work out

To exercise the body in order to improve fitness; to find a solution to a problem through thinking or effort; or for a situation or plan to end in a successful or satisfactory way.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'work out' means to solve or calculate something, it is separable — a noun object can follow the particle or be placed between the verb and the particle: 'She worked out the problem' or 'She worked it out.' However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and the particle: 'She worked it out' is correct, but 'She worked out it' is not.

Conjugation

Narrative

After four rounds of interviews, Priya was offered a junior analyst position, but the salary was lower than her rent required. She didn't panic. That evening she sat at her kitchen table with a notebook, li her monthly expenses one by one. She called her landlord to ask about a sh lease, researched the cost of a monthly commuter pass, and cut three subscriptions she barely used. B midnight, she had wo the t numbers — they would hold if she cooked at home most nights. She accepted the offer the next morning. S , six months later, she'd re her first raise. Ev , she kept the same careful budget.

Register

Informal

In October 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy faced what many historians consider the most da thirteen days of the Cold War. Soviet nuclear missiles had been secretly installed in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. Kennedy's military advisors pu hard for immediate air strikes and a ground invasion. In , Kennedy rejected the fastest solution and demanded his team work through every option. He se corresponded directly with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, pr a naval blockade rather than an attack, and offering to quietly remove American missiles from Turkey in exchange. On October 28th, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the Cuban missiles. The invasion never happened. No nuclear weapon was fired. Whnce was Kennedy's insistence on slowing down, examining the problem from every angle, and neing rather than striking — a hikes reminder that when the pressure is greatest, taking the time to properly wo a solution can change everything.

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 break down means either (1) to stop working properly, as a machine or system does when it fails, or (2) to suddenly lose control of your emotions and start crying. Both senses share the idea of something — a machine or a person — reaching a point where it can no longer hold itself together.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

In its primary senses — stopping functioning or losing emotional control — 'break down' is inseparable: you cannot place an object between the two parts. You say 'she broke down' or 'the engine broke down,' not 'she broke her emotions down.' However, when 'break down' means to divide something into smaller parts or categories, it becomes separable: 'Can you break the report down into sections?' or 'Can you break down the report into sections?' are both correct.

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had held herself together for three weeks after her father's diagnosis — ma appointments, calling relatives, updating insurance forms. She told herself there was no time to feel anything yet. T one Tuesday afternoon, she was washing dishes and a song her father used to hum came on the radio. She turned off the tap, sat down on the kitchen floor, and completely br . Her roommate found her there twenty minutes later and simply sat beside her, saying nothing. So , Priya thought, you don't ch when the walls come down — they choose for you. It was, in its own q way, a ne collapse.

Register

Neutral

On the night of June 4, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood before the House of Commons and de one of the most coial speeches of the twentieth century — the 'We shall fight on the beaches' address. What many people do not know is what happened immediately afterward. Churchill walked off the floor of the House, turned to a colleague, and reportedly mu , 'And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken bottles, because that's bloody well all we've got.' According to close aides, in pr moments during those first desperate months of the war — with France collapsing, Dunkirk barely survived, and invasion seemingly imminent — Churchill did, on at least one occasion, break down in private, weeping openly. He had built a public image of granite-like resolve, b the weight of responsibility for millions of lives took its toll in rooms where no cameras watched. That pr fracture, those moments of breaking down, may have made his public composure more genuine, not less. E the strongest systems — human or mechanical — can reach a point where they simply br .

To stop trying to do something because it seems too difficult or impossible; to admit that you cannot succeed and abandon your effort. It often implies accepting defeat after a struggle.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

As an intransitive or inseparable phrasal verb, 'give up' cannot have an object placed between its two parts when used in the sense of abandoning an effort. You can say 'She gave up the project' or 'She gave it up,' but when no object follows — meaning simply 'to stop trying' — the verb stands alone: 'She gave up.' Note that 'give up' can also take an object meaning 'to quit something,' in which case object pronouns must come between the parts: 'She gave it up,' never 'She gave up it.'

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had been pitching her UX redesign proposal to the same director for four months. Every time, he pushed it to the next quarter. Her colleague Jonah told her to give up and move on — the company clearly wasn't interested. B Priya had data showing the current interface was costing them users. She bo one final meeting, arrived with printed customer complaint logs and a co comparison, and l it all on the table. The director approved a pilot run by the end of the hour. S , giving up, she later said, would have been the ea thing she ever did — a the bi mistake. She had refused to gi even after four months of no.

Register

Neutral

In October 1941, with the German army advancing rapidly toward Moscow, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin faced en pressure to evacuate the capital. Most government ministries had already fled east to Kuibyshev, panic was sp through the city, and some senior officials assumed Moscow would fall within days. On October 19, Stalin made a decision: he stayed. He announced a state of siege, appeared publicly in the city, and gave his famous address on November 7 — Revolution Day — standing on Red Square with German forces less than 50 miles away. The speech was broadcast nationally and filmed. Stalin's refusal to abandon Moscow st the Soviet defense. By December, a Soviet counteroffensive had pushed German forces back from the capital's outskirts. Historians debate many of Stalin's choices, b this particular episode is well documented: the moment when the sy and military weight of not giving up — of vi refusing to concede — shifted the psychological momentum of an entire campaign. So , the decision that changes everything is simply the refusal to gi . In , that single choice altered the course of the entire war.