20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

Hi there dear English learners! Have you fallen from grace recently? I hope not. When did you fall asleep last night? If you don’t understand these expressions, keep reading because we are going to learn 20 ways to use the verb fall, including all kinds of collocations, idioms and expressions.

The basic meaning of the verb fall is to drop from a higher to a lower position. 

• Martin fell down the stairs but he wasn’t badly injured.
• My wallet fell into the water. 

Fall is an irregular verb and it goes like this – fall/fell/fallen.

• Easter always falls in Spring.
• Rober saved a boy who fell into the river.
• Have you ever fallen in love?

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

We can also say that something fell down.

• The book fell down from the shelf.

Somebody can stumble and fall.

• I stumbled on a rock and fell flat on my face.

We can talk about temperature or prices and say that: 

• The temperature is likely to fall.
• The prices of sugar are expected to fall down.

When you go to bed and you begin to sleep, you say that you fall asleep.

• I went to bed, read for a while and fell asleep.

If you catch a cold or flu you can say that you fell ill.

• David was playing in the snow and fell ill with the bad cold the next day.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

If you owe money to a bank or somebody, you say that you fell into debt.

• We’ll fall into debt if we spend more money.

If you feel hopeless, you can say that you fell into despair.

• She fell into deep despair after learning the news.

We use fall to say that something happens on a particular day or date.

• My birthday falls on Thursday this year.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

 Your eyes can fall on someone or something when you notice them.

• While she was looking for a book on the shelf, her eyes fell on a little box.

And finally, the night falls.

• It was so romantic to watch the night falling in the mountains.

Idioms Using the verb Fall

Fall into place

When things fall into place, then they happen in a satisfactory way.

• As soon as I got my own apartment and moved out of my parents’ house, all things started falling into place. I bought a dog, got a better job, and so on.
• Once you figure out who you are and what you love about yourself, I think it all kinda falls into place. (Jennifer Aniston) 

Fall into bit/pieces

When something breaks into many pieces you can say that it broke into pieces.

• He dropped a large crystal vase and it fell into tiny bits.

We can also use the idiom to say that someone can’t function because they are too much upset.

• After she heard the bad news, Fiona broke into pieces and couldn’t say a word.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

Fall / come under someone’s influence

Use this idiom to say that someone is strongly affected or controlled by someone else, often in a negative way.

• Mary’s son fell under the influence of a street gang and started selling drugs.
• When he was young, David came under the influence of the church.

Fall from grace

Fall can be a noun or a verb in this idiom and it describes a situation in which someone is no longer respected because of something they had done.

• He was a minister of foreign affairs until his fall from grace.
• After cheating on his wife, Frank fell from grace and later confessed to the priest.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

Fall short

Something that falls short usually fails to meet standards or expectations.

• The team usually meets the expectations of the customers but this month they fell short.
• The film nominated for an award fell short of our expectations.

Fall over yourself to do something

You can say that someone fell over themselves to do something if they are really eager and put a lot of effort into something, especially if they want to be noticed and approved.

• Pete’s new secretary fell over herself to show him that she was worth his trust.
• The staff in that restaurant always fall over themselves to serve customers the best they can.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

Fall in love

If you fall in love with someone, then you begin to have romantic feelings for them.

• Mary and Robert fell in love at first sight.
• My father fell in love with my mum 20 years ago and they’re still a happily married couple.

Fall at the first/final hurdle

To fall at the first or final hurdle means to fail either at the beginning or at the end of something you are doing.

• The company’s plan to conquer the market with that product fell at the first hurdle.
• Simon has been doing very well so far. The school year is getting closer and let’s just hope he won’t fall at the last hurdle.

20 Ways to Use the Verb FALL

Fall foul of something

People usually fall foul of something when they break the law.

• If they fall foul of the new law, they may get into trouble.
• The company may go bankrupt unless they stop falling foul of the law.

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