10 Advanced Phrasal Verbs for IELTS Speaking Flashcards
Phrasal words for these topics
Work & Study
People
Places
Events
Activities
This phrasal verb actually has several different meanings, including;
To knock $5 off a product = to reduce the price by $5
To knock off someone = to murder (or kill) someone
The meaning I want to share with you related to work, is where it
means ‘to finish work’, for example;
I knock off at 7pm = I finish work at 7pm
I’m knocking off early today, it’s Friday!
Learning Tip #1
- When a word ends in a consonant sound and the next word
starts with a vowel, we often link the two words.
Most prepositions start with a vowel, so most phrasal
verbs can be linked.
For example, ‘knock _off’ can be pronounced as one word
/nɒkɒf/
Likewise in the past tense, ‘knocked_off’ can be pronounced
as one word
/nɒktɒf/
To chip in = to interrupt by adding a comment
You may know ‘chips’ as something you eat, but what about ‘chip in’?
Well, it means** ‘to interrupt**’, so we can use this in a meeting.
Imagine, there you are, in a meeting, listening to some colleagues
‘rabbiting on’ (talking non-stop about something boring), and you want to interrupt…
…so you can say,
Excuse me, can I just chip in?
We can also use this to talk about other peoples’ contributions in the
meeting He chipped in with some good ideas
To hash out something = To talk about something with
someone in order to reach an agreement
You probably know hashtag, right?
#SpeakEnglish
You may even know the food, made of potatoes, called ‘hash browns’.
But, to ‘hash out’ has a different meaning.
It’s used when you are talking to someone, discussing an idea, and
trying to agree.
Let’s see some examples.
We need to hash out the details of our presentation
My wife and I spent hours** hashing out our holiday plans** last night.
To wind someone up = to annoy someone
You have probably heard me say – ‘let’s wind up here’
When I come to the end of a class, and this means
Let’s wind up = let’s finish
However, ‘to wind someone up’ means to annoy or upset a person by
doing or saying something.
Here are 2 examples,
She really winds me up when she says teachers have an easy life, she
is so wrong!
I hate talking to Tom, he always winds me up
To make someone out = see, hear or understand
something / someone
I can’t make out your handwriting = it’s unclear and so I cannot
understand it.
I can’t make you out = I don’t understand your behaviour
Here is an example,
You say you want more space, then you say let’s live together! I
really can’t make you out!
To do up = decorate (a room, house, flat)
I have just done up the bathroom and it looks as good as new
To drop in (on) to visit someone/place – usually without
planned invitation
I am visiting New Delhi next week, I might drop in on you.
We could drop in on the pub on the way home after work.
Can I drop in on you tomorrow?
Other ways of saying ‘to visit’
I dropped in on Jacob
I went round to Jacob’s (house)
I went over to Jacob’s
I popped round to Jacob’s (U.K.)
I popped over to Jacob’s (U.K.)
To turn out = to happen in a certain way
My presentation** turned out** badly, I forgot everything
That new recipe turned out really well Be careful!
I turn out my presentation (FALSE)
My presentation turns out
To go off = to happen in a particular way (usually good)
The meeting went off well
My presentation went off well
Learning Tip #3
When learning new vocabulary, especially phrasal verbs,
practice by making a phrase in the present and in the past!
This will help you memorise the word better, and build your
fluency and flexibility.
Here is a simple template.
Usually , but yesterday And here are some examples,
Usually, my presentations turn out well, but yesterday, it
turned out badly.
Usually, my cooking turns out well, but yesterday, it turned
out badly.
To take up (a hobby) = to begin
You probably know ‘to take up a hobby’ but what about ‘to take to’ a
hob
To take up (a hobby) = to begin
To take to (a hobby) = to enjoy a lot and do it well
My daughter started aikido recently and she took to it really well.
When I was younger I took up rock climbing and I took to it really
quickly
To show off
= to do something trying to show others how
good you are (in an annoying way)
At school, the teacher’s pet was always showing off
To rub someone up the wrong way
= to annoy
someone (without intending to)
When the teacher’s pet shows off, it rubs me up the wrong way
