Particle guide
Phrasal verbs with down
The particle down starts from one core idea — downward motion. Sink In groups its verbs by the recurring ways that idea plays out, so verbs that look unrelated line up into patterns.
102 phrasal verbs · 11 meaning groups
The meaning map of down
Downward
Movement goes from high to low.
Eat Or Drink
Food, drink, or medicine goes down the throat into the body.
Less
When there is less of something, it goes down. Prices, sound, heat and speed all work this way.
Calming
Strong feelings or energy become lower and calmer.
Losing
A structure, a system, or someone's mood can go down when it fails.
Writing
Words go down onto the page. Written words are kept.
Pressure
Something is pressed down and kept from rising again.
Into Parts
You move from the whole thing to the smaller parts, so you can understand it.
Breakdown
A whole loses its structure and breaks into simpler parts.
Exact Point
Attention moves down to one exact point. A target is found, fixed, or specified.
Surface Work
The hand moves down along a surface. It presses, fixes, wipes, or checks it closely.
Practice these meanings in Sink In
The app turns each meaning group into short review cards: recognition, particle cloze, meaning-to-particle recall, and schema matching.