Search results for 'tag:Phrasal verbs tag:Past simple' matching tags 'Phrasal verbs' and 'Past simple'

Re: could you check my sentences with 10 different phrasal verbs? part 1

Doll — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:04:15 GMT

1. come forward
a) During our English classes (or lessons?) no one wants to come forward and answer the teacher's questions.--lessons is better.
b) They've come forward with ambitious plans and ideas. (VS "came forward...")---come up with is better here.Choosing simple past or present perfect depends on your context.

2. come into
a) After his grandpa's death, he came into a lot of money.--- ok.

3. come off
a) I really hope that our little party ~~at the end~~ at the end of the weel is gonna come off. (could I use will here? would it make any difference in meaning?)-- I really hope that our little party will come off at the end of the week.If you use going to/gonna it will give the impression that there is a plan.
b) A: What are you doing here? I thought you ~~were~~ (VS "are") in London! B: Nah, it didn't come off. (VS "it ~~haven't~~ hasn't come off")
past simple is okay but I couldn't get the menaing of come off here.
4. come about
a) I have no idea how come such a thing have come about. (could I simply say "came about" ? does the simple past tense change the meaning somehow?)If you use past simple, there will be no relation with present time.In context, it will give you a clue about which one to use.
b) A: My cousin had an accident last week. B: How did it come about?-- ok.

5. turn in
a) "I think I'm gonna turn in as I am very tired". (can I simply say "I think I will turn in..." ?)--yes you can even will is better I think.
b) Let's turn in. (it sounds a bit unnatural to me, but I'm not sure...)-- sounds strange without a context.
c) Let's turn in earlier today. -- ok.
d) We will wait till everybody in the house turn in, and then we will break into it.--ok.

6. patch (things) up
a) We fell out over two weeks ago, and since then we haven't patched things up.--ok.
b) A: I had a quarrel with my wife this morning. B: You had better patch this up. (can I say "I've had..." ?)--I didn't find patch up sensible here.

7. dip into
a) Honey, I think we will have to dip into our car savings in order to tide us over. (any difference between this one and "I think we're gonna have to..." ?) --will have to is better I think.
b) He is so mean. He never dips into his bank acount, no matter what happens (VS "is happening" ?)-- what happens generalise the situation if you use is happening thre should be something going on at that time.I couldn't understand dip into here.

8. dry up
a) My presentation started well but I dried up quickly.---seems okay.

9. cough up
a) Scrooge was such a person that ~~could~~ he/ she hardly coughs up a penny for a poor man.--ok.
b) Mary could hardly cough up a pound or two after loosing her job.--I don't think this is correct.

10. doze off
a) The child burst into tears, but after a short while ithe/she dozed off. (VS "it has dozed off" ?)--simple past is okay.It gives me the sense that it will mean the child still sleeps if you use present perfect.

Well, I tried to help let's wait for the other posts.

Re: Help, speech parts

Philip — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:07:49 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
hello,

I have to look at a bit of language and label or name the parts of speech, for school. Can some one check that this is ok pleae?

"It was pandemonium almost as soon as the roadworks went up."

Subject Pronoun (it) / verb (past simple of be) (was) / noun (pandemonium) / adjective adverb, modifying 'soon'(almost) / preposition (as)/ adjective adverb, telling when (soon)/ preposition (as)/ article definitive (the) / noun (plural) (roadworks)/ verb + partical (phrasal verb) )went up.

It is about a man talking about a traffic jam. I hope the spelling is correct, if not I am sorry.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Could the "as soon as" be classed as a complex preposition?

I hope this helps.

Help, speech parts

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:39:35 GMT

hello,

I have to look at a bit of language and label or name the parts of speech, for school. Can some one check that this is ok pleae?

"It was pandemonium almost as soon as the roadworks went up."

Subject Pronoun (it) / verb (past simple of be) (was) / noun (pandemonium) / adjective (almost) / preposition (as)/ adjective (soon)/ preposition (as)/ article definitive (the) / noun (plural) (roadworks)/ verb + partical (phrasal verb) )went up.

It is about a man talking about a traffic jam. I hope the spelling is correct, if not I am sorry.

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Could the "as soon as" be classed as a complex preposition?

Re: How to use i.e. /e.g./ for example /and so on

Jussive — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:04:14 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
I avoid answering ...

You just did " src="../emoticons/emotion-2.gif">

Avoid or answer?

I tried responding to the phrasal verb thread and got into some technical difficulties. For some reason, it wouldn't let me post. And then I just forgot about it and never tried again as I got involved in some other threads.

Anyway, I'm still cogitating on phrasal verbs. You know how you start off thinking one thing and by the time you explain why you think that way you end up wondering if you truly do believe it. I'm sort of in that never-never land on phrasal verbs right now, so I prefer to think it over a little more before saying anything even more confusing than I've already said.

As for the subjunctive thread, it seemed to be asking for terminology. I'm not as well-read as I should be on that sort of thing, my attitude being "Call it a monkey if you want"! It's clear that there is an "if only ... would" construction, and an "I wish ..." construction, and an "if I were ..." construction, and I've never found it amusing to speculate on what the best descriptive word (subjunctive, or whatever) might be for each case. My personal preference is to avoid the word "subjunctive" where the word "would" is concerned. I just don't see "would" as a marker of the subjunctive. Other than that I don't have any strong opinions on it (today, anyway!).

CJ

Hi CJ

I was reading an archived post on the subject of the subjunctive (I think by a user called Maria or Mara) and you were on that thread too. She was talking about a similar issue and I just simply disagreed with her. She said that when we use the past simple to refer to a wish or non-fact that it was the 'unmarked subjunctive'. How on earth can it be unmarked if we use the past tense to identify it!

Sometimes I feel I'm going out of my mind looking for answers to my questions. I feel I need to know the answers because I'm new to teaching and I feel I have to make damn sure that I know my target language. If a student points to some construction and asks me if it's the subjunctive or not, I can't reply, 'No, it's a monkey!'

I know what you mean when you say you begin to answer something and then you realise that your answer is leading you to inconsistencies in your own understanding. I'm sure that's a good thing, in some ways, albeit frustrating. Sometimes, when people don't reply to my questions I feel that, either I've asked a really stupid question or a really difficult one. I get paranoid and I don't understand why some people are here.

Some have thousands of posts and I would have thought that meant that they have dealt with every possible grammar question. Because I'm new to teaching, I'm under the assumption that every teacher here knows more about English grammar than I do, and that's why it's really frustrating for me. I feel that, if someone knows the answer to my questions then why don't they just tell me!

If anyone thinks that I should find out the answers for myself, they don't know how wrong they are. Everything I have learnt has been self-taught. I learned everything the hard way and from scratch. If I have a question, you can be sure it derived from some painful research that didn't reveal the answer.

Anyway, thanks for your responses so far, CJ

Jussive