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Hello everyone!
Today, let's talk about some more advanced phrasal verbs.
- pitch in (to join people doing a job): We'll finish the job quickly if we all pitch in.
- faff around (to waste time doing things that aren't important): Stop faffing around and let's go!
- stumble across (to find by chance = come across): We stumbled across these documents in the attic.
- dump something on someone (give someone an unpleasant job): Don't dump all the admin on me!
- tiptoe around (be very careful about how you talk to someone because they are easily upset): She spent Christmas tiptoeing around her mother-in-law.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Sarah and Mark decided to pitch in and prepare dinner for their friends who were coming over. However, instead of working efficiently, they started to faff around in the kitchen, debating over recipes and ingredients.
Amidst their culinary chaos, Sarah stumbled across an old family cookbook tucked away on a dusty shelf. She couldn't believe she had never noticed it before. Intrigued, she tiptoed around Mark, who was busy chopping vegetables, and rushed to share her discovery.
Mark, initially annoyed by the interruption, was fascinated by the recipes in the book and began to tiptoe around their original dinner plans. Together, they decided to prepare a traditional family dish they had never tried before.
As they were engrossed in cooking, their friends arrived earlier than expected, catching them off guard. With no time to explain, Sarah and Mark decided to dump the meal they had initially prepared on their unsuspecting guests.
Liz English
2025年8月24日
I'm very sad to hear you thought it was a correction. Yes I often browse the tutor column, I love reading other tutors' posts, especially in the absence of a dedicated forum for teachers to communicate directly with each other. So I have left several comments during my few months on this site, but never have I intended them as 'corrections', just interactions. I would love to see more activity in the comments sections so that students and teachers have these chances to chat and discuss for free. I was genuinely interested by your post. I don't purport to know everything about phrasal verbs, and I have a keen interest in learning new meanings and interpretations of words & phrases. Most weeks I find something new, whether that be a completely new word, or a new usage of a familiar word, especially given that there are tutors from all around the globe. But my apologies for any unintended offence caused by my question.
ANNY KA
2025年8月24日
I have been on this platform for a long time and, unfortunately, it has not been very successful. Since I have put a lot of effort in creating my profile and my lessons, it is difficult to give up. I constantly hope that students here would recognize my work and my competence, just as people on another platform have. So, with a lot of hope I entered my columns to check a surprising comment left on my last column, just to discover that it is my fellow teacher browsing around and leaving her corrections on other teachers posts.... How sad.
Liz English
2025年8月22日
I'm a big fan of phrasal verbs! I think they probably make the biggest difference for intermediate & advanced speakers to move towards fluency.
I haven't understood the usage with Sarah both tiptoeing around Mark and rushing to share something with him simultaneously though?