10 phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about health and sickness.
A few of my students have been falling ill recently and cancelling their classes. So I put together a list of 10 great phrasal verbs you can use when you are sick.
10 great phrasal verbs you can use when you are sick.
They are:
come down with sth,fight something off,block up,swell up,throw up,pick sth up,shake sth off,pass out,pull through,pass away.
A couple of tips for you to help you learn phrasal verbs.
Always learn phrasal verbs in chunks or longer phrases in context. Once you have learnt a phrasal verb use it, practise it in a sentence and say it out loud.
Go ahead and put any of your example sentences in the comments below and I will check them out for you.
What are phrasal verbs?
Phrasal verbs, as the name suggests, are phrases made with a verb and one or sometimes two other words. Now those other words are usually an adverb or preposition. More often a preposition.
Phrasal verbs cause problems for learners because the meaning of the phrase is different to the meaning of the individual words that make it up, it’s an idiom.
Now the best way to explain that is through an example:
Look after:
She looked after me when I was sick.
In this context, look after means:
take care of someone or something
As you can see, the meaning of the phrase is different from the meaning of the actual words that make up the phrase, because as you know, look means:
to direct your eyes toward someone or something so that you can see them.
. For example:
Can you look at page two in your books, please?.
After means:
when a time or event has happened.
For example:
We went swimming after class.
So we can't figure out the meaning of the phrase from the individual words that make up the phrase. The meaning of that phrase has just become accepted by being used a lot, over time.
So that means we just have to learn them by using them over and over, in context.
There's no logic, there are no rules that I can teach you to make this easier.
Why Are Phrasal Verbs Important?
Unfortunately, we use phrasal verbs all the time, we just use them unconsciously, we slip them into conversation, naturally. And you might misunderstand what someone is saying if you don't know or recognize that phrase, that phrasal verb. That's why they're so important to you as an English learner.
How about in IELTS, TOEFL etc.?
Learning these kinds of verbs will be useful to improve your level of spoken English but also if you are thinking of taking an official exam such as the IELTS, TOEFL, the Cambridge qualifications etc. all these kinds of tests reward you for using idiomatic language naturally.
10 Phrasal Verbs of Sickness
Monologue
I feel as if I'm coming down (1) with something. I'm fighting off (2) a sore throat and my nose is constantly blocked up (3). my glands have swollen up (4) and if I try to eat anything I feel as if I'm going to throw up (5). I got it from my son, he picked it up (6) at pre-school.
I need to shake it off (7) as I have so much work to do, I can't afford to be absent
But, my boss was in a worse situation. She passed out (8) while driving and crashed her car. She had to have surgery and Fortunately, she pulled through (9) and now has more or less fully recovered. But no sooner was she out of the hospital than her grandfather passed away (10)!
Let's go through that line by line and look at the phrasal verbs in context.
1. Come down with sth
to get an illness:
I came down with the flu at Christmas.
2. fight something off
to free yourself from an illness:
Her body couldn’t fight the infection off.
3. block up
to completely fill a hole or an opening and so prevent anything from passing through it:
I hate it when my nose is blocked up.
We can also use:
3.1 stuffed up (adj)
If you are stuffed up, your nose is blocked with mucus, usually because you have a cold:
4. Swell up
to become larger than normal:
One side of his face had swollen up where he'd been stung.
5. throw up
to vomit:
6. Pick sth up
to get an illness:
I picked up a bad stomach bug while travelling.
7. Shake sth off
to get rid of an illness:
I think I’ve finally shaken off that flu, I feel better today,
8. Pass out
It was so hot I nearly passed out.
9. Pull through
to manage to stay alive after you have been very sick or very badly injured:
Don’t worry, your dad’s going to pull through.
10. Pass away
To die. It is used when you don't want to use the word die because you don't want to upset anyone:
He passed away in his sleep at the age of ninety-four.
Remember - learn phrasal verbs in chunks or longer phrases, for example:
I'm coming down with the flu,She's fighting off a cold,My nose is blocked up.
Once you have learnt one use it, practise it in a sentence and say it out loud, this will help it stick in your memory.