cut out - pull up

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dilodi83

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Aug 27, 2006
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Italian
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Italy
Could please explain to me what different meaning have these two phrasal verbs in these sentences?

1) I was driving up a steep hill when the engine cut out.

2) I was driving up a steep hill when the engine pulled up.

3) I was driving up a steep hill when the car cut out.

4) I was driving up a steep hill when the car pulled up.cu
 
Could please explain to me what different meaning have these two phrasal verbs in these sentences?

1) I was driving up a steep hill when the engine cut out.

2) I was driving up a steep hill when the engine pulled up.

3) I was driving up a steep hill when the car cut out.

4) I was driving up a steep hill when the car pulled up.cu

1. The engine stopped working.
2. Not a sentence I'd ever say.
3. Acceptable, but it's the engine that stopped working, not the car as a whole. I wouldn't say this.
4. Another vehicle moved up into a position next to my car.
 
In BE it's fine to say 'The engine cut out' or stalled.

Rover
 
But do you use "pulled up" to mean that?

"Stalled" would be the most natural thing for me, too, with #1, instead of "cut out."
 
Ah! Interesting.

Here, a car pulls up when you draw alongside something else.

Pull up to the drive-through window.
He pulled up beside me to tell me my gas tank was open.
 
I wouldn't use pull up for an engine stopping. Pull up in BrE can be alongside, but you can pull up at traffic lights too.
 
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