Welcome back to The Art of Business English. In this week's episode we have the second part of my mini-series on three-word phrasal verbs.
If you haven’t taken a look at episode 1, then you can review it here.
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Today I am going to be focusing on 3-word phrasal verbs that end with the preposition “to”. Remember, any verb that follows a preposition needs to be in the gerund or ING form.
Let’s start learning!
Leave up to
Meaning:
To give someone the responsibility to do something.
Example:
“We'll leave it up to the accountant to decide how to invest the money.”
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Live up to
Meaning:
To achieve what is expected.
Example:
“The new employee didn’t live up to expectations and HR decided not to renew her contract.”
Set out to
Meaning:
To start an activity with a particular aim.
Example:
“He set out to design software that would be accessible to employees outside the accounting department.”
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Face up to
Meaning:
To accept that a difficult situation exists.
Example:
“Every needs to face up to the fact that this quarter’s sales results are a complete disaster.”
Get round to
Meaning:
To find the time to do or deal with something.
Example:
“I finally got round to writing the financial report.”
Look forward to
Meaning:
To be excited about the fact that an event or activity is happening.
Example:
“I am looking forward to a nice quiet holiday next month. We are going to the Bahamas.”
Look up to
Meaning:
To admire and respect someone
Example:
“Her colleagues have always looked up to her.”
Own up to
Meaning:
To tell the truth or to admit that you are responsible for something.
Example:
“No one has owned up to stealing the money.”
Hang on to
Meaning:
To hold tightly to something; to keep something.
Example:
“When he tried to stand, he had to hang onto a tree for support.”
“You should hang onto that painting; it might be valuable.”
Add up to
Meaning:
To make a particular amount; to have a particular effect or result.
Example:
“The company's assets add up to $107bn.”
“These changes could add up to a 10-15% improvement in productivity.”
Feel up to
Meaning:
To have the energy to do something.
Example:
“Look, I would love to come for drinks after work, but I just don’t feel up to it today.”
Put up to
Meaning:
To encourage someone to do something, usually wrong.
Example:
“Sam skipped class on Friday. I think he was put up to it by his friends.”
Final thoughts
So, there you have some more three-word phrasal verbs that I am sure you will find useful to improve your understanding of native speakers. I hope you found this episode interesting.
As always, if you have any questions, send me a message on speakpipe or drop me a comment on the blog.
Be sure to stick around for next week’s installment of the last episode in this 3-part mini-series on three-word prepositional phrasal verbs.
Don’t forget to enrol in one of my premium training programmes if you are series about improving your English.
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Take care till next week!
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