Phrasal verbs · Free lesson
Carry on working: say that an activity continues
Your laptop restarts in the middle of a report. When it is ready again, you return to the same task. You carry on working.
Professor Scott MendozaMeaning in this lesson
carry on
Continue an activity, including after a pause.
Example
“After the short break, we carried on painting.”
We returned to painting and continued the same activity.
The short answer
Carry on can mean continue. Say “carry on working” to name an action, or “carry on with the work” to name a task. You can continue without stopping or resume after a pause.
Keep the activity going.
Choose a pattern that fits what comes next. With an action, try carry on + -ing: carry on reading. With a named task, carry on with is useful: carry on with the report. For a finished past event, use carried on. The expression tells us the activity continued; it does not tell us whether the task was finished.
Return to the same task.
Did you stop working when the laptop restarted?
For a few minutes. Then I carried on with the report.
The pause ended and the work continued. We still do not know whether the report is complete.
Explain what continued
Name an action
We carried on painting.
Or name the task
We carried on with the project.
Add the result separately
We carried on painting, but we did not finish the room.
Try it now
Check what you’ve learned.
Read all answers and explanations
“We carried on discussing the plan after lunch.” What happened?
The discussion continued.The discussion continued. The expression does not tell us what decision was reached.
Complete: “Please carry on ___ while I check the time.”
readingReading names the continuing action after carry on.
Choose the sentence that says the team continued the same task after a break.
After the break, the team carried on with the task.Carried on with describes continuation. Gave up describes stopping, and put off describes postponing.
Build it yourself
Build the continuation.
A team paused its work, then continued the same report. Build the sentence with all four pieces.
Choose the pieces in order. You can remove a piece or start again. Select a piece again to move it back.
Your sentence
0 of 4 piecesYour chosen pieces will appear here.
See a model answer
We carried on with the report.
“We carried on with the report.” names the work that continued. It does not claim the report was finished.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Does carry on always mean there was a break?
No. It can describe continuing through a situation as well as continuing after an interruption.
“The café became noisy, but I carried on reading.”
Do I always need with before a noun?
No. Both “carry on the discussion” and “carry on with the discussion” can work. The with pattern taught here is a useful starting point; do not treat it as the only possible pattern.
“Let’s carry on with the discussion.”
Take it into your day
Use carry on to connect a short interruption with the activity that continued afterward.
Your next step · Available on Udemy
Learn 350+ useful phrasal verbs.
Learn how phrasal verbs change what you can say about everyday events. The Phrasal Verbs course builds from clear meanings to useful patterns, conversations and guided practice.
Explore the course English Master Course: Phrasal Verbs