pull out: meaning and explanation
If you pull out (of something), it means you change your mind about participating or being involved in something. This is often used when we are talking about social or business arrangements.
Imagine you have arranged with your friends to go to the cinema together on Friday, but change your mind because you aren't feeling very well. You would call them and let them know that you were pulling out.
We might use this phrasal verb to say that we had to pull out or were forced to pull out of something - we didn't want to change our mind, but we had no other option.
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Dictation #1
Accent: Northern England
About the sentence
...at the last minute...
To do something at the last minute means that you do it at the latest possible time. e.g. Tom is incredibly disorganised and always leaves everything to the last minute.
...because I'd forgotten...
The past perfect (...I had forgotten...) is used in this sentence because the action (forgetting) happens before the main action of the sentence (deciding to pull out), which is also in the past.
The past perfect communicates the past before the past, or the earlier past.
Dictation #2
Accent: North America
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Dictation #3
Accent: North America
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About the sentence
...I was supposed to be playing...
The structure to be supposed to do sth is used to talk about what should happen based on a plan or the rules (but often isn't actually happening). e.g. I think you might be lost. You're supposed to be in room 24 at the end of the corridor.
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