40. Focus on: gerund phrasal verbs vs. Phrasal verbs followed by the -ing form

We have seen in previous sections that phrasal verbs are sometimes followed by the -ing form. We have also seen that transitive phrasal verbs sometimes take gerund objects. At a glance, there seems to be no difference between these two constructions:

Jim went away singing.

-ing form

Jim stuck with singing.

gerund

But because a gerund is a verb functioning as a noun, it can be replaced with an ordinary nongerund noun. However, this is not true of the -ing form:

Jim went away it. Jim stuck with it.

1. blow... off p.v. [informal] When you do not do something that you are supposed to do because you do not want to or because you do not think it is important, you blow it off.

l was supposed to report for jury duty Monday morning, but I blew it off.

Bob had a hangover, so he blew off helping Marsha fix her car.

bring up