FOCUS ON - passive phrasal verbs, 1

FOCUS ON: passive phrasal verbs, 1 The passive voice is used when what happened the verb is more important than who did it the subject: The scene of the crime was dosed off by the police

13 FOCUS ON: passive phrasal verbs, 1

The passive voice is used when what happened (the verb) is more important than who did it (the subject):

The scene of the crime was dosed off by the police.

when the subject is obvious:

The tests were handed in. (by the students — who else?)

or when the subject is unknown:

My dog was run over. (by an unknown person) The passive is formed with be and the past participle of the verb Be can be in any tense and can be continuous:

The game has been called off.

My name was left off.

The tent Is being set up.

The criminals will be tracked down.

As we saw in the first three examples, saying who performed the action with a by phrase is optional, but it is always possible This is a good way to test a sentence to see if it is in the passive:

The game has been called off by the, referee.

My name was left off by Charles.

The tent is being set up by the campers.

The criminals will be tracked down by the police.

Infinitive

present tense -ing form past tense past participle

call off

call off & calls off calling off called off called off

1 call off p.v. When you call off an event, such as a party, game, or something else that

had been previously planned, you cancel it

The football game was called off because of rain

We can't call the party off— it's going to start in half an hour.

dose off close off & closes off closing off closed off closed off

1 close off p.v. When you close off an area/you prohibit people from entering it or

passing through it by locking the door or blocking the entrance

The police closed several streets off because of the parade

The house was so expensive to heat that the owners closed several rooms off.

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closed off part.adj An area that you are prohibited from entering or passing through because

the door has been locked or the entrance has been blocked is closed off

Three rooms in the museum are closed off.

Infinitive

present tense -ing form past tense past participle hand in

hand in & hands in handing in handed in handed in

1 hand in (to) p.v When you complete a test, report, or project and you give it to the

person who assigned the work, you hand it in or hand it in to that person Turn in is similar

to hand in

The tests must be handed in no later than 11:00

He finished his investigation and handed his report in to the committee.

2 hand in p.v. When you hand in your resignation or letter of resignation, you inform your

employer that you are quitting your job

/ was so furious that I handed my letter of resignation in the next day

The President asked the cabinet members to hand in their resignations.

3 hand in (to) p.v When you give something to a person of authority who has demanded it

or because you no longer need or want it, you hand it in or hand it in to a person of authority

Turn in is similar to hand in

The guard was ordered to hand his gun in after he shot the window washer

The drivers return to the factory at 5:00 and hand their keys in to the dispatcher before they leave.

hit on hit on & hits on hitting on hit on hit on

1 hit on p.v. When you think of an interesting idea or a solution to a problem, you hit on

it

/ think I've hit on a way to solve this problem

After two years of tests, they finally hit on the solution.

2 hit on p.v [informal] When you hit on a person of the opposite sex, you approach and

aggressively try to interest that person in you romantically or sexually

Lydia had a terrible time at the party She was hit on by every guy there

Let's go somewhere else — Mark keeps hitting on me, and I'm tired of it.

leave off leave off & leaves off leaving off left off left off

1 leave off p.v When you do not include people or things on a list, either

accidentally or deliberately, you leave them off

After what happened at the last party, Dan wasn't surprised that he was left off the guest list

Check to make sure you don't leave anyone off the list.

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2 leave off p.v. When you interrupt something that you intend to finish later, you leave off

at the point where you stop

Okay class, we left off on page 92 last week, so open your books to page 93

Finish your story Uncle Fred You left off where the giant octopus was about to eat you.

Infinitive

present tense -ing form past tense past participle

let off let off & lets off letting off let off let off

1 let off p.v When you let someone off a bus or other form of transportation, you stop it

so that person can leave it

The driver let her off at the corner That's my house there Can

you let me off please?

2 let off p.v. When you are let off by a person in authority, you are not punished or you

are given only a light punishment

It was Jake's first offense, so the judge let him off with a warning

People were shocked that he had been let off so lightly.

3 let off p.v. When you fire a gun or explode bombs or fireworks, you let them off (regional) When you let off steam, you express angry feelings or frustration or do

something to relieve those feelings

The high school was evacuated after someone let off a smoke bomb

When I was a kid I used to love letting off firecrackers on the Fourth of July

I'm sorry I was so angry this morning; I was just letting off steam.

light up

light up & lights up lighting up lit up lit up

1 light up p.v When you shine lights on something or attach lights to

something, you light it up

Airport runways are lit up so that pilots can see them in the dark

The police lit the house up with their spotlights.

lit up part.adj After a light is shined on something or you put lights inside or attach lights to

the outside of something, it is lit up

The signs aren't lit up, so it's hard to see them at night.

2 light up p.v. When you light up a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, you use a match or lighter

to start it burning

Here are the matches — let's light up Lighting a cigarette up next to the gasoline truck was the last

thing he ever did

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Infinitive

present tense -ing form past tense past participle

track down

track down & tracks down tracking down tracked down tracked down

1 track down p.v When you find things or people after looking very hard for them, you

track them down

The terrorists were tracked down by Interpol

I finally tracked down that book I've been looking for.

EXERCISE 13a — Complete the sentences with phrasal verbs from this section Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense

1 The judge her with a warning

2 It wasn't cold enough, so we the hockey game

3 As soon as Nancy's boyfriend went to the washroom,the guy at the next table her

4 Every Christmas my father used to our house with thousands

of lights

5 The police finally the killers and arrested them

6 The principal caught me as I was _ _ a cigarette in the washroom

7 The room that was damaged by the fire was to the public

8 I was really angry that I was the list

9 That's a great idea! You've really something

10 Three students got a zero because their projects weren't on time

11 Driver, can you me at the next corner?

12 Dr Smith resumed his lecture where he had before the lunch break

13 After Wilson screwed up the finance department, he was asked to _ his letter of resignation

14 Even though the enemy soldiers were half a mile away, we

a few shots

15 The crooked police officers were ordered to their badges

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EXERCISE 13b — Write three sentences using the objects in parentheses Be

sure to put the objects in the right place

1 The bride hasn't called off (the wedding, it)

2 Are they closing off? (the gallery, it)

3 The accountant handed in (her report, it)

4 Have you left off? (Carmen, her)

5 The judge let off (the pickpocket, him)

6.I told him not to light up (the cigarette, it)

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7 The EPA tracked down (the polluters, them)

EXERCISE 13c — Write answers to the questions using phrasal verbs and participle adjectives from this section Make all the phrasal verbs passive

1 He discovered the source of the rumor What happened to the source of the rumor?

2 The students finished their quizzes and gave them to the teacher What happened to the

quizzes?

3 The judge never sends first-time offenders to jail What always happens to first-time offenders?

4 A guy started talking to Heather at the dance What happened to Heather?

5 The list of candidates didn't include your name What happened to your name?

6 The referee canceled the game What happened to the game?

7 They are putting ropes around the plaza so that no one can go in What is happening to the plaza?

8 In Question 7, after they finish putting ropes around the plaza, how would you describe it?

9 The battleship shined lights on the enemy submarine What happened to the enemy

submarine?

10 In Question 9, how would you describe the submarine after the battleship shined lights on it?

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EXERCISE 13d, Review — Complete the sentences with these phrasal verbs

from previous sections To check their meanings, review the section

number given after each one.

burn down, 5 let out, 7 point out, 7 set up, 5

call in, 5 look at, 5 run into, 1 take apart, 7

give back, 1 pile up, 5 run over, 7 take off, 1

hand back, 5 plan for, 4 screw out of, 3 talk down to, 3

1 Most of the city was by the invading soldiers

2 Teacher, will points be for spelling?

3 Dan is so rude — I have never been _ _ _ like that before

4 A conference will be between the lawyers for each side

5 The Taylors were their life savings by their

stockbroker

6 The children were happy to be of school early

7 The entire staff was to the office and given pink slips

8 Several flaws in the plan were

9 Raquel was almost by a cement truck while she was driving to work

10 There wasn't enough room inside the cabin, so the firewood had to be

_ outside

H The general said the occupied territory would never be

12 The test will be to the students tomorrow

13 This engine has been three times, but no one can figure out

what's wrong with it

14 This is a very important project Every possible problem must be

15 My neighbor stopped at the side of the road to change a flat tire, and he was

and killed by a drunk driver

16 Each proposed design for the new flag was and rejected

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14 FOCUS ON: participle adjectives formed from phrasal verbs, 1

The past participles of many English verbs can also be used as adjectives You will see that sentences with adjectives formed from past participles are very similar to sentences with verbs in the passive voice: in both cases a form of be is used with the past participle For this reason, it is not always easy to say whether a sentence contains an adjective formed from a past participle or a verb in the passive voice:

The door was closed (Is this a passive sentence or is dosed an adjective?) Sometimes, whether a sentence contains an adjective formed from a past participle

or a verb in the passive voice is clear from the sentence structure:

The door was closed by the secretary, (passive)

The door was closed when I came home last night, (adjective)

or the context:

question: What happens if the health inspector finds rats in a restaurant?

answer: It's closed (passive)

question: Is the window open?

answer: It's closed (adjective)

But in some cases it is not possible to say absolutely whether a sentence contains an adjective formed from a past participle or a verb in the passive voice Fortunately, it is usually not very important because the meaning is often essentially the same For that reason, throughout this book true adjectives formed from past participles and past participles functioning as adjectives are both classified as participle adjectives Much more important than the difference between adjectives formed from past participles and past participles functioning as adjectives is what the words mean Some participle adjectives are written with a hyphen (make-up), some without a hyphen (fixed up), and some as one word (rundown) Because not everyone agrees which participle adjectives should be hyphenated/which should not, and which should

be written as one word, you will occasionally see the same participle adjective written with or without a hyphen or written as one word Also, British English hyphenates many participle adjectives that are not normally hyphenated in American English; many of the participle adjectives shown unhyphenated in this book are hyphenated in British English

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present tense -ing form past tense past participle

butt in butt in & butts in butting in butt in butt in

1 butt in p.v When you enter a conversation, situation, or place (especially a line)

aggressively, rudely, and without invitation/you butt in

/ was trying to talk to Mm at the party, but Bob kept butting in

My father taught me that it's not polite to butt in line; you have to go to the back and wait your turn.

dress up

dress up & dresses up dressing up dressed up dressed up

1 dress up p.v. When you dress up, you wear very nice clothes, often for a special

occasion When you dress people up, you put very nice clothes on them/ often for a

special occasion

You should always dress up for a job interview

The Taylors dressed their children up so they could take some pictures.

dressed up part.adj. When you are dressed up, you are wearing very nice clothes, often

for a special occasion

Where are Tom and Nancy going? They're all dressed up

I felt like an idiot at the party — everyone was really dressed up except me.

2 dress up (like/as) p.v When people wear old-fashioned clothes or costumes, they

dress up, dress up like someone, or dress up as someone

Did you see Charles at the Halloween party? He dressed up like a cowboy

At Jane's costume party, everyone has to dress up as a clown.

dry up

dry up & dries up drying up dried up dried up

1 dry up p.v. When something dries up or something dries it up, all the water or other

liquid in it goes away

The sun came out and dried up all the rain The

Great Salt Lake is slowly drying up.

dried up part.adj. After all water or other liquid in something goes away, it is

dried up

The cowboys reached the river only to find that it was dried up

These leaves will burn okay now that they're dried up.

2 dry up p.v When the amount or supply of something gets smaller and then disappears

completely, it dries up

The factory switched to synthetic rubber after the supply of natural rubber dried up

The small grocery store's business dried up after a huge supermarket opened across the street

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