B2Vocabulary 8 Min Read

Professional Phrasal Verbs for Business Meetings

EM

EnglishMam Curriculum Team

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Phrasal verbs are common in corporate environments. Master these 5 high-impact business verbs to sound more natural.

Core Phrasal Verbs

  • Bring up (to mention a topic):
    “She decided to bring up the budget concerns during the weekly sync.”
  • Circle back (to return to a topic later):
    “Let’s circle back to the design decisions once we have input from the product manager.”
  • Call off (to cancel an event):
    “They had to call off the project launch due to structural code issues.”
  • Look into (to investigate/research):
    “The engineering team is looking into the database connection delays.”
  • Wrap up (to finish/conclude a meeting):
    “Let’s wrap up the meeting by assigning action items to everyone.”
“Let’s wrap up this discussion.”
Idiomatic business instruction

End-of-Lesson Checkpoint

Test your understanding of the concepts taught in this lesson. Answer the questions below and get instant explanations.

1. I ___ a bad cold since last Wednesday, but I am finally feeling better today.

Correct Answer: B) have had.
Explanation: The sentence uses "since last Wednesday", indicating a duration that started in the past and continues into the present (unfinished timeframe). This requires the **Present Perfect**.
Incorrect. The correct answer is B.
Explanation: "Had" (Past Simple) is used for finished time. "Since last Wednesday" connects the past to the present, requiring the **Present Perfect** ("have had").

2. We ___ to London in 2021 for a business language seminar.

Correct Answer: B) went.
Explanation: The timeframe "in 2021" is completely finished. Therefore, we must use the **Past Simple** ("went").
Incorrect. The correct answer is B.
Explanation: "In 2021" is a finished, specific past time, which is a classic trigger for the **Past Simple** ("went"). "Have gone" would mean the timeframe is unfinished.

3. ___ you ever ___ a client presentation in English before?

Correct Answer: A) Have / delivered.
Explanation: We are asking about life experience ("ever") up to the present moment without a specific finished time. This requires the **Present Perfect** structure ("Have" + past participle "delivered").
Incorrect. The correct answer is A.
Explanation: For general life experience questions ("ever"), use the **Present Perfect** ("Have you delivered"). Past simple ("Did you deliver") would require a specific past time trigger.