Common Phrasal Verbs in English ​

sit in on sth ​

Meaning: to attend a meeting, class, etc. in order to listen to or learn from it rather than to take an active part

Example:

• Kyle had recently sat in on some econ seminars, and he was telling Florian how aggressive the conversaton had gotten.
• She's been asked to sit in on the meetings.

spill over (into sth) ​

Meaning: to start in one area and then affect other area

Example:

• Unrest has spill over into areas outside the city.
• Debates over academic papers can spill over into outright attacks - sometimes even threats.

poke around/about ​

Meaning: to look for sth, especially sth that is hidden among other things that you have to move

Example:

• We've had journalists poking around and asking a lot of questions.
• So engineer, not economist, Kyle Jensen has just poking around on the Econ Job Market Rumors site.

set out to do sth ​

Meaning: if you set out to do something, you start trying to do it.

Example:

• We set out to find the truth behind the mystery.
• What were you setting out to do with this paper? What was the plan?

rope in sb (to do sth / for sth) ​

Meaning: to persuade sb to join in an activity or to help to do sth, even when they do not want to

Example:

• Everyone was roped in to help with the show.
• Florian ropes in another friend - a mathy one - Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham of Yale.
• Visitors were roped in for potato picking and harvesting.

call up ​

Meaning: to make a phone call to sb

Example:

• So the other day, I caled up one of the world's top experts in working from home, and he himself was fittingly working from home.

lost out ​

Meaning: If you lose out, you suffer a loss or disadvantage because you have not succeed in what you were doing/

Example:

• And it's just weird, and you're probably going to lose out on business.
• Small business are losing out to the large chains.
• Egypt has lost out on revenues from the Suez Canal.
• He got through the preliminaries, but lost out in the finals.

hold with ​

Example: to agree with sth

• We don't hold with the French in Britain.
• I don't hold with the use of force.

take on sb ​

Meaning: If you take someone on, you fight them or compete against them, especially when they are bigger or more powerful than you are. Example:

• The rebels took on the entire Roman army.
• An Indigenous drink maker in Colombia decided to take on one of the biggest beverage makers in the world.