Dictionary Work

By the end of the journey, we had run out of drinking water.

Look at the verb run out of in this sentence. It is a phrasal verb: it has two parts, a verb and a preposition or an adverb. Phrasal verbs often have meanings that are different from the meanings of their parts.

Find these phrasal verbs in the story.

burn out

light up

look on

run out

keep out

Write down the sentences in which they occur.

Consult a dictionary and write down the meaning that you think matches the meaning of the phrasal verb in the sentence.

Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

My little sister is very naughty. When she ___ (come) back from school yesterday, she had ____ (tear) her dress. We ____ (ask) her how it had ____ (happen). She ___ (say) she_____ (have, quarrel) with a boy. She ___ (have, beat) him in a race and he ___ (have, try) to push her. She ___ (have, tell) the teacher and so he ___ (have, chase) her and she ___ (have, fall) down and ____ (have, tear) her dress.

Underline the verbs and arrange them in two columns, Past and Earlier past.

(a) My friends set out to see the caves in the next town, but I stayed at home because I had seen them already.

(b) When they arrived at the station, their train had left. They came back home, but by that time I had gone out to see a movie!

(c) So they sat outside and ate the lunch I had packed for them.

(d) By the time I returned, they had fallen asleep!

Noun Phrase

Read the following sentence.

I took out a small black tin box.

● The phrase in italics is a noun phrase.

● It has the noun – box – as the headword, and three adjectives preceding it.

● Notice the order in which the adjectives occur - size (small), colour (black) and material (tin) of which it is made.

● We rarely use more than four adjectives before a noun and there is no rigid order in which they are used, though there is a preferred order of modifies/adjectives in a noun phrase, as given below.

The table below contains a list of nouns and some adjectives. Use as many adjectives as you can to describe each noun. You might come up with some funny descriptions!