The phrasal verbs to beat down (on), to beat off, to beat out, to beat up

—   Hello, boys and girls! My name is James Wilson.

—   And my name is Martin Green. Welcome to our grammar lesson!

—   Today we would like to tell you a scary story about two boys and one evil ghost.

One day Cody and Alex decided to go hiking. They took some food, a tent and two sleeping bags. Then the boys hit the road. It was already night when they walked through the cave. Cody looked straight ahead and suddenly he noticed a huge dark castle. He shouted:

—   Alex, look! There is a castle. Let’s walk in it!

—   Sure, Cody, let’s find out what’s inside this castle!

They walked in and appeared in a creepy room. It was so dark in there. Then they heard some strange noises. The boys got frightened. Suddenly a scary ghost appeared in front of them.

—   How dare you come to my place without invitation! Now you’ll die!

—   Oh, no, please, don’t kill us, maybe we can do something for you?!

—   Well, I have one problem to be solved, but I’m sure you won’t succeed.

—   What is it?

—   I read a book yesterday. There was something about phrasal verbs “to beat down (on)”, “to beat off”, “to beat out”, “to beat up”, but I didn’t understand anything. I don’t even know what “a phrasal verb” is.

The boys sighed with relief.

—   It’s our lucky day! We know everything about these phrasal verbs. We will tell you all the information and you will let us go. Deal?

—   Deal!

Today in the lesson we will:

·        Tell you what a phrasal verb is;

And

·        Talk about phrasal verbs “to beat down (on)”, “to beat off”, “to beat out”, “to beat up”.

A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or a preposition, or both. Typically, their meaning is different from the meaning of its separate parts.

Let’s look at the following two examples and compare them.

The first example:

The girl cut her finger yesterday.

(Here we used the original meaning of the verb “to cut”).

And the second example:

Lucy was trying to talk to her mother, but her little brother kept cutting in.

(The meaning of the word “to cut” changed, when we added the preposition “in”. Here the phrasal verb “to cut in” means to interrupt a conversation).

Phrasal verbs can be:

Intransitive (It means that they don’t have an object)

For example:

Dominic and Rebecca broke up five years ago.

or

Transitive (It means that they have an object)

For example:

The police officer was called to break up the fight between two friends.

Now let’s talk about the phrasal verb “to beat”.

In its primary meaning the phrasal verb “to beat” is translated as “бить, побить, победить, превзойти”, but if we use it with the following prepositions: down (on), off, out, up – the meaning of this verb will change completely.

Let’s review all of them.

Beat down (on somebody or something).

It has three different meanings.

One. To shine very brightly, to burn.

Ярко сиять, палить.

For instance: The sun was beating down so mercilessly.

Two. To pour, to spill.

Лить, литься, проливать, проливаться.

For instance: The rain was beating down on us so strongly, but we just kept going.

Three. To bring the price down, to make someone to sell something at a lower price.

Сбивать цену, убедить кого-то сбить цену.

For instance: Melissa wanted to beat down the price on that wonderful green dress, but she couldn’t do it.

Beat off.

This phrasal verb has three main meanings.

One. To struggle, to fight back.

Отбивать, отбиваться.

For instance: Melanie managed to beat off the bad guy.

Two. To chase away.

Отгонять, прогонять.

For instance: The boy beat off the angry dog.

Three. To waste time.

Тратить время впустую.

For instance: Richard beat off at work and didn’t do anything. He was so tired after his daughter’s birthday party.

Beat out.

It also has three meanings.

One. To tap a rhythm.

Отбивать ритм.

For instance: The musicians were beating out the rhythm with their feet on the concert.

Two. To extinguish something.

Потушить, погасить.

For instance: Victor managed to beat out the flames with a blanket from the bed.

Three. To defeat by a narrow margin.

Победить с небольшим преимуществом.

For instance: Yesterday Michael barely beat out his challenger in a competition.

Beat up.

This phrasal verb has two meanings.

One. To attack somebody violently.

Яростно атаковать, избивать.

For instance: Two men threatened to beat the boy up if he didn’t give them his money.

Two. To feel guilty, to accuse oneself over something.

Чувствовать себя виноватым, обвинять себя в чём-то.

For instance: Bradley, don’t beat yourself up. It’s not your fault that your mom’s bank accounts are frozen.

—   Now tell us did you understand everything about the phrasal verb “to beat”?

—   Well… I think, yes!

—   Great! Can we go now?

—   No, I want to practice a little bit.

—   All right! Let’s start.

Match the phrasal verbs with the pictures.

Check yourselves.

One. To beat up.

Two. To beat down.

Three. To beat out.

Four. To beat off.

Five. To beat out.

The following pictures.

Check yourselves.

Six. To beat down.

Seven. To beat off.

Eight. To beat out.

Nine. To beat down.

Ten. To beat off.

Listen to the dialogues and complete the sentences with the necessary prepositions.

·        Down

·        Off

·        Out

·        Up

Dialogue 1.

—   Hello, Steven. Did you go for a walk yesterday?

—   Yes, Jacob, I did.

—   How was it?

—   Well… It was fine, except one moment. When we were walking down the street, we met a really angry dog. It was barking so loudly! The dog wanted to bite us, but I beat it ____.

—   Steven, you’re so brave! I’m glad that everything is fine.

—   Thank you, Jacob, see you soon.

—   See you.

Check yourselves.

Dialogue 2.

—   Hi, Benjamin, did you apologize to Anne?

—   Hi, Jonathan. Yes, I did, but she didn’t forgive me. I know I was so rude that day. It was a really tough day for me and my company.

—   Benjamin, please, don’t beat yourself ____. You did everything you could. Anne will forgive you sooner or later.

—   Thanks, Jonathan. You always calm me down. See you at work. Bye.

—   Bye, Benjamin.

Check yourselves.

Dialogue 3.

—   Hi, Christopher, why did you hang up on me yesterday? I didn’t even finish my speech!

—   Oh, Brandon, I heard that people outside were shouting. I understood that something was wrong. The house next to me was on fire. I ran over there to help. There were about 50 people and we managed to beat _____the fire.

—   Oh my God, is everyone ok?

—   Yes, everyone is fine. Brandon, can I call you later? I want to check my neighbors.

—   Sure, talk to you later. Bye.

—   Bye.

Check yourselves.

Dialogue 4.

—   Hello, Mr. Foster. I heard that you had a conflict with a saleswoman. Is that right?

—   Yes, it is. The woman wanted to sell jeans to me for $300. I think it’s a very high price for them. I wanted to beat _____ the price, but she didn’t want to do that. I shouted at her, she shouted at me. Then she finally agreed to make the price lower.

—   Really? That’s great! What did you do then?

—   Oh, I decided not to buy them.

—   Ha-ha, you’re so funny! See you in the evening.

—   See you.

Check yourselves.

—   That’s all! Are you happy now?

—   Yes, I am.

—   Can we go then?

—   Well… I’m a scary ghost, but I always keep my promises. You helped me a lot. Now I’m not only a scary ghost, but also a smart one. You are free to go, but I hope you understand that we’re not friends. If you come to my place without invitation once again, I’ll kill you. Go!

—   Thank you!

—   Bye.

The boys ran away and never came back to this dark castle again.

—   We hope you liked the lesson and understood all the information about phrasal verbs “to beat down (on)”, “to beat off”, “to beat out”, “to beat up”.

—   See you soon, boys and girls.