me on.

I was led on by that girl. (passive voice)

If you don’t want to be my boyfriend, just tell me now. Please don’t lead me on.

A: Have you ever been led on by someone?

B: Yes, I have. I dated a guy in university and I thought he was serious about me, but he wasn’t. I hate it when guys lead you on like that!

As I mentioned before, this expression is only used for romantic relationships; it can’t be used to talk about friendships or business relationships.

I hope none of you have ever been led on by someone.  🙂