23 Intermediate Phrasal Verbs for Daily Use

Sit back, settle in, and turn up the volume, because today you'll learn 23 phrasal verbs that are perfect for intermediate students. I use these phrasal verbs every day, and you can too. Welcome back to JForrest English, of course, I'm Jennifer. Now let's get started. Let's review check in. Remember that one phrasal verb can have different meanings depending on context. This phrasal verb means to confirm your arrival somewhere, especially at a hotel, airport, event, or appointment. For example, we should check in at the hotel before dinner. But that's more of a beginner use of this phrasal verb. Let's review an intermediate use of check in, which means to contact someone briefly to ask for an update or make sure everything is okay. So you're contacting someone for a specific purpose. For example, my manager checked in with me after my first week on the job. So my manager contacted me for a specific purpose. And notice you check in with someone. For example, I'll check in with you tomorrow to see how you're feeling. So if you end a phone call with a friend, and they say, I'm really not feeling well, you can say I'll check in with you tomorrow. This is very commonly done in a business context, make sure you check in with the team on the status of the proposal, we should check in and make sure everything's okay. Don't worry about taking notes as we review these phrasal verbs, I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF, you can find the link in the description. Now first you check into a hotel and at the end of your stay you that's right, check out to officially leave a hotel at the end of your stay. Let's check out right after breakfast. But that's a beginner use of this phrasal verb. Checkout also has an intermediate use. And I use this phrasal verb every day. It means to examine something for interest. For example, you should check out that new productivity app. So I want you to examine simply download the app, use the app, that's how you would examine the app and for interest, because I think it's interesting. So I want you to use it as well. Or you might say, I checked out the apartment online before scheduling a tour. So again, you examined the apartment because you're interested in it. This is similar to another intermediate phrasal verb, look into, this means to investigate research or examine something more carefully. And that's the distinction more carefully. For example, we're looking into why the website stopped working. So you'll examine it, but carefully. Or you might ask someone, could you look into other options for health insurance? I think we should start looking into other options. So you can use this in an everyday context, or maybe that is a business example. Or the school is looking into the parents concerns. The phrasal verb look into sounds quite serious, so it will reassure the parents. So if I send you a message and say, check out this new app, it means have a look at this new app. It sounds casual. But if I say, look into this new app, whoa, that means investigate. So it sounds more serious and thorough. Let's review deal with another one I use every day. This means to handle a situation, problem, or person. For example, I have to deal with several angry customers. So here it's people, customers. Or you might say, she's calm, even when she's dealing with unexpected problems. So she has an unexpected problem as she's handling it, which means doing the tasks required to solve that problem. She's calm. Or you might say, I don't want to deal with traffic. So I'm leaving early. Deal with would mean be stuck in and have to do what is required to get out of that situation. And notice that all my examples were negative. You don't deal with something positive. You only deal with something negative. Let's review run into. And we'll review two different meanings. The first one is to meet someone unexpectedly or by chance. And it's meet someone. For example, I ran into my old teacher at the grocery store. Has that ever happened to you? I ran into my old boyfriend from college. Or we ran into some friends while we were on vacation. That would be amazing. So you see your friends on vacation, but you had no idea they would be in that same location. You didn't plan it. Or you might say she ran into her neighbor while walking the dog. We also use this to mean to have an unexpected problem or issue. So here you're not using it with a person. For example, we missed the deadline because we ran into some bugs. So bugs represents the problem or issue and you weren't expecting them. Or I ran into trouble trying to update my computer. Let's compare run into to come across. This means to find something by chance, which means accidentally. You weren't expecting it. I came across an old photo, so something, an old photo while cleaning my closet. I came across an old letter from Mason. Or she came across a helpful article while researching her topic. So she wasn't expecting to find that specific article. Maybe she was looking at something completely different and then she sees a headline for this article and she clicks on it and reads it. She came across the article. Come across can also have a different meaning. It means to seem or appear a certain way to other people. For example, he comes across as friendly and polite. So this is how he seems to other people. But notice that additional preposition to come across as and then an adjective. You might say her email came across as rude. So you read the email and that's how it seems. Let's review this one sentence with both phrasal verbs. I ran into my friend at the mall. Funny because I came across an old photo of us just yesterday. Remember you run into a person and you come across a thing. And in that context, it means that you see that person or that thing unexpectedly. Let's review runs through. I consider this an upper intermediate phrasal verb. This means to review, explain, or practice something quickly, but from beginning to end. For example, let's run through the plan so everyone knows what to do now. Let's run through the to-do list for the shoot. So we will go through the plan from beginning to end, but we will do that quickly. So it's interesting because this one phrasal verb sounds thorough in the sense that you will do all parts, but it also sounds brief because you will do it quickly. You can use this as a question. Can you run me through how this software works? I could even use this with my students and suggest we should run through the pronunciation exercise once more. We'll do it again from start to finish. But because this is our 10th time, we can do it quickly. Let's review go over. This means to review, examine or discuss something carefully, but not necessarily every part of it. For example, let's go over the main points before we make a decision. All right, well, let's go over the list again. So maybe there is a lot of information and you're only going to go over one specific section, and you're going to do that quickly. But you can also go over the item entirely. For example, I need to go over my notes before the interview. So it sounds like every page of your notes. Or can we go over the instructions one more time? It sounds like every point in the instructions. If you say let's run through the plan, remember, you're going to quickly review it, but from start to finish. If you say let's go over the plan, it means you're going to fully examine and discuss it. Let's review point out a must know phrasal verb. This means to mention, identify or draw attention to something. And it can be done by literally pointing. For example, if you're reviewing the free lesson PDF, you might point out an issue by literally pointing at it. If we were on a call or together in person, and after I could say, thanks for pointing that out. Thanks for pointing that the mistake or the issue that out, thanks for pointing that out. Or we often use this before we raise something, raise a point or raise an issue. I just want to point out that parking is free after 6pm. So maybe if I want to encourage you to come to my restaurant or my market, I could say that on the phone. Oh, I just want to point out. Now in this case, I'm not literally pointing at anything. I'm just highlighting the information. Let's review carry out. This means to complete, perform or do a task, plan, study or action. The team has carried out all the customer requests. So in this case, it sounds like it is simply a task. There are customer requests, and the team carried them out, did them. The nurse carried out the doctor's instructions carefully. So again, complete or do that task. Or you might ask, do we have someone who can carry out the final inspection? Who can do or perform the final inspection? You're totally qualified. They're always looking for young candidates who can carry out the next phase. Let's review to come up with, and notice that additional preposition with. This means to think of, create or suggest an idea, plan, solution or answer. You might ask me, Jennifer, how do you come up with your lesson ideas? Do you ever wonder that? Or if you are reviewing a proposal and there's a design you really like, and there are many people on the team, you might say, who came up with this? Who came up with this? Who created this? Who thought of this? Who came up with this ridiculous concept? Or you might say, I need to come up with a better way to explain this to students. So I need to think of, I need to create. A very common phrasal verb. Let's review bring in. This means to include someone or something. We may need to bring in a specialist for this case. So you need to include a specialist, perhaps temporarily, just for that specific case. So it could be a contractor or a consultant, or in a classroom example, the teacher brought in real examples to make the lesson clearer. So the teacher included. This phrasal verb has another meaning, which is to earn or generate money, results, or business in the sense of new customers, new clients. For example, the new ad advertisement, the new ad brought in more signups than expected. So the new ad generated more signups brought in, or her side business brings in extra income every month. Do you have a side business? Which natives commonly call a side hustle? Let's review work around. This means to find a way to deal with a problem limitation or obstacle without directly removing it. And that's why I did this because you have this problem, whatever it is, and instead of removing the problem, you actually just get to the solution by going around. So that's why it's work around. For example, the kitchen is small. That's the problem. So you're not going to renovate the kitchen or move to a new house with a larger kitchen. The kitchen is small, but we found a way to work around it. It's not so good, but we can work around it. Or you might ask, how can we work around the noise while they repair the street? So you have the noise, you can't remove the noise because they're repairing the street. So you have to work around it. You have to find a solution, even with the noise. Let's review take on. This means to accept responsibility for a task, project, or role. I might say to you, don't take on more than you can handle. Don't take on more than you can handle. And then later you say, Oh, I think I took on too much. So now you're stressed out. Let's review hand in. This means to submit something, especially homework or a report, a form or a document. For example, please hand in your homework before you leave. Ladies and gentlemen, please hand in your passports. But just know this is mainly used physically, not electronically. So you're actually giving a document to someone. If it isn't physical, then you would use the verb submit. Please submit your homework before you leave. Let's review send out. This means to distribute or send something, but to many people. And that's the difference between send and send out. I'll send out the updated schedule this afternoon. So just imagine many people are receiving it. Or the company sent out a safety reminder to all staff. Let's review get back to. This means to reply or respond to someone later. For example, I'll get back to you once I check my schedule. I'll get back to you once I'm inside. So I will contact you again later and provide that information. Or you might say she hasn't gotten back to us about the apartment yet. Notice the present perfect, which means the action could still happen. Let's review follow up. This means to contact someone again after a previous conversation, email meeting or request. For example, did you follow up with her about the apartment? So you follow up with someone about something. Did you follow up with them? Or you could simply say she followed up after the interview. So here you don't need to include the person or the topic if it's obvious. Let's review keep up with. This means to stay at the same level, speed or progress as someone or something. So you can imagine that we have AI right here. And maybe now your knowledge is here, not at the same level. So you might say it's hard to keep up with all the new AI tools. It's hard to keep up with you, Leslie. Or you might say she reads the news every morning to keep up with current events. So current events, but her knowledge is here. So she wants to read every morning. Let's review catch up on. This is to do something you missed or didn't have time to do earlier. For example, I need to catch up on sleep after a busy week. So here you've missed sleep. I need to catch up on my gossip. Or you could say she spent Sunday catching up on laundry. So she has a lot of laundry because she missed it once or twice. So now she has twice or three times the amount. And she needs to catch up on laundry. Let's review build up. This means to increase or develop, but gradually over time. Stress can build up if you don't catch up on sleep. So stress can gradually accumulate or get stronger. We must wait until we can build up an army. Or you can use this in a positive way. She's trying to build up her confidence speaking in public. So if her confidence is like this, then she wants to make sure it improves. But gradually over time. Now you have 23 new phrasal verbs perfect for intermediate students. Do you want to keep learning phrasal verbs? If you do put yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Put yes, yes, yes in the comments below. 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