24 Phrasal Verbs for Business - Business English Phrasal Verbs Lesson

Hi, I'm Kasia. Welcome to Oxford Online English!

In this lesson you can learn several business  English phrasal verbs. Although you’ll see  

these phrasal verbs in a business context, you  can also use many of them in everyday life.

You’ll hear two dialogues each  containing twelve phrasal verbs.  

After each dialogue you’ll see  the meaning of the phasal verbs.  

At the end of each section, there’s a  short quiz to test your understanding.

Before we go on, don’t forget to  turn on the subtitles for this video  

if you need them! All our  videos have English subtitles.  

You can turn them on now: just click the ‘CC’  button in the bottom right of the video player.

Now, let’s look at the first part of your lesson. 

Listen to the dialogue, where  two people are talking about  

setting up a new business. Try  to find the twelve phrasal verbs!

I hear that you're setting up  your own business. How exciting! 

That’s right! I'm taking over the  antique shop on the high street. 

So, you're opening an antique shop?  I didn't know you dealt in antiques. 

Not exactly. The owners wanted  to sell up as they're moving on,  

so I'm going to turn it into a zero waste shop. Wow! So, what exactly are you going to sell? 

Well, I think that lots of people are trying to  cut down on plastic packaging, so the idea is  

that they bring their own containers and fill them  up with anything from pasta to washing up liquid. 

What a great idea! It must be  difficult to find suppliers though. 

No, not at all. In fact, I'm hoping to buy all  my stock locally. I'm in the process of firming  

up arrangements with some more local suppliers  today. If it all goes to plan, I should be able  

to launch next month. That quickly? 

Yes, I've already stocked up on bathroom items  such as unpackaged soap and bamboo toothbrushes,  

but I still need to kit out the shop floor  with some more shelving to display everything. 

Well, good luck with everything! Thank you. Hey,  

you should come to the launch! Great! I'll look forward to it!

So, did you get all twelve phrasal verbs? 

Here’s a challenge for you. Look at the  definitions of four verbs you heard. 

Can you match the definitions to the  phrasal verbs in the dialogue? If not,  

why not go back and listen again? You can also  pause the video if you want some time to think.  

Otherwise, you’ll see the  answers in a few seconds. 

Here are the answers. 

In the dialogue, you heard  them in these sentences. 

In this case, ‘take over’ suggests  buying a business from someone else. 

‘Stock up’ has the idea of buying a large amount  in order to prepare for something. For example,  

if you run a shop, and you know that  your busiest season is coming soon,  

you might stock up on supplies so that you’re  ready for an increase in customer numbers.

Next, look at another sentence you heard. 

Here, we’ve replaced three phrasal verbs with  different verb phrases. Can you remember the  

original phrasal verbs? Again, pause the  video if you need time to think about it. 

Here is the original text, with the phrasal verbs. 

‘Sell up’ is similar to ‘sell’, but not exactly  the same. ‘Sell up’ means to complete a large,  

important transaction, like selling a house or a  business. ‘Sell up’ can’t be used with an object.

Similarly, ‘move on’ is similar to ‘move’, but  not exactly the same. ‘Move on’ has the idea  

of starting something new, so it has  a more specific meaning than ‘move’.

Finally, here are five more phrasal verbs  and definitions used in the dialogue.  

Can you match them? Here are the answers: 

Did you get the right answers? Let’s look  at a couple of these verbs in more detail.

First, where might you use the word ‘firm up’? You might use ‘firm up’ to talk about agreements  

or plans which you’ve made, but not in detail.  When you firm up an agreement or a plan,  

you work out the details, so that  your agreement or plan is clear.

What about ‘kit out’; can you think of  another situation where you could use it? 

‘Kit out’ is commonly used with things like cars,  vehicles, buildings or rooms. It can be used with  

an object or not. So, you can say ‘We spent  $50,000 kitting out the new office,’ or ‘We  

spent $50,000 kitting out the new office with  desks, computers, equipment and other furniture.’ 

So, we have considered all twelve  phrasal verbs from dialogue one.

Don’t forget that you can go back and review  the dialogue and explanations if you need.  

If you feel confident, why not test your  skills with a short quiz? Take a look. 

You need to fill in the blanks using  phrasal verbs from dialogue one.  

Don't forget to use the right verb  form! Pause the video and try it now. 

Ready? Here are the answers. 

If you’re ready to move  on, let’s look at part two.

In our dialogue, one person has just started a new  job and the other has been promoted. Just like the  

first dialogue, you’ll hear twelve phrasal verbs.  Two of them were already introduced in the first  

dialogue. Can you spot all twelve? Let’s listen! How are things? You look a little tired. 

Oh… I’m OK. I guess I am a bit tired.  Work is quite stressful as I've just  

been taken on by Ascendant. You know, the new  insurance company that just opened an office? 

Oh really? What are you doing? Well, I'm heading up the insurance  

fraud department, which is a really exciting  opportunity for me, but I'm basically setting  

up the department from scratch, so I have to draw  up loads of new procedures and it's taking ages….  

Anyway, how's everything in the legal world? Good thanks. In fact, I've been promoted!  

We've had a full restructure and the litigation  department where I work has been hived off, and  

I'm now looking after some of our biggest clients. That's great news! 

Thanks. It was all a bit sudden, so it's been  really busy as we've had to move premises,  

rebrand and change our name. We  brought in a consultancy agency to help  

and that side of things is all sorted out now. So, where have you moved to? 

We've taken over the old library  building in the centre of town.  

The previous tenants needed  to move out pretty quickly,  

so we were able to move in last week. In  fact, We've pretty much settled in now. 

Great! Well good luck with everything. Thanks. You too!

So, how did you get on? Did you get them all? 

First question: which two phrasal verbs in  this dialogue did you already hear in part one? 

You heard ‘set up’ – meaning to  start or create something – and  

‘take over’ – meaning to  take control of a business.

What about the other ten? Let’s look together.  

Here are the definitions of four  new phrasal verbs you heard. 

Can you find the phrasal verbs in the  dialogue which match these definitions?  

Remember that you can go back  and listen again if you need! 

Done? Here are the answers: 

Here, ‘head up’ has a slightly more  specific meaning than ‘be in charge  

of’ or ‘be responsible for’. If you head  something up, then you’re the leader.

‘Bring in’ can be used in many  different ways. In the dialogue,  

you heard ‘We brought in a consultancy  agency.’ If you head up a team, and you 

don’t have enough people to do your work, you’ll  need to *bring in* new workers, maybe from other  

departments, or maybe from outside the company. ‘Draw up’ is commonly used with contracts,  

proposals and similar documents which  you might need during a negotiation.

Let's look at two more phrasal verbs  from the dialogue. Look at a sentence. 

You heard something similar in the  dialogue, but here we’ve replaced the  

phrasal verbs with different words.  Can you remember the phrasal verbs? 

Here‘s the answer: 

‘Hive off’ has a very specific meaning.  You use it when part of a larger company  

is separated into a smaller, independent  organisation. ‘Hive off’ suggests that  

part of a larger company is made  into a legally separate business. 

Instead of ‘look after’, you  could also say ‘take care of’;  

both have the same meaning, and  in fact both are phrasal verbs! 

Finally, let’s look at the  four remaining phrasal verbs. 

We put two together – ‘move in’ and ‘move out’  – because they’re two sides of the same idea.

So, what’s your job now?

Imagine you’re an English teacher. You want to  explain what these words mean to someone who  

doesn’t know them. You need to be a good teacher  and make your explanations as clear as possible!

Pause the video and think about your  explanations now. Say them out loud. 

Could you do it? There’s more than one  right answer, but here are some examples.

‘Sort out’ means to find a solution to  something. If you sort something out,  

maybe you solve a problem, or maybe you  find a way to deal with a complex situation. 

‘Move in’ and ‘move out’ mean  to change physical location.  

You can use it with houses or apartments,  but companies can also move in or move out,  

for example when they move to a  different shop, or a different office. 

‘Settle in’ means to get  used to a new environment.  

If your company moves to a new location,  you might need some time to adjust  

to the new location and learn where  everything is – you need to settle in. 

OK, now you’ve seen explanations for all  the phrasal verbs in the second dialogue.  

Ready for a short quiz? Let’s look! Pause the video and think about your  

answers. Remember that the missing  words are all phrasal verbs,  

so you need to put two words in each gap. Also,  don’t forget to put the verb in the correct form! 

Could you do it? Let’s see the answers. That’s all for this lesson. Thanks for watching!

See you next time!