Watch the video about the phrasal verb ‘go through,’ read about it below, and make notes of the examples that are not in the text.
The phrasal verb ‘go through’ has several uses in professional and social contexts.
To ‘go through’ something can mean:
To examine, study, or search for something in a thorough or detailed way.
You might ‘go through’ an article, for example, to find specific information; or ‘go through’ your work to look for any mistakes.
If a request, contract, law, or change in rules is accepted or approved, you can say that it has been ‘gone through’, meaning that it has passed many stages and is now ready to be put into action.
With credit or debit card payments, if they are approved you can say they ‘went through,’ or if the payment is rejected, you can say it ‘didn’t go through.’
To ‘go through’ something can also mean to experience or survive a difficult or unpleasant situation or period in your life. So, you can ‘go through a tough time’ or ‘go through a difficult experience’, for example.
To ‘go through’ something can also mean to ‘use up’ materials or resources.
So, you can say you ‘go through’ a lot of coffee when you are working late, for example.
To ‘go through’ something can also mean to rehearse or to practice something.
You might ‘go through’ a speech a few times before delivering it, or a dancer or athlete might ‘go through’ their movements many times to perfect them.
If you follow a particular schedule or precise steps or procedures, you can say you ‘go through several steps’ or you ‘go through a routine’.
Examples of ‘go through’ are:
1 A friend’s company has a job opening they think you should apply for. They offer to help you tailor your CV for the application:
“I can meet you this evening to go through your CV before you apply for the job.”
2 A colleague has asked you to send a report to their new e-mail address. You received an e-mail telling you that your message could not be sent:
“I tried to send the report to you yesterday evening, but it appears the e-mail did not go through.”
3 Your company is hosting an educational event for students from local schools. You want to make sure you have enough sandwiches for lunch:
“How many sandwiches do you think 80 school children will go through?”
4 You are driving for a long time and you want to stop for lunch:
“We can turn off the motorway, and go through the town to look for a restaurant.”
So as you saw, this phrasal verb has many different uses.
Now, listen to ‘go through’ in the video below at 0.47 seconds.