Structure – More about Phrasal Verbs

Remember phrasal verbs are made up of verbs followed by a prepositions or adverbs – particles. The meanings of these combinations, as already known, cannot be determined in isolation, rather they have to be comprehended from the entire phrase. These meanings can sometimes be obvious or obscure. When the meaning is obscure, it becomes idiomatic. On the other hand, if the meaning is obvious it becomes non-idiomatic. Some phrasal verbs can express single meaning while in some cases, a single phrasal verb may have different meanings.

Example:         They waited for him to come down

They were sitting down

Example:         The convict broke down (lost control of his feelings)

Did you catch on (understand)?

I will not be surprised if he goes back on his words (= breaks his promise)

  • Phrasal verbs with same meaning.

Example:         After completing his prison term, he kept out of

Kept away from          trouble

Stayed away from

Example:         During the Christmas party, I fell in with (met by chance) an old friend of mine.

I am ready to fall in with (agree to) anything you propose.

At this juncture, it is necessary to note that a single verb can combine with different particles. This means that there will be a change in meaning of each phrasal verb as the particle changes.

Example:

  1. break in – enter a building by force.

break up – end a relationship

break down – stop working suddenly

break through – to overcome.

  1. turn out – prove, show

turndown – reject/refuse

turnin – submit

turnoff – make somebody lose interest or feel bored

  1. stand up for – support

stand up to – oppose

  1. give in – surrender

give up – renounce

give away – reveal

  1. look after – take care of

look down on – despise

look up to – respect

EVALUATION

  1. From the words lettered A – D, choose the word or group of words that best complete each of the following sentences.
  2. Personally, I ________ rather easily when it comes to arguments. give in    B. give from    C. give against     D. give on
  3. If she takes _______ her mother, you can be sure of her efficiency. up    B. on     C. with    D. after
  4. Their marriage finally ____________ fell about     B. fell apart    C. fell down     D. fell upon
  5. For each of the underlined phrasal verb, substitute with a single-word verb.
  6. It is doubtful my provisions will hold out for one more week.
  7. He is always hard up because he does not lay out his money wisely..

 

  1. Summary – Advancement in Technology, Effective English, pg 109

The passage reveals that advanced technology has brought about productivity of workers. Many organisationsnow use computers not only to save, access information but also, to save time and cost. With flow of information, however, every organisation has to be security conscious. There is need for protection against hackers

EVALUATION

Relationships of time – see Effective English pg 112.

  1. Speech Work – /ʧ/ and /∫/, /ʤ/ and /ʒ/

/∫/

This is a voiceless palato – alveola fricative consonant. It is realized when the tip of the tongue and blade make a light contact with the alveolar ridge and the airstream escapes with a frictional noise.

Examples sh –      sheep, shop

ch-       champagne, machine

s –        sugar, sure

ss-        mission, pressure

c –        ocean

ti –        nation, education

ci –       special, sufficient

/ʧ/

This is called voiceless palato – alveolar affricate. In its production, the blade and rims of the tongue from a total obstruction to the airstream with the alveolar ridge while the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate. The spellings symbols for /ʧ/ are listed below

Examples   ch –      chief, church

-ture –  nature, picture

tch –     match, catch

-teous–righteous, courteous

tual –    ritual, factual

/ʒ/

This consonant is a voiced palato – alveolar fricative which has the same process of articulation as /ᶘ/ except that the vocal cords vibrate as if it is produced. In other words, /ʒ/ is the voiced counterpart of the voiceless /∫/. The symbols for /ʒ/ are as follows:

s           –           usual, measure

z          –           seizure,

si          –           evasion, vision

/ʤ/

This is the voiced palato – alveolar affricate which is the same way as /tᶘ/. However, /ʤ/ is voiced because the vocal cords vibrate during its production. The spelling symbols for /ʤ/ are as follows:

j           –           judge, joy

g          –           gin, giant

dg        –           bridge, badge

d          –           soldier

SoundContrast

/ᶘ/                          /tᶘ/

lash                        latch

mash                      match

dish                       ditch

fish                        fetch

ship                        chip

shop                       chop

/ᶘ/                          /ʒ/

sure                        genre

bash                       beige

rush                       rouge

fission                    vision

pressure                 pleasure

/tᶘ/                         /ʤ/

cheer                      jeer

chin                       gin

cheap                     jeep

chaste                    jest

breach                    bridge

etch                       edge

rich                        ridge

EVALUATION

Identify the underlined consonant sound used in each the words below:

sheep               / /

Asia                 / /

invasion           / /

joke                 / /

punctual          / /

  1. Vocabulary Development – Technology.
  2. Invention –a thing or an idea that has been invented
  3. Pollution –substances that make air, water, soil etc. dirty
  4. Robot –a machine that can do some tasks that a human can do and that works automatically or is controlled by a computer.
  5. Fumes –smoke, gas or something similar that smells strongly or is dangerous to breathe in
  6. Astronauts – a person whose job involves travelling and walking in spacecraft.
  7. Spacecraft – a vehicle that travels through space
  8. Missile – a weapon that is sent through the air that explodes when it hits the thing it is aimed at
  9. Mast – a tall pole on a boat or ship that supports the sails/ a tall metal tower with an aerial that sends and receives radio or television signal.
  10. Automobile – a car.
  11. Technician – a person whose job is keeping a particular type of equipment or machinery in good condition

Some other words include:

Computer, electronic, factory, machine, install, telephone, industry, metro-line, traffic, high-precision, discoveries etc.

EVALUATION

Complete each of the following sentences with one of the words in brackets (discoveries, transfer of technology, manufacture, life, style, standard of living, pollution, labour, market, revolutionalised, fumes, robot)

  1. Nigeria can only achieve greatness in technology ______________
  2. Our ___________ is rather low.
  3. Onum has made several amazing __________ this year.
  4. Too many industries in the town cause ___________.
  5. I am determined to ____________ bar soap in that factory.
  6. When the retrenchment exercise began, many people were thrown into the _____________.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISIONAL QUESTIONS

  1. Write two words each to show contrast of the following pairs of sounds:

/ᶘ/ and /ʒ/

/tᶘ/ and /ʤ/

  1. Write five examples of phrasal verbs and their meanings.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Section A

Choose the word or phrase that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word.

  1. Olu was delighted when he heard the news. A. saddened B. frightened C. saddenedD. frightened
  2. His hard work proved fruitful in the end. negative     B. hostile    C. futile     D. ordinary
  3. Amadi is too garrulous for my liking. laconic     B. slow    C. dull     D. dumb
  4. The doctor certified the tumourmalignant. benign    B. ripe    C. painless    D. dangerous
  5. You have ample time to do the job little    B. less     C. enough     D. excess

Section B

Practice 2 page 123, unit 8, Effective English

See also

Comprehension – Reading for Critical Evaluation

Speech Work – Rhyme Scheme

Comprehension – Reading for Implied Meanings

Essay Writing (Formal Letters): Letters of Complaints

Structure – Punctuation Marks; Comma, Semicolon, Question Mark and Colon

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