Phrasal Verbs Fend Off | Play With | Fight Back | Zero Out

Vocabulary

fend off

Phrasal Verb

fɛnd ɔf

to defend yourself from something and make it go away

The boxer tried to fend off the blows.

The Prime Minister managed to fend off questions about the new tax regulations.

play with

Phrasal Verb

pleɪ wɪð

to consider something

I played with the idea of switching jobs, but I didn't go through with it.

fight back

Phrasal Verb

faɪt bæk

to strongly resist or fight against someone in order to defend oneself

We can't let them close the shop. We have to fight back!

zero out

Phrasal Verb

ˈzɪroʊ aʊt

completely use up or remove something so there is nothing left

His family zeroed out his trust fund.

wind up

Phrasal Verb

waɪnd ʌp

to bring something to an end

We have just a few minutes left, so let's wind up this meeting.

Exercise 2

Dialogue Practice

Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.

Lauren and Grace are talking about a writing project that they were both interested in.
Lauren	Did you hear that the Write Up project is not going to happen?
Grace	No!Why not?
Lauren	The Ministry of Education zeroed out funding for the project.I watched the interview with Dave Smith, the project manager.He said that they would not give up that easily and they would fight back.
Grace	But what's behind all that?Why did they decide to cut off funding for the project?
Lauren	I'm not sure.They somehow managed to fend off questions about that.
Grace	What a shame!I was really excited about all that.
Lauren	I know, me too.But it's not over yet.Winding up the interview, Dave said they were playing with the idea of looking for funding elsewhere.So, fingers crossed they'll go for it and find a way to make it work.

Exercise 3

Article

Read the passage aloud with your teacher.

It's Not the Winning That Counts

A few years ago, a friend invited me for a game of chess and soon after, we started playing every week. In the beginning, I would just try to fend off his attacks, and every time, he would manage to wind up the game within half an hour. Later, as I practiced more, I started fighting back and I'd manage to even win occasionally. After a while, I started playing with the idea of joining a chess tournament in my town. I knew I wouldn't win, but I just wanted to try and see how far I could go; so, I applied. I didn't go far, though. My chances of winning were zeroed out on the first day, when I was chosen to play against the state champion. I lost, of course, but had lots of fun and met a lot of people I continued playing with for years.

Exercise 4

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with the correct phrasal verbs to complete the dialogue.

Mr. Abbott has called for a meeting. He needs to deliver some bad news to his colleagues.
Jonathan Abbott	Thank you everyone for coming to this meeting at such short notice.I won't keep you long, I just need to share an important update with all of you.The funding for our project has (1)__________________ .At this moment, we still don't know if we will find a way to continue with our plan.
Alex	We can't let that happen!We need to (2)___________________!
Jonathan Abbott	The news came as a shock to all of us.Trust me, we are doing everything we can to solve this issue.We are (3)_________________ the idea of filing a lawsuit, but we still haven't reached our final decision on how to proceed with this.
Alex	We should take this to the press!
Jonathan Abbott	No, from now on, please try to (4)_____________ the questions about this subject, until we decide on our course of action.
Alex	Very well.
Jonathan Abbott	Ok, let's (5)____________ this meeting now, we all have a lot of work to do.