English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced Book with Answers and Enhanced eBook Vocabulary Reference and Practice 3rd Edition

Look up these idioms in a dictionary. Do they fit best into A, B, C or D opposite? Circle the 
correct letter.
1 Oh no! That’s the last straw! 
A B C D
2 I can’t get my head round it. 
A B C D
3 You look as miserable as sin. 
A B C D
4 It worked like a charm. 
A B C D
5 I was walking on air. 
A B C D
94.1
94.2
94.3
94.4
94.5

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196
English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
Brushing up on phrasal verbs
95
Learning phrasal verbs
There are a great many phrasal verbs in English and many learners find them particularly difficult to 
master. The best way to learn them is in context. When you 
come across 
[meet]
one, write it down in 
an example sentence.
There are a couple of important points to remember about phrasal verbs. Firstly, a verb + 
preposition/particle combination may have more than one meaning. 
Come across, for example, can 
also mean 
give an impression of being
, as in: He can 
come across as unfriendly when you first meet 
him. 
Come over can also be used with the same meaning, as in: He can come over as unfriendly.
Secondly, it is sensible to concentrate first on understanding phrasal verbs rather than using them. 
There is usually an alternative way in which you can say the same thing using a single verb. So, for 
example, instead of 
put forward a plan you can 
propose 
a plan, and instead of 
rush into a decision 
you can 
make
a
hasty 
decision.
The verb
A very large number of phrasal verbs are formed using common verbs such as 
come
, 
do
, 
get
or 
go
, for 
instance. Here are some more examples