VOA慢速英语2019--Common Phrasal Verbs with ‘Go’

Common Phrasal Verbs with ‘Go’

In the early 1970’s, Motown Records released the Marvin Gaye song “What’s Going On.” The song asks for a peaceful solution to social problems.

“What’s Going On” is very famous in the United States. It appears in fourth place on “Rolling Stone” magazine’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Here are a few of the lines from the song:

Picket¹ lines and picket signs

Don't punish me with brutality²

Talk to me, so you can see

Oh, what's going on

What's going on

Today, we will show you how this famous song can teach you about English grammar. Specifically, it can show you how English speakers use phrasal verbs.

First, we begin with some definitions.

What are phrasal verbs?

Phrasal verbs have two or more words: verbs and particles. Particles are short words such as on, over and in.

Phrasal verbs have an idiomatic³ meaning. In other words, the verb and particle together mean something different than what the individual words suggest.

So, for example, the phrasal verb “find out” has the verb “find” and the particle “out.” However, the term “find out” means to discover.

English speakers use many phrasal verbs – perhaps thousands. Many of these verbs have two or more meanings.

Luckily, there is hope. You do not need to learn all of them.

Some phrasal verbs are fairly common. And, even when phrasal verbs have multiple meanings, English speakers often use one meaning more than the others.

Today, we will talk about three of the most common phrasal verbs. All of them have the verb go.

Mélodie Garnier and Norbert Schmitt are language experts. They created a list, called the PHaVE list, which they say ranks the most commonly used phrasal verbs. Among the 10 most frequently used phrasal verbs, three have the verb “go.” We will look at each one in turn.

#1 Go on

The most common, according to Garnier and Schmitt, is the phrasal verb “go on.”

“Go on” can have several meanings, but the most common one is “happen” or “take place.”

At the beginning of this report, you heard part of the Marvin Gaye song “What’s Going On.”

Now, you know that Gaye could have sung, “What’s happening” or “what is taking place.”

You might hear the words “go on” in the news or when two people are talking to each other. For example, you might hear someone talking about a debate going on in a political party.

#2 Go out

Another common phrasal verb is “go out.” It came in number 8 on Garnier and Schmitt’s PHaVE list. When English speakers use “go out,” they often mean to leave a place to go to a social event.

For example, American teenagers might make plans to “go out” on Friday night. They might make plans to go out for dinner, or go out to the movies.

Teenagers might also talk about what they did over the weekend. So a person might say “I went out with friends on Friday night.” This is the past tense form of “go out.”

#3 Go back

Our final phrasal verb for today is “go back.” The PhaVE list ranks this at number 5 on the list of most commonly used phrasal verbs.

When English speakers use “go back,” they almost always mean to return to a place, time, activity or a subject they talked about earlier.

Here is an example from the American film, “Happy Gilmore.” In the movie, people try to make the villain⁴, Shooter McGavin, lose a golf game by distracting him.

Here is what he says: “Go back to your shanties⁵!”

Here, Shooter McGavin is telling others to return to their homes. Shanty⁶ is a term for a small, poorly built shelter. McGavin believes that all the people who are at the golf match are poor and should not be there. Now you can understand why he is the villain in the film!

Closing thoughts

Learning and using phrasal verbs can be difficult, but you can do it.

Try studying small numbers of phrasal verbs. Keep note of the different meanings, and try using them in different sentences.

But after all of your hard work, be sure to go out and have fun!

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I’m John Russell.

Words in This Story

picket – n. a person or group of people who are standing⁷ or marching near a place to protest something

brutality – n. cruel, harsh, and usually violent treatment of another person

rank – v. to place (someone or something) in a particular position among a group of people or things that are being judged

villain – n. someone who does bad things in a story or movie

distract – v. to direct one’s attention to a different object or in a different direction

1 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

2 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

3 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

4 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

5 shanties   

n.简陋的小木屋( shanty的名词复数 )；铁皮棚屋；船工号子；船歌

参考例句：

• A few shanties sprawl in the weeds. 杂草丛中零零落落地歪着几所棚屋。 来自辞典例句
• The workers live in shanties outside the factory. 工人们住在工厂外面的小棚屋内。 来自互联网

6 shanty   

n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子

参考例句：

• His childhood was spent in a shanty.他的童年是在一个简陋小屋里度过的。
• I want to quit this shanty.我想离开这烂房子。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。