{"id":147803,"date":"2015-09-28T17:15:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T21:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/business-english-phrasal-verbs\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T00:10:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T05:10:24","slug":"business-english-phrasal-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/business-english-phrasal-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Business Phrasal Verbs in English"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phrasal verbs are very common in the English language<\/a>, and you may come across them in a variety of different scenarios.<\/p>\n

“Come across” and “look into” are both examples of phrasal verbs, which are groups of words including a verb that take on their own specific meaning.<\/p>\n

In this guide, I’ll show you 28 useful business phrasal verbs that are used frequently in English, so you improve your comprehension and communication skills. You can also check out the video lesson from our YouTube channel<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

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1. Deal with<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To handle, work on
\nExample: <\/b>Our new department head will deal with<\/strong> the training of new staff members.<\/p>\n

2. Take over<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To get control or responsibility for something
\nExample: <\/b>Tom will take over<\/strong> the sales department and become its new manager.<\/p>\n

3. Look into<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To investigate, learn more about
\nExample: <\/b>We are now looking into<\/strong> new software to use in our training.<\/p>\n

4. Look up to<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To respect
\nExample: <\/b>Many of our co-workers look up to<\/strong> Jill, and she is well-liked by her customers as well.<\/p>\n

5. Look for<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To search
\nExample: <\/b>They are looking for<\/strong> a candidate who can speak both Chinese and Portuguese.<\/p>\n

6. Look through<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To search many things
\nExample: <\/b>They had to look through<\/strong> all of last month\u2019s receipts to find the one they wanted.<\/p>\n

7. Catch on<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To finally understand, to understand something that other people already understand
\nExample: <\/b>Jim learns quickly, therefore he caught on <\/strong>after trying only two times.<\/p>\n

8. Get ahead<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To move up in position, improve your career
\nExample: <\/b>My boss told me that if I wanted to get ahead<\/strong>, I would need to work a little harder.<\/p>\n

9. Drop in<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To make an unexpected visit
\nExample: <\/b>I am always nervous when our CEO drops in<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

10. Drop off (1)<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>A sharp decrease
\nExample: <\/b>At the end of summer there was a drop off<\/strong> in sales of bottled water.<\/p>\n

11. Drop off (2)<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To deliver
\nExample: <\/b>The new receptionist dropped<\/strong> our plans off<\/strong> on her way home.<\/p>\n

12. Fill in (1)<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To write or type an item on a form
\nExample: <\/b>You can\u2019t go on to page 2 until you fill in<\/strong> every answer on page 1.<\/p>\n

13. Fill in (2)<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To do a job or hold a position temporarily
\nExample: <\/b>When the president is away, the vice president will fill in<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

14. Bring up<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To say or introduce a topic or issue
\nExample: <\/b>Whenever we have a meeting, our manager brings up<\/strong> the fact that we are improving every month.<\/p>\n

15. Break down<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To explain something or divide something into parts
\nExample: <\/b>The new security system seemed confusing until Mary broke<\/strong> it down<\/strong> into five easy steps.<\/p>\n

16. Hold up<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To cause a delay
\nExample: <\/b>The bad weather is holding<\/strong> progress up<\/strong> on the new bridge.<\/p>\n

17. Turn down<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To reject, say no to\u00a0
\nExample: <\/b>Larry turned down<\/strong> a job at another company so that he could continue his work here.<\/p>\n

18. Think through<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To consider carefully and thoroughly
\nExample: <\/b>The marketing team did not think<\/strong> it through<\/strong> carefully before giving the product such a silly name.<\/p>\n

19. Spell out<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To say something in a simple way
\nExample: <\/b>Don misunderstood the question so we had to spell<\/strong> it out<\/strong> for him.<\/p>\n

20. Point out<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To indicate or show something
\nExample: <\/b>Everyone at the meeting was surprised when she pointed out<\/strong> the accounting department\u2019s mistake.<\/p>\n

21. Cut down<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To reduce, make something less
\nExample: <\/b>We will be cutting down<\/strong> the electricity bill by installing solar panels.<\/p>\n

22. Cut out<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To completely remove or erase
\nExample: <\/b>Last year we cut out<\/strong> spending on TV commercials in order to increase spending on radio commercials.<\/p>\n

23. Call off<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To cancel
\nExample: <\/b>The department meeting was called off<\/strong> this week so please use your time wisely.<\/p>\n

24. Chip in<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Inseparable, intransitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To give some help
\nExample: <\/b>If everyone chips in<\/strong>, we will be able to finish the job by lunch time.<\/p>\n

25. Put off<\/h2>\n

Type: <\/b>Separable, transitive
\nMeaning: <\/b>To postpone, delay
\nExample: <\/b>The construction on the new building was put off <\/strong>because of all the rain this summer.<\/p>\n

Mastering Phrasal Verbs for Business<\/h2>\n

Phrasal verbs, along with idioms and proverbs, can be a little hard to learn and remember in English because they are not always logical.<\/p>\n

The best way to use phrasal verbs correctly is to copy the way people around you use them.\u00a0 The best places to find phrasal verbs are in business emails, as well as movies or TV shows<\/a> with a business or economics theme. The FluentU library contains clips of popular movies and series paired with dual-language subtitles that make it easier to spot these phrases.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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