《Lesson 142 Hodgepodge》.pdf

The Bob and Rob Show Study Guide Lesson 142: Hodgepodge June 15, 2008 SHOW NOTES Phrasal verbs with “peter”, “fizzle”, “fade” and “die”, subject-verb agreement, and a joke about marriage. PHRASAL VERBS IDIOMS Today we look at some synonymous phrasal verbs: peter out, fizzle out, fade away die away. 1) to peter out To slowly and gradually become weaker or quieter or smaller and finally finish e.g.: I hope our nonsensical bantering never peters out, otherwise it would be the end of the show. 2) to fizzle out To slowly become less and less successful and eventually end in a sad and disappointing way e.g.: Opposition to the government plans just fizzled out. What a shame. 3) to fade away To slowly and gradually disappear e.g.: The chances of finding peace between the warring nations were fading away. 4) to die away This phrasal verb is similar to fade away in meaning but is used particularly when talking about noise or natural occurrences e.g.: The wind was strong but it eventually died away. IDIOM: on the off chance The possibility of something happening. This idiom has a similar function to that of a conditional sentence (for example, with the word if e.g.: Hey Rob, on the off chance that youre going shopping before we meet tomorrow, do you think you could get me some coffee? BONUS IDIOM: Ive only got one pair of hands Being too busy to do something or help someone out when requested. It is spoken only and evokes a sense of frustration at being asked to do something e.g.: I cant be expected to do everything you know, Ive only got one pair of hands. GRAMMAR BLUES This week we look at verb-subject agreement: Sometimes a noun looks as though it is plural because it ends in s, however their verbs are singular when we use such nouns as the subject e.g.: 1) The latest news from the US Presidential race shows that it will be very close. 2) applied linguistics is the study of language used in a practical sense. There are some categories of