150 High Frequency Phrasal Verbs: a – K

be up
be out of bed
🔹 Why aren’t you up? You have to be at school in half an hour!


break down
stop working [vehicles or machines]
🔹 Andy was late for the meeting because his car had broken down.
🔹 Our washing machine has broken down so I’m taking our clothes to a launderette.


break in/into
enter a building by force (usually to steal sth)
🔹 Somebody broke into the office and stole two computers.


break up
[re romantic relationships] = come to an end
🔹 When his marriage broke up Kyle moved back to London.


bring up
mention
🔹 “Did Tina bring up the party when you saw her?” – “No, she didn’t mention it.”


brush up on
improve your skills or knowledge of something (especially when you’ve partly forgotten them)
🔹 I’m taking classes to brush up on my French. It’s very rusty.
🔹 After the long school holidays the children needed to brush up on their times tables (=multiplication tables).


bump into
meet somebody by chance
🔹 I was at a conference last week and I bumped into somebody I went to school with. Do you remember Nick Burnett?


call back
1) phone somebody who has called you earlier
🔹 Jeff phoned while you were out. He wants you to call him back.
2) phone somebody for a second time
🔹 I don’t have that information yet but as soon as I do I’ll call you back.


call off
cancel a meeting, an event
🔹 They called off the meeting because a lot of people had flu.


calm down
to stop (somebody) being angry, upset, too active, etc
🔹 Lisa said she would listen to Neil once he calmed down.
🔹 The dog was barking a lot but in the end I managed to calm him down.