1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context

1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context © Matt Errey 2007

112

1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context S s (1/13)

save up
My daughter is saving up for a new mobile phone. She’s already got
over a hundred dollars.

save up

save up for sth

People used to save up to
buy something, but now
they get things on credit.

✍ ^

scrape
through

He was a lazy student in university and only just scraped through the

final exams. He very nearly failed.

scrape through

scrape through sth

Our team just scraped
through to the second
round of matches.

✍ ^

scrape
together

He’s a lazy man and doesn’t work much, so he sometimes has trouble

scraping together enough money to pay the rent.

scrape together sth

scrape sth together

I scraped enough money
together to start my own
company.

✍ 

screw up
(informal)

Jim really screwed up this time. We paid a lot of money for a newspaper

advertisement and he put the wrong phone number in it!

screw up
screw up sth
screw sth up
If Jim screws up one more
time, I’ll have to let him
go and hire someone else.

✍  see also: mess up, slip up

see about
Maria’s going to see her bank’s loans officer about borrowing the
money for a new apartment.

see sb about sth

see about sth

Jim’s going to see a man
about a dog. It’s a puppy
he might buy for his son.

✍ 

see around

Marco used to hang out in the dance clubs, but no-one’s seen him

around for a while. Does anyone know what he’s up to?

see sb around

I’ve never met their CEO,

but I’ve seen him around

at trade fairs.

✍ ^

see into
The fortune teller says she can see into your thoughts and see into the
future. Do you believe her?

see into sth

I wish I could see into
Mark’s mind and find out
what his real motive is.

✍ ^

see off
The girl’s family went to see her off at the airport. After saying good-
bye, they waited for her plane to take off and waved as it flew away.

see sb off

see off sb

Can you take our guests
to the train station and see
them off, please?

✍ ^

see out
After seeing out the year in his current job, he’s going to spend next
year travelling around Asia.

see out sth

see sth out

We’ll see the current
contract out and then look
for another supplier.

✍ ^ see also: see through^

see out
After the meeting was over, the chairman accompanied his guests down
to the lobby and saw them out to their waiting cars.

see sb out

The manager’s assistant
saw the visitors out to the
elevator lobby.

✍ 