Learn English with Alex - English at Work: 10 Phrasal Verbs for the Office

Do you work in an office? Do you have English-speaking clients? In this Business English lesson, I'll help you succeed in your career by teaching you 10 important phrasal verbs that are commonly used in the office. Do you "note things down" in your meetings? Do you "back up" your files? Is your printer always "running out" of ink? Are you "keeping up" with your colleagues? I'll explain what all of these expressions mean as well as "call off", "come up", "go through", and more! Check out this lesson and improve your English for work. 00:00 – 10 Phrasal Verbs for the Office – 00:59 fill out 01:25 run out (of) 02:23 note down 03:01 back up 04:00 come up 04:52 keep up with 05:25 set up 05:59 go through 06:23 find out 06:56 call off 07:41 – Conclusion – TRANSCRIPT Yeah, hey. Something has come up and I can't make the meeting. Yeah, can we call it off until next Tuesday? Okay. No, no. Ask her to just, you know, just fill out the registration form and we'll just see her next Tuesday. Okay. Yeah. Okay, see you Tuesday. Yeah. Bye. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this important English lesson on using English at work. And today we are going to look at "10 Phrasal Verbs for the Office". So, if you have an office job, any type of office job, these phrasal verbs are very, very common in any English-speaking workplace. So let's start with the first five, we'll talk about them, we'll look at some examples, and I'll explain them for you guys. So, number one: "to fill out". Now, "to fill out" basically means to complete. And this is usually in the context of a form. So: "Did she fill out the registration form?", "Oh, if you're interested in working here, please fill out this application." Okay? So you fill out or complete a form. Next: "to run out (of) something". Now, I put the "of" in parenthesis because you can just say: "Oh, it ran out", or "something ran out of something else". So, for example, if something runs out it means you have used all of it and there is no more left. Now, in the office usually this refers to some kind of supply, some kind of inventory item that you have no more of because you ran out of it. For example: "The printer ran out of ink." Or you can say: "Oh no. We ran out of paper", or "We ran out of pens. We need to order more pens." Okay? So if you run out of something it means you have used all of it and there's no more left, you need to order more. Next: "note down". This is very common in meetings, and "to note down" simply means to write. For example: "Did you note down the main points from the meeting?" I used to have a boss, and any time I had a meeting with him, if I came into that meeting with no paper, with no pen, he would... He would not start the meeting. He said: "Okay, we're going to have a long meeting for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, you need to note down the important points from the conversation. Alex, go get a pen and a paper." Good times. Okay, next: "to back up". Now, this context is usually used for files on your computer. So: "to back up your files", "back up your information", "back up your data" means to make an extra copy. So, for example: "Make sure to back up your files." A lot of people use, you know, online storage spaces to back up important information. You might have something in your email address, you might have something like the... At this point, the cloud or, you know, like your Google Drive or something like that, or maybe you have an external hard drive where you back up your files or a USB stick to back up your files. So it just means make an extra copy in case the original copy gets deleted or erased by accident, or because of a virus or something like that. All right, next: "come up". So, if something comes up at the office it means that something has happened or it has arisen. So, for example: "An urgent situation has just come up." So if something comes up it's something that just happens, surprises you. So, for example, if one of your employees... If you are a boss, for example, and one of your employees quits... And you're in a meeting and the employee comes in and quits, and you say: "I can't finish this meeting. Something urgent has come up. Somebody is quitting." Okay? So something comes up, happens, arises without kind of you expecting it to. Okay, next: "keep up with". So, "to keep up with something" means to follow or to keep pace with something in the context of business, office work. Let me give you one example. "Have you been keeping up with the latest news? Have you been following the latest news?" You can also talk about a business keeping up with trends, with things that are happening in their line of business now. Okay?