The 10 Phrasal Verbs
move on
To continue after a difficulty; to stop dwelling on the past; to go to the next stage.
"After the breakup, it took her months to move on."
move in
To begin living in a new home or place.
"They moved in last Saturday — the boxes are still everywhere."
move out
To leave a place where you have been living.
"She finally moved out of her parents' house at 28."
move up
To advance in career or rank; to shift position to make room for others.
"He moved up to regional director within two years."
move away
To relocate to a different place; to distance yourself from something or someone.
"They moved away from the city to start a quieter life."
move over
To shift to one side so that someone else has room; to yield a position.
"Move over — I need a seat on this bench too!"
move along
To keep moving, not stop; to progress; often used by police or authorities to disperse a crowd.
"The officer told the crowd to move along — nothing to see here."
move into
To enter a new home, field, area, or sector (always needs a specific object).
"The company decided to move into the renewable energy market."
move back
To return to a previous location or position; to shift backwards.
"After years abroad, she moved back to Costa Rica."
move forward
To make progress; to stop focusing on the past and focus on the future.
"We can't change what happened — we have to move forward."
Common Mistake: move in vs move into
move in is intransitive — no specific destination required in the phrase:
✓ "They moved in last weekend." (We know they started living somewhere new — no need to name the place.)
move into is inseparable — it always needs a specific destination or field as its object:
✓ "She moved into the studio apartment on Avenida 2."
✓ "The company moved into healthcare technology."
✗ "She moved in the apartment." — This sounds like she moved the apartment, not herself!
Use move in when the destination is already known from context. Use move into when you name the specific place or field.
Reading Passage
Ana's New Chapter
Ana had always lived in Heredia. At 29, she worked as a teacher at the local school, drove the same roads every day, and ate dinner with her parents every Sunday. Her life was comfortable — but something was missing.
When a bilingual school in San José offered her a position, Ana knew it was time to move on. She had been dreaming about this for years, and she couldn't let fear hold her back any longer.
The hardest part was telling her mother she was going to move out. She had never lived alone before. But she found a small studio apartment in Sabana and moved in on a rainy Tuesday in March. The boxes took three weeks to unpack.
At the new school, things happened fast. Ana was organized, passionate, and creative. Within a year, she moved up to academic coordinator — a position nobody had expected her to reach so quickly. She was also starting to move into education technology, leading workshops on digital tools for teachers across the country.
Sometimes at family dinners — when cousins crowded onto the sofa — someone would always say, "Move over, I need more room!" And Ana would laugh, thinking how much she had changed.
Her father asked once if she would ever move back to Heredia. Ana smiled. She loved her hometown. But she wasn't ready to move away from the life she was building in the capital. If there was one thing Ana had learned from this year, it was that life doesn't wait. You have to move along — and when the right moment comes, you have to be brave enough to move forward.