Phrasal Verb Fun

set aside
Albert set ten percent of his salary aside every month. He was saving to
get married.
Aside means 'to one side'. To have some money set aside means to have
some money saved in a bank, put under the bed, or in a dirty old sock
put away, put aside, put by
mean exactly the same.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful.
set back
When we change our clocks at the beginning or the end of summer, we
set our clocks. We set them
forward
in the spring, and in the autumn we
set them
back
.
Separable two-word verb
Fixed expression.
set down
Like all phrasal verbs with set, set down has the idea of doing something
that is inconvenient, difficult, or impossible to undo. You set something
down
when you don't expect it to get back up again.
When you set down wine in your cellar, you don't expect to drink it for a
few years.
A taxi driver will set down his passengers at the airport. He doesn't expect
to see them again.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful.

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set forward
When we change our clocks at the beginning or the end of summer, we
set our clocks. The direction in which time is going is
forward
. So we set
them forward in the spring, and in the autumn we set them back.
Separable two-word verbs
. Fixed expression.
set in
Sometimes,
in
has a rather vague meaning of 'around here, now' as
opposed to
out
which can have the meaning of 'extension, away from
here'
'The rain has set in for the day.'
This is common in England. This means that it is raining now, and it is
going to be raining all day. There will be little change
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
set off
Here,
off
means 'from here', or 'from the situation here', like
get off
or
take off
Set, as always, is difficult to reverse.
The Robertsons get in the car and set off (from the house) on holiday.
They expect not to come back for quite a long time.
Set out
means exactly the same.
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
set off
This is an explosive verb, a change of state
off
. When you set off a bomb,
all the components and chemicals fly dramatically away from here. And it
is definitely irreversible. Nobody has ever put a bomb back together again.
Separable two-word verb
. Be very, very careful.
set on
Remember that set means, approximately, moving or changing something
in such a way that it is difficult to move or change it back.
Well, Brian, why did the dog
turn on
you? (
On
being aggressive here.)
Probably that dog had a master, and that master did not like you at all. He

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set the dog on you. He ordered the dog to attack you.
Separable two-word verb
. Fixed expression.
set out
Here,
out
means 'extension, away from here' as opposed to
in
which can
have the meaning 'around here, about now'
Set, as always, is difficult to reverse.
Mr and Mrs Grant and all their children get in the car and set out (of the
house) on holiday. They expect not to come back in a week or longer.
We say
set off
in exactly the same way.
Two-word verb without an object
No problem.
set out
If you sell fish, at the beginning of the day you set out your fish on the
counter, at the bar. You set your fish
out
on the counter.
lay out
means the same here.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful
set up
I have just read about a very unusual nineteen-year-old. He has already
set up five companies. He is a millionaire.
When you set something
up
, you erect it. You erect it in such a way that
you hope that it doesn't fall over. By extension you set up a business. You
start a business.
Criminals occasionally set somebody up, which means they arrange it so
that the victim is set up as a target, either for the police or for other
criminals.
Reggie spent ten years in prison for something he didn't do. He was set
up by the rest of his gang.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful.
settle
(settle, settled, settled)
When we settle, we have found the place we want to live in for the rest of
our lives. We have stopped travelling the world. Settlers were visitors to a
land who intended to stay there and to farm the land. Settling is

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permanent.
settle for
For
can mean 'in place of', or 'instead of'.
Take for
is a good example.
Take one thing in place of another.
Igor wanted to be an astronaut, but he settled for flying business jets.
So when you settle for something, you have decided to accept something
that is less than your dreams.
Inseparable two-word verb
No problem.