Relationships & Family — Part 3
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: the phrasal verbs native speakers use to describe the ups and downs of family and friendship — grow apart, look after, make up, reach out to — so relationship stories sound conversational rather than like a formal case study.
Why phrasal verbs matter for relationship topics
Relationship stories are rarely told with formal verbs like "reconcile" or "supervise" in casual conversation — people say "make up" and "look after" instead. CELPIP Speaking Task 2, which often asks for a personal story about a friend or family member, is a natural fit for this kind of idiomatic phrasal verb vocabulary, since these stories are inherently informal and personal.
Core collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| grow apart | gradually become less close over time | We used to be best friends, but we grew apart after high school. |
| look after | take care of someone | My aunt used to look after us while our parents worked. |
| fall out (with) | have a disagreement that damages a relationship | She fell out with her sister over a family inheritance. |
| make up (after an argument) | reconcile and restore a relationship | It took a few days, but we finally made up after the argument. |
| bring up (children) | raise children | They were brought up by their grandparents in the countryside. |
| get along with | have a friendly relationship with someone | I've always gotten along with my in-laws surprisingly well. |
| rely on | depend on someone for help or support | Growing up, we could always rely on our neighbours for support. |
| open up to | share personal feelings honestly with someone | It took her years to open up to her stepfather. |
| drift apart | gradually lose closeness, often without conflict | Old friends sometimes just drift apart as life gets busier. |
| reach out to | contact someone, especially after a period of silence | I decided to reach out to my cousin after years of silence. |
| put up with | tolerate something difficult or annoying | My roommate has to put up with my terrible cooking. |
| stand by | support someone loyally, especially during hardship | My best friend stood by me through the divorce. |
Worked example — CELPIP Speaking Task 2 (personal experience)
Prompt: Describe a friendship that changed over time.
My friend Mateo and I met in university, and back then we could rely on each other for everything. After graduation, though, we moved to different cities, and slowly we started to drift apart — not because we fell out with each other, just because life got busier. For a couple of years, we barely spoke. Then last year I decided to reach out to him out of nowhere, and honestly, it felt like no time had passed. We spent a whole evening catching up, and he told me things he'd never opened up to me about before — about how hard it had been to bring up his kids alone after his divorce. I told him I'd always stand by him, no matter the distance, and we agreed to get along the way we used to, even if we can't look after each other daily anymore. It reminded me that some bonds don't really grow apart, they just go quiet for a while.
Common mistakes
- Confusing "fall out with" and "fall for" — the former means having a disagreement, the latter means falling in love; they are not interchangeable.
- Using "grow apart" and "drift apart" as if identical — "grow apart" usually implies changing as people, while "drift apart" implies simple loss of contact.
- Writing "bring up children" without the passive form when needed — "she was brought up by her grandmother" (passive), not "she brought up by her grandmother."
- Saying "look for" someone when you mean look after — these have completely different meanings (search versus care for).
- Missing the preposition in "reach out" — the correct form when naming a person is reach out to someone.
Recap
These phrasal verbs — grow apart, look after, fall out with, make up, reach out to, stand by — capture the natural rhythm of real relationship stories, exactly the kind of idiomatic language CELPIP Speaking Task 2 rewards.