Phrasal Verbs Part 2

 Bear with 

• Be patient. 
• Please BEAR WITH me a moment while I finish this email. 

Beat down

•  Strong sunshine. 
• The sun WAS really BEATING DOWN and we couldn't stay outdoors. 

Beat down 

• someone to lower the price of something.
•  I managed to BEAT him DOWN to fifty Euros. 

Beat out

•  Narrowly win in competition.
•  The marathon runner barely BEAT OUT his rival at the tape. 

Beat up

•  Attack violently. 
• The mugger BEAT him UP and stole his wallet. 

Beaver away 

• Work hard. She's BEAVERING AWAY before her exams.

 Beaver away at 

• Work hard doing something. 
• I have to BEAVER AWAY AT it or else I will fail the course.

 Bed down

•  Sleep somewhere less comfortable than normal. 
• We had to BED DOWN on the floor for the night. 

Bed down 

• Become established or successful over time. 
• The new government has found it hard to BED DOWN and become accepted. 

Bed out 

• Move a plant outside. 
• I BEDDED the plants OUT when the weather warmed up.

Beef up 

• Make something stronger or more solid.

• The company BEEFED UP their case when they saw that the public wouldn't accept their first explanation of the accident. 

Belong to 

• Be a member.
•  He BELONGS TO a secret society. 

Belong to 

• Be connected to a time, place, belief, thing, etc.
•  Their ideas BELONG TO the nineteenth century and seem old-fashioned now. 

Belong with

•  Be in the correct or appropriate location with other items. 
• Does this disc BELONG WITH those on the shelf? 

Belt out

•  Sing something loudly. 

• They BELTED OUT the national anthems before the game. 

Belt up 

• Be quiet. She told the students to BELT UP because they were making so much noise. 

Belt up 

• Fasten your seat belt. 
• I told the kids to BELT UP before I started the car. 

Bend down

•  Lower the top half of your body.
•  I BENT DOWN to pick it up off the floor. 

Bend over 

• Lower the top part of your body. 
• I BENT OVER to do my shoes up. 

Bend over backwards 

• Do a lot to try to help or please someone. 
• I BENT OVER BACKWARDS for them and they didn't even thank me. 

Big up 

• Exaggerate the importance. 
• He BIGS himself UP all the time. 

Big up

•  Increase the size of muscles by exercise. 
• They work out a lot to BIG themselves UP. 

Bitch up 

• Spoil or ruin something. 
• I BITCHED UP the interview. 

Black out 

• Fall unconscious.
•  He BLACKED OUT and collapsed on the floor. 

Black out 

• Lose light.
•  Everything BLACKED OUT when the power supply failed.

Poems

 SYMPTOMS OF LOVE

 Love is a universal migraine, 

A bright stain on the vision 

Blotting out reason. 

Symptoms of true love 

Are leanness, jealousy, 

Laggard dawns;

 Are omens and nightmares- 

Listening for a knock. 

Waiting for a sign: 

For a touch of her fingers 

In a darkened room, 

For a searching look 

Take courage, lover! 

Could you endure such pain 

At any hand but hers? 

(Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama, McGraw-Hill, 2000)

 

 

“SYMPATHY” 

I know what the caged bird feels, alas ! 

When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; 

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass 

And the river flows like a stream of glass; 

When the first bird sings and the first bud opens, 

And the faint perfume from its petals steals- 

I know what the caged bird feels! 

I know why the caged bird beats his wing 

Till its blood is red on the cruel bans; 

For he must fly back for his perch and cling 

When he rather would be on the branch a –swing;

 And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars 

And they pulse again with a keener sting –

 I know why he beats his wing! 

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, 

When his wing is bruised and his blossom sore, 

When he beats his bars and would be free; 

It is not a song of joy or glee, 

But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, 

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings –

 I know why the caged bird sings !

 (Adapted from the poem by Paul Lawrence DunbarIn American Negropoetry,edited by Arna Bontemps)

English Phrasal Verbs

 Phrasal Verbs Part I

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abide by

• Accept or follow a decision or rule
• We have to ABIDE BY what the court says. 

Account for 

• To explain. 
• They had to ACCOUNT FOR all the money that had gone missing. 

Ache for 

• Want something or someone a lot. 
• My partner's been away for a fortnight- I am ACHING FOR her. 

Act on 

• To take action because of something like information received. 
• The police were ACTING ON a tip from an informer and caught the gang red-handed. 

Act on

• Affect.  
• The medicine only ACTS ON infected tissue.

Act out

• Perform something with actions and gestures..
• They ACTED OUT the story on stage.    

Act out 

• Express an emotion in your behaviour. 

Act out

•  Express an emotion in your behaviour. 
• Their anger is ACTED OUT in their antisocial behaviour. 

Act up 

• Behave badly or strangely.
•  My computer's ACTING UP; I think I might have a virus. 

Act upon 

• To take action because of something like information received. 
• The police were ACTING UPON a tip-off.

 Act upon 

• Affect.
•  The enzyme ACTS UPON certain proteins. 

Add on 

• Include in a calculation.You have to ADD the VAT ON to the price they give. 

Add up 

• To make a mathematical total.We ADDED UP the bill to check it was correct. 

Add up

•  Be a satisfactory explanation for something. 
• She explained why the work wasn't ready,but her story doesn't ADD UP. 

Add up to 

• Have a certain result. 
• Trains delays are getting worse and with the high fares, it all ADDS UP TO misery for the commuters. 

Add up to

•  Come to a certain amount or figure. 
• The total costs ADD UP TO several million euros.

 Agree with 

• Affect- usually used in the negative to show that something has had a negative effect, especially is it makes you feel bad.
•  I feel terrible- that food didn't AGREE WITH my stomach. 

Aim at 

• To target.The magazine is AIMED AT teenagers. 

Aim at

•  Intend to achieve. 
• They're AIMING AT reducing costs by ten percent. 

 Ask around 

• Ask a number of people for information of help. 
• I have no idea, but I'll ASK AROUND at work and see if anyone can help. 

Ask around

•  Invite someone. 
• We ASKED them AROUND for dinner. 

Ask for 

• To provoke a negative reaction.You're ASKING FOR trouble. 

Ask for

•  Request to have or be given.I ASKED FOR the menu. 

Ask in 

• To invite somebody into your house.'Jon's at the door.' 'ASK him IN.' 

Ask out 

• To invite someone for a date. 
• He wanted to ASK her OUT but was too shy. 

Ask over

•  Invite.They have ASKED us OVER for drinks on Friday. 

Ask round

•  Invite someone. 
• We ASKED John ROUND for diner. 

Auction off 

• Sell something in an auction. 
• They AUCTIONED OFF their property as they were heavily in debt. 

Back away

•  Retreat or go backwards.The crowd BACKED AWAY when the man pulled a knife. 

Back down 

• Retract or withdraw your position or proposal in an argument. 
• She refused to BACK DOWN and was fired. 

Back into 

• Enter a parking area in reverse gear. 
• He prefers to BACK his car INTO the garage. 

Back off 

• Retreat. 
• The police told the protesters to BACK OFF. 

Back out

•  Fail to keep an arrangement or promise. 
• He BACKED OUT two days before the holiday so we gave the ticket to his sister

 Back out of 

• Fail to keep an agreement, arrangement. 
• She BACKED OUT OF the agreement at the last minute. 

Back out of 

• Exit a parking area in reverse gear. 
• She BACKED the Rolls OUT OF its parking space. 

Back up 

• Make a copy of computer data. 
• You should always BACK UP important