YOUR PROGRESS
0%
😔 Emotions
hold back
speak up

What you keep to yourself shapes you. What you say out loud changes things.

↓   SCROLL TO EXPLORE
hold back
To stop yourself from expressing an emotion, opinion, or reaction; to restrain what you feel or think from coming out.
💡 She held back her tears during the speech, not wanting to show how much the moment meant to her.
INFORMAL
speak up
To say what you think or feel, especially when it is difficult or when others might not want to hear it; to use your voice when silence would be the easier choice.
💡 No one else was going to say it, so she took a breath and spoke up.
INFORMAL

Test your knowledge — read the sentence and choose the right phrasal verb. Click to answer.

QUESTION 1 OF 3

Shadowing is one of the most powerful techniques for improving your English pronunciation and fluency. Listen → speak out loud → record yourself → compare.

Shadowing practice
Use your phone to record yourself repeating each sentence. Play it back and compare your pronunciation with the audio.
HOLD BACK
1 of 6
1
Listen to the audio
2
Repeat out loud — record yourself if you can
3
Write what you heard, then click Check to compare
🎙 RECORD YOUR PRONUNCIATION

One exercise for each verb — type your answer and click Check.

HOLD BACK ▶ FILL THE BLANK
She knew exactly what she wanted to say, but something made her β€” and she left the meeting with the words still unsaid.
Hint: infinitive or past tense of the verb meaning 'to stop yourself from expressing what you think or feel'.
SPEAK UP ▶ FILL THE BLANK
She had been sitting with it for three meetings, watching the same mistake happen β€” and finally, she put up her hand and .
Hint: past tense of the phrasal verb meaning 'to express your opinion openly, especially when it is difficult'.
STORY 1 OF 2 · HOLD BACK
hold back

James was the person in the room who noticed things. He saw when projects were going wrong, when people were being treated unfairly. He noticed everything. And then he held back. He told himself it was not his place. That someone else would say something. So the meetings ended, and the problems continued, and James went home with his observations intact β€” and unsaid.

Alessandra Fernandes Nóbrega
Alessandra Fernandes Nóbrega
History teacher and educational content creator. M.A. in History of Education (UFPB). Creator of WeeklyCross, FlipVerbs and Flowglish — a connected ecosystem for learning English through context, not memorisation.