4. Grammar: Phrasal Verbs

A phrasal verb (also called a two-word verb) is a combination of a verb and a preposition or adverb.

Examples:

Petey s father intends to send Granddad away.

Granddad tuned up his fiddle.

Petey got up and went into the shanty.

Some phrasal verbs can be separated by a noun or pronoun.

Example:

Petey hadn’t really believed that Dad would be . . . sending Granddad away.

Other phrasal verbs cannot be separated.

Examples:

Dads fiancee ran up the path.

The students came across a good story.

5. Application

Reread the story to look for other examples of phrasal verbs. Then guess the meaning of the phrasal verbs and complete the following chart. The first two examples have been done for you.

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Sentence
washed up went out	washed the dishes after eating left the house	When they’d washed up the supper dishes, they went out on the shanty porch.

Now write three sentences with the phrasal verbs you found.

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

D. Thinking About the Story

1. Sharing Ideas

Discuss the following questions with a partner or in a group:

1. Why does Petey dislike the woman that his father intends to marry?

2. Do you think that Petey’s father will ever marry his fiancee? Why or why not?

3. What is the real reason that Petey’s father bought the blanket?

4. Nice people sometimes do unkind things. Give an example from your own experience or from another story you have read.

5. What lesson do you think Petey’s father learned? In your opinion, did the fiancee get what she deserved?

2. Reading between the Lines

Being a good reader involves reading between the lines. This means coming to a conclusion from the facts given in a story or text. For example, in “The Blanket”, the author does not tell us that Petey’s father has changed his mind about sending Granddad to the nursing home, but we conclude this since the story ends with the sentence, “They were all three crying together.”

Practice reading between the lines. Circle the letter of the answer that best completes each of the following statements:

1. We can assume that Petey’s father intended to send Granddad away because

1. he had no regard for his father’s happiness.

2. he believed that Granddad would be happier in a nursing home.

3. he was easily influenced by his fiancée.

2. We can assume that the fiancée objected to the gift of the blanket because

1. she wanted the money for herself.

2. she didn’t like Granddad.

3. she wanted to keep the money for Petey.

3. When the author describes Dad’s fiancée as “the pretty girl with the hard, bright face like a china doll’s,” he wants to emphasize

1. her beauty.

2. her delicacy.

3. her lack of kindness.