Argue
about: dispute or quarrel with someone over.
e.g. They often argue
about racial injustice over
the dinner table.
Argue
against: make a case against someone
or something.
e.g. The police discovered new evidence that argued
against the criminal charge.
Argue
back: answer back.
e.g. I wish he would not argue
back so much.
Argue
down: defeat someone in a debate.
e.g. He tries to argue
down everyone who has
opposite views.
Argue
for: make a case for someone.
e.g. My lawyer will argue
for me in court.
Argue
into: convince someone to do
something.
e.g. I could not argue myself into helping you in this project.
Argue
with: challenge someone or
something.
e.g. I won’t argue
with what you do; after all,
it is your choice.
Therefore,
learn more prepositional phrases and find out how they are different in meaning
with different prepositions.
TALK
Talk
back: answer impolitely.
e.g.
It's rude to talk back to your parents like that.
Talk
over: discuss.
e.g.
We'll talk over the matter before we see your parents.
BACK
Back
down: retreat from a position in an argument.
e.g.
Knowing that he did not have a valid point, he backed down.
Back
out: desert; fail to keep a promise.
e.g.
You said you would help us, but you backed
out.
Back
out of: fail to keep a promise.
e.g. We
cannot back out of the
contract; we are legally obligated to do what we are supposed to do.
Back up:
support
e.g.
Are you going to back me up if I decide to go ahead with
the project?
TOUCH
Touch
on: mention briefly.
e.g.
The professor barely touched on the subject of Civil War.
Touch
up: repair.
e.g.
Can you touch up the scratches on the door?
Prepositions are
words that indicate the relationships between various elements within a
sentence. In formal English, prepositions are almost always followed by
objects.
e.g. The policeman shot (verb) the man (object) with (preposition identifying the man
being shot) a knife.
e.g. I put (verb) the pen (direct object) on (preposition indicating the position
of the pen) the table (indirect object).
e.g. I put (verb) the pen (direct object) under (preposition indicating the
position of the pen) the table (indirect object).
Prepositional
phrases always consist of the object and the preposition. Prepositional phrases
can act as adjectives or adverbs. When they are used as adjectives, they modify
nouns and pronouns in the same way single-word adjectives do. When
prepositional phrases are used as adverbs, they also act in the same way
single-word adverbs and adverb clauses do, modifying adjectives, verbs, and
other adverbs.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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