Grammar notes: phrasal verbs R-S

List of verbs

reckon on something
to expect

He's decided to resign from his job? Well, I hadn't reckoned on that happening.

I think we can probably reckon on a minimum of 25 people coming to the training course.

ring (someone) back
to phone again

He'll be in the office after 3 o'clock, if you'd like to ring back then.

Sorry, I've got a meeting now. I'll ring you back as soon as it's finished.

ring off
to end a phone call

I was speaking to him earlier, but his boss called him into the office so he rang off without telling me the news.

I'll have to ring off now because the meeting's about to start. See you later.

rule something/someone out
to eliminate

So who gets the manager's job when he leaves? Well, both of us can be ruled out because we've only been working here six months.

If we lower the prices of our products, we can't rule out the possibility that our competitors will do exactly the same.

run out (of something)
to have no more

I can't print any more copies. The ink's run out.

I can't print any more copies. The printer's run out of ink.

run through something
to check by repeating

I want to run through the presentation just once more to make sure I've got it right.

Let's run through the names again and see if we can think of anyone else.

rush into something
to decide too quickly

I'm not going to rush into anything now. Leave me the details and I'll look at them when I have a bit more time.

Let's not rush into a decision on this. Think about it over the weekend, and we'll meet back here at 10 o'clock on Monday morning.

scale something down
to reduce in size

We're going to have to scale down the plans for expansion until there's an upturn in the economy.

Your projected costs will have to be scaled down. Remember, there are other departments that want money for new equipment too!

see to something
to do
to deal with

I'll see to the arrangements for next week's meeting if you deal with the work outstanding for today.

The photocopier needs seeing to. It hasn't been working properly for at least a week.

set someone back something
to cost

I know that this building isn't big enough for us now, but a new building will set the company back millions of pounds.

The new equipment we bought for the R&D Department set us back over £500,000.

set off
to leave on a journey

I had to book you on the early flight because the usual one was full. You'll need to set off really early.

If we set off from here at around eleven, we should be there in plenty of time for the meeting.

set something up
to start
to establish
to install equipment

The company was set up by the current director in 1987.

We can set up a committee to look at the possibility of changing the company's pension scheme.

Set up the screen and the camera in front of the table so we can see them and they'll be able to see us.

shoot up
to increase rapidly

The number of accidents in the factory has shot up recently. We'll have to check our safety measures because something's clearly going wrong.

The price of raw materials is shooting up, and soon we'll have to think about passing the cost on to the consumer.

sink in
to be slowly understood

How long is it going to take to sink in? The company's in trouble and something needs to be done about it now!

The news of the company cutbacks may take a while to sink in, but you should prepare yourself to deal with lots of queries from the staff.

sort something out
to solve a problem

I'll speak to you as soon as I've sorted out this problem with the Inland Revenue.

We're still having problems with the internet connections. I thought you were going to sort it out.

speak up
to speak more loudly

I'm sorry, this is a very bad line. Can you speak up?

You'll have to speak up or the people at the back won't be able to hear.

stand for something
to represent

This company has always stood for quality and reliability, and that's not going to change.

The letters R&D stand for Research and Development.

stand in (for someone)
to take someone's place

I'm sorry, I can't help you. I'm just standing in (for her) until she comes back to work tomorrow. Could you ring back then?

The personnel manager's just phoned in sick, so we need to find someone to stand in for him on the training course.

step something up
to increase

If we get any more orders we'll need to step up production.

The speed with which we deal with complaints needs to be stepped up.

sum (something) up
to summarise the main points

So, to sum up, the main points to remember are that we need to find new markets, invest in new technology....

If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say that the image of this company is reliability.

Links to exercises and pdf files

Grammar notes from this page - pdf file for download or printing
Matching exercise - online
Gapfill exercise - online
Gapfill exercise - pdf file for download or printing
Phrasal verbs A-B: account for --> brush up
Phrasal verbs C: call for --> cut off
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 T-Z: take down --> work out