sift through — examine carefully (especially a large amount of information or things)
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutralcommon
To look through a lot of things or information in detail, usually to find something specific or important.
Say it like a native
Textbook I examined the documents meticulously to locate the figure.
Native I had to sift through the documents to find the figure.
'Sift through' captures slow, careful searching through a lot of material; the paraphrase is heavy.
Pattern: sift through something
In use
- The journalist had to sift through hundreds of emails to find the evidence she needed.study
- In my opinion, students often have to sift through a huge amount of online resources to find reliable information for their assignments.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I sifted the documents to find it.
✓ I sifted through the documents to find it.
'Sift THROUGH' a large amount — don't drop 'through'.
Common collocations
sift through + mass— the data, the evidence, hundreds of emails, the rubble
Don't confuse it
Unlike the literal sense of ‘sift’ (to separate fine from coarse particles, e.g. flour), this phrasal verb is used figuratively to mean examining information, documents, or objects carefully.