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Unit 23: Phrasal verbs
Have no fear

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  1. 1 Go beyond intermediate with our new video course
  2. 2 Reported speech in 90 seconds!
  3. 3 If or whether?
  4. 4 5 ways to use 'would'
  5. 5 Let and allow
  6. 6 Passive voice
  7. 7 Unless
  8. 8 Mixed conditionals
  9. 9 The zero article - in 90 seconds
  10. 10 The indefinite article - in 90 seconds
  11. 11 The. That's right - the! Learn all about it in 90 seconds
  12. 12 The continuous passive
  13. 13 Future perfect
  14. 14 Need + verb-ing
  15. 15 Have something done
  16. 16 Wish
  17. 17 Word stress
  18. 18 Different ways of saying 'if'
  19. 19 Passive reporting structures
  20. 20 The subjunctive
  21. 21 When and if
  22. 22 Inversion
  23. 23 Phrasal verbs
  24. 24 The future
  25. 25 Modals in the past
  26. 26 Narrative tenses
  27. 27 Phrasal verb myths
  28. 28 Conditionals review
  29. 29 Used to - review
  30. 30 Linking words of contrast

Session 4

Tim's a master linguist! Listen to him speak French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese... and even English. Why is he speaking all these languages? To help you learn about phrasal verbs, of course.

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    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

Stop Saying!

More phrasals

Do you avoid using phrasal verbs?

We know they can be tricky... Do they take an object? Do they separate? And what exactly do they mean?

Especially if you're a speaker of a Latin (or Romance) language like French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, you might prefer to use what we call a cognate - a word in English which comes from the same root as the word in your language. 

But before you do that, do watch Tim and see if he can help.

Watch the video and complete the activity

Summary

Compare these words:

Spanish abandonar

French abandoner

Italian abbandonare

Portuguese abandonar

They are all related to:

English abandon

This is quite a formal word in English. It's good for writing academic essays or formal reports, but not so good for everyday speech.

Instead, we often use to give up, which is a phrasal verb that means something very similar. 

Here are a few more:

tolerate = put up with

blow up = detonate

put off = postpone

throw up = vomit

leave out = omit

speed up = accelerate 

To do

Try our quiz to test your knowledge of cognates.

Phrasal power

4 Questions

Have a look at these sentences. Each one contains a Latin cognate. Try to replace it with the right phrasal verb. This will test your knowledge of phrasal verbs and how to use them.

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End of Session 4

Congratulations, you've reached the end of this session.

Many thanks to the staff and students of St. George's School of English for their help with this video.

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Session Vocabulary

  • cognate
    a word with the same root in two or more languages

    give up 
    abandon

    put up with
    tolerate

    blow up
    detonate

    put off
    postpone

    vomit 
    throw up

    omit 
    leave out

    accelerate 
    speed up

View full vocabulary reference

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