Grammar notes: phrasal verbs C

List of verbs

call for something
to need
to demand

This situation calls for urgent action before it's too late.

The job calls for a great deal of tact as you'll be dealing with the public at all times.

You've been promoted to manager? This calls for champagne.

The shareholders are calling for a change in management because of last year's bad results.

call something off
to cancel

We had to call off the meeting because the manager was on a trip.

No one told me you'd called it off. I came all the way from Barcelona!

call (someone) up
to phone

call something up (on the computer)
to look for and open

I tried to call you up to tell you about the meeting, but your mobile was switched off.

It's difficult to get any work done because people are calling up all day.

I called up the document and added the new paragraphs.

When I tried to call the file up it wasn't there. I must have deleted it by mistake.

carry on
carry on (doing something)
carry on (with something)
to continue

Please don't let me interrupt you. Carry on as if I wasn't here.

The fire alarm is always ringing. Now people ignore it and carry on working.

I'll be out of the office this afternoon, so you can just carry on with whatever you were doing this morning.

carry something out
to do
to complete or perform

The job was carried out by an outside consultancy firm.

We're carrying out a survey at the moment to see which of our products is the most popular.

catch up (with someone)
to reach the same standard

catch up (on something)
(to reach the required standard)
to do work you should already have finished

You all know much more than I do about computers, but I haven't got time to study. I'll never catch up.

You've already finished two reports today. I'll have to stay late to catch up with you.

I'm afraid there was no one to cover you when you were off sick last week, so you've got a lot of work to catch up on.

I'll just have a sandwich at my desk so I can catch up on the backlog.

change over (to something)
to change to a new system or position

Spain changed over to the euro at the beginning of 2002.

Your computer's got the program I need. We'll have to change over.

I'm on a late shift this week, but we change over next Monday.

We'll have to change over to a new computer system soon because the old system is overloaded.

changeover (noun)

Everything seemed to be cheaper before the changeover to the euro.

We had nothing but problems with the computers for a couple of months after the changeover.

climb down
to admit you were wrong

He had to climb down after his colleagues proved him wrong.

The others had a much stronger argument, and in the end he climbed down and admitted they were right.

climb-down (noun)

First he said we couldn't have a pay rise, but then when we threatened to go on strike he said he'd negotiate. It was a complete climb-down.

close (something) down
to close permanently

If we don't improve production we'll have to close down the factory.

When the supermarket opened, the grocer's shop on the corner closed down.

close-down (noun)

The factory close-down made a lot of people unemployed.

come out
to be published or made public

When the annual report came out, there was a sudden rush to sell shares.

News of the merger came out last week. Now everyone's worried about losing their jobs.

come up
to be mentioned
to appear

Did anything interesting come up in the meeting?

The idea of moving the company out of the city came up in the meeting.

A new vacancy has come up because one of the managers has retired.

come up against something
to meet or face

You come up against all sorts of discrimination when you work for a big company.

We came up against a number of problems when we tried to open a branch in France.

come up with something
to think of

The manager's secretary came up with a really good idea in the meeting.

We've been trying to find a solution to the problem for a long time now, but we still haven't come up with anything.

crack down (on something)
to act more strictly

Staff have been told they can't send personal emails from work. Management will be cracking down in future.

If we want to save money we should begin by cracking down on personal phone calls made from work.

crop up
to appear or happen unexpectedly

Something's cropped up, so I won't be able to come to the meeting.

If any problems crop up while I'm on holiday, just ask one of the other managers.

cross something/someone off (a list)
cross something out
to delete
to draw a line through

OK, I've phoned those two clients, so they can be crossed off.

The sales manager will be in London next week and can't come to the meeting, so you can cross him off.

Yes or No. Cross out whichever doesn't apply.

That's not how you spell it. Cross it out and write it again.

cut back (on) (something)
to reduce

If sales continue to fall, we'll have to cut back production until things improve.

We were spending far too much money on entertaining clients, but we've managed to cut back.

They need to cut back on their investment programme.

cut down (on something)
to reduce consumption

I'm still smoking too much. I've tried to cut down, but it's impossible.

If we cut down on photocopies we won't need to buy so much toner.

cut someone off
disconnect a phone call

I was just talking to someone in the sales department, but I was cut off.

I pressed the wrong button on the switchboard and cut him off. He'll phone back in a minute

Links to exercises and pdf files

Grammar notes from this page - pdf file for download or printing
Gapfill exercise - online
Gapfill exercise - pdf file for download or printing
Phrasal verbs A-B: account for --> brush up
Phrasal verbs D-F: deal with --> fit in
Phrasal verbs G: get across --> go under
Phrasal verbs H-L: hand out --> look up to
Phrasal verbs M-P: make out --> put through
Phrasal verbs R-S: reckon on --> sum up
Phrasal verbs T-Z: take down --> work out