Phrasal Verbs Related to Work

Phrasal Verbs Related to Work

Hi English learners! Do you find it difficult to learn phrasal verbs? In case you do, it’s no surprise because they are considered one of the most difficult parts of the English language. The point is that sometimes they make sense so you can remember them easily, but the ones that don’t, such as “put up with” or “run out” can be a bit tricky to remember, especially because they tend to have more than one meaning. In today’s lesson, we will look at the meanings of 10 phrasal verbs related to work. Here is the list:

• Burn out
• Call off
• Carry out
• Keep up with
• Knock off
• Knuckle down
• Lay off
• Put off
• Take on
• Take over

Burn out

Meaning: to work so hard that you become exhausted or ill.

• I told him so many times not to work so hard because he’ll burn himself out.
• Tom was almost burned out by the age of 35. 

Call off

Meaning: to stop an activity, to cancel something.

• The company called off their operations in the war-affected area.
• The strike of the factory workers was called off because of the bad weather.

Carry out

Meaning: to complete a task.

• The Minister appointed a delegate to carry out the aid programme for the poor children in the country.
• More research will be carried out before the book is published.

Phrasal Verbs Related to Work

Keep up with

Meaning: to be updated, to stay equal with others.

• Lawyers have to keep up with the new laws.
• The company is always trying to keep up with the latest technology.

Knock off

Meaning: to stop working, to end work for the day.

• We usually finish work at 5 but today we’re knocking off later because of the meeting.
• There is no one at the office because they knocked off early.

Knuckle down

Meaning: to start working in a serious and focused manner, to work without distractions.

• The deadline is near so we have to knuckle down. There is no time to waste.
• It’s about time you knuckle down and finally finish that project.

Lay off

Meaning: to stop employing someone, to make someone redundant.

• Our company laid off 50 employees last week because there is no work for them.
• If the crisis goes on, we’ll be forced to lay off more people as we won’t have enough funds to pay them.

Phrasal Verbs Related to Work

Put off

Meaning:  to postpone something such as a meeting, to delay.

• Since we can’t reach the decision today I suggest we put off the meeting until the next week.
• You know what they say: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. So, get back to work!

Take on

Meaning: to hire someone.

• Our company is taking on some new staff at the moment. Do you want to apply for work?
• We are thinking about taking on someone to look after our grandmother. She could use some help in the house.

Take over

Meaning: to start to control something such as a business or company.

• After Mr Bradley retired, his son took over the business.
• Simon took over as a restaurant manager only last week.

In today’s lesson, we’ve been through 10 phrasal verbs related to work. Let’s look at the list one more time:

• Burn out
• Call off
• Carry out
• Keep up with
• Knock off
• Knuckle down
• Lay off
• Put off
• Take on
• Take over

And remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to use it as soon as you can in your writing or when talking to someone. Write it down and use it in your own sentences.

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