Cutting Down and Cutting Out

Happy New Year from Chromatic English! 

Every new year people make their resolutions to quit bad habits, get in shape or learn new skills and information.

Hopefully you've been reading this blog, taking lessons and practicing English as one of you're resolutions for this year.

Our phrase focus today is on those bad habits that you want to quit or stop, but having some trouble. So to get started you have to cut down.

To cut down, cut back or cut out is to not do it as much. From smoking 10 cigarettes a day to 5, if you're a smoker.

Examples

This year I'm cutting down on eating fatty foods.
I'm working on cutting out carbohydrates in my diet.
I've been cutting back on alcohol since the new year.

For cutting out we can include a noun inside to specify what we're quitting followed by a prepositional phrase. Cutting ____ out ____.

Examples

She's making a good decision by cutting smoking out of her life. 
We're working with a counselor to cut stress out of our relationship.
They're saving money by cutting energy costs.

Notice 

Not every sentence uses the prepositional phrase and when it does it typically uses of to specify where they're cutting from. Also, the infinitive verb is also used 'to cut' and can be used with each phrase; to cut down, to cut back.   

Good luck this year with speaking bravely! As always if you have any questions, comments or advise please email us or leave a message in the comments box below. Also be sure to find us on twitter, google+ and facebook.

Speak Bravely!


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email