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Phrasal Verbs
Unit 7.3 -
"Back" meaning "Controlling" or "Suppressing"
-
Guess the meanings of the
phrasal verbs from context:
-
When I saw my father in the hospital, I
tried to
choke back my tears but I
couldn't.
-
We have to cut
back on our energy consumption to save the
environment.
-
He was angry at the students, but he
fought back his urge to yell at
them.
-
He tried to
hold back
his anger and did his best to deal with the problem calmly.
-
The outbreak of war in Iraq has set back
the modernization process of the country.
All
these
phrasal verbs have the meaning of "controlling" or "suppressing",
especially an emotion. See Explanations
ê
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Explanations:
|
Choke back
(separable) |
To
force yourself not to show your feelings, or to stop yourself from
saying something
>>''Grandpa passed away," said Naomi,
choking back the tears. |
|
Cut back
(inseparable)
|
To reduce the amount of a particular
thing
>>He's trying
to cut back on fat in his
diet.
>>You smoke far too much. You should
cut back.
>>The
government has promised to cut back
on spending. |
|
Fight back
(separable)
|
To
try hard not to show an emotion, or to try hard not to let your
emotions control what you do
>>He
fought back his anger and
remained calm.
>>'I've lost all my money', she said,
fighting back the tears. |
|
Hold back
(separable) |
To control;
to suppress
>>She is very
ambitious and nobody can hold
her back.
>>I held back
my irritation and tried to speak slowly and calmly. |
|
Set back
(separable) |
To
delay, to make something happen more slowly
>>Due to a few technical problems, the completion
date for the project has been set back
by a few weeks. |
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