AAAmerican Accent US

carry out

Separable

The object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: carry OUT. Saying “CARRY out” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

A glide appears. Two vowels meet, so American English slips a /j/ between them: “carry out” → “carry-yout”. You do not insert it deliberately — it falls out of not stopping between the words.

What it means

  1. To perform a task, plan or order.

    • “The scientists are carrying out an important experiment.”
    • “The repairs were carried out over the weekend.”

    Similar: perform, execute, conduct

Don’t confuse it with

carry onTo continue doing something.

Carry OUT performs a specific task. Carry ON simply continues.

The particle logic

out

Something exits a container, becomes visible, or is exhausted.

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More CARRY phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

carry on

To continue doing something.

carry off

To succeed at something difficult.

carry over

To transfer something to a later period.

carry away

To become so excited or emotional that you lose control — almost always as 'get carried away'.

carry out — meaning, examples & how to say it