In English phrasal verbs are very common in conversation. A verb that we may know can have a different meaning if it is followed by another word, usually a preposition. (in, on, up for example) “Look out” is a common phrasal verb. We know “look” means to actively see, but if you add “out” to make the phrasal verb “Look out” the meaning becomes “Be careful, (something) is dangerous”
“The baseball was flying directly at my friend’s head so I yelled ‘Look out!’ and luckily he moved just in time.”
Today lets look at the phrasal verb go over.
Go over has a few meanings and it is often used in the past tense. Many phrasal verbs can be used in the past, (went) present (go) and continuous (going) tense so be careful to use the verb in the correct form.
The first meaning is to examine something or review something.
“I want to go over my notes before the big test tomorrow. Bob is going over his notes right now.” = review my notes, reviewing my notes.
“I went over the used car very carefully before I bought it.” = I examined the car to make sure it was in good condition.
Another meaning is to repeat or explain again.
“Can you go over the instructions for me again? I want to make sure I understand .” = can you explain again?
“The coach wanted everyone to be clear on the game plan, so he went over it 3 times in practice.” = the coach repeated the plan 3 times to make sure we all understood.
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| Lets go over this again! You must CATCH THE BALL!!! |
If you want to do some English review, please go over my blog entries!
