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

Re: "English Phrasal Verbs in Use" by Cambridge University Press:

Marius Hancu — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:14:55 GMT

AmE
Several verbs (suggest, recommend, ask, etc) require the subjunctive after them:
I suggested she go to the library.

BrE
The subjunctive is avoided in such constructions, and the should + infinitive is used:
I suggested she should go to the library.
or ordinary present and past tenses:
I suggested she went to the library.

See: Swan, Practical English Usage, should (in subordinate clauses) and subjunctive.

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.

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

Forum_mail — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:22:17 GMT

Hello there! I've been testing myself on some phrasal verbs recently, and as a part of the test I create my own sentences with phrasal verbs I get acquainted with. If you could just take a look at my sentences and give me some feedback, or simply correct them and gime me an explanation, I would be most grateful. I would like you to concentrate onf two things - firstly - whether I've used the following phrasals correctly or not - and secondly - whether my sentences are grammatically correct or not. OK, here we go.

1. come forward
a) During our English classes (or lessons?) no one wants to come forward and answer the teacher's questions.
b) They've come forward with ambitious plans and ideas. (VS "came forward...")

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

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?)
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 come off")

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?)
b) A: My cousin had an accident last week. B: How did it come about?

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..." ?)
b) Let's turn in. (it sounds a bit unnatural to me, but I'm not sure...)
c) Let's turn in earlier today.
d) We will wait till everybody in the house turn in, and then we will break into it.

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

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..." ?)
b) He is so mean. He never dips into his bank acount, no matter what happens (VS "is happening" ?)

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

9. cough up
a) Scrooge was such a person that could hardly cough up a penny for a poor man.
b) Mary could hardly cough up a pound or two after loosing her job.

10. doze off
a) The child burst into tears, but after a short while it dozed off. (VS "it has dozed off" ?)

Re: Clarification needed

Believer — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 07:18:53 GMT

Thank you.

I tend to think the "to be" verb form to be something that represent the state of being and when verbs involve/note some sort of activity, I usually get them right but once in a while, a thing or two play tricks on me and get me dithering between choices like the second set below.

Where is he playing basketball? (This is in a "to be" verb form and is correct.)

Where did he play basketball? (I think this is a question in a past tense and is also correct.)

How about these? Are they correct? This involves a passive verb "born."

Was he born in 1981? (I know this is correct.)

Did he get born in 1981? (I think we don't usually use the phrasal verb "get born" but I have included it to illustrate my point that sometimes I am inclined to use this kind of verb form eventhough it might not be right.)

Where was he born? (I know this is correct.)

Where did he get born? (I know this sounds awkward but how about it?)

If you are able to sense the crux of my confusion, please try to help.

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

Phrasal Verbs Worksheet

jonathan1980tr — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 10:46:21 GMT

Phrasal Verbs Worksheet

1. âPlease _______ _____ your coat and come inside.â (Present Tense)

2. âCan you help me _______ _____ my notebook please.â (Present Tense)

3. âI _______ ____ lots of jackets before I found one that suited me.â (Past Tense)

4. âCan you help me _____ ____ this form please.â (Present Tense)

5. âI _____ ____ at 6AM this morning, so Iâm very tired.â (Past Tense)

6. âMy sister often ________ ________ us when we were childrenâ (Past Tense)

7. âThe park doesnât look pretty since they _____ ______ the big oak tree. (Past Tense)

8. âI always __________ ____ music in the car on the way to workâ (Present Tense)

9. âThe meeting was _____ ____ until next month.â (Past Tense)

10. âMy sister _______ me ____ at 11PM last night.â (Past Tense)

Make your own sentences with the following phrasal verbs and words.

Example. Get up+, usually (Present tense)

âI usually get up at 7.30AMâ

1. *** off+, shoes, Japan (Present tense)

2. Listen to+, blues music, evening (Present tense)

3. *** out+, English book, library (Past tense)

4. Look after+, my goldfish, holiday (Present tense question)

5. *** in+, lottery ticket, help (Present tense question)

1. I had to fill in lots of forms when I went to the hospital.

2. My neighbor looked after my dog while I was on holiday.

Re: Phrasal Verb - Try On

Clive — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 04:29:35 GMT

Hi,

When I say I TRIED ... shouldn't there be a time period specified? If you wnat to, although don't forget you can do this in another sentence: I went to the mall last week. I bought a pair of pants ....

But you can also tell me I went to the mall and bought ... I don't care when, I'm interested in what you bought.

Then I said I had tried (action started and ended in the past tense) them on several times until I have finally bought (action started in an uncertain past) these pants. You don't need these perfect tenses here, just use simple past. Learners of English very often use perfect tenses in places where it is not necessary.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Phrasal Verb - Try On

Lulla — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 02:27:45 GMT

You're right, Clive.
Yes, it meant the pants. My bad.

When I say I TRIED ... shouldn't there be a time period specified? Like, I tried them LAST week and ...

Then I said I had tried (action started and ended in the past tense) them on several times until I have finally bought (action started in an uncertain past) these pants.

Thanks for checking me out, Clive!

Re: to be parsed

MrPedantic — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 10:27:54 GMT

Hello K.O.

That looks good - here's a little more detail:

Clause 1

We - subject

were spared - passive voice, past tense

the storm's fury - noun phrase, object (the storm's - possessive; fury - direct object)

Clause 2

but - coordinating conjunction

now - adverb

are having - modal verb, present continuous

to deal with - phrasal verb (prepositional), to-infinitive

the refugees and the misery - two objects coordinated by 'and'

(I expect there are other ways of parsing it.)

The present continuous emphasises the fact that the action is taking place as the speaker utters the sentence.

MrP

Re: Medical Titles and Their Abbreviations

StyxNStonzzz — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 21:01:29 GMT

Hey, you forgot about all the other things "do" could stand for, like:

do.
abbreviation for ditto.

.do
abbreviation: Dominican Republic (in Internet addresses).

n. Music
The first tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.

n. Slang pl. dos
A hairdo.

v. did, (dd) done, (dn) doÂ·ing, does (dz)
v. tr.

To perform or execute: do one's assigned task; do a series of business deals.
To fulfill the requirements of: did my duty at all times.
To carry out; commit: a crime that had been done on purpose.

To produce, especially by creative effort: do a play on Broadway.
To play the part or role of in a creative production: did Elizabeth I in the film.
To mimic: âdoing the Southern voice, improvising it inventively as he goes alongâ (William H. Pritchard).

To bring about; effect: Crying won't do any good now.
To render; give: do equal justice to the opposing sides; do honor to one's family.
To put forth; exert: Do the best you can.

To attend to in such a way as to take care of or put in order: did the bedrooms before the guests arrived.
To prepare for further use especially by washing: did the dishes.

To set or style (the hair).
To apply cosmetics to: did her face.
To have as an occupation or profession: Have you decided what you will do after college?
To work out by studying: do a homework assignment.
Used as a substitute for an antecedent verb: He can play the piano, and I can do that, too.
Informal.
To travel (a specified distance): do a mile in four minutes.
To make a tour of; visit: â [He] did 15 countries of Western Europe in only a few daysâ (R.W. Apple, Jr.).

To be sufficient in meeting the needs of; serve: This room will do us very nicely.
Informal. To serve (a prison term): did time in jail; did five years for tax fraud.
Slang. To cheat; swindle: do a relative out of an inheritance.
Slang. To take (drugs) illegally: âIf you do drugs you are going to be in continual troubleâ (Jimmy Breslin).
Slang. To kill; murder.
Vulgar Slang. To have sex with; bring to orgasm.

v. intr.
To behave or conduct oneself; act: Do as I say and you won't get into trouble.

To get along; fare: students who do well at school.
To carry on; manage: I could do without your interference.
To make good use of something because of need: I could do with a hot bath.

To serve a specified purpose: This coat will do for another season.
To be proper or fitting: Such behavior just won't do.
To take place; happen: What's doing in London this time of year?
Used as a substitute for an antecedent verb: worked as hard as everyone else did.
Used after another verb for emphasis: Run quickly, do!

v. aux.
Used with the infinitive without to in questions, negative statements, and inverted phrases: Do you understand? I did not sleep well. Little did we know what was in store for us.
Used as a means of emphasis: I do want to be sure.

n. pl. dos or do's
A statement of what should be done: a list of the dos and don'ts of management.
Informal. An entertainment; a party: attended a big do at the embassy.
A commotion.
Chiefly British Slang. A swindle; a cheat.
Archaic. Duty; deed.
Slang. Fecal matter; excrement.

Phrasal Verbs:
do by
To behave with respect to; deal with: The children have done well by their aged parents.
do for
To care or provide for; take care of.
do in Slang
To tire completely; exhaust: The marathon did me in.
To kill.
To ruin utterly: Huge losses on the stock market did many investors in.
do up
To adorn or dress lavishly: The children were all done up in matching outfits.
To wrap and tie (a package).
To fasten: do up the buttons on a dress.
do without
To manage despite the absence of: We had to do without a telephone on the island.

Idioms:
can/could do without
To prefer not to experience or deal with: I could do without their complaints.
do a disappearing act Informal
To vanish.
do away with
To make an end of; eliminate.
To destroy; kill.
do it Vulgar Slang
To engage in sexual intercourse.
do (one) proud
To act or perform in a way that gives cause for pride.
do (one's) bit
To make an individual contribution toward an overall effort.
do (one's) business
Slang To defecate. Used especially of a pet.
do (one's) own thing Slang
To do what one does best or finds most enjoyable: âI get paid to try cases and to do my thing on trialâ (Bruce Cutler).

D.O.
abbr.

Doctor of Osteopathy

Main Entry: do
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: did; done; doÂ·ing; does
transitive verb 1 : PERFORM, EXECUTE
2 : COMMIT verbal auxiliary âused with the infinitive without to to form present and past tenses in legal and parliamentary language âdo business : to be engaged in business activities (as soliciting sales); specifically : to engage in activities sufficient to subject a foreign company to the personal jurisdiction of a state âsee also DOING BUSINESS STATUTE

Main Entry: DO
Function: abbreviation
1 doctor of osteopathy
2 doctor of optometry

Main Entry: dissolved oxygen
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the amount of oxygen dissolved in a body of water as an indication of the degree of health of the water and its ability to support a balanced aquatic ecosystem; also, the amount of free (not chemically combined) oxygen dissolved in water, wastewater, or other liquid, usually expressed in milligrams per liter, parts per million, or percent of saturation; abbr. DO

do

n 1: an uproarious party [syn: bash, brawl] 2: the syllable naming the first (tonic) note of any major scale in solmization [syn: doh, ut] 3: doctor's degree in osteopathy [syn: Doctor of Osteopathy, DO] v 1: engage in; "make love, not war"; "make an effort"; "do research"; "do nothing"; "make revolution" [syn: make] 2: carry out or perform an action; "John did the painting, the weeding, and he cleaned out the gutters"; "the skater executed a triple pirouette"; "she did a little dance" [syn: perform, execute] 3: get (something) done; "I did my job" [syn: perform] 4: proceed or get along; "How is she doing in her new job?"; "How are you making out in graduate school?"; "He's come a long way" [syn: fare, make out, come, get along] 5: give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident" [syn: cause, make] 6: carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions; "practice law" [syn: practice, practise, exercise] 7: be sufficient; be adequate, either in quality or quantity; "A few words would answer"; "This car suits my purpose well"; "Will $100 do?"; "A 'B' grade doesn't suffice to get me into medical school"; "Nothing else will serve" [syn: suffice, answer, serve] 8: create or design, often in a certain way; "Do my room in blue"; "I did this piece in wood to express my love for the forest" [syn: make] [ant: unmake] 9: behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself; "You should act like an adult"; "Don't behave like a fool"; "What makes her do this way?"; "The dog acts ferocious, but he is really afraid of people" [syn: act, behave] 10: spend time in prison or in a labor camp; "He did six years for embezzlement" [syn: serve] 11: carry on or manage; "We could do with a little more help around here" [syn: manage] 12: arrange attractively; "dress my hair for the wedding" [syn: dress, arrange, set, coif, coiffe, coiffure] 13: travel or traverse (a distance); "This car does 150 miles per hour"; "We did 6 miles on our hike every day"

do

1. repeat loop.

2. The country code for Dominican Republic.

(1999-06-10)

Sheesh!