Does the particle mean anything?
Four questions.
1. Drink up. Eat up. Finish up. Wrap up. What does up add?
2. Find out. Work out. Sort out. Rule out. What does out add?
3. Call off. Put off. Lay off. Write off. What does off add?
4. Does the particle always mean something?
A week at work, in phrasal verbs
Monday to Friday
On Monday we set up the new tracker and drew up a list of who was doing what. Two people had not been brought in at the start, so we had to catch up with them separately.
On Tuesday I found out that the supplier had pulled out. We ruled out the two alternatives that would not deliver in time, sounded out a third, and worked out that we could get through the quarter without them if the second phase slipped.
On Wednesday the client called the review off, which we had spent a week getting ready for. Nobody signed off the change, so it stayed in the plan and we ended up doing it anyway.
On Thursday I went over the numbers with finance and handed the model over to Sofia, who is taking on the reporting from next month.
On Friday I wrote up what had happened, cut down on the meetings for the following week, and got round to the two emails I had been putting off since the fourth.
Eight particles. Match each to the meaning it usually contributes.
The fifty, in families
Ten families
| Particle | Sense | The verbs |
|---|---|---|
| up | To completion, or into existence | set up · draw up · follow up · sum up · back up · catch up · end up · come up · bring up · speed up · wrap up · write up |
| out | Unknown → known, or excluded | find out · sort out · carry out · work out · rule out · point out · run out of · sound out · fill out |
| off | Separation, cancellation, or starting | put off · call off · lay off · sign off · kick off · take off · write off |
| on | Continuing, or taking onto yourself | carry on · go on · take on · hold on · move on · pass on · get on with |
| through | End to end | go through · get through · come through · see through · fall through |
| over | Reviewing, or transferring | go over · take over · hand over · run over |
| down | Reducing, or recording | cut down on · turn down · write down · close down · break down · scale down |
| in / into | Entering, including, examining | look into · bring in · fill in · put in · take in · go in |
| back | Returning, or withholding | get back to · cut back · hold back |
| round / around | Eventually, or by another route | get round to · come round · work around |
Two honest limits.
1 · The families are tendencies. Take off means to leave the ground, to remove, and to become successful — and only the second of those has much to do with separation. Use the family to organise your learning, not to guess in a meeting.
2 · Several of the fifty carry two unrelated meanings. Pick up is collect, learn, improve and answer the phone. Make out is discern, claim, and complete a cheque. Context always separates them and no rule does.
Rewrite each sentence using the word given, so that it sounds like spoken professional English.
The client cancelled the review on Wednesday. OFF
I eventually did the two emails I had been avoiding. ROUND
She is accepting responsibility for the reporting next month. TAKING
We excluded the two suppliers who could not deliver in time. RULED
The arrangement collapsed a week before it was due to start. THROUGH
I will reduce the number of meetings next week. CUT
Five questions.
1. A meeting that was arranged and then did not happen:
2. To check something in detail with a colleague:
3. To ask somebody informally what they think before it is official:
4. To formally approve something:
5. To gradually reduce something:
Fifty verbs in use
Eight gaps. Choose the phrasal verb that fits.
We the tracker on Monday and a list of owners. On Tuesday the supplier , so we the two alternatives that could not deliver in time and a third. The client then the review, which nobody had , so it stayed in the plan. On Friday I what had happened.
Eight sentences. Seven contain an error; one is correct.
1. The meeting fell down two days before it was due.
2. I need to go through the numbers with you. — correct as written
3. She took over the reporting from next month. — she is accepting new work, not replacing anybody
4. We must cut out on the number of meetings.
5. Nobody signed up the change, so it stayed in the plan.
6. I finally got round the two emails.
7. Can I sound you about something before the meeting?
8. The supplier pulled off in March.
Particle relay
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 8 minutes, fast
A names a particle. B produces a phrasal verb from that family and a true sentence about their own work or study, in five seconds.
Twenty exchanges. Swap roles every five.
- Particles: up · out · off · on · through · over · down · in · back · round.
- B must not repeat a verb already used in the round.
- The sentence has to be true. Invented ones let you choose the easy verb.
- Note which particles produced nothing. Those are the families to work on.
Five seconds, again. The point is not to recall a list. It is to find out which of these fifty you can actually reach for, which is a much smaller number than the one you understand — and the gap between the two numbers is what this unit is about.
Which families were empty
Two questions.
1. Which particles produced the fewest verbs?
2. How did the number you could produce compare with the number you understand?
Ten families, two limits
Two questions. Twenty seconds.
1. What does the particle usually contribute?
2. Can you guess an unknown phrasal verb from its particle?
Next. Which of them split around their object, which do not, and how to hear the difference rather than memorise it.