Phrasal Verbs for Time and Schedules

Phrasal Verbs for Time and Schedules

Hello English learners! You have probably heard that time waits for no one. However, English gives us plenty of ways to talk about it. When it comes to schedules, deadlines, and daily routines, phrasal verbs are incredibly useful. They help us sound more natural and fluent, whether we are rearranging a meeting, catching up on tasks, or simply running out of time. In today’s lesson, we will explore some of the most common phrasal verbs related to time and schedules. Each one comes with a clear meaning and example sentences, so you aill know exactly how to use them in real life. Here are 15 phrasal verbs for time and schedules.

Put off

Meaning: to postpone or delay something.

• The meeting was put off because the manager got a flu.
• Will you stop putting off your homework until the last minute!

Bring forward

Meaning: move to an earlier time or date.

• The English exam has been brought forward to Tuesday.
• Let’s bring forward the lunch meeting to 11:30 tomorrow.

Push back

Meaning: to delay or move to a later time.

• The conference has been pushed back by two weeks.
• We had to push back the start time to accommodate everyone.

Run out of (time)

Meaning: to have no time left.

• We ran out of time before finishing the project.
• Hurry up, we’re running out of time!

Set up

Meaning: to plan or arrange something.

• The manager set up a meeting for Monday morning.
• Do you think you can set up an appointment with the dentist for next week?

Cut back (on time)

Meaning: to reduce the amount of time spent on something.

• We really need to cut back on time spent in meetings.
• Mary’s trying to cut back on overtime in order to spend more time with her family.

Fit in

Meaning: to be able to find space in a busy schedule.

• I can fit in a quick meeting before lunch.
• Freddy always manages to fit in some exercise, even on very busy days.

Hold up

Meaning: to delay or cause something to take longer.

• The traffic held us up, so we were late.
• The project was held up by technical problems.

Keep up (with deadlines)

Meaning: to stay on schedule or at the same pace.

• She works hard to keep up with deadlines.
• I can’t keep up with all these assignments!

Work around

Meaning: to discover a solution to the schedule conflict.

• We’ll work around your busy timetable.
• They worked around the technical issues to finish on time.

Break up (time)

Meaning: to divide time into smaller parts.

• The day was broken up into workshops and lectures.
• I like to break up my study sessions with short walks.

Fill in (time)

Meaning: to use spare time by doing something.

• I filled in the time before my appointment by reading.
• He filled in the afternoon with some light paperwork.

Drag on

Meaning: to last longer than expected.

• The meeting dragged on for hours.
• The ceremony dragged on and everyone got bored.

Wind up

Meaning: to finish something (often after a long time).

• We need to wind up this session before 5.
• The film finally wound up after three long hours.

Catch up (on time / with work)

Meaning: to do something you’ve fallen behind with.

• I need the weekend to catch up on sleep.
• She caught up with her emails in the evening.

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