Phrasal Verb Fun

pick,
pick up
(pick, picked, picked)
We pick fruit when we take it from the tree. When we pick apples from
the apple tree, there is an idea of selection, and, by extension, pick can
also mean 'select'
Maradona was picked for Argentina, again.
We also pick
up
a pencil from a table, for example

---

Sam went to China for a year, but he only picked up a few words of
Chinese.
PICK UP is a
separable two-word verb
. Be careful.
pick off
Off
often means a change of state or position. Milk can
go off
, or
somebody can
set off
a firework.
Imagine a row of little birds flying in a line in a video game. Harry the
Video Hunter picks them off, one by one. That is, he shoots first one, then
another, then another.......
(Real birds are not so stupid, of course.)
Separable two-word verb
. Careful.
pick on
Here, pick has the sense of 'select'. And
on
sometimes can be
aggressive. (When somebody is literally on something else, it is in a
superior position. It can dominate. Think of wrestling.) Look at
turn on
somebody
, and having the guard dog
set on
a burglar.
When hooligans pick on somebody, they have selected him for a bad time.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.