English Phrasal Verbs

                                                             English Phrasal Verbs – 7

Bear Out

Meaning:

-         Support the argument

-         To show that someone is suitable or that something is true

-         To support the truth

-         To support or confirm someone as true

                                        

For Example:

1.   I am sure my classmates will bear out my statement.

2.   I bear out his immaculate character.

3.   I am sure an investigation will bear out your innocence.

4.   These documents bore out in saving my house.

5.   Witnesses will bear out what I say.

6.   He will bear out your honesty. 

Knock off

Meaning:

-         To finish working or take a break

-         To stop working or stop an activity

-         To stop working, usually at the end of the day

-         To take a particular amount away from a price

-         Finish work for the day

                                        

For Example:

1.   I start my work at 7.30 am, and knock off at 1.30 pm.

2.   My friend usually knocks off work at about eleven on Monday.

3.   I do not knock off until six.

4.   What time do you knock off work?

5.   The manager knocked rupees 5 off because it was damaged.

6.   What time will they knock off?

To pick at

Meaning:

-         To unwillingly eat a small amount of food

-         To eat in a particular way

-         To eat only small amounts of a meal because you do not feel hungry

-         Eat food without enjoyment

                                        

 For Example:

1.   Ram picked at a plate of potatoes for dinner.

2.   Siva picked at his food in a bored fashion.

3.   She was picking at her skirt.

4.   The baby loved to pick at her mother’s glasses.

5.   My father wasn’t feeling well, so he picked at his dinner. 

Cross off

Meaning:

-         Strike out or delete from a list

-         To draw a line through a person’s name

-         To remove something or someone from a list

-         Delete or remove from a list

-         To finish, to mark something as complete

                                                        

For Example:

1.   I crossed you off the class list.

2.   We can cross his name off; he is not coming.

3.   They crossed off the names of the people who had already been invited.

4.   I can cross off another project from the list.

5.   The children say their names; you cross them off.

 

Author: 

Dr.M. Selvam

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore 

Articles Part - II

 

Articles Part - II

Indefinite Article “a & an”

v Does not refer Particular noun

v Used with several countable nouns in different conditions

Indefinite Article “a & an” – Rules

Rule 1 – ‘A’ is used before a word (countable noun) beginning with a consonant sound

Eg: A boy, A Table, A University, A European

Rule 2 – ‘An’ is used with a word beginning with a Vowel Sound

Eg: An Apple, An Elephant, An Umbrella, An Honest, An Heir

Rule 3 – Abbreviations – ‘An’ (Letter – Consonant, Pronunciation – Vowel)

Eg: An HOD, An MLA, An M.A., An MBBS

Rule 4 – Indefinite Articles – One of Many

Eg: I met a Friend (One of Certain friends)

I read a novel (One of Certain novels)

Rule 5 – Indefinite Articles – Whole Class in the sense of ‘all’ or ‘any’

Eg: A Student should be Obedient (any student / all students)

A doctor must love his patients (any doctor / all doctors)

Rule 6 – ‘a’- Used with ‘little’ and ‘few’

Eg: A little milk, A few students

Rule 7 - Used in the sense of ‘every’

Eg: 2,000 a month (means 2,000 every month)

80 km an hour

Rule 8 – Used in an exclamatory sentence before an adjective

Eg: What a beautiful flower!

Rule 9 – Commonly used with certain words.

Eg: a couple, a dozen, half a dozen, a thousand, a million, a lot of, a great deal of, a great number of

Rule 10 – Used to convert proper noun into a common noun

Eg: He is a Gandhi (a great political leader)

She is a Mother Teresa (a great social worker)

Zero Article

v Sometimes Nouns requires no article at all. This is called Zero Article

Zero Article – Rules

Rule 1 – Uncountable Nouns

Eg: Water, Weather, Thunder, Lightening, Heat, Cold, Sunshine

Rule 2 – No articles before Pronouns

Eg: Where is my bag?

Rule 3 – With meals

Eg: Breakfast, Lunch, dinner

Rule 4 – Before nouns that refer to abstract ideas

Eg: education, experience, knowledge, life, love, hatred, time, help, understanding, sleep

Rule 5 – Sports and Academic Subjects

Eg: English, Economics, Maths, Science, Basketball, Football, Tennis

Ideas and Experience – advice, information, progress, luck, fun, work, etc.

Solid and Granular Substances – skin, wood, metal, sand, rice, cheese, etc.

Weather words – weather, thunder, lightening, snow, rain, etc.

Grouped ideas or Collection of things – furniture, luggage, food, money, news, equipment, vocabulary, food, etc.

Liquid and Gases – water, milk, air, coffee, smoke, mist, etc.

Energy – heat, cold, light, sunshine, radiation, etc.

Name of a diseases – cancer, flu, malaria, etc. (Exception- heart attack, ache and tumor)

Author:

Dr. L. Suresh

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

Coimbatore – 641 020

 

 

 

 

 

ENGLISH PHRASAL VERBS

                                                             English Phrasal Verbs – 6

Sleep on it

 Meaning:

-         delay making a decision until the following day

-         to wait and think over

-         to postpone a decision until the following day in order to consider it more

-         to wait before making a decision until the following day, so you have time to think about it

                                                

 For Example:

1.      You don’t need to make a decision right now. You can sleep on it and call us tomorrow.

2.      You don’t have to decide now. Sleep on it and we can talk about it on Friday.

3.      Sleep on it, we can talk about it tomorrow.

4.      I will have to sleep on it and see how I feel about it tomorrow.

5.      I have to decide what college to go to. I am going to sleep on it and make a final decision tomorrow.

 

Doze off

Meaning:

-         go to sleep, especially when you did not intend to

-         Fall into a light sleep, usually when you didn’t intend to

-         to go into a light sleep for a short period of time

-         quick sleep

                                                            

 For Example:

1.      Sorry, I must have dozed off for a few minutes.

2.      I closed my eyes for a minute and must have dozed off.

3.      Karthi dozed off during his online lesson.

4.      My father used to doze off in an armchair after dinner.

5.      She sat down in front of the TV and dozed off.

                             

Lie down

Meaning:

-         rest on your back

-         to place your body flat in a horizontal position, usually in order to sleep or rest

-         a short rest in which one lies down on a bed, sofa, etc.

                                                         

For Example:

             1.      Just lie down on the bed. 

            2.      He lay down on the sofa and soon fell asleep.

            3.      I am going to lie down for an hour because I have a massive headache.

            4.      Yesterday he lay down on the sofa and read a book.

            5.       He lies down on the bed to watch TV at night. 

Stay up

Meaning:

-        do not go to bed on time you would normally go to bed

-         not go to bed until late at night

-         to go to bed later than usual

-         it means waiting for something

                                                                

 For Example:

1.      We stayed up all night talking.

2.      I stayed up to watch the Olympics on television.

3.      They stayed up all night watching movies.

4.      Shan stayed up till 5:00 in the morning, studying for his exam.

5.      They are allowed to stay up late on Saturdays.

Get up

Meaning:

-         to get out of bed, usually to start your day

-         to physically get out of bed

-         to rise

-         it is what we do after waking up

-         to wake up and leave your bed

                                                                    

For Example:

1.      I usually get up at 7:45.

2.      I have to get up early tomorrow because it will be a busy day.

3.      We have to get up early in the morning.

4.      What time do you get up?

5.      I wake up at 7:00 every morning, but I don’t get up until 7:15.

Author: 

Dr.M. Selvam

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore