Common phrasal verbs used in describing daily routines or habits.

Phrasal Verbs- Daily Routines

Referring to an alarm- rings or makes sound.

Go off

(My alarm goes off at 6am every morning.)

Make yourself look clean or tidy. (brush hair, wash face, or fix makeup)

Freshen up

(I am going to freshen up before we go to dinner. )

Get in

(My flight gets in around 5pm. )

(I don't get in until 7pm. My commute is long. )

Sleep for a longer amount of time than usual. Sleep later in the morning/day.

Sleep in

(On the weekend I get to sleep in as late as I want!)

Slept through

(Ryan slept through his alarm and missed his appointment.)

Nod off

(My dad often nods off during movies.)

Stay up

(Karen stayed up late trying to finish her assignment due the next day.)

Hang out

(Jill likes to hang out with her friends after school.)

Sleeping to recover from effects of medication, drugs, alcohol.

Sleep off

(Carly was out late drinking, she's still in bed sleeping it off.)

Cut out

(Paul has had a hard time working at home with his internet constantly cutting out. )

To take a person somewhere and leave them there.

Drop off

(Sarah drops her kids off at school around 8 am.)

To get someone (usually in a car) and take them home or somewhere else.

Pick up

(Tom picks up his daughter from school around 3 pm.)

(I asked my boyfriend to pick me up from the airport today.)

Pay (give money for goods). 

* When you borrow a book from the library- you check out a book. There is no money exchanged, the book must be returned.

Check out

(Chris gathered his groceries and headed to the front to check out. )

A casual/informal visit somewhere, often a home.

Drop by

(After work Frank likes to drop by the deli and pick meat up on his way home.)

Type in 

(Carol sat down at her computer and had to type in her password to access her files.)

Depend on someone or something as a source of money.

Live off 

(When Alex lost his job he had to live off his savings until he found a new one. )

To wait for a short period of time. (Informal)

Hang on

(Can you hang on a minute while I finish this?)

To not do something that was planned because you are afraid. (Informal)

Chicken out

(Andrew was about to skydive, but he chickened out and stayed in the plane.)

Brush up on

(I haven't used my English in a long time. I need to brush up before my trip to England.)

To solve a problem. Can also be used in talking about a relationship.

Work out

(Bob was up all night trying to work out the math problems.) 
(Ryan and I have been fighting a lot, I don't think it is going to work out.)

To investigate, research, or find out about something.

Look into

(I don't have the answer right now. Let me look into it and I will tell you what I find.)

To not keep up with something. Can be used for school, work, goals, etc.

Fall behind

(June missed a lot of days in school and is now falling behind in her studies.)

To start work. This term is usually used with hourly workers who have to log in or use a machine to track hours, but a salaried worker can use to describe when they start working.

Clock in

(Gina clocks in at 8am every morning.)

Head off

("Oh my gosh, its already seven! I need to head off to work now.")

When something (machinery/equipment) stops working. 

*Check alternative use of this (emotions).

Break down

("My car broke down on the way to the store. I had to wait over an hour for the tow truck.")

To lose control of emotions. (Usually uncontrollable crying)

* Check alternative us of this (machinery/equipment).

Break down

(The child broke down in tears when her balloon flew away.)

Get a closer view on an image. The image or object appears closer/larger.

Zoom in

("The font is too small to read, can you zoom in?")

Get a more distant or full view of something. The image can appear further/smaller.

Zoom out

(Sarah realized that she couldn't see the whole document so she zoomed out.  She saw there were more paragraphs to read. )