 10. English Phrasal Verbs for Emotions from EspressoEnglish.net Are you ready to have some fun with phrasal verbs? Here are 10 common phrasal verbs related to emotions and attitudes with definitions and example sentences. 1. Cheer up This is when you're feeling sad and then you start to feel happy again. For example, if your daughter is sad because she did badly in a swimming competition, you can say, Cheer up! You'll do better next time. You can also do things to cheer another person up. For example, if your brother is depressed because he just broke up with his girlfriend, you could say, I'm going to take my brother to a basketball game to help cheer him up. 2. Lash out at someone If somebody suddenly says very angry words towards you, then that person is lashing out at you. For example, if your best friend tends to get angry and impatient when her life is very busy, you could say, my best friend always lashes out at people when she's under a lot of stress. 3. Crack up To crack up is to suddenly start laughing. You can also use the expression burst out laughing. For example, if something funny happens during English class, you could say, the whole class cracked up when the teacher spilled her coffee all over her desk. 4. Calm down This phrasal verb describes the process of going from angry or agitated to more relaxed or calm. For example, if your boss is having a really bad day and he's screaming at everybody in the office, you could say, I'm staying away from the boss until he calms down. 5. Choke up This phrasal verb describes when you feel such strong emotion that it's difficult for you to talk. For example, if someone is talking about his mother who has died, he choked up when he started to talk about the last Christmas he spent with his mother. You choke up when you're talking about very emotional topics. 6. Let someone down This means to disappoint someone. For example, if you forgot your wedding anniversary and your wife is sad and angry, you could apologize by saying, I'm really sorry I let you down. 7. Grow on someone When you don't like something at the first impression but gradually you begin to like it more and more, that thing has grown on you. Imagine you don't like opera music the first time you hear it. However, over time you begin to think, it's not so bad, and then after a while you come to like it. You could say, opera music has grown on me. 8. Bottle up To bottle up your emotions means to keep them inside and not express them. Imagine you have a friend who is going through many difficult situations, but he pretends that everything is okay. You could say, it's not healthy to bottle up your feelings like that. 9. Goof off or goof around These phrasal verbs mean to act silly, not being serious. For example, students who are always talking and laughing during the lesson, passing each other notes, watching videos on their cell phone, etc., and not listening to the teacher. The teacher might say, pay attention and stop goofing off. 10. Lighten up This phrasal verb means to take things less seriously, not be so rigid and humorless. So when someone is too serious and they seem incapable of smiling, laughing or being relaxed, you could say, she really needs to lighten up. If you want to be fluent in English, you need to know phrasal verbs because we use them all the time when speaking. My phrasal verbs in conversation course can help you. Click on the link in the video for more information.