Phrasal Verbs Collection

►COME ALONG = arrive at a place . ex : not many people bought tickets for the concert in advance , but quite a few came along and bought tickets at the door .

► COME APART = separate into pieces ex : the antique picture frame just came apart in my hands.

► COME AROUND/ROUND = become conscious again ex : a nurse was with me when i came round after the operation 

► in english two negative are equal to an affirmative statement , you should avoid using two negative words in the same clause , when NOT is used NONE change to ANY , NOTHING to ANYTHING , NOBODY to ANYBODY , NO ONE to ANYONE , NOWHERE to ANYWHERE .

 

- don't say : she says she's not afraid of nobody !!
say : she says she's not afraid of anybody

 ► the pronoun coming after the verb TO BE must be in nominative case , and not in the objective in written composotion , however the objective case is now usually used in conversation : it's me , it was him/her/them ...etc 

- don't say : it was him

say : it was he 

Bite your tongue: to stop yourself from saying sth that might upset sb or cause an argument, although you want to speak.

-To stand your ground: to continue with your opinions or intentions when sb is opposing you and wants you to change.

-To drop sb a line: to send a short letter to sb.

USEFUL AMERICAN IDIOMS - BRAINS AND BEAUTY 

 

 

* turn heads = attract a lot of attention

 

 

* full of yourself = too pleasedwith yourself

 

* lost for words = not knowing what to say

 

OMISSION OF ELSE AFTER EVERYBODY , etc :

 

 

► use the word ELSE in making a comparison between one person or thing and all others of the same kind after everybody , anybody , anything ..ect

 

 

- don't say : she is stronger than everybody . 

 

say : she is stronger than everybody else .

 

USEFUL EXPRESSION :

 

TO BE ON THE DOT = TO BE AT TIME 

 

►"I don’t want to be waiting for you, so you’d betterbe there at three o’clock on the dot."

 

► "He’s supposed to show up at four on the dot. If heis late even a minute, I’m taking off."
► "She hates it when I’m late, so I have to show upon the dot."

 

SOCIAL EXPRESSIONS 

 

 

Some one sneezes. What do you say?

 

· Bless you!
-Answer: Thank you ! 

You’re just going to start eating. What do you say?
· Bon appetit.
· Enjoy your meal!

Someone says ,“Have a nice day!“ What do you say?
· You , too.
· The same to you!
· Thank you, the same to you.

ALL READY & ALREADY

-All ready means "completely ready". 

EG: "Are you all ready for the test?" 

-Already is an adverb that means before the present time or 

earlier than the time expected.

EG: "I asked him to come to the cinema but he'd already seen the film.

PHRASEL VERBS

► MAKE + TWO PARTICLES 

 

- make up for = provide something doog in order to make a bad situation better .

 

ex: the wonderful food in the restaurant made up for the rather uncomfortable seats 

► make it up to = do something good for someone who you have done a bad thing to in the past .
ex : i forgot teresa's birthay yesterday so i'll have to take her somewhere nice to make it up to her 

 

COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH 

 

UNNECESSARY PREPOSITIONS

 

 

► answer = reply to 

 

don't say : please answer to my question.
say : please answer my question.

► approach = come near to 
don't say : don't approach to that house .
say : don't approach that house 

BROKEN HEART :

 

► head overheels = suddenly anddeeply inlove

 

► breaksomeone'sheart = make s0me0ne very sad

► pick up the pieces = rebuild something that was damaged

What is the difference between "on time" and "in time?" ???

 

-On time = at the planned time; neither late nor early:
Eg: Peter wants the meeting to start exactly on time.

-In time = with enough time to spare; before the last moment.
Eg: He would have died if they hadn’t got him to the hospital in time." 

 

EVEN IF VS EVEN THOUGH .

► remember that EVEN IF is used before statements that are hypothetical not fact :
eg : even if i had all the money in the world , i wouldn't buy that car .

► EVEN THOUGH on the other hand , is used before statements that are fact :
eg : she is not happy with her job even though she's just had a pay rise and promotion .

THE SUBJECT MISPLACED AFTER NEVER ...ETC

► when NEVER , SELDOM , RARELY , NEITHER , NOR, NOT ONLY , NOT SOONER are placed at the beginning of a complete clause , the verb must come before the subject as in a question .

- don't say : never i have heard of such a thing.

say : never have i heard of such a thing

HOPE OR WISH

► we use hope and wish to say how we would like things to be .

► we use hope for something we think is possible : eg : i hope we can see you soon ( we might see you )

► we use wish + past tense for something which is unlikely / impossible : eg : i wish we could come to london again ( we can't come )

► we use wish + past perfect when we express regret for something that happened in the past : eg : i wish i had seen the job advert (i didn't see the job advert )

► we use wish + would to say we don't like someone's current behaviour , and that we would like them to act differently. eg : i wish you would let me know what you are thinking ( you don't let me know )