10 Common Phrasal Verbs to Express Your Emotions
Humans are complicated creatures. We are full of crazy emotions, and it can already be difficult to express our feelings in our mother tongue. In our second (third etc.) language it gets even more complicated. There are so many nuances, and so many little language traps that could lead to huge misunderstandings. Thus, today I have decided to focus on English vocabulary that will help you express emotional nuances to boost your English fluency.
Extra tip: Please keep in mind that phrasal verbs are essential. If you don’t understand phrasal verbs, you will have trouble understanding spoken English.
Phrasal verbs are extremely common, and often the best way to express something. Lots of English learners think that they can just use the one-word synonyms that exist for most phrasal verbs. Unfortunately, that trick doesn’t work because these synonyms, which originate from Latin, often sound too formal or even awkward in many situations. Not learning phrasal verbs can seriously impede your progress. Do not panic though! I know they are difficult, but it is not impossible to master them if you follow my advice:
Pay attention to how they are used in movies, articles etc.
Incorporate them into your daily English practice.
Keep in mind that most phrasal verbs have a literal and an idiomatic meaning whereas the literal meaning (and the image that comes with it) helps us understand the meaning of phrasal verbs.
Do not study huge lists of phrasal verbs. You will feel overwhelmed. Instead practice them in context.
Group your phrasal verbs into categories (as you can see here where we are focusing on emotions).
Connect your phrasal verbs to real situations in your life. This technique is a powerful tool to memorize vocabulary more easily.
Now, let’s get started! Let’s describe emotions:
1. Stir Up (synonyms: to arouse, provoke, incite)
This phrasal verb can be separated. When you make someone feel something (often something bad like anger), you stir it up. The following words are often used with this phrasal verb: animosity, controversy, feelings, emotions, trouble, resentment, anger.
Examples:
“These kinds of speeches stir up anger.”
“The article stirred up a lot of memories.”
2. Crack Up
This phrasal verb can be separated. (informal) If you crack up, or if something or someone cracks you up, you suddenly laugh a lot. Common usage: We often use this phrasal verb with ‘laughing’ for extra emphasis:
“We all just cracked up laughing.”
Examples:
“John cracked up when I told him what happened.”
“It just cracks me up what some people say.”
3. Light Up (synonyms: to brighten)
This phrasal verb can only be separated when used literally. For example: Can you light up the candle? Can you light it up? When someone’s eyes or face light up, they suddenly look happy or excited.
Examples:
“Her face lit up when she saw her parents arriving at the airport.”
“Her husband’s eyes light up whenever he sees her.”
4. Tear Up
If you tear up, you start to have tears in your eyes because you’re sad or happy. We cannot separate this phrasal verb. Pronunciation tip: The “ea” in “tear” is pronounced like the “ee” in “green” with a long e sound.
Examples:
“He started to tear up when he had to leave.”
“I teared up when I talked about my childhood.”
5. Freak out (synonyms: to anger, agitate, flip out)
We can separate this phrasal verb. (informal) If you freak out, or if something or someone freaks you out, you feel so scared, angry, or surprised that you can’t control yourself.
Examples:
“I always freak out when I see a spider.”
“I freaked out when I realized that my train had already left.”
“He freaked out on her when she told him that they were going to swim with sharks.”
6. Tell off (synonym: to reprimand)
We can separate this phrasal verb. Tell off is often used in the passive form. To be/get told off → “I got told off for driving too fast.” (informal) If you tell someone off, you speak to them angrily for doing something wrong.
Examples:
“If his students act badly again, he’s going to tell them off.”
“She was so mad (=angry) at him that she told him off.”
7. Take Out On (synonym: to vent about)
We can separate this phrasal verb. When you take it out on someone, you treat them badly because you feel tired, upset or angry even though it’s not their fault.
Examples:
“When she’s stressed out, she always takes it out on me.”
“I’m sorry I took it out on you. I didn’t mean to treat you like that. You deserve better.”
“Don’t take your anger out on your friends. Your situation is not their fault.”
8. Bottle up (synonym: to keep feelings inside)
If you bottle up your emotions, you repress or conceal feelings over time. This implies that you don’t want to deal with your emotions and don’t want to talk about your feelings with others. We cannot separate this phrasal verb.
Examples:
“Erin has lived alone for a long time and has kept her emotions bottled up not wanting to share her sadness with others.”
“His tears just felt like the most amazing release for all the grief, sadness and pain he’d bottled up for years.”
9. Blow up (synonym: to explode in anger)
If you blow up, you explode in anger. We cannot separate this phrasal verb; however, we can separate it when we use it literally.
Examples:
“The bomb blew up. They blew the car up.”
“Tracy blew up when she heard her colleague criticize her best friend.”
10. Lash out at someone (angrily criticize someone; yell at someone)
This phrasal verb cannot be separated.
Example:
“The politician lashed out at the reporter because she got extremely angry.”
How many of these phrasal verbs did you already know? Tell me! I’d love to hear from you! And if you found this post helpful, please share it with your colleagues and friends.