by Liz Walter
My last post looked at phrasal and prepositional verbs connected with starting arguments and what happens during arguments. Today I’ll start with describing other people’s involvement in an argument and then go on to talking about what happens when an argument is over.
Usually, the best thing to do when two people are arguing is to stay out of it (not become involved): My sisters are always arguing, but I try to stay out of it. However, there are times when you might feel you need to step in (try to deal with or stop the argument): I had to step in before they started punching one another. Some people, however, prefer to stir up (cause) arguments: He’s always trying to stir things up between Jamie and Rose.
If you side with one person in an argument, you agree with them and often try to support them: My parents always side with my little brother. If you feel that one person is being treated unfairly, you might stand up for or (slightly more informally) stick up for them: I tried to stick up for my colleague, but our boss wouldn’t listen.
And what happens at the end of an argument? Well, someone who is still very angry and has not reached an agreement might storm out or storm off (leave the room in an angry manner): He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
However, another person might back down or give in (allow the other person to win the argument) either because they have been proved wrong, or because they do not want to continue the argument: She insisted on firing him and refused to back down. Eventually he gave in and agreed to their demands.
If an argument makes you very upset or angry, it may take some time to calm down afterwards: She was absolutely furious, and it took her days to calm down. However, if an argument is less serious, you may be able to shrug it off or laugh it off (show that you do not think it is important): Max was quite rude to Emma but she just shrugged it off. He laughed off their criticism and continued to do things his own way. You could always simply wait until the unpleasantness of an argument blows over (becomes less important and is then forgotten): I know she’s angry with you, but it will soon blow over.
When people become friendly again after an argument, they make up: We fell out a few times but we always managed to make up afterwards. People who make efforts to mend a relationship try to patch things up: Have you patched things up with Jamie yet? However, if a relationship cannot recover after an argument, it breaks down: Arguments about housework eventually caused their relationship to break down.
May I know the difference between phrasal and prepositional verbs? Thanks.
Thanks for your question. You can find a detailed explanation on our grammar page here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/about-verbs/verbs-multi-word-verbs
I hope this helps to answer your question.
Best wishes
Thank you!
Very informative and useful. Thank you so much
Very useful pharses. Thank you!!
It’s superb .It’s very useful,at the same time very interesting also.keep giving such practical phrases,really we need it.
I would be grateful if you could send me your posts via the Internet, thanks so much and have a good day
Martin, you can easily subscribe and get post notifications by email. scroll down and enter your email adress)
Important topic, nicely written. But found nothing about Egg on mentioned in the heading. Thank you so much.
Oh no! Well spotted! I meant to add that if you egg someone on, you encourage them to do a bad thing, for instance to fight someone.
Thank you again for clarification and producing such a useful writing.
thank you so much for the post!!!!!
This blog has been wonderful and the the text of the matter has been seamless and flows in such a way that delights and enlightens the reader. In fact it stimulates the brain to cherish what it has assimilated. I would reiterate that it is a great job.
Many Thanks.
Very useful
“Egging on” is mentioned in the title but not in the article 😉
Yes, oooops! Sorry about that, and see my reply to F Hossein above.
Hi, I came across your blog very recently but found it very useful for English learners of all levels. I’ve spent several days reading all your posts these years and recommended them to my friends and teachers.
However, it’s very inconvenient when I want to review some of the words or phrases because I usually have to get to the bottom of your blog. So could you please sort out your articles in a book or something? Or do you have some recommendations of books similar to your posts?
I’m afraid there are currentlly no plans for a book, but English Vocabulary in Use (CUP) is a very popular choice.
Pls, dear Cambridge team, what about “egging on”?
🙂
Yes, sorry, my mistake! Several commenters have spotted this: if you egg someone on, you encourage them to do a bad thing, for instance to fight someone.
Thank you Liz.
I’ll use it in my Toastmasters meeting today, the word of the day: egg on.
How come we don’t have word Oblivity in English? Derivative of Oblivious encompassing unawareness, forgetfulness and lack of consciousness and so on…….it makes perfect sense and sounds absolutely Anglical word…….kindly inform me of your opinion about my submission and its inclusion in the dictionary if and when you do? Thank you sir/madam.
We use the word ‘obliviousness’ for this.
I have to say that your comment is inspiring. It’s almost surreal to scroll down a random blog post and find a comment from a stranger coincindentally asking exactly the same random curiosity I have with the term “oblivity” although I was more interested in why obliviousness didn’t come to mind. Hm
Wonderful blog, now I will always try to make up,,,😀
This is very helpful. Thanks !
Nice post on English thank you so much
Thanks alot …..i literally like all ur posts😊😊😍
On Wed, 5 Sep 2018, 4:33 pm About Words – Cambridge Dictionaries Online blog, wrote:
> Liz Walter posted: ” by Liz Walter My last post looked at phrasal and > prepositional verbs connected with starting arguments and what happens > during arguments. Today I’ll start with describing other people’s > involvement in an argument and then go on to talking about wha” >
So good and so informative that I feel egged on to waste your time by asking more questions. Will be waiting for more.
stay- step- stir- side-stick- stand… how the sound and the meaning of these words are beautifully combined and how genius this language is! I love it day after day. thank you, Liz
thanks,very effective!
Thank you very much for this blog. I’m a learner of English and I learned a lot from your blog. You really explain phrases in an easy way. I liked your manner of writing. You wrote a blog like a small story, It’s really attracted me.
Thank you very much for your post which helps me to boost my vocabulary!!
It’s a very smooth article 🙂 I was able to enrich my vocabulary a lot, thanks for your hard work 🙂
Can u also post the closest meaning of “vice-like grasp ”
Hi Lena
We would usually say “vice-like grip”. You can see a definition of “vice-like” here, with an example of the full expression: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/vice-like
Best wishes
Should such phrasal verbs be used in spoken English and be avoided in the academic writing?
That’s an interesting question. In general, many phrasal verbs do tend to be slightly informal, but many are not informal at all. You might be interested to read a previous post about phrasal verbs in formal writing: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2015/08/05/they-carried-out-an-experiment-phrasal-verbs-in-formal-writing/