Some uses of the verb

«to be»

to BE FOR	means to be in favour of, to support, e.g. «I am for the liberals», «I am all for ». Or if the members of a meeting are being asked individually to vote on a proposition, one can say simply: « I'm for.» At the end of the evening someone may say, «Who's for bed?»
to BE AT	«What's he at?»- is a rather suspicious way of enquiring «What is he doing?» The phrase is also used to indicate place, as when a teacher takes up an uncompleted text with a class and says: «Now, where are we at?» - i.e. «Where have we to go?»
to BE ABOUT	is an old-fashioned or literary equivalent of to be at. «I don't know what I'm about.» means: «I don't know what I'm doing».
to BE ABOUT TO	But when followed by an infinitive, to be about to means some action is on the point of taking place, e.g. «The train is about to leave.» «This will be her last performance - she is about to retire».
to BE UP TO	is a stronger version of the first meaning of to be at, e.g. «What's the child up to* now? He's in trouble every minute of the day.»
to BE AWAY	means «to be absent», e.g. They're away until tomorrow» «I never learned the Imperfect Tense properly because I was away all that week». Away is also used of the actual moment of sudden departure, as at the horserace. «They're away!» meaning they have just started.
to BE BACK	means to return from having been away, on a journey, or through illness or some other reason. A man might see a colleague from the office where he used to work and say regretfully: «I'd like to be back with you all.»
to BE AFTER sb/stg	«Water was coursing from my 5^th floor apartment down to the 1^st and the neighbours were after my blood.»
to BE OFF	is used to definite, immediate or sudden departure, e.g. «I can't wait to be off.» This is a somewhat explosive word, commonly used at the races: «They're off!» Colloquially, OFF in this sense often becomes a NOUN, e.g. «I am ready for off.» or «ready for the off.» In the imperative mood Be off! Is a very blunt way of saying «Go away!»
to BE IN (without other words)	means «to be at home». One knocks on a friend's door and calls out: «Are you in?»
to BE IN ON (stg)	means to take part in an arrangement or to share a secret. «They have a private map, with the best pools marked for fishing. I'd like to be in on that.»
to BE OUT	has two meanings. Not to be at home. «I knocked again and again but nobody came. They must all have been out.» In games, to have lost one's turn or to exclude oneself from the game by playing unskillfully. For example, in cricket, if a batsman hits the ball and it's caught by one of the opposing team, that batsman is out and he must give way to another batsman and retire from the game for the time being. ( For many other meanings of OUT see that word in the dictionary).
to BE ON	means «to be before the public» (i.e. on the stage) «What's on at the Opera House this week?» Or to an actor who is going to be late for an entrance: «Hurry up, you're on!»
to BE UP	has several meanings. to be out of bed: «Nine o'clock and he's not up yet!» It may indicate something is wrong: «What's up?» implies there may have been an accident, or your friend looks ill, or sad. «I knew something was up as soon as I saw the ambulance arrive.» It may mean «up in the air». When the plane ceases to bump over the runway and suddenly glides smoothly, someone is sure to say «We're up!» It is used for other senses of rising, such as prices, e.g. «Strawberries are up this week; it's rather late in the season for them.»

Some less common uses of the verb

«to be».

With figures and prices.

«It's too dear; it's nine pounds fifty.» = «It costs *9.50» or «It is priced at *9.50» is also correct, but these verbs can't be used with «DEAR»

Similarly,

«It's five miles away.»



«Five and three are eight; five threes are fifteen.»

{MAKE can be used instead of ARE}

Some instances where Russian would employ other verbs.

• «Is there much rain ( or rainfall )in these parts?»

• «London's new industries are all in the suburbs» [ One could say «are all to be found» but it's rather bookish.

• «Is he on the committee?

• «Christmas is on a Tuesday this year.

• «Had it not been for him, the accident would have been much worse.»

• «Let it be!» [= i.e. `Leave it alone!']

With the following infinitive.

• «Are we to have the pleasure of your company tomorrow?»

• «I was to have come, but at the last minute they told me there was no more room in the coach».

• «You are to attend without fail.»

• «You are not to suppose that the witness is lying, unless there is clear evidence to contradict what he says.»

• «I expect the child will want to get out of bed but he's not to until the doctor says so.»

Colloquial uses meaning «to go» or «to visit».

• «You haven't been long.» [or: «You haven't taken long.»]

• «Has he been and come back so soon?»

• «Have you been to Venice?»

Also, very colloquially.

(Not recommended fir use, but such phrases need to be understood.)

• «I've been and spilt the paint.» or «I've gone and spilt the paint.»,
  
  where been or gone do little more than serve as an equivalent fir Russian «вот», «ну и». When one is very embarrassed by some mishap such as spilling the paint, one can say
  
  «I've been and gone and spilt the paint!»
  
  There is a general phrase for such occasions: «You've been and gone and done it!» = `Ну и наделали же вы дел!'

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Exercise.

Match the «be» two-word verbs in Column A with an appropriate explanation from Column B. Write the correct number in the boxes provided.

Column A	Column B
Hello, how long have you been back?	* Which film was showing?
How long were you away?	* What time do you finish work?
When are you off tonight? (1)	* What time are you leaving?
When are you off tonight? (2)	* Why do you say it isn't possible?
What were you up to yesterday?	* What time did it finish?
When was it over?	* How long is it since you returned?
When are you on tomorrow?	* When will you be working?
What's up with you?	* How long was your absence?
Why do you say it's out?	* What did you do yesterday?
What was on at the ABC?	* What's the matter?

Now, write down the meanings of the verbs:

to BE BACK	__________________	to BE OVER	__________________
to BE AWAY	__________________	to BE ON (1)	__________________
to BE OFF (1)	__________________	to BE ON (2)	__________________
to BE OFF (2)	__________________	to BE OUT	__________________
to BE UP TO	__________________	to BE UP WITH	__________________

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Some uses of the verb

«to do».

DO

is one of the anomalous finities, or integral finities, i.e. it can be combined with the shortened form of NOT, e.g. don't, doesn't, didn't but only when it is used as an auxiliary. The everyday uses of do go far beyond the equivalents of the verb «делать» which is often translated as make.

Special meanings of «do».

• In the ordinary greeting «How do you do?» it is used in the sense of «thrive» as in
  «How is the patient today?» - «He's doing very well.»
  Note, that «How do you do?» is a purely formal greeting: one usually replies, strange as it may seem, by also saying «How do you do?».
  
  But if someone asks What do you *do? with the stress on the last word, he means «What do you work at?» The meaning is similar in such phrases as
  «Are you doing Russian at school?», or
  «You ought to rest. You are doing too much.»
  If you call at the barber's and find several people already waiting, he might say:
  «I can't do you before five o'clock, sir.»
  

• DO has such a generalised meaning indicating activity that it can be used of entertainment as well as work.
  «There's nothing to do in this town.»
  «Are you doing anything this evening?»
  doesn't mean «Have you got to work?», but «Have you some leisure occupation arranged?»
  

• DO often means «to serve» or «to be acceptable»
  «That will do.» [i.e. «That's very satisfactory.»]
  In the narrower sense, it is used of being socially acceptable. «Clothes like those won't do at an embassy reception.» Note, too, the well-established English phrase: «That simply isn't done.» [i.e. «Gentlemen don't do such things.»]
  

• The same sense of «serve» is probably what produces the idiom «They do you very well at this hotel.» meaning that the food is good, the beds comfortable, the service attentive, etc.
  «He does himself well.» Usually means that a man takes care to get plenty of good food and drink, perhaps of luxury quality.
  

• When a thing is done, it is finished: from this origin come such idioms as underdone and well-done to describe meat which is not fully cooked, or on the other hand thoroughly cooked to the exact degree desired, the idiom arising from the slow turning of meat on a spit to roast it, in the old days.
  

• When two people have been bargaining and one of them at least decides to accept the other's offer he says: «Done!» or maybe «Done for fifty pounds.» perhaps holding out his hand to clap it firmly to the other man's hand at the same time.
  

• To cut something or somebody short, to have done with it/him, one says: «That will do!» - a very peremptory expression. And DO in the sense of «finish» has developed some unpleasant idiomatic meanings. Vulgar characters in Dickens, for instance, say « I'll do yer.» or «I'll do for yer.» meaning «I'll kill you.», and this sense still survives in colloquial English. «I'm done for.» means that one is mortally ill, near death, or that one is ruined financially. «To do in» is also slang for «kill».

Compound uses of «DO».

to DO INTO	«To do into English» means «to translate into English», but is rather old-fashioned.
to DO WITH (1) to DO WITHOUT	«I could do with some sleep.» means «I badly need some sleep.»; similarly: «The old school could do with a clean-up.» The opposite of these two sentences can be expressed by «do without»: «I'll have to do without my sleep tonight.» «The old school will have to do without a clean-up for one more year.»
to DO WITH (2)	But «to do with» also means «to concern», «to be very affair of» - very commonly in the phrase «It's nothing to do with you.»
to DO BY (sby)	meaning to treat them to behave to them in a (specified) way, is now rarely used, except in a few well-established phrases «Do as you would be done by.» [i.e. «treat others as you would like them to treat you».] «He's been hard done by.» [i.e. «he's been treated unjustly».]
to DO AWAY WITH	means «to get rid of », «abolish».
to DO OUT (or) to DO OVER	a room means «to clean and tidy it.»
to DO UP (to be done up) to DO IN (to be done in)	«To do up a parcel» means tying it up. And with the Past Participle of «do», «up» is used in its common sense of indicating the end of something; «If you don't stop work now, you'll be done up.» [i.e. «completely exhausted»]. Alternatively, «you'll be done in».

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Further uses of «DO».

«DO» with an object.

This produces some very different meanings.

• «We were doing 90 when the police stopped us.» [i.e. 90 miles an hour].

• «He's done 10 years in prison.»

• «We went to Italy to `do' the galleries.» [= visit them thoroughly]

• «Do the honors{of the house}*» means «to behave as a good host should».

As an auxiliary.

The verb «to DO» has some useful extensions.

• «He did swim, *didn't *he?»

• «He was determined to win, and win he did.»

Or as a polite addition to the imperative:

• «Do shut up!» is less rude than just saying «Shut up!».

It's also used to replace an original verb in the commonest of constructions:

• «You like Paris, don't you?» [instead of «don't you like it?»].

• «He writes better than I do.»

• «Please do!» is an everyday phrase which is meaningless unless one knows what has gone before; in which case one understands that it means, for instance,

• «Do come to dinner.» or

• «Do open the window!»

As a noun.

DO has some special connotations.

• «Do's and dont's» means «recommendations and prohibitions» or simply «things which should be done and things which should be avoided». «Do's» in this sense is never used by itself.

• «A big do» means a big occasion, feast, celebration, meeting, etc.

• «Fair do's» is an appeal for fair shares.

• «The doings» is a rather sloppy colloquial expression for the «necessary gear», «the paraphernalia», «принадлежности».

Some of the uses of the DO just given apply in colloquial speech only, some are standard literary English, a few are slang. There are many shades of social suitability, and without lengthy explanations they couldn't be clarified here.

In order to learn how to employ all this idioms correctly one ought to mix a great deal with English people.

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Some uses of the verb

«to have»

HAVE

has a great many uses besides its meanings «to posses», or its function as an auxiliary verb. Most students of English soon discover that fact. A few among its other uses, particularly common in speech, include the following:

To express obligation.

• «I have to be back by 11.» [i.e. `I must be back by 11.']

• «I don't have to be in the office until 10.» or «I haven't got to be in the office until 10».
  but:

• «I didn't have to be in the office until 10 yesterday.» (Past).

Meaning «to give birth».

• «My husband was away on night duty when I was having Charles.» [=i.e. `giving birth to/ delivering Charles.]

• «Hasn't your dog had any puppies?»

Meaning «to take or partake of».

• «I've not had my tea yet»

• «What would you like to have for supper?»

To express cause or result.

• «I have my car washed every week» [i.e. « I give orders for it to be washed every week»]

• «James doesn't have his car washed often.»

Meaning «allow», «suffer», «permit».

• «Our teacher won't have us in the laboratory without a white overall.»

There is a difference between the American and English uses of such forms as «Do you have?» If a man enters an English shop and asks «Do you have the New-York Times?», the newspaper agent replies: «We *do *have it, sir, but we are sold out now.» To an Englishman this means that a matter of a regular habit the shop stocks the New-York Times - which was the point of his question beginning with «Do you have...?».

But if an American asks «Do you have the New-York Times?» He means the equivalent of the English phrase «Have you got the New-York Times?» i.e. «Have you got a copy which I can buy now?».

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Some uses of the verb

«to go»

GO

has a great many special uses, some of which we will try to explain.

The general meaning GO

of the verbs. COME

GO;LEAVE ≠ COME;ARRIVE

Meaning to «depart», «finish» or «die».

• Some of these are derived from the sense of «go away».

• «I must go.» means «I must depart.»

• «The winter has gone.» is the same as «The winter has ended.»

• «He's(=has) gone.» may mean he has just departed, or he has died.

• «We're going; we can't last more than five minutes.» is the message the radio-operator of a sinking ship may send.

• GO can also mean « be cast out ».

• «We'll never have room for this in our new flat; it'll have to go.» - i.e. be thrown away.

But when someone says of a woman,

• «She's six months gone.», it means she is six months advanced in pregnancy!

In prepositional phrases.

GO OFF one's head	means «to go mad», «to become mad.»
GO TO sleep	means «to fall asleep».
GO TO pieces	means «to break up», either literally or figuratively: «I was so distressed that I simply went to pieces»
GO IN FOR	means « to make a habit of doing. «He doesn't go in for grand speeches.» «I don't go in for swimming much.»
GO THROUGH WITH	means «to complete a thing.» «It's too unpleasant; I can't go through with it.» or:
(GO ON WITH)	«It's too unpleasant; I can't go on with it.»
GO DOWN WITH	has a metaphorical meaning: «The new play ought to go down very well with this audience.»; it should be well-received.
GO WITHOUT	means «to lack or forgo something». «I don't have time for lunch today, so I'll go without.»
GO FOR (somebody)	Depending on the context, it can mean «to attack» or, conversely, «to be attracted by somebody.» «He annoyed her so much that she went for him.» «I go for Michael Jackson - he's my favourite singer.»

Some further uses of GO.

With adjectives.

GO

is used instead of «become» in phrases such as «go pale», «go sour», «go bald», «go dead» (e.g. of a telephone line), «go mad»; or instead «turn» in such phrases as «go green», «go red» - e.g. the traffic lights. But «become» or «turn» couldn't be used as alternatives in the case of «go wrong».

• «I see where I went wrong» - (made a mistake)

• «My plans went wrong.» - (were unsuccessful)

Nor in «go hungry», which means «to suffer hunger.»

• «All the restaurants were closed, we had to go hungry.»

• «In wartime we often went hungry.»

Some special meanings of GO.

Some of them are derived from the sense of GO as a function to work (as of a machine), to be in working order.

• «My clock won't go.»

• «It goes by electricity.»

• «It goes by itself.»

With a small extension of meaning, we get such uses as:

• «If the meeting goes well, our candidate will probably be elected.»

«To go it» means to be extremely active.

• «You'd go it!» implies «You never seem to stop!»

GO can be used to mean suit, fit or accord.

• «That goes well with your pink blouse.»

GO INTO is used in arithmetic.

• «Five into ten goes twice.»;

• «Nine into five won't go.» [i.e. won't give a whole number as a result.]

GO is commonly used of a sequence of words in poetry or of notes in music.

• «That sonnet of Shakespeare's - how does the first line go?»

• «I remember that theme in the Eroica Symphony. It goes like this.»

GO BY means «rely on».

• «I always go by what the Oxford Dictionary says.»

GO OFF has a disconcerting variety of uses. It can mean to «worsen» or «to decay».

• «I couldn't use that milk; it had gone off.»

But to GO OFF WELL means «to succeed» ( like GO DOWN WELL.)

• «With that singer, the concert ought to go off well.»

GO OFF can also mean «TO GO OFF TO SLEEP»:

• «I rocked the baby for ten minutes, but she wouldn't go off.»

As a noun.

GO can mean activity, vitality. «He's always full of go.» Where players take turns, someone may ask «Whose go is it? Is it your go?» Hence such phrases as «Let's have a go.» (i.e. «May I try, may I join in?») So «It's no go» means permission for something has been refused or that something won't work.

Some uses of the verb

«to come».

Some special meanings of COME.

• «I remember this diagram; it comes on page 47.»
  

• «He comes of/from a peasant family». [i.e. «He was born in a peasant family.»]
  

• «It comes rather dear.»
  «The whole bill comes to 4.»
  

• «It comes in three sizes.» [i.e. «It is made in three sizes.»]
  

• «Our plans are settled now for two years to come.» [ i.e. for two years ahead.]
  

• «It began to come home to him that his failure to get promoted was due to his own laziness.» [i.e. «He began to realise it was due to his laziness.»]
  

• When asking someone to stop and reconsider, or when we wish to reprove someone mildly, we often start our remarks with
  «Come!» or «Come now!» or «Come, come!.»
  

• «To come clean» is a popular slang phrase:
  «We asked her, as kindly as we could, to tell us why she had run away, but she wouldn't come clean.» [i.e. «confess» or «give a full explanation».]
  

Some special compound uses of COME.

• «Come out on strike», but also
  «His book comes out next Tuesday.» [i.e. «it will be published next Tuesday.»]
  

• «To come to» (accented on the last word as though it was spelt `too' //) means «to recover» or
  «To come round» from a faint or swoon.
  

• «Come in» has many uses, e.g.
  «The flute comes in at the tenth bar.», i.e. the flute-player should begin at the tenth bar of the music.
  

• «Where do I come in?» means «What advantage do I get?» or «How am I involved?»
  

• The common phrase
  «This is where we came in.» implies: «We have seen, or heard, all this before.» And comes from the cinema, where you are allowed to take your seat, during continuous performances, at any time and you stay until the film reaches the scene which was being shown when you «came in».
  

• «To come into money» means to inherit a large sum of money.
  

• «To come into the world» means «to be born».
  

• «It came into my head that...» means «It occurred to me...» or «I suddenly thought that...».
  

• «To come across with» means to hand over something expected, e.g.
  «I should be getting 50 for the translation I did, but they haven't come across with it yet.»
  

• « He came off well.» means he succeeded or he won;
  « He came off badly.» means he failed, lost, or was perhaps injured.
  

• «Come of it!» is a widely used slang phrase meaning «Stop acting like that.»

Some further uses of «come».

COME with prepositional phrases.

• «Come to pieces», «come to bits» - is used of something disintegrating, with or without any obvious cause.

• «Come to light » is a figurative expression meaning «to be discovered», «to be revealed», e.g.
  «When this expensive expenditure came to light, the members were highly indignant at the waste of their money.»
  

• «Come to hand» means «to arrive» - used of letters and documents e.g.
  «Your letters only came to hand yesterday.»
  

• «Come to grief » means «to fail »or «meet with disaster», e.g.
  «Three of the riders came to grief at the first fence.»
  

• «Come of age» means to reach the legally established age of adulthood, «the age of majority» - former by 21 in Britain, now 18.
  

COME with TO and the infinitive.

• «I came to believe», «I came to see» describes a gradual process of acquiring an opinion.
  
  Similarly",
  «Forks came to be used in the 17^th century» also describes a gradual process.
  

But
«How did you come to think of that?» or
«How did you come to hear of that?» implies some contrast with what one would expect. of that?»

• «Supersonic planes have come to stay.» means that they are past their experimental stage and will continue to be used in the future.

COME with some adjectives.

• In some instances a foreigner is apt, incorrectly to use «become»:
  «To come loose/ united/ undone/ unstuck/ unstitched/ unhinged.»
  

• There is also a slang use of «to come unstuck» (but not with the other participles), meaning to fail in something one has attempted.
  

• «To come true» and
  «To come right» should explain themselves.

You can only say How do you do? when you meet someone for the first time. Next time, you would say Hello (+name)!. How are you? or How are you doing? (USA). If the situation is informal, you may say Hi! or How's things?

Incidentally, the expression Cheers! can mean: (1) «Hello!», (2) «Good bye!» ,(3) Good wishes when drinking [informal].

«yer» - you, dialect,vulgar.

Have + (a noun) means: to do something which is usually done with it. So we have: (1)have a meal -поесть(2), have a drink -выпить,(3) have a shower -принять душ,(4) have a swim -поплавать,(5) have a bath - принять ванну, (6) have a shave - побриться,(7) have a baby - родить ребёнка,(8) have a rest -отдохнуть, etc.

Causative. Other people do it for me. I ask or hire them to do it for me. «:I have it done»

You can also say: « I have to be going now.», or « I must be off.», or «It's (high) time we went.»

• Some uses of the verbs.

Some uses of the verbs

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