Imagine that you are in a long line and suddenly someone steps aside and lets you pass. Or, think of a goalkeeper who, through carelessness, allows the ball to go into the goal. These situations have something in common: the act of “letting through”. And that is exactly the meaning of the phrasal verb “let through”!
It can be used both literally, when someone allows something or someone to pass, and figuratively, when something unwanted goes unnoticed. Let’s look at some examples to understand better!
1 – The first use of “let through” is in the sense of allowing someone or something to pass, usually through a physical barrier or control.
I was
let through to the front of the queue .
Please ,
stand back and let the ambulance staff through .
Cars
going in and out were let through without problems .
They are friends – let them through .
The
invalid was let through to the front of the queue .
Let me
through , please, I have an important message .
2 – The second use of “let through” is in the sense of allowing something unwanted to pass or happen, such as a goal or a mistake.
Their goalkeeper is not in his usual form today—that’s the fourth goal he ‘s let through already !
Do
n’t let anyone through . We don’t want the scene of the crime to be contaminated before the detectives have a chance to look things over.
(Remember thephrasal verb look over? I wrote about itherenot long ago.)
Make sure
to always pull over to let emergency vehicles through when you ‘re in traffic.
(And pull over ? If you need a refresher, check out this post here .)
She has
n’t let a single error through since she started proofreading for us.
Well, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed learning this phrasal verb! To make sure it sticks in your memory, write down some of the examples in Anki and review them periodically.
