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

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.

leave behind

1. leave... behind p.v. When you leave someone or something behind, you go to a different place.

The explorers left the mountains behind and entered the jungle.

The enemy soldiers retreated and left behind a city in ruins.

2. leave... behind p.v. When you leave something or someone behind, you do not take them with you because you forgot or because you cannot or do not want to take them.

We packed too much luggage for our trip, so we had to leave some things behind.

Leaving our children behind at a gas station was pretty dumb.

3. leave ... behind p.v. When you move, learn, or work faster than others in your group, you leave them behind.

My husband walks so fast that he always leaves me behind.

If you don't start working harder, you're going to be left behind.

Mark was so good at calculus that he soon left the rest of the class behind.

live with

1. live with p.v. When you live with someone, you live at the same address. When you say that one person lives with a person of the opposite sex, you mean that they live in the same place but are not married.

Living with my in-laws is driving me crazy.

Mike's been living with his girlfriend for five years. Are they ever going to get married?

2. live with p.v. When you live with a disease or other problem, you endure or put up with it.

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narrow down & narrows down           narrowing down        narrowed down        narrowed down

trick into & tricks into                    tricking into              tricked into              tricked into