set up

To arrange, organize, or prepare something so it is ready to use; to establish a business, system, or organization from the beginning.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Set up" is a separable phrasal verb, meaning a noun object can go either between the verb and the particle or after the particle: both "She set up the meeting" and "She set the meeting up" are correct. However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and particle: say "She set it up," never "She set up it."

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had exactly one week before the new marketing team arrived. The office was e — no software, no shared drives, no project management tools. She started on Monday by se up the team's accounts on Slack and Asana, then spent Tuesday configuring coial access permissions so everyone could collaborate without seeing each other's client files. By Thursday she'd set up a shared editorial calendar and r a test meeting to check the video conferencing. When the team walked in on Friday, everything worked. S , her manager quietly n it in her performance review: "Priya se the whole operation before anyone even asked her to." Ev , Priya barely had time to unpack her own desk that same week.

Register

Neutral

In 1976, Steve Wozniak had already designed a reary personal computer in his garage in Los Altos, California — but he had no intention of selling it. He was happy sharing the schematics for free with fellow hobbyists at the Homebrew Computer Club. It was Steve Jobs who saw something larger. Jobs pe Wozniak that they should turn the invention into a real product, and on April 1, 1976, the two Steves and Ronald Wayne signed the founding documents for Apple Computer Company. Jobs s his Volkswagen van; Wozniak sold his HP calculator. They used the money to fill their first order: 50 units for a l electronics dealer called Byte Shop, at $500 each. Wo out of Jobs's family garage, they ha every machine. S , that decision — to commit, to form a legal entity, to take an order and deliver — transformed a hobby project into one of the moble companies in history. In , what made the difference was not just Wozniak's technical genius but Jobs's willingness to formally se a structure, a process, and a business where before there had been only an idea.

To organize, arrange, or resolve a problem, situation, or misunderstanding so that it is no longer confused or difficult. You sort something out when you bring it from a state of disorder or trouble into a clear, working order.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Sort out" is a separable phrasal verb, meaning a noun object can be placed either after the full phrasal verb or between the two parts: "She sorted out the problem" and "She sorted the problem out" are both correct. However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and the particle: you must say "She sorted it out," never "She sorted out it."

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya arrived at Barcelona Sants station at 7:45 a.m. with a printout of a booking confirmation that showed the wrong departure date — she had booked for the following Tuesday by mistake. The train left in fifteen minutes. Heart hammering, she found the Renfe customer-service window and ex the situation in ha Spanish. The agent checked her screen, sighed once, then st typing. Eight minutes later, Priya had a n ticket for the next available train to Valencia at no extra charge. S , she sat down on a bench, exhaled, a texted her sister: "Crisis so . On my way." E the agent seemed relieved it worked out.

Register

Informal

In the summer of 1815, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, the diplomats of Europe gathered in Vienna had a st administrative challenge on their hands. Decades of Napoleonic reshuffling had left the borders of German states, Italian duchies, and Polish territories in genuine chaos — hundreds of competing claims overlapped on the same maps. Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria, al Talleyrand of France and Castlereagh of Britain, s months in intensive negotiation through late 1814 and into 1815, working committee by committee, dispute by dispute, to establish who controlled which territory. The resulting Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, signed in June 1815, re the map of Europe with enough clarity and balance to prevent a general European war for nearly a century. It was im and often self-interested, b the sheer organizational achievement — transforming post-Napoleonic chaos into a fuing state system — stands as one of history's most consequential examples of powerful, patient effort to so an almost impossibly tangled situation. Noess , the peace it produced endured for generations.

To have a serious argument or disagreement with someone that causes damage to your relationship with them. After falling out, people often stop speaking to each other for a period of time.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Fall out" is an inseparable phrasal verb, meaning the verb and particle cannot be split by an object. You say "they fell out over money" — never "they fell the matter out." When used with a preposition indicating the cause, the pattern is "fall out over/about + noun" or "fall out with + person."

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya and her flatmate Jess had lived together for two years without any se problems. Then, last month, they fell out over a simple household bill — Priya felt Jess had been paying less than her fair share for months and finally said so directly. Jess got de , and within minutes they were barely speaking. For two weeks, the flat felt un cold despite the central heating. Ev , Priya kn on Jess's door with two cups of tea and the actual bank statements pr out. Facts on paper, a a cup of tea — it turned out to be enough to begin ma things right. S , they never really needed to fa that badly in the first place.

Register

Neutral

In the early 1840s, Abraham Lincoln and James Shields were both rising political figures in Illinois — but their relationship collapsed dramatically and nearly fatally. In 1842, Lincoln published a series of anonymous satirical letters in the Sangamo Journal mo Shields, then the Illinois State Auditor, as v , incompetent, and dishonest. When Shields discovered Lincoln was the author, he was furious and demanded a formal apology. Lincoln refused to give one he considered ad , and Shields challenged him to a duel. The two men actually traveled to an island on the Missouri River — Sunflower Island — on September 22, 1842, prepared to fight with cavalry broadswords. O last-minute mediation by their seconds pr bloodshed. The affair de embarrassed Lincoln, who rarely spoke of it afterward, and the two men maintained a fr distance for years. In , it is a vivid historical reminder of how thoroughly two people can fa — and how a disagreement, left without genuine repair, can es far beyond its original cause.

To begin something again from the very beginning, usually after something has gone wrong or circumstances have changed. Starting over means abandoning what you had done before and taking a fresh approach.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Start over" is an inseparable phrasal verb, meaning no object can be placed between the two parts. You cannot say "start it over" to mean beginning again from scratch in the standard sense of this phrase; instead, you say "start over" alone or add context after, as in "She decided to start over with a new plan." Note that "over" here functions as an adverb, not a preposition, which is why no object follows it directly.

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had been teaching herself guitar for three months using online tutorials, but her fingering technique had developed such bad habits that her teacher winced during their first session together. "You have te in your wrist that will cause injury if you continue," he said gently. He suggested she start over — back to basic hand position, single open chords, slow tempos. Priya felt de at first, b within two weeks of dr the fundamentals correctly, her chord transitions were cl than ever. S , sometimes the fastest route forward is the one that do back. She had, in effect, stver to move forward. Ev , she almost quit that first week.

Register

Neutral

In the autumn of 1849, Abraham Lincoln's political career appeared to be finished. He had served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives, kept a promise not to seek re-election, and returned to Springfield, Illinois, to resume his law practice — largely fo in Washington. His application for a federal land-office appointment was rejected. By 1850, Lincoln was forty-one years old, in debt, and grieving the death of his three-year-old son Eddie. Rahan retreat into bitterness, he po himself back into the law, riding the Eighth Judicial Circuit across r Illinois for months at a time, rebuilding his reputation one case at a time. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 re his passion for politics, Lincoln had rebuilt the skills, the relationships, and the m clarity that would eventually carry him to the presidency in 1860. In , his decade of obscurity was not wasted time — it was the ground floor of a rebuilt life. S , Lincoln's return from political irrelevance is one of history's most documented examples of choosing, quietly and without fanfare, to st .