The Amazing World of Phrasal Verbs

Tuesday 3^rd

HI! So, Phrasal verbs aren’t as easy as they look like…

Not only do we have to struggle (fight/ make an effort) with guessing what they mean, but also we have to be able to know if they are separable or not. And depending if they have a transitive or intransitive meaning, the same verb can be both… but don’t panic!

It only takes some time to get used to it!

Thieves broke in and stole £5,000. But, Burglars broke into the house while they were out.

The bus drew up at the traffic lights. But, The committee will draw a list of objections up.

She took some students in to earn extra money. But, I was taken in by his apparent honesty.

Remember!

As long as a phrasal verb is separable you can place the object between the verb and the particle or after the particle:

Take your jacket off. It’s hot in here.

Take off your jacket. It’s hot in here.

If the object is a pronoun and the verb is separable, you can never place the pronoun after the particle.

Take it off. It’s hot in here.

Take off it. It’s hot in here.

We also did a reading comprehension from a TOEFL sample test paper. “The Creators of Grammar”

         ·            Do you think it’s easy to start from scratch?

         ·            Did you know that “pidgins” are strings of words copied from the language of the landowner?

         ·            Sign languages for the deaf aren’t simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery that is found in spoken languages.

Seen like this, it doesn’t seem much. But we really worked hard, didn’t we?

By the way, when somebody “looks over their shoulder”, they feel suspicious. They think somebody is following them or that something dangerous or terrible is going to happen to them!

It doesn’t mean that they despise other people or show contempt, as it does in the idiom “look down on someone.”

He is the typical snob who “looks down on” anyone who hasn't got an Oxbridge degree.

Get ready for this week because we are having three days of class and we’re going to look into Modal Verbs.

C.U.

FYI (For your Information)

What is the TOEFL® test like?

The next generation TOEFL® iBT test has four sections:

1	Reading	3-5 passages, 12-14 questions each Click here for a free practice test IBT Reading test part 1	60-100 mins
2	Listening	4-6 lectures, 6 questions each 2-3 conversations, 5 questions each Click here for a free practice test	60-90 mins
3	Speaking	6 tasks, 2 independent and 2 integrated	20 mins
4	Writing	1 integrated task 1 independent task	50 mins

An integrated task is one where you have to use more than one skill. For example, you read about something, listen to a lecture, and then write about what you have heard and read.