run out

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.

To increase gradually or develop something stronger over a period of time. It can refer to physical things, skills, confidence, pressure, or relationships that grow little by little.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'build up' is used with a noun object, the noun can appear either between the two parts or after 'up': 'She built up her confidence' and 'She built her confidence up' are both correct. However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and the particle: say 'She built it up,' never 'She built up it.'

Conjugation

Narrative

Marco had always been te of public speaking. In January, he signed up for a local toastmasters club, not to give speeches, but just to watch. By February, he was introducing himself. By April, he was delivering two-minute talks. His mentor, Dana, re him every week that there were no shortcuts — each s session was building up a layer of confidence he hadn't had before. By June, Marco stood in front of forty strangers and s for eight minutes without notes. S , he wasn't cured of fear, b he had bu enough courage to face it. Ev , his hands still shook a little.

Register

Informal

In 1934, a twenty-five-year-old Soichiro Honda was working as a mechanic in Hamamatsu, Japan, repairing cars and racing them on weekends. He had no university degree and almost no capital. Rahan launch a company immediately, he spent years studying engineering part-time at Hamamatsu Technical High School while running his repair shop. He exted with piston ring manufacturing in his own backyard, failing repeatedly — Toyota rejected his first prototypes as un . In quitting, Honda re his process, invested back into the workshop, and gradually won a supply contract with Toyota in 1941. After the war, in 1948, he founded Honda Motor Co. with that ha technical knowledge and a reputation earned one small improvement at a time. His story is a pr illustration of what bu means in practice: not a single breakthrough, b a deliberate, patient accumulation of skill, credibility, and resources over more than a decade before the world took notice.

To pick up means to collect or gather someone or something from a place, to gradually improve or increase in speed, activity, or quality, or to learn a skill or language through informal experience rather than formal study.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'pick up' means to collect something or someone, it is separable, meaning a noun object can come between the verb and the particle: 'Pick the parcel up' or 'Pick up the parcel' are both correct. However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the verb and the particle: say 'Pick it up,' never 'Pick up it.' When the meaning is 'to improve' or 'to learn informally,' no object is required.

Conjugation

Narrative

Marta had landed in Montreal with one connecting flight left and forty minutes to spare. She had me a few French phrases on the plane, b when the gate agent spoke quickly over the intercom, she understood almost nothing. She found a woman reading a map near the gate and asked for help. The woman laughed ki and slowed down. B the time Marta boarded her second flight, she had pi three new expressions and felt ge proud. She w them on the back of her boarding pass so she wouldn't forget them before landing. S , she worried she'd mix them up.

Register

Neutral

In the autumn of 1940, a young Charles de Gaulle had almost nothing — no army, no territory, no formal government. He had fled France after its fall to Nazi Germany and arrived in London with little more than a uniform and an idea. He spoke almost no English on arrival. Y over the following months, he ab the language through daily meetings with Churchill's staff, radio broadcasts, and street conversations around Westminster. By 1941, he was conducting interviews and negotiations in fu English. More critically, volunteers began joining his Free French Forces in small numbers, then larger ones — soldiers ar from French colonies, merchant sailors, resistance couriers. What had been a sy movement of one man and a borrowed BBC microphone slowly began to gather real momentum. Historians often mark late 1941 as the point when the Free French genuinely picked up strength, transforming from a symbolic gesture into a fi force that would matter at D-Day and beyond. Inrds , De Gaulle's story is a reminder that recovery — whether of a language, a cause, or a country — rarely happens all at once. You pi things piece by piece, until suddenly the momentum is undeniable.

To begin doing a new hobby, sport, or activity, especially one you plan to continue; or to fill or use an amount of space or time.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'take up' means to start an activity, the object usually follows the full phrasal verb: 'She took up yoga' or 'She took it up last year.' If a pronoun is used as the object, it must go between the two parts: 'She took it up' is correct; 'She took up it' is not. When the meaning is to occupy space or time, the object typically follows the particle directly.

Conjugation

Narrative

Dmitri had spent fifteen years working in logistics, rarely doing anything just for himself. When his daughter left for university, the evenings felt endless. A colleague mentioned a woodworking class at the community centre — bedly , Tuesday nights, no experience needed. Dmitri almost di it, sure he'd be hopeless. He signed up anyway. The first night he split a plank badly and laughed about it on the drive home. B month three, he had built a s bookshelf that actually stood level. Ta woodworking hadn't just filled his evenings; it had g him something quiet and real to work toward. S , an ordinary Tuesday became something else entirely.

Register

Neutral

In 1962, at the age of thirty-one, Vera Rubin was already a working astronomer, but she was looking for a research problem she could call entirely her own. Deely avoiding the crowded, coive field of quasars, she chose to take up the study of galaxy rotation curves — how fast stars orbit the centre of a galaxy at varying distances. It was considered unous , almost peripheral. Working with instrument builder Kent Ford at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, Rubin began me the rotational speeds of the Andromeda Galaxy in painstaking detail. The data that came back was deeply strange: stars at the outer edges of galaxies were moving far too fast. By the early 1970s, Rubin and Ford had enough observations across dozens of galaxies to as that most of the matter in the universe is invisible — what we now call dark matter. What she to almost as a quiet retreat from academic rivalry turned out to be one of the most consequential research programs of the twentieth century. S , the lesson is clear: so the activity you take up out of curiosity re everything around it — in , more than she ever expected.