Phrasal Verb "Pull off"

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ichibanrfx

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I have a question regarding the phrasal verb "pull off". I have tried searching in the forums, but I can't find the answer. Any help would be much appreciated!

Here is a sample sentence.
"I can't believe he actually pulled it off."
As you can see, "pull off" in this context means to do something successfully in spite of the odds.

Here is my question, is there another phrasal verb that you can use instead of "pull off"? I am a native English speaker, but I am stumped!

Thanks in advance!!
 

SirGod

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Other possibilities: carry out, carry off.
 

CarloSsS

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Other possibilities: carry out, carry off.

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IMO, "carry out" has a slightly different meaning than "pull/bring/carry sth off". Also, in my book, it is a bit more formal than "pull/bring/carry sth off".
 

ichibanrfx

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Thanks for the quick reply! To be honest, I don't think I have ever heard of the phrasal verb "bring something off" before! I just learned a new phrasal verb. Is "bring something off" commonly used? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks again!
 

ichibanrfx

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IMO, "carry out" has a slightly different meaning than "pull/bring/carry sth off". Also, in my book, it is a bit more formal than "pull/bring/carry sth off".

Thanks for the reply!
I also agree that "carry out" has a slightly different meaning, but thanks regardless!
 

CarloSsS

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I hear "bring it off" sometimes in informal AmE. COCA lists 40 examples of "bring [determiner|noun|pronoun] off", "bring it off" having the most hits (21). IMO, it is usually used in spoken form as it is fairly informal.
 

Tdol

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It's used in BrE.
 

eggcracker

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I can't believe he actually made it. ??(Not sure though. I learnt this phrasal verb "make it" from a song)


---------- Not a teacher-----
 

eggcracker

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I hear "bring it off" sometimes in informal AmE. COCA lists 40 examples of "bring [determiner|noun|pronoun] off", "bring it off" having the most hits (21). IMO, it is usually used in spoken form as it is fairly informal.
Oxford dictionary is dictionary for BrE.
 

eggcracker

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Other possibilities: carry out, carry off.
I've never saw the examples of the phrase "carry out" used as the meaning of "success".
Usually, I saw sentences "carry out" used as start or implement rule.

------I'm not a teacher, but I have quite much interest about usage of phrasal verbs.
 

BobK

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Informally - "I can't believe he actually cracked it." (The 'it' doesn't have to be an egg or a strongbox. ;-) If you 'crack it' you just succeed in something that you - or someone else - thought would be difficult.)

b
 
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