1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context

1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context © Matt Errey 2007

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1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context K k (1/4)

keel over
(informal)

During the game, one of the players keeled over and fell to the ground.

His team-mates ran over to see what was wrong with him.

keel over

He was giving a speech
when he suddenly keeled
over and fell to the floor.

✍  see also:^ fall over^

keep at
You’ve lost some weight already. The new diet must be working, so you
really should keep at it.

keep at sth

Tell Yoko not to give up
learning English, but to
keep at it.

✍  see also:^ stick at (inf),

stick to

keep away
Keep the dogs away until I get the kids into the house. They get scared
when they see animals they don’t know.

keep sth/sb away
keep sth/sb away
from sth/sb
If you bring kids to the
office, keep them away
from the computers.

✍ ^

keep away
from

We tell our kids to keep away from dogs they don’t know. Even if a dog

looks cute and friendly, it could be dangerous.

keep away from

sth/sb

If you’re trying to lose
weight, keep away from
sweets and ice-cream.

✍  see also:^ stay away (from)^

keep back
He says this job is keeping him back. He thinks he’d be better off
working in a bigger company with more opportunities for advancement.

keep sb back

He has a lot of potential,
but his lack of confidence
is keeping him back.

✍  see also:^ hold back^

keep down
The government wants to keep food and fuel prices down until after the
up-coming election.

keep sth down

keep down sth

We have to keep our
prices down to compete
with cheap imports.

✍  see also:^ hold down^

keep from
Let me know if you’re too busy to talk just now. I don’t want to keep
you from your work.

keep sb/sth from sth
keep sb/sth from
doing sth
The government is trying
to keep the economy from
going into recession.

✍ 

keep in
When we misbehaved in class, our teacher would punish us by keeping
us in after school. It was called ‘getting a detention’.

keep sb in

My grandma said her
teachers didn’t keep bad
kids in. They hit them.

✍ 

keep off
The sign says we have to keep off the grass, so they want us to walk
along this path and not go off it.

keep off sth

If you want to lose weight,
keep off desserts and
fattening foods.

✍ ^

keep on
Don’t stop now. Keep on studying until you’ve figured out what all the
phrasal verbs starting with ‘k’ mean.

keep on doing sth

We have to keep on
cutting costs until we’re
making a profit again.

✍  see also:^ carry on, go on^