Stick to stick to & sticks to sticking to stuck to stuck to

1. stick to p.v. When one thing sticks to another, it remains attached to it.

The magnet sticks to the chalkboard because there's metal underneath.

I used the wrong glue, and the tiles didn't stick to the floor.

2. stick to p.v. When you are speaking or writing and you stick to a certain subject, you talk or write about that subject only.

The teacher said, "Do this paper over and stick to the point — don't talk about 100 other things that aren't important."

In his news conference, the President stuck to the new tax legislation, but the reporters kept asking about the latest scandal.

3. stick to p.v. When you stick to a certain belief, claim, policy, habit, plan, type of work, and so on, you continue as before, without change. Stick with is similar to stick to.

Jake claimed he was innocent of Hank's murder. He stuck to his alibi that he had been at the racetrack when the murder occurred.

After the audition, the director told me I was a terrible actor and that I should stick to singing.

4. stick... to p.v. [informal] When you stick it to people, you deliberately try to tease, annoy, or embarrass them with an accusation, provocative statement, or difficult question.

Sam thinks the new manager is an idiot, and he likes to stick it to him.

One woman at the shareholders' meeting really stuck it to the president of the company.

She asked why he deserved a $19 million bonus even though the company had lost money that year and 4,000 workers had been laid off.

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1. take... back (to) p.v. When you take something back or take something back to a place, you take it to where it was before.

If you're finished working on the car, don't leave your tools here; take them back to the garage.

Do you usually take the shopping carts back after you've put your groceries in your car?

2. take... back (to) p.v. When you take something that you have bought to the place where you bought it and ask to have it repaired, to exchange it for something else, or for the money you paid for it, you take it back or take it back to the place where you bought it.

/ have to take back these pants that I bought yesterday because the zipper's already broken.

That new TV that Nancy bought was a piece of junk; she took it back to the store and demanded her money back.

3. take... back (from) p.v. When you take something back or take something back from someone else, you accept it from the person you gave, sold, or lent it to.

The guy at the store said he wouldn't take my answering machine back because I had bought it on sale.

The lady I bought this Persian rug from said she would be happy to take it back from me if I changed my mind.

4. take ... back (to) p.v. When you take back something that you have borrowed or take back something that you have borrowed to the person or place that you borrowed it from, you return it.

Lydia borrowed this book from the library six months ago, and she still hasn't taken it back.

I need to take Jim's lawn mower back to him.

5. take... back (to) p.v. When you take people back or take people back to a place where they were before, you go with them to that place.

Our son was home from college for the summer, and we're taking him back tomorrow.

Mike got sick again, so we took him back to the hospital.

6. take ... back p.v. When you take back something that you have said, you admit that what you said was untrue, unfair, or rude.

That's not true! You take that back right now!

I'm sorry, that was very rude of me. I take it back.

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7. take ... back (to) p.v. When something reminds you of a place where you were in the past or of something you experienced in the past, it takes you back or takes you back to a time in the past.

Looking through my high school year book sure takes me back.

My grandfather found his old uniform in the attic, and he said it took him back to when he was stationed in England during the war.

EXERCISE 34a — Complete the sentences with phrasal verbs from this section. Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense.

1. After being embarrassed last night, I'm going to ________________ a policy of minding my own business.

2. Have you seen the manual for this program? It's ________ ________ the office somewhere, but I can't find it.

3. It's too bad you can't ______ ______. I was just about to barbecue some chicken.

4. Look at these old pictures. They sure ________ me ________.

5. In my history class we studied the events that ________ ________ ________ World War II.

6. Rosa tried to return her engagement ring to her fiance, but he wouldn't ____ it ___.

7. The lawyer told his client to ________ ________ the facts when she testifies.

8. The escaped prisoner was ________ ________ to prison.

9. It's not like Erik to do such a terrible thing. I think someone ________ him ________ ________it.

10. I hate it when it's so humid that your clothes ________ ________your skin.

11. "UAE" ________ ________ for United Arab Emirates.

12. I felt terrible about what I said, and I ________ it ________ immediately.

13. One of the guys at work is a real baseball nut from Chicago, so we love to ________ it ________ him about how bad the Cubs are.

14. I don't have Linda's electric drill anymore; I ________ it ________ yesterday.

15. When people see our company's logo, they know it________________quality at a fair price.

16. The tailor didn't do what I wanted him to do with this dress. I'm going to ________ it ________ to him.

17. The restaurant manager told the bartender that she would not ________ _______ drinking on the job.

18. Mark did such a bad job painting his house that he had to get a professional house painter to ________it________.

19. As soon as the company president mentioned the decrease in sales and the need to reduce labor costs, we knew what he was ________ ________ ________.

20. Don't leave these dirty dishes here;________ them ________ to the kitchen.

21. Don't pay any attention to that rumor— it's been ____________for three years.

EXERCISE 34b — Review the explanation at the beginning of this section of how two- and three-word phrasal verbs are pronounced. Then, say each sentence in Exercise 34a aloud and circle the verb or particle that is accented.

EXERCISE 34c — Write answers to the questions using phrasal verbs from this section. Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense.

1. Janice said I was a cheapskate, but she later admitted that it wasn't true. What did Janice do?

2. A number of situations and events helped to cause the Civil War. What did those situations an events do?

3. You've rewritten this story four times, and you're still not happy with it. What have you done to the story four times?

4. When I opened the box of cereal, it was full of bugs, so I returned it to the store. What did I do to the box of cereal?

5. Bill has a system for picking good stocks, and he always uses it. What does Bill do with his system?

6. Mr. Tucker's fifteen-year-old daughter wants to get a tattoo, but he absolutely will not allow it. What won't Mr. Tucker do?

7. Visiting his old high school brought back a lot of memories. What did visiting his old high school do to him? 262

8. Carlos came to my house and stayed for a while. What did Carlos do after he came to my house?

9. People in my office have been reading the latest issue of Time magazine and then giving it to someone else. What has the magazine been doing?

10. She asked me what "Ph.D." represents. What did she ask me?

11,1 felt ridiculous dressing as a pink dinosaur for my nephew's birthday party, but my brother persuaded me to do it. What did my brother do?

EXERCISE 34d, Review — Complete the sentences with these phrasal verbs from previous sections. Be sure the phrasal verbs are in the correct tense. To check their meanings, review the section number given after each one.

1.1 asked Sam how his job interview _______ _______, and he said it went great.

2.1 asked my history teacher what led up to the American Revolution, and he said the war _______ ________ as a result of several factors.

3. After the tranquilizer ________ ________, the elephant will wake up.

4. The new owners of the company said they planned to ______ things _______.

5. When you're an adult, you can't just think about today; you have to _____ ______.

6. Tonight I'm going to _______ _______ with some friends and watch the game.

7. Mark has a rich father, so Mark doesn't work; he just ______ ______ most of time.

8. The finance minister ______ ______ a plan to revive the nation's economy.

9. That's a pretty big project. Are you sure you haven't ________ ________ more than you can chew?

10. The new system at the warehouse was a disaster, and we ________ ________ in filling orders.

11. I didn't sleep at all last night — I ________ ________ dancing until dawn, and I'm really beat.

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12. People have been talking about picture phones for years, but they've never ________ ________.

13. The boss ________ me ________ ________ the new strategy.

14. If you're not busy, would you like to ________ ________ for a while? We could watch TV or play cards.

15. The crooks tried to steal a 747 by pretending to be pilots, but they couldn't ________ it ________.

16. I finished my letter, but I can't ________ it ________ because I'm out of toner.

35. FOCUS ON: gerund phrasal verbs

In Section 10 we looked at gerunds as the objects of phrasal verbs. Now we will look at phrasal verbs as gerunds themselves. Like ordinary verbs, gerund phrasal verbs can be the subject of a sentence:

Narrowing down the list will be difficult.

subject

the object of a sentence:

We discussed narrowing down the list. object

or the object of a preposition:

We talked about narrowing down the list.

object of preposition

How and when phrasal verbs can be separated is unaffected by their use as gerunds:

Narrowing it down will be difficult.

We discussed narrowing it down.

We talked about narrowing it down.

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1. fool around p.v. When you waste time playing or doing silly or unimportant things, you fool around. Goof around is the same as fool around.

My son is lazy. He spends his time fooling around instead of looking for a job. My boss said, "I'm not paying you to fool around — get to work!"

1. fool around (with) p.v. When you fool around with something, you do something that may be dangerous or foolish.

Fooling around with drugs is pretty stupid.

You shouldn't fool around with the insides of your computer unless you know what you're doing.

3. foot around (with) p.v. [informal] When two people fool around or fool around with each other, they have sexual relations, even though one or both of them may be married to someone else or even though their families or society may not approve.

Sally's father caught her and Jim fooling around in the basement.

Her husband's been fooling around with his secretary, and everyone in town knows it.

go by

go by & goes by going by went by gone by

1. go by p.v. When people go by a place or thing, they pass near that place or thing. When a thing goes by or goes by you, it passes near you.

We watched the parade go by.

I went by Jim's house to see if his car was in the driveway.

2. go by p.v. When you go by a place, you go there so that you can do something or get something.

Let's go by Paul's house to get his tools before we work on your car.

You can forget about going by the dry cleaner to pick up your stuff— it's closed.

3. go by p.v. When a period of time goes by, it passes.

/ can't believe that thirty years have gone by since I got out of high school.

As time went by, Betty moved up in the company until she was the head of the finance department.

4. go by p.v. When you go by a policy or standard, you use it as a reference or a guide in making decisions and determining your behavior. When you go by the book, you follow rules, policies, or laws exactly.

Going by the book has always been my policy.

Jim told me to do one thing, and Tom told me to do another, but since Tom is the boss, I'm going to go by what he says.

5. go by p.v. When you go by a clock, you use it to tell the time.

Don't go by the clock on the wall; it's fast. Go by the clock on the desk.

No wonder I'm always late for work — the clock I've been going by is ten minutes slow.

1. hold ...against p.v. When you hold things against people, you continue to blame them for something and continue to be upset about it.

Ten years ago I got a promotion that Ned thought he deserved, and he's held it against me ever since.

Jane tost her job because of a mistake Bob made, but she doesn't hold it against him.