Emotion phrasal verbs

1. Crack Up

[cracks up; cracked up; cracked up; cracking up]

(informal) If you crack up, or if something or someone cracks you up, you laugh suddenly and a lot. So we can say,

 “She cracked up when I told her what happened.”

 “It just cracks me up what some people say.”

Grammar Points

We can separate this phrasal verb.

Crack up → “Everyone in the class cracked up.”
Crack someone up → “He’s so funny. He cracks me up.”

Common Collocations

We often use this phrasal verb with ‘laughing’. For example,

“We all just cracked up laughing.”

2. Stir Up

[stirs up; stirred up; stirred up; stirring up]

When you make someone feel an emotion (often a bad one), you stir it up. For example,

 “These kinds of questions stir up anxiety.”

 “The pictures stirred up a lot of memories.”

Synonyms
Arouse, provoke, incite

Grammar Points
We can separate this phrasal verb.
Stir up something → “Talking about this stirs up a lot of emotions.”
Stir something up → “Talking about this stirs a lot of emotions up.”

Common Collocations
We often use this phrasal verb with these words: animosity, controversy, feelings, emotions, trouble, resentment.

3. Light Up
[lights up; lit up; lit up; lighting up]

When someone’s eyes or face light up, they suddenly look happy or excited. So we can say,

 “Her face lit up when she saw us coming.”

 “His eyes light up whenever he sees me.”
Synonyms

Brighten

Grammar Points

We cannot separate this phrasal verb.

Light up → “Her face lights up when she talks about home.”
Light up with → “His face lit up with delight because of you.”

4. Tear Up

[tears up; teared up; teared up; tearing up]

If you tear up, you start to have tears in your eyes because you’re sad or happy. For example,

 “He started to tear up when he said goodbye to us.”

 “I teared up when I read her message.”

Grammar Points

We cannot separate this phrasal verb.

Tear up → “He tears up whenever he talks about what happened.”

5. Freak out

[freaks out; freaked out; freaked out; freaking out]

(informal) If you freak out, or if something or someone freaks you out, you feel so angry, scared, or surprised that
you can’t control yourself. So we can say,

 “He freaked out when he saw the spider.”

 “I freaked out when I realized that I was late for work.”

Synonyms

Anger, agitate, worry, excite, trip out, flip out

Grammar Points

We can separate this phrasal verb.

Freak out → “They freaked out when they saw the police.”
Freak someone out → “Meeting his parents freaked his Maria out.”
Freak out on someone → “She freaked out on him.”

5. Take Out On
[takes out on; took out on; taken out on; taking out on]

When you take it out on someone, you treat them badly because you feel tired, upset or angry even though it’s not
their fault. For example,

 “When she’s stressed out, she always takes it out on me.”

 “I’m sorry I took it out on you.”

Synonym
Vent

Grammar Points
We can separate this phrasal verb.
Take something out on someone → “Don’t take your anger out on me.”
We often use this phrasal verb with it → “Don’t take it out on me.”

7. Tell off
[tells off; told off; told off; telling off]

(informal) If you tell someone off, you speak to them angrily for doing something wrong. So we can say,

 “If she does it again, he’s going to tell her off.”

 “I was so mad at him that I told him off.”

Synonym
Reprimand

Grammar Points
We can separate this phrasal verb.
Tell someone off → “I told Maria off.”
Tell someone off for doing something → “I told them off for lying to me.”
‘Tell off’ is often used in the passive form.
be/get told off → “I got told off for driving carelessly.”