Advanced Phrasal Verbs C1 and C2 level: You will learn 10 C1 and C2 level phrasal verbs in this English vocabulary lesson. you will be learning the 10 most advanced phrasal verbs of the English language. Few of them are common phrasal verbs. but I decided to include it in this list because it’s very useful, it’s very important because although we have alternatives, we don’t usually use the alternative.
10 Advanced Phrasal Verbs C1 and C2 Level
- Ramp-up
- Stem from
- Clamp down on
- Lay off
- Iron out
- Weigh in (on)
- To get rid of
- To turn out
- Come across
- Put up with
1. Ramp-up
Meaning: means to increase the level or amount of something quite significantly
How to use: It’s often used in collocation with efforts. For example: You often ramp up your efforts.
Example: Governments around the world must ramp up their efforts to combat global warming.
Explanation: Governments around the world must ramp up their efforts to combat global warming. So, it’s not just to increase a little, it’s to significantly increase their efforts.
2. Stem from
Meaning: this means to originate from or to be caused by something.
Before we look at the example, I should explain the meaning of ‘stem‘. The stem is the part of a plant, a small plant. It’s like the base. In a tree, it would be called a trunk, but on a smaller plant, it’s called a stem. So, this kind of helps you understand the meaning of the phrasal verb. Something stems from its origin; everything comes from there. So, the branches and the leaves come from the stem.
Example: Many of the problems that young people face nowadays stem from excessive use of social media.
Explanation: many of the problems, not all the problems, but originate from social media use.
3. Clamp down on
Meaning: it means to suppress or to prevent something from happening
Where to use: it’s quite hard to clamp down on something that’s quite emphatic and quite hard, and it’s usually an authority that clamps down. So, it could be the police, the government, the school headmaster. [Advanced Phrasal Verbs C1 and C2 level]
Example: The headmaster of the school decided to clamp down on the use of smartphones in class.
Explanation: the headmaster of the school, decided to clamp down on the use of smartphones in class. So, he really decided to prevent it from happening or to suppress it, to stop it from happening. So, as I mentioned above, it’s quite hard, so it’s suggesting that this headmaster has taken a decision to no more use of smartphones in class.
4. Lay off
Meaning: means to make redundant from work.
You must understand what ‘make redundant’ means here, of course. If somebody is made redundant or laid off, it means that they must leave their work through no fault of their own. So, they have done nothing wrong.
It just means that the company they work for is reducing the number of employees they have for whatever reason. So, they’re not being fired. If you are fired, it’s because you’ve done something wrong, you’ve been always late, or you’ve stolen something, or you’re just a bad worker. But if you’re laid off or made redundant, it’s just because of the situation of the company.
Example: Due to the pandemic, the company had to lay off 50 employees.
Explanation: due to the pandemic, the company had to lay off 50 employees. So, those employees could no longer work at the company; their positions no longer existed.
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5. Iron out
Meaning: this means resolving difficulties or problems.
You can imagine when you iron, to iron the act of ironing, you’re flattening clothes, a shirt or trousers or whatever. So, you could think of these, the wrinkles, the creases in the clothes, as the problems, and by ironing them out, you’re flattening them, so there are no more problems, no more creases. But, of course, it’s more metaphorical. It’s not literal. So, this example will help you to understand it
Example: Boris and Angela don’t have a good relationship, but they must iron out their differences to move forward.
Explanation: They have to iron out their differences. We often use ‘iron out’ with differences, so when I talk about difficulties or problems, differences, in this case, differences between people, and differences of opinion are problems. So, you have to iron out the differences to be able to move forward in this case. [Advanced Phrasal Verbs C1 and C2 level]
6. Weigh in (on)
Meaning: something is to give your opinion during a discussion or a debate.
Explanation: Donald weighed in on the debate about who is better: Messi or Ronaldo.
Explanation: Donald gave his opinion. Maybe there were a lot of people talking about this, and then Donald gave his opinion, so he weighed in on the debate. So, Donald gave his opinion.
7. To get rid of
Meaning: it means to remove
It kind of means to discard, it kind of means to eliminate, but it doesn’t really mean exactly any of those. It means all of those and none of them at the same time. It’s very unspecific in that you’re not really expressing what you are doing.
Example: we decided to get rid of all our books to make more space in the living room.
Explanation: I’m not telling you exactly what we did with our books. Maybe we sold them, maybe we threw them away, maybe we gave them to friends. I’m not giving that information. It’s very unspecific, very general, but it’s very, very common phrasal verb because we use it in many situations.
8. To turn out
Meaning: to prove to be/result
Example: I always thought Justin Bieber was American, but it turns out he’s Canadian.
Explanation: it’s kind of surprising. It proves to be that the reality proves to be something different to what I thought.
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9. Come across
Meaning: This simply means to appear, but it’s really referring to the personality, how somebody appears through their personality.
Example: William comes across as being very serious, but actually, he’s quite funny.
Explanation: William comes across as being serious, that is how he appears. Maybe he doesn’t smile much or he’s always frowning, but the reality is different. So, how he appears is not how he is.
10. Put up with
Meaning: this means to tolerate or accept something unpleasant, something you don’t like.
Example: YouTube is great. The only problem is that we have to put up with all those annoying adverts.
Explanation: when you put up with something, it’s something you don’t like, it’s annoying, it’s something unpleasant, but you have no alternative, or it’s just something you have to do.
Conclusion
So, these were 10 advanced phrasal verbs. You will hear this phrasal verb in many situations, in film series, in just normal day-to-day English. [Advanced Phrasal Verbs C1 and C2 level]
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