Skip to content

Grammar Teacher

help for students of English

Menu
  • Home
  • Free Grammar Book
  • Earn money with your writing
Menu

Phrasal Verbs – back

Posted on February 25, 2011 by admin
0
(0)

These exercises are about using the verb ‘to back ‘ combined with particles:

‘to back away from’ something or someone means to retreat or move backwards from something, usually slowly, because you are frightened of them.

  • When I saw the snake, I slowly backed away from it and called for help.
  • He tried to back away from the man with the knife but was trapped.

‘to back away from’ an idea or suggestion means to disassociate yourself from it and not support it.

  • He was going to say yes to the proposal but then backed away from it and didn’t.
  • He backed away from plans for a vote of no confidence.

‘to back down’ means to admit that you were wrong or that you have been defeated.

  • When he was confronted with the facts, he quickly backed down.
  • He wouldn’t back down. He maintained his position in spite of all the evidence.

‘to back off’ means avoiding a difficult situation by not becoming involved in it.

  • Let me deal with this. Just back off .
  • At first she was very aggressive but then she backed off.

‘to back onto’ describes how the back of a house or building faces in a specific direction.

  • The house backsĀ  onto the river. We have a lovely view.
  • The building backs onto the car park in the city centre.

‘to back out’ means to withdraw from an agreement that has been made.

  • He is no longer going to pay the amount we agreed. He has backed out of our agreement.
  • We were going to go on holiday together but then he backed out at the last minute.

‘to back out’ your car means to reverse it from a place or position.

  • I broke the mirror backing out of the parking lot.
  • It is illegal to back out of your garden on to the road.

‘to back up’ means to give an idea support or to prove it.

  • He had figures from some very reliable sources to back up his arguments.
  • He didn’t have any receipts to back up his insurance claim after the burglary.

‘to back up’ also means to make a copy of something in case the original is damaged, especially on the computer.

  • Before you start installing new software, back up your files.
  • I have to back up my work regularly so that I don’t lose it if the computer goes down.

‘to back someone up’ means to support or to help them.

  • That’s exactly what happened. The others will back me up.
  • Nobody backed me up. I was left alone to defend myself against the criticism.

exercise1

exercise 2

exercise 3

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

7 thoughts on “Phrasal Verbs – back”

  1. polycarpe says:
    February 25, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    it is wonderfull.

  2. Victor Count says:
    February 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    Dear Pearson, I do find your list of Phrasal verbs interesting. Thanks a lot!
    Your subscriber Victor Degterenko, Russia

  3. mohamed laouane says:
    February 26, 2011 at 10:33 am

    hi ,

    thanks a lot , i was wait this lesson because it’s useful and used by too many people

    thanks again

  4. Bouakham says:
    February 26, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    Dear: Pearson
    Thank you very much for you lessons.
    They are so great and useful lesson especially expressions.

  5. WILLIAM says:
    March 3, 2011 at 6:37 am

    thanks a lot for all lessons you have sending to me

  6. Napatra Seelayong says:
    March 5, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Dear Pearson,

    Thank you very much for your dedicating time for all lessons.

  7. Sergey says:
    April 16, 2011 at 7:11 pm


    Very useful lesson. I’ve heard some of these expressions before but I’ve been trying to avoid using them because of slight misunderstanding.
    Thank you,
    Erlih Sergey, Kyrgyzstan

  8. Maria says:
    February 7, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    Thank you, Mr. Pearson! I am very greateful to you for these lessons.

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • New quiz on Past Continuous
  • New quiz – have something done
  • New quiz on Past Simple
  • Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
  • Hit the nail on the head. #SHORTS

Pearson Brown sites

  • Business English Phrases
  • Business English Vocabulary
  • Effective Presentations
  • Stroppy Cat books
  • Understanding and using English Grammar

Recommended

  • Stroppy Cat books

Admin

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2021 Grammar Teacher | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions