FOCUS ON - phrasal verbs and midsentence adverbs

FOCUS ON: phrasal verbs and midsentence adverbs As we saw in Section 17, adverbs are words that modify verbs.. Midsentence adverbs are usually placed before main verbs: He X goofs aroun

33 FOCUS ON: phrasal verbs and

midsentence adverbs

As we saw in Section 17, adverbs are words that modify verbs Some adverbs are called midsentence adverbs because they are commonly placed in the middle of a sentence Midsentence adverbs are usually placed before main verbs:

He X goofs around She X

helped him out.

after any form of be:

He is X goofing around She wasn't X

helping him out.

and between an auxiliary (helping) verb and the main verb:

He will X goof around

She can't X help him out

In questions, a midsentence adverb is usually placed between the subject and the main verb:

Does he X goof around?

Is he X goof ing around?

Has she X helped him out?

The following are common midsentence adverbs

Adverbs of frequency

Other midsentence adverbs

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present tense -ing form past tense past participle

blow up blow up & blows up blowing up blew up blown up

1 blow up p.v When something blows up or when someone blows something up, it

explodes

Seven people were killed when the building blew up

The hijackers ultimately blew the plane up

2 blow up p.v When something blows up or when someone blows something up, it

becomes much larger because air or something else is being forced into it

It always takes me an hour or more to blow up the balloons for a party

Hank blew up a beach ball and threw it in the pool

3 blow up p.v When you make a picture or photograph larger, you blow it up

I blew the photograph up and framed it.

When you blow this photo of the car up, you can make out the license plate number

blowup n. A blowup is a picture or photograph that has been made larger.I

made a blowup of the photo and framed it

4 blow up (atIover) p.v [informal] When you blow up or blow up at someone, you

suddenly become very angry When you blow up over something, you suddenly become

very angry because of it

Heather blew up when she saw her boyfriend dancing with Linda

Heather blew up at her boyfriend when she saw him dancing with Linda

Dad blew up over the increase in our property taxes

catch on

catch on & catches on catching on caught on caught on

1 catch on p.v When a fashion or habit becomes popular and is adopted by many people, it

catches on When a product or service becomes popular and is used or bought by many people, it catches on

Beta VCRs never caught on

If his striped business suits catch on, the designer will become famous

2 catch on p.v When you eventually begin to understand something or begin to learn a

skill after practicing and studying, you catch on

When Sally studies something, she usually catches on right away

Learning to dance the cumbia wasn't easy, but I eventually caught on

3 catch on (to) p.v When you catch on or catch on to people, you realize that they are

trying to trick or cheat you

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If you keep lying to everyone, they'll eventually catch on

It took me a while, but I finally caught on to him

Infinitive

come about

come about & coming about come about came about come about

1 come about p.v When something comes about, it happens, usually as a result of a series

of events and actions

He was the richest man in town, and now he's bankrupt How did that come about?

Several major medical advances have come about in the last fifty years

fall behind

fall behind & falls behind falling behind fell behind fallen behind

1 fall behind p.v When you are in a group that is walking, running, driving, and so on,

and they move ahead of you because you are moving more slowly than the others, you fall behind Keep up is the opposite of fall behind

Alfonso and Tom are walking so fast that I've fallen behind

I was supposed to be following Linda to the party, but I fell behind and got lost

1 fall behind (in) p.v When you are in a group that is studying, working, and so on, and they learn faster or get more work done because you are learning or working more slowly than the

others, you fall behind or fall behind in your work, studies, and so on When you do not complete work as fast as it was originally planned and expected, you fall behind schedule Get behind is similar to fall behind Keep up is the opposite of fall behind

Timmy was sick last semester, and he fell behind in his studies

The sales manager wanted to know why I had fallen behind the rest of the department

The building project will fall behind schedule if the construction workers go on strike

3 fall behind (in) p.v When you do not make the regular payments you are required to make,

you fall behind or fall behind in your payments

When I lost my job, I fell behind in my mortgage payments

Don't fall behind in your payments, or your car will be repossessed

goof around

goof around & goofs around goofing around goofed around goofed around

1 goof around p.v [informal] When you waste time playing or doing silly or unimportant

things, you goof around Fool around is the same as goof around

My brother drives his teachers crazy He constantly goofs around and creates problems

Stop goofing around and get to work

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present tense -ing form past tense past participle

help out help out & helps out helping out helped out helped out

1 help out (with) p.v When you help out or help people out, you assist them in doing

some work or you lend or give them money or something else that they need

Can you help me out? I need a hundred bucks until payday

We had a lot of work to do, so Maria helped out

know about

know about & knows about knowing about knew about known about

1 know about p.v When you know about a situation, plan, or other information, you are

aware of it

Jim isn't here Maybe he doesn't know about the schedule change

Thanks for telling me, but I already know all about it

2 know about p.v When you have studied something and learned it, you know about it

I don't know much about history I was a business major

Knowing about art and being an artist are two different things.

pull off

pull off & pulls off pulling off pulled off pulled off

1 pull off p.v When you pull something off, you succeed in doing something difficult

and possibly sneaky or illegal even though the chances of success are not high

Mike tried to juggle three butcher knives and two bowling balls at the same time, but he couldn't pull it off

When Jake said he was going to try to rob a Las Vegas casino, no one believed he could pull it off

2 pull off p.v When you are driving and you pull off the road, you drive to the side of the

road and stop

If I get sleepy while I'm driving, I always pull off the road and take a nap

When I heard that strange noise, I pulled off to the side and checked the engine

EXERCISE 33a — Complete the sentences with phrasal verbs from this section Be

sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense

1 I need to move some furniture, and it's too heavy for me Could you me tonight?

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2 Television was invented in the 1920s, but it didn't start to until the 1950s

3 Math is very difficult for Mike If he takes the advanced class, he'll most likely

4 I didn't think Todd could manage going to school and working at the same time, but he it

5 When Jim shows his terrible report card to his mother, she'll _ _

6 Nancy's a hard worker She never

7 The terrorists tried to the embassy

8 A lot of changes have in the last few years

9 The truck driver was lost, so he to the side of the road and checked his map

10 Sam and Dave are so much faster on their bikes than I am that I always _

11 Don't ask Ann; she doesn't anything it

12 I used to be able to trick my rich uncle into giving me money, but he's starting to to me

13 the balloons now; the party's going to start soon

14 Bob started taking dance lessons, and he right away

15 If you _ in your credit card payments, you'll damage your credit rating

16 I usually ask Bill what he thinks before I buy a stock He a lot investing

17 I asked the photo lab to the photo 300 percent

EXERCISE 33b — Complete the sentences with the correct second particles

1 Todd was fired after he blew up his boss

2 Todd is usually so easygoing What did he blow up _?

3 Karen thinks she's so clever, but I'm starting to catch on _ her

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4 If you don't start working harder, you're going to fall behind math

5 Thanks for helping me out my algebra homework

EXERCISE 33c — Write answers to the questions using phrasal verbs from this section Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense

1 The company started to sell chocolate toothpaste, but it never became popular What didn't chocolate toothpaste do?

2 Sam has a lot of work to do before 5:00, so Lydia is doing some of it for him so that he won't have to work late What is Lydia doing for Sam?

3 Nobody in the criminal gang thought they could steal an airplane, but they did What

did the gang do?

4 Ali doesn't usually do any work He usually watches TV and listens to music What does Ali usually do?

5 They sometimes destroy old buildings by making them explode What do they sometimes do to old buildings?

6 The teacher frequently gets very angry at his students What does the teacher

frequently do?

7 Janice is aware of the problem because someone told her about it What can you say

about Janice and the problem?

8 The company was supposed to finish the project by September 1, but they didn't finish until November 14 What happened?

9 The professor asked you to explain how this situation happened What did the professor ask you?

EXERCISE 33d, Review — Complete the sentences with these phrasal verbs from previous sections Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense To check their meanings, review the section number given after each one

come out, 32 fall out, 32 look into, 31 rule out, 31

cut out, 31 give away, 28 plan on, 31 sort out, 30

do without, 31 go around, 20 put off, 31 space out, 30

empty out, 32 go out, 32 put out, 30 stick out, 32

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1 Jake was in jail when the crime was committed, so the police were able to him as a suspect

2 My fiancee's father got sick suddenly, so we had to the wedding until later

3 I was a little when Melanie disagreed with me

4 Linda's going to getting her teeth bleached

5 No one was surprised when the news

6 The family business had to be sold after the family members with each other

7 I and forgot to put socks on this morning

8 I felt like an idiot — I had to all day without socks on

9 You can still eat this apple — just the bad part

10 When we decided on the Bahamas for our honeymoon, we didn't a hurricane

11.1 was angry with my sister, but we talked and everything

12 Timmy told his mother that he hadn't eaten any cake, but the chocolate frosting on his face him

13 If you're studying a language, you can't a dictionary

14 Jim's job is very dangerous, but if he _ it _ for another year, he can retire with a pension

15 These trash cans are getting full Could you them , please?

16 Put some more wood on the fire — it's starting to

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34 FOCUS ON: pronunciation of two-and word phrasal verbs, 2

three-As we saw in Sections 5 and 6, phrasal verbs are sometimes accented on the verb and sometimes accented on the particle It might seem difficult to know whether to accent the verb or the particle since it depends on whether the phrasal verb is separable or

nonseparable, transitive or intransitive, or a two- or three-word phrasal verb; however, it boils down to this: always accent the particle after the verb unless the phrasal verb is a nonseparable, transitive, two-word phrasal verb — then accent the verb Remember that some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive:

Nonseparable, two-word, intransitive

1 do over p.v When you do something over, you do it again in order to improve it

or to correct mistakes

This is all wrong — it'll have to be done over

I got a bad grade on my paper, but the teacher said I could do it over

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present tense -ing form past tense past participle

float around

float around & floats around floating around floated around floated around

1 float around p.v [usually continuous] When something is floating around a

place, it is there somewhere, though you are not sure exactly where

/ don't know where the stapler is, but it's floating around here somewhere The new schedule

was floating around the office yesterday

2 float around p.v When a rumor or some information is floating around, it is

being repeated and discussed among a group of people or within a place

There's a rumor floating around that the factory's going to be closed Something about a change of management has been floating around lately Have you heard anything?

lead up to

lead up to & leads up to leading up to led up to led up to

1 lead up to p.v When one or more actions, events, or situations lead up to a final action, event, or situation, they precede and cause or partially cause it

Several minor battles led up to a full-scale war The detective said, "Jake didn't shoot Hank for no reason — something led up to it."

2 lead up to p.v When you lead up to something when you are speaking or writing, you gradually move toward an important point by saying or writing information that will support that point

In his speech, the President didn't immediately announce that he would run for a second term; he led up to it

by recalling the accomplishments of his first term

I've been listening to you talk for thirty minutes What's your point? What are you leading up to?

put up to

put up to & puts up to putting up to put up to put up to

1 put up to p.v When you persuade or pressure people to do something that is illegal,

dangerous, foolish, or unwise, you put them up to it

/ didn't think it was a good idea to demand a raise, but my wife put me up to it

When Jake was arrested for shooting Hank, he said Raquel had put him up to it by threatening to tell

the police about his other crimes

stand for

stand for & stands for standing for stood for stood for

1 stand for p.v When abbreviations, acronyms, or symbols represent longer words or

groups of words, they stand for them

The "DC" in Washington, DC, stands for "District of Columbia."

"Scuba" stands for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus."

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2 stand for p.v When people or objects support, represent, or are identified with ideas,

values, or beliefs, they stand for them

This flag stands for freedom He was a great man who stood for equal rights and opportunity for all

people

3 stand for p.v When you will not stand for something that you think is illegal, improper,

or unjust, you will not tolerate it or allow it to happen

Cruelty to animals is one thing I will never stand for

I told my son I wouldn't stand for that kind of language in this house

Infinitive

stick around

stick around & sticks around sticking around stuck around stuck around

1 stick around p.v [informal] When you stick around, you stay where you are

Can you stick around? We're going to have lunch in an hour

Don't go yet — stick around until Sarah gets here; she'd love to see you

stick to

stick to & sticks to sticking to stuck to stuck to

1 stick to p.v When one thing sticks to another, it remains attached to it

The magnet sticks to the chalkboard because there's metal underneath

I used the wrong glue, and the tiles didn't stick to the floor

2 stick to p.v When you are speaking or writing and you stick to a certain subject, you talk or write about that subject only

The teacher said, "Do this paper over and stick to the point — don't talk about 100 other things that aren't

important."

In his news conference, the President stuck to the new tax legislation, but the reporters kept asking about the latest

scandal

3 stick to p.v When you stick to a certain belief, claim, policy, habit, plan, type of

work, and so on, you continue as before, without change Stick with is similar to stick

to

Jake claimed he was innocent of Hank's murder He stuck to his alibi that he had been at the racetrack when the

murder occurred

After the audition, the director told me I was a terrible actor and that I should stick to singing

4 stick to p.v [informal] When you stick it to people, you deliberately try to tease, annoy, or embarrass them with an accusation, provocative statement, or difficult question

Sam thinks the new manager is an idiot, and he likes to stick it to him

One woman at the shareholders' meeting really stuck it to the president of the company

She asked why he deserved a $19 million bonus even though the company had lost money that year and 4,000 workers had been laid off

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