TELEPHONING PHRASAL VERBS-1

Good morning everybody! A couple of weeks ago we did a series of 3 Daily Vitamins about Phrasal Verbs. Today we return to this very complicated topic to begin another series of 2 or 3 Daily Vitamins about the same topic. Because many of our Daily Vitamin readers and Ziggurat students are professionals who use English in the workplace, today and tomorrow we are going to look at some common phrasal verbs related to using the telephone. PHRASAL VERB STRUCTURE Before going over some telephoning phrasal verbs, we want to remind you that phrasal verbs have structure: some phrasal verbs are separable and some are non-separable. Separable phrasal verbs can have an object between the main verb and the verb particle. For example, the object of the separable phrasal verb look up ("buscar en el diccionario") can come after look or after the particle up. Example 1 I looked the word up in the dictionary because I didn't know what it meant. OR I looked up the word in the dictionary because I didn't know what it meant. Remember that if you replace the object (in this case the word) with a pronoun (it), you are obligated to separate the verb. So, the following version of Example 1 is INCORRECT: ***I looked up it in the dictionary because I didn't know what it meant.*** TODAY'S PHRASAL VERB Today's Telephoning Phrasal Verb is: to pick up the telephone. Structure: Separable. It means: to answer the telephone. Example 2 The phone is ringing! Can you pick it up please? I'm in the shower! Tomorrow we will continue with telephoning phrasal verbs. Until then, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Have a great day!