sort out

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 reconcile with someone after a disagreement or argument; also, to invent a story or excuse that is not true; or to do something to compensate for a loss, mistake, or missed opportunity.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'make up' is used with an object, the verb and particle can be separated: 'She made a story up' or 'She made up a story' are both correct. However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and particle: say 'She made it up,' not 'She made up it.' When the meaning is 'to reconcile,' the verb is typically used without a direct object or with 'with': 'They made up' or 'He made up with her.'

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya and her college roommate Jen hadn't spoken in two weeks — not since the argument over whose turn it was to pay the electricity bill. It was Priya who finally b first. She knocked on Jen's bedroom door one Tuesday evening, holding two mugs of chamomile tea. 'I was p ,' she said simply. 'I'm sorry.' Jen looked at the tea, then at Priya, and something in her face so . They sat on the ki floor for an hour, talking through the real frustrations underneath the fight. B midnight, they had ma , a the bill — split evenly — was paid. S , two mugs of tea turned out to be exactly enough.

Register

Informal

On the night of November 9, 1989, East and West Germany were on the verge of something that had seemed impossible for twenty-eight years. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, had physically and politically divided families, neighbors, and a nation. When East German authorities unexpectedly announced that citizens could cross the border freely, thousands of people fl the checkpoints. Families who had been separated for decades em on Checkpoint Charlie and at the Brandenburg Gate. Siblings who had grown up on opposite sides of a co barrier — some who had not spoken in years, others who had never met their own relatives — stood together on the rubble of a wall being to by ordinary hands. The reunification process was not pa ; economic and cultural tensions between East and West Germans persisted for years. B November 9 represented a genuine, historic turning point: a broken relationship between two halves of a people beginning the slow, di work of healing. S , it is one of history's most dramatic examples of what it means to ma — not just between two people, b between two entire ways of life.

To use all of something so that there is none left; to have no more of something available. When you run out of something, you have used or consumed the last of it.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Run out" is inseparable when used in its core meaning. The object always follows the preposition "of": say "We ran out of water" — never "We ran water out." The phrase "run out" cannot be split by placing the object between "run" and "out."

Conjugation

Narrative

Marta was two hours into her solo road trip across rural Portugal when her phone buzzed a low-battery warning. She'd forgotten her car charger. Worse, she suddenly realised she'd also ru of cash — the last village had no ATM. She pulled over near an olive grove and th calmly: the next town was thirty kilometres ahead. She fl down a passing driver, explained in br Portuguese, and borrowed a pen to write down directions to a petrol station with a money exchange. S crisis, small solution. S , she was back on the road in twenty minutes, th still a little shaken. Ev , she laughed about it later.

Register

Neutral

In August 1914, the British Expeditionary Force re from Mons, Belgium, after holding against oving German forces. By the time units reached Le Cateau, many soldiers had run critically low on ammunition — some battalions had fired over 400 rounds per man in a single day. At the Battle of Le Cateau on August 26th, General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien made the coial decision to turn and fight rather than continue retreating, partly because exhausted troops could not outrun the enemy, and partly because supply lines had broken down so severely that some units had effectively exhausted their reserves. The battle cost the British nearly 8,000 casualties b bo precious time for the main retreat to continue. Military historians point to this episode as a s example of how running out of essential supplies — ammunition, food, rest — forces commanders into decisions they would never otherwise make. Th a resource ru in the field, options collapse rapidly.