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Hi, I’m Sonja Burger, and I’m chatting to you from Paarl in South Africa.
Paarl is a beautiful town at the foot of a 450-million-year old granite
mountain. Today we’re going to talk about three different phrasal verbs.
The first one is ‘pass away’, the second one is ‘go against’ and the third
one is ‘put down’.

Let’s start with ‘pass away.’ ‘Pass away’ has only one meaning. It is a
euphemism for dying. A euphemism is a statement that describes
something negative, unpleasant, harsh or blunt in a softer and milder
way. We all die but for most people, coming to terms with death is one of
the saddest and most difficult things they have to do. And our language
reflects this because very often we avoid talking about death by its name.
We use euphemistic phrasal verbs such as ‘pass away’, ‘cross over’ or
‘pass on’ instead of referring to death by its name directly.

If you look at the construction of ‘pass away, the verb ‘pass’ and the
preposition ‘away’ both have a sense of movement. It suggests a change
of state, which is what death is, isn’t it? So let us look at 3 different
sample sentences. Number 1:

When his dad passed away, Marcello arrived too late to be at his
bedside; so when his mother became terminally ill, Marcello sat at
her bedside for days until she too passed away.

Being there at the moment of passing was very comforting for Marcello.
Yes, very often when we can be there for the loved one at the moment of
passing, the moment of death, there is comfort in it for us. Notice the
use of the word ‘passing’. It is a noun. It’s actually a present, participle
acting as a noun and it is a euphemism for dying. Number 2:

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Before patients pass away, they are often aware of the loving voices
and the gentle touches of their loved ones.

Now doctors who work with terminally ill patients recommend that when
you walk into the room of a dying person you should quietly identify
yourself and then gently touch the patient.

Number 3. Now this example comes from a personal experience I had in

2010.

My favorite English poet is John Keats. John was very, very ill at a
young age with tuberculosis. He went to Rome to see if he could
recuperate in the warmer climate. But he passed away in Rome on
the 23rd of February 1821.

John Keats was only 25 when he passed away and just before he passed
away, he requested that no name and no date should appear on his
tombstone. Only these words: ‘Here lies one whose name was written in
water’ Here lies one whose name was written in water. Now to me, that’s
an incredibly powerful metaphor for life, for how fewered and fleeting it
is. Because actually, you can’t write your name in water, it just disappears
if you do so and seeing those words on the tombstone of John Keats’
grave was a very touching experience.

The second phrasal verb is ‘go against’. ‘Go against’ has two meanings.
Number 1: to oppose someone or something and Number 2: to
experience something, a judgement, a decision or an event that is to your
disadvantage. Let’s start with a sample sentence illustrating the first
meaning:

Gabriel, please don’t go against me in this decision to discipline the

children; you’re undermining my authority. Please support me, don’t
go against me.

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So this mother wants the father to support her in her disciplinary action.
She does not want him to go against her, to oppose her.

The second sample sentence:

Denying someone freedom of choice goes against my principles.

We often use the phrasal verb ‘go against’ in the context of beliefs or
principles. Something goes against your beliefs or something goes
against your principles.

The second meaning of the phrasal verb ‘go against’ is to experience

something, a judgement or a decision or an event that is to your
disadvantage. And I would like to read a sample sentence from a court of
law.

The jury’s sentiment in this trial went against him, right from the
start.

So in this sentence, ‘went against’ means that the jury does not support
this man. Their sentiment would be a mixture of feelings and judgements
are to his disadvantage. They will probably find him guilty. The trial will
go against him because the jury is against him.

The third phrasal verb is ‘put down’. ‘Put down’ has three different
meanings: to record something in writing. Number two: to suppress an
uprising or rebellion and number three: to humiliate someone.

Let’s start with the first meaning; to record something in writing.

Put down your offer in writing and I’ll take it seriously.

When we put something down in writing, when we record it in writing, we

make it more permanent and that is why this man wants the other person
to put down his offer, his undertaking or his contract or whatever it is in
writing.

Number two: to suppress an uprising or a rebellion.

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During the civil war, the government brutally put down the rebellion.

Now just to clarify the terminology here, a civil war is fought between the
people who are in the same country. A war is obviously fought between
people who are in different countries. So this government brutally put
down, violently oppressed the rebellion by its own people.

Number 3: to humiliate someone. And let’s take a workplace example; I’ll

read it to you.

My colleague constantly put me down at work by making sarcastic

remarks and humiliating jokes at my expense.

Now those of you who have been in the workplace will know that people
often use sarcasm and biting humor to put down others to humiliate
them. And by doing so, they gain social power over them. Two people
who were excellent at putting each other down were the very wealthy
Lady Nancy Asta and the forceful British Prime Minister Sir Winston
Churchill. This is how the story goes: apparently Lady Asta – Nancy – said
to Winston “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.” And
Winston’s reply was “Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it”.

So that’s all for today. When you use these three phrasal verbs, ‘pass
away’, ‘go against’ and ‘put down’ in the future, be aware of the different
meanings they could have and of their context. Goodbye’

MAIRO VERGARA ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE