15.04.2016 |

Episode #6 of the course “Common English phrasal verbs: Part 1” by Angela Boothroyd


read out

To read out something (or read something out) is to read the words and say them so that people can hear you.

Examples of use:

a) Simon, can you read the instructions out for me, please?

b) She read out the names of the winners.

6.1 Phrasal verbs 1


pick up

1. To pick up something or somebody (or pick something or somebody up) is to collect someone or something that is waiting to be collected.

Examples of use:

a) I will pick you up from school at 3.00pm.

b) Don’t forget to pick up your dry cleaning on your way home.

c) We can pick up our train tickets at the station.

d) The taxi driver picked me up and drove me to the airport.

 

2. To pick up something, or pick something up, is to buy something cheaply (at a low price).

Examples of use:

a) I picked up some bargains at the supermarket.

b) He went to the car auction and picked up a new car for £2000.

c) You can pick most things up cheaply at the local market.

 

3. If you pick up something, or pick something up, you learn a new skill, or acquire a new habit, easily or casually.

Examples of use:

a) I picked up lots of new English words when I was on holiday in the UK.

b) He didn’t have piano lessons, but he picked it up

c) Our children have picked up bad behaviour from their cousins.

в) Children pick up a second language very easily.

 

4. If you pick up a cold, or other illness, you start to suffer from it.

Example of use:

a) He picked up malaria on holiday.

b) I think I’ve picked up a cold.

 

5. If something picks up, it increases or improves after a slow start or a bad period.

Examples of use:

a) Their new business had a slow start but it picked up after a few weeks.

b) His health has really picked up since his illness in January.

c) This book isn’t very interesting at the beginning, but it picks up in Chapter 2.

6.2 Phrasal verbs 1

 

Recommended book

“Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary” by Oxford University Press

 

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