9- fall apart, bounce back

Hi everyone. This is Lesson 9 of Jennifer’s Phrasal Verb Challenge. The two phrasal verbs we’ll cover in this lesson are very useful for talking about failing and finding strength to continue.

Sometimes no matter how hard we try things don’t go the way we planned or the way we really want them to. We feel like life is falling apart. But then there’s always a choice: you can quit or you can continue.

If you bounce back, people will respect you. “To fall apart” means to stop working or functioning because of one or more problems. Your life can fall apart. A marriage can fall apart. A person’s career can fall apart.

“Fall apart” is intransitive. It doesn’t take an object. There’s a well-known idiom with this phrasal verb: to fall apart at the seams. Seams are the stitches that hold fabric together. If the seams come undone, then the fabric is no longer in one piece. So if something is falling apart at the seams, it’s not working; it’s failing.

“Bounce back” means to recover. Someone can bounce back from defeat, bounce back from an illness. A company can bounce back from a bad performance. So bounce back means you had problems, but now you’re healthy and strong again. You can use “bounce back” with or without an object.

If you want to name the problem, use “from”: bounce back from what? For practice, think of an example that uses both phrasal verbs. Is there a sports team or a company that fell apart and then bounced back? Share your ideas in the comments. I’ll offer corrections as time allows.