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Business English Phrasal Verbs with the Particle "Down"
- Erin West
- Jan 11
- 3 min read
Updated: May 21
In this article, we’ll learn 10 common Business English phrasal verbs with the particle down that you can use in everyday English. With our simple examples, you’ll quickly understand how to use them and sound more natural.
Let’s get started!
For each sentence, select the correct verb and listen to the sentence.
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KEY
Let's _____ down to business.
track
get
narrow
break
The correct answer is get.
GET DOWN TO BUSINESS
to start focusing on the important work
Let's stop chatting and get down to business.
We should get down to business and finalize the budget.
After introductions, they quickly got down to business.
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KEY
They asked us to _____ down a 10% deposit before they start.
put
mark
shut
bring
The correct answer is put.
PUT DOWN A DEPOSIT
PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN
to pay a small amount of money upfront to secure something
She put down a deposit to hold the apartment.
They asked us to put down a deposit for the furniture order.
He put down a deposit for the new office space.
KEY
The position required frequent travel, so she _____ the job offer down.
got
turned
brought
cut
The correct answer is turned.
TURN DOWN THE JOB OFFER
to decline a job that you were offered
I had to turn down the job offer because of the long commute.
They were surprised when I turned down the job offer.
She turned down the job offer to stay with her current company.
KEY
Can you _____ it down into simple steps? It's too complicated as it is.
divide
put
slow
break
The correct answer is break.
BREAK something DOWN INTO simple steps
to divide something complicated into smaller, easier parts
Let me break this process down into simple steps for you.
We should break the project down into manageable tasks.
She broke down the presentation into three simple points.
KEY
They _____ these items down to clear out old inventory.
made
decreased
picked
marked
The correct answer is marked.
MARK DOWN these items
to reduce the price of the items
We marked down the product prices to attract more customers.
The store marked down all winter clothing for the end-of-season sale.
These items have been marked down to make room for new inventory.
KEY
We're trying to decide between different tools for the project. We really need to _____ down our options. The time is ticking.
widen
narrow
take
shut
The correct answer is narrow.
NARROW DOWN the options
to reduce the number of options
After some discussion, we narrowed down the options to three.
The designer narrowed down the options to just three colors for the logo.
It's hard to decide, but we’ve narrowed down the options to our top favorites.
KEY
After hours of searching, she was able to _____ down the missing files.
turn
pick
find
track
The correct answer is track.
TRACK DOWN the missing files
to find something, like missing files, or someone after searching for a while
It took hours to track down the missing shipment.
We’ll need to track down the receipts before submitting the report.
They'll have to track down the missing documents if they want to close the deal.
KEY
We had to _____ down our campaign because of the budget cuts.
scale
low
lie
crack
The correct answer is scale.
SCALE DOWN our campaign
to reduce the size, budget, or intensity of the campaign
The company is going to scale down its production.
Due to lower sales, we had to scale down our efforts.
They are scaling down their product line to focus on core items.
KEY
We're planning to _____ down our operations in smaller markets.
break
put
take
wind
The correct answer is wind.
WIND DOWN our operations
to gradually reduce and bring something, like a business or activity, to an end
We plan to wind down the project by the end of the year.
After years in business, they decided to wind down and retire.
The company is starting to wind down its operations in the region.
KEY
The factory _____ down last year.
shut
shoot
close
broke
The correct answer is shut.
SHUT DOWN
to stop working; to stop something completely, often permanently
The system shut down unexpectedly.
During the storm, the airport had to shut down temporarily.
The company decided to shut down the branch that was losing money.
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