pull through

To pull through means to survive a serious illness or very difficult situation, especially when success seemed unlikely. It suggests recovering or overcoming hardship through effort or determination.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

"Pull through" is an inseparable phrasal verb, meaning no object is placed between the two parts. You can say "She pulled through the illness" or simply "She pulled through," but you cannot say "She pulled the illness through." When an object is used, it always follows the complete phrasal verb.

Conjugation

Narrative

Nadia had been in the ICU for eleven days after a se infection spread to her lungs. Her family took turns sitting by her bedside in the hospital in Łódź, reading aloud and squeezing her hand. On the twelfth morning, her fever finally broke. Her sister called their mother crying — not from grief, but from relief. The doctors said the next forty-eight hours would tell. They did. Nadia op her eyes on a Thursday, a for water, and re her daughter's voice. She had puugh . S , three weeks later, she sat in her garden eating soup and complaining the neighbours' dog was too l . Ev , the family kept a close eye on her for months.

Register

Neutral

In October 1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest by John Schrank. The bullet passed through his folded 50-page speech and his steel eyeglass case before lodging near his rib. Rahan go to hospital, Roosevelt insisted on de his 90-minute speech to the crowd, famously announcing: "It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." He spoke with blood soaking his shirt. He survived the wound, the bullet remaining in his chest for the rest of his life. Roosevelt's doctors had feared the worst, b he pulled through — not just physically, but with his chtic refusal to be stopped. In , it remains one of history's most li examples of someone puugh against the odds, and a v reminder of what in determination can look like in the moment it matters most.

To break down means either (1) to stop working properly, as a machine or system does when it fails, or (2) to suddenly lose control of your emotions and start crying. Both senses share the idea of something — a machine or a person — reaching a point where it can no longer hold itself together.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

In its primary senses — stopping functioning or losing emotional control — 'break down' is inseparable: you cannot place an object between the two parts. You say 'she broke down' or 'the engine broke down,' not 'she broke her emotions down.' However, when 'break down' means to divide something into smaller parts or categories, it becomes separable: 'Can you break the report down into sections?' or 'Can you break down the report into sections?' are both correct.

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had held herself together for three weeks after her father's diagnosis — ma appointments, calling relatives, updating insurance forms. She told herself there was no time to feel anything yet. T one Tuesday afternoon, she was washing dishes and a song her father used to hum came on the radio. She turned off the tap, sat down on the kitchen floor, and completely br . Her roommate found her there twenty minutes later and simply sat beside her, saying nothing. So , Priya thought, you don't ch when the walls come down — they choose for you. It was, in its own q way, a ne collapse.

Register

Neutral

On the night of June 4, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood before the House of Commons and de one of the most coial speeches of the twentieth century — the 'We shall fight on the beaches' address. What many people do not know is what happened immediately afterward. Churchill walked off the floor of the House, turned to a colleague, and reportedly mu , 'And we'll fight them with the butt ends of broken bottles, because that's bloody well all we've got.' According to close aides, in pr moments during those first desperate months of the war — with France collapsing, Dunkirk barely survived, and invasion seemingly imminent — Churchill did, on at least one occasion, break down in private, weeping openly. He had built a public image of granite-like resolve, b the weight of responsibility for millions of lives took its toll in rooms where no cameras watched. That pr fracture, those moments of breaking down, may have made his public composure more genuine, not less. E the strongest systems — human or mechanical — can reach a point where they simply br .

To cut down means to reduce the amount or frequency of something, especially a habit or activity that you do too much. It suggests making a gradual or deliberate decrease rather than stopping completely.

Type

Separable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'cut down' is used with a direct object (a noun), the object can appear either between 'cut' and 'down' or after 'down' — for example, 'cut down your expenses' or 'cut your expenses down.' However, when the object is a pronoun, it must go between the two parts: 'cut them down,' never 'cut down them.' When followed by 'on,' the phrase becomes 'cut down on' and is not separated.

Conjugation

Narrative

Maria had always driven everywhere — to the supermarket, to her sister's flat, even to the corner shop two streets away. B when petrol prices surged in the spring, she sat down with her monthly bank statements and felt a fa dread. She ma her usual routes and realized she was making over forty short car trips a week. She decided to cut down on unary journeys, re anything under two kilometres with walking or cycling. Three weeks in, she was sleeping better, spending less, a actually enjoying the route past the canal on Tuesday mornings. S , the car, she figured, could wait — she had learned to cu without really missing it.

Register

Neutral

In the early 1970s, the United States was consuming roughly a third of the world's oil while facing mounting economic strain. When OPEC im its oil embargo in October 1973, cutting supplies to the US and triggering panic at petrol stations, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation on November 7, 1973, and announced a package of ur measures. Americans were asked to lower thermostat settings, reduce highway speeds to 55 mph, and — crucially — cut down on car travel wherever possible. Me , airlines were directed to reduce flights; offices were told to dim their lights. The 55 mph speed limit became federal law in 1974 and remained in force until 1995. What began as a crisis response re American habits for a generation: carpooling grew, smaller cars gained popularity, and the idea that consumption could — and sometimes must — be deely reduced entered mainstream political life. The embargo lasted only five months, b its lesson endured. Noess , nations, like individuals, sometimes need a sharp external pressure before they genuinely commit to cuown on what they had always taken for granted.

To become completely exhausted and lose all energy or motivation, usually because of working too hard or being under too much stress for a long time. When someone burns out, they often feel unable to continue doing their job effectively.

Type

Inseparable phrasal verb.

Notes

When 'burn out' is used as an intransitive phrasal verb — meaning a person becomes exhausted — it is inseparable: no object comes between the two parts. You say 'She burned out after months of overwork,' never 'She burned herself out' in this intransitive sense. Note, however, that the related transitive form (where something exhausts another person, as in 'The job burned him out') does allow an object, but the most common self-directed use remains inseparable.

Conjugation

Narrative

Priya had been a software developer at the same fintech startup for three years. In the final push before the product launch, she was ro sending emails at midnight and skipping lunch to fix bugs. One Tuesday morning, she sat at her desk, op her laptop, and simply could not type a single line of code. Her manager no she'd gone quiet and asked her into a one-on-one. 'I think I'm bu ,' Priya admitted, her voice st but tired. Her manager closed his notebook. 'Then we fix the workload, not you,' he said, a they b a real schedule together that afternoon. S , the exhaustion, once named, finally had somewhere to go. Ev , it took weeks to feel normal again.

Register

Neutral

In the early 1940s, the British mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing was at the center of one of history's most consequential intellectual efforts — breaking Nazi Germany's Enigma cipher at Bletchley Park. Turing worked at a pace that was extraordinary even among his brilliant peers, often going days with little sleep, ob over logical problems that others had abandoned. By 1942 and into 1943, colleagues noted that he had become increasingly wi , cycling compulsively between his billet and the hut, eating erratically, and struggling to engage with the institutional politics that were consuming Bletchley. He eventually stack from direct operational codebreaking leadership and moved toward more theoretical work on computing. Historians have noted that the sheer gr intensity of the war years — the stakes, the secrecy, the re pressure — took a measurable toll on e his extraordinary capacity. S , the documented shift in Turing's role and demeanor during this period is one of history's clearest examples of what happens when sustained, high-pressure intellectual work is carried beyond what any person can maintain: in , even the most brilliant minds can bu .