Health & Wellness — Part 3
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: multi-word verbs for getting sick, recovering, and staying fit — the natural spoken forms that replace stiffer single-word alternatives when talking about health.
Why phrasal verbs dominate health talk
Ask a native speaker how they're feeling and you'll hear "I'm coming down with something" or "I'm trying to shake off this cough," not clinical single-word alternatives. Health is a topic where everyday phrasal verbs are especially dominant in casual speech, making them high-value for CELPIP Speaking specifically.
Two clusters: getting sick, staying well
The phrasal verbs below split into getting-sick vocabulary (come down with, shake off) and staying-well vocabulary (work out, cut back on). Most health-related Speaking prompts touch one cluster or the other, so having both ready covers the range of likely questions.
Word bank: health phrasal verbs
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| come down with (an illness) | begin to suffer from an illness | I think I'm coming down with the flu. |
| shake off (a cold) | recover from a minor illness | It took me over a week to shake off that cold. |
| work out | exercise, typically at a gym | She works out three times a week. |
| cut back on (sugar) | reduce consumption of something | He cut back on sugar after his last checkup. |
| pass out | lose consciousness suddenly | He nearly passed out from the heat during the run. |
| pick up (a bug) | become infected with an illness, often minor | I picked up a stomach bug while traveling. |
| bounce back (from illness) | recover quickly and fully | She bounced back from surgery faster than expected. |
| wear (someone) down | gradually exhaust or weaken someone | The long hours were wearing him down. |
| warm up (before exercise) | prepare the body with light activity before exertion | Always warm up before a heavy workout. |
| flare up (a condition) | suddenly worsen, often referring to a chronic issue | Her back pain flares up during cold weather. |
| get over (an illness) | fully recover from a sickness | It took two weeks to get over the flu. |
| slow down (for health) | reduce pace or activity, often for recovery | The doctor told him to slow down for a few weeks. |
Worked example — Speaking Task 6 (difficult situation)
Prompt: You're supposed to meet a friend for a workout, but you're feeling unwell. Explain the situation to them.
"Hey, I'm really sorry, but I don't think I can make it today — I think I'm coming down with something. I felt fine yesterday, but I might have picked up a bug at work, since a few people have been sick. I don't want to push through it and end up wearing myself down even more, especially since I still haven't fully gotten over my cold from last month. I'm hoping to just slow down, rest today, and hopefully shake this off by tomorrow. Can we reschedule our workout for later this week once I've bounced back?"
Common mistakes
- "Fall down with an illness" instead of come down with an illness — a blend of "fall ill" and "come down with"; only "come down with" is correct for the onset of a minor illness.
- "Take off" a cold instead of shake off a cold — "take off" doesn't apply to illness recovery; shake off is the correct collocation.
- "Cut down sugar" instead of cut back on sugar — missing the required preposition "on" is a very common error with this phrasal verb.
- "Work up" used for exercising instead of work out — "work up" means to develop something gradually (work up an appetite), not to exercise.
Recap
Phrasal verbs are the dominant natural register for talking about getting sick and staying fit, and they cluster neatly around illness and wellness situations. Pick a realistic health scenario — real or invented — and explain it in spoken style using at least three phrasal verbs from the table, keeping each particle attached correctly.