The word ‘grow‘ can mean many different things. As a verb, the meaning is to increase in size and develop.
For example:
- My rose plant is growing. (increase in size)
- I’ve grown as a person since I started travelling. (develop)
Grow is an irregular verb. The past tense is grew and the past participle is grown.
phrasal verbs with grow
Phrasal verbs with ‘grow’ include:
- grow apart
meaning – become distant
example – We were good friends at school but grew apart at college. - grow back
meaning – grow again
example – I cut my chive plant a few days ago and it has already grown back. - grow into
meaning – mature/change or get bigger in order to fit something
example – The ugly duckling grew into a beautiful white swan. - grow on
meaning – start to like something you didn’t like before
example – I didn’t like Coldplay at first, but they have grown on me. - grow out of
meaning – become too big for clothes or lose interest as you get older
example – My son has grown out of computer games. He prefers girls now. - grow up
meaning – mature or become an adult
example – My brother is so immature, he’ll never get a girlfriend until he grows up. - grow up on
meaning – something you did a lot when you were a child
example – We live on a farm, so we’ve grown up on fresh vegetables.
picture examples
Let’s learn the meaning of the phrasal verbs that contain the verb ‘grow’ in more detail and see some examples in use.
Did you know that many idiomatic expressions (idioms) in English also contain a lot of verbs? Just like phrasal verbs, idioms are a major part of the English language (slang in particular). They are used constantly amongst native English speakers and are handy to know and understand.
Now you’ve learnt all the phrasal verbs with grow, how about learning the idioms with grow too?
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