Date； 2006.10.31(Tue)
Hang on to
I’m sure that many of you know the use of “hang on” it basically means to “hold on” or to “wait”, this phrasal verb is very convenient when you want something or someone to wait for you, then you can say “hang on, I’ll get a pen.” Or in case of emergency for example you can say; “where’s the toilet I can’t hang on any longer! “I can wait any longer!” But the meaning changes when you add the preposition “to”.
“Hang on to” basically means to hold something tightly for a while, here an example, “go ahead, and hang on to the book until you finish it”. But also means to keep a relation ship with someone, for example; "that guy is a troublemaker so he's not worth hanging on to”, or “I like to hang on to people of my age”. As you see the word “hang” has a very wide variety of different meanings which “hang on” (depend of) the preposition that follows it. I’ll tell you more about this interesting word in future articles, so hang on to me in this space. See you!
“Hang on to” basically means to hold something tightly for a while, here an example, “go ahead, and hang on to the book until you finish it”. But also means to keep a relation ship with someone, for example; "that guy is a troublemaker so he's not worth hanging on to”, or “I like to hang on to people of my age”. As you see the word “hang” has a very wide variety of different meanings which “hang on” (depend of) the preposition that follows it. I’ll tell you more about this interesting word in future articles, so hang on to me in this space. See you!
Date； 2006.09.04(Mon)
Set Up!
Phrasal verbs are an important of both spoken and written English, so you need to remember the most common ones. I know that many people find them confusing, but they are very common in spoken English, so even if you don’t use them yourself, you need to understand them when people around you use them. Let’s talk about another separable Phrasal verb, this time I’ll talk about “set up”.
First of all, there’s the literal meaning, to “put something in an upright position.” Things like folding chairs and tables need to be set up before you can use them. “They set the table up”. They set up the table. They set it up”. It’s actually in a standing position now.
Things that are placed or built somewhere are also “set up.” For example, Police check points. Last week the police set a check point up in my neighborhood to catch drivers who had been drinking. They set it up on a different street every night. Drivers didn’t know where the police would set up a check point until they go there. I think is a good Idea. People shouldn’t drink and drive.
“Set up” can also have the meaning of “establish” I was happy to see that Bill Gates, who is apparently the riches man in the world, set up a charity organization to promote health and education for people all over the world. He set it up last year.
There’s another meaning of “set up” that is not so nice. If you set someone up, you have a plan to trick or deceive them, or if someone else sets you up, they have the same thing in mind for you. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Every year the biggest sporting event in the U.S is the Super Bowl. It’s the game that decides the championship of the American Football season. Everyone wants a ticket for to the game. A few years ago the police in the city where the game was played sent a letter to some people who committed minor crimes like illegal parking. The latter say they had won a contest, and the prize was two tickets to the game. All they had to do was com and pick them up. Everyone who came was arrested. One man said, “It’s not fair. The Police set me up.”
Don’t let anyone set you up. See you next time. Bye!
Date； 2006.08.27(Sun)
Hang Up
Let me remind you once more about phrasal verbs. They are combinations of a verb and they are very common in conversation and writing, too. Let’s talk about “hang up”.
Like many phrasal verbs, “hang up” has a few different meanings. One of the most common ones is what you do with your clothes after you take them off. Of course you can take them off and drop them on the floor, but they won’t look very well next day. Take trousers, for example. If you hang your trousers up, they won’t get wrinkled. Unless you’re planning to send them to the cleaners, you really should hang up your trousers. Here’s one more point. Your home will look much neater if you hang them up. I know this sounds lake an advice from your mother, but I wanted to make some examples to show that “hang up” is one of the separable phrasal verbs. But notice how there’s no example with the pronoun “them” that follows the verb. That’s because it’s a mistake. The pronoun can only separate the verb; it can not follow it.
“Hang up” is also what you do with the phone after you are finished talking to some one. Here are some examples: I hang up the phone when the door bell rang. I thought I had hung the phone up but in fact I hadn’t. It started to make a loud sound. I hung it up right way. People some times ask me why you say “hang up the phone” when in fact you put the receiver down. I can’t say for sure, but I thing it has something to do with the old fashioned telephones that you may have seen in an old movie. They were placed high on a wall, had a crank you turned on the right side and a hook on the left for the receiver. So the actually did hang the receiver up.
Here’s a slightly different form of “hang up” that is not separable. It’s follow by the preposition “on.” When you hang up on someone, you suddenly or unexpectedly end the call. It's very rude but some times I do when telephone salespeople call. I tell them, “I’m not interested,” and hang up on them.
That’s all friends. Bye!
Like many phrasal verbs, “hang up” has a few different meanings. One of the most common ones is what you do with your clothes after you take them off. Of course you can take them off and drop them on the floor, but they won’t look very well next day. Take trousers, for example. If you hang your trousers up, they won’t get wrinkled. Unless you’re planning to send them to the cleaners, you really should hang up your trousers. Here’s one more point. Your home will look much neater if you hang them up. I know this sounds lake an advice from your mother, but I wanted to make some examples to show that “hang up” is one of the separable phrasal verbs. But notice how there’s no example with the pronoun “them” that follows the verb. That’s because it’s a mistake. The pronoun can only separate the verb; it can not follow it.
“Hang up” is also what you do with the phone after you are finished talking to some one. Here are some examples: I hang up the phone when the door bell rang. I thought I had hung the phone up but in fact I hadn’t. It started to make a loud sound. I hung it up right way. People some times ask me why you say “hang up the phone” when in fact you put the receiver down. I can’t say for sure, but I thing it has something to do with the old fashioned telephones that you may have seen in an old movie. They were placed high on a wall, had a crank you turned on the right side and a hook on the left for the receiver. So the actually did hang the receiver up.
Here’s a slightly different form of “hang up” that is not separable. It’s follow by the preposition “on.” When you hang up on someone, you suddenly or unexpectedly end the call. It's very rude but some times I do when telephone salespeople call. I tell them, “I’m not interested,” and hang up on them.
That’s all friends. Bye!
Date； 2006.08.27(Sun)
Blow up !
Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb and a participle that together make one verb. They are an important part of English and often used in conversation. This time let’s take a look to the phrasal verb “blow up”.
“Blow up” is a very versatile phrasal verb. I can think of four different meanings. The one that comes to my mind first is the meaning “to explode”. The other day I read n the newspaper about a doctor in New York City who blew up his apartment building. He blew the apartment up because he didn’t want to give it to his wife; they were getting a divorce. He used the gas pipe in the basement to blow it up.
The object of the phrasal verb can often separate by the two words or come after them: Blow the building up, blow up the building. Either way is fine and there’s no change in meaning. If you use a pronoun, in this case “it,” it has to separate the verb: “blow up it” is a mistake. Unfortunately, not all the phrasal verbs are separable, and there’s no rule to help you to decide whether a phrasal verb can be separable or not. Another meaning of “blow up” is “inflate.” When you put air in something, for example a balloon or a tire, you inflate it, you blow it up. Be careful when blowing a balloon up. If you blow up the balloon too much, it will blow up (it will explode).
The third meaning of “blow up” is to “enlarge a photo”, make it larger. People who are interesting in photography will probably know this already. Blow up a photograph; blow a photograph up; blow it up. But don’t blow up it, that’s not right.
The last meaning is a little different. When a person blows up, he or she “suddenly gets very angry”. Maybe you lose your temperature and do something stupid lake the doctor in New York. This meaning is not separable because it doesn’t use an object. He blew up, but he didn’t blow himself up. That’s’ what suicide bombers do.
Keep your cool in the summer weather. Don’t blow up.; I’ll see you here next time. Bye!
“Blow up” is a very versatile phrasal verb. I can think of four different meanings. The one that comes to my mind first is the meaning “to explode”. The other day I read n the newspaper about a doctor in New York City who blew up his apartment building. He blew the apartment up because he didn’t want to give it to his wife; they were getting a divorce. He used the gas pipe in the basement to blow it up.
The object of the phrasal verb can often separate by the two words or come after them: Blow the building up, blow up the building. Either way is fine and there’s no change in meaning. If you use a pronoun, in this case “it,” it has to separate the verb: “blow up it” is a mistake. Unfortunately, not all the phrasal verbs are separable, and there’s no rule to help you to decide whether a phrasal verb can be separable or not. Another meaning of “blow up” is “inflate.” When you put air in something, for example a balloon or a tire, you inflate it, you blow it up. Be careful when blowing a balloon up. If you blow up the balloon too much, it will blow up (it will explode).
The third meaning of “blow up” is to “enlarge a photo”, make it larger. People who are interesting in photography will probably know this already. Blow up a photograph; blow a photograph up; blow it up. But don’t blow up it, that’s not right.
The last meaning is a little different. When a person blows up, he or she “suddenly gets very angry”. Maybe you lose your temperature and do something stupid lake the doctor in New York. This meaning is not separable because it doesn’t use an object. He blew up, but he didn’t blow himself up. That’s’ what suicide bombers do.
Keep your cool in the summer weather. Don’t blow up.; I’ll see you here next time. Bye!