Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
10 · OFF: triggering, using up, and finishing
Firing things into motion, using them down to nothing, and finishing them clean.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, round off, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A construction site team at a milestone meeting, deciding what starts and what finishes this week.
Dana We kick off the foundation pour Monday, weather permitting.
Owen Good. If we hold the date, the completion bonus pays off the equipment loan by June.
Priya One risk. The road closure could set off complaints from the shops next door.
Dana Let's work off the punch list this week so the inspector can sign off on the pour by Friday.
Dana Agreed. Round off the figures for the update and finish off the safety report tonight.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Is it released, spent, or finished?
Unit 9 used off for things coming away. This unit uses the other edge of the same movement: the moment something breaks loose into action, is consumed all the way down, or has its last piece taken off and is done.
The structure
Off is the same hub you met in Unit 9: away from a surface. That unit used it for things separating, leaving, or being canceled. This one takes the other edge of the same movement: the point where something breaks loose into action, gets consumed all the way down, or has its last piece taken off and is done.
In the triggering sense, a charge releases: you set off an alarm, kick off an event. In the using-up sense, something is spent all the way to nothing: you pay off a debt, work off a backlog. In the finishing sense, the last edge is smoothed and the thing is complete: you round off, finish off.
Triggering
- Sense
- a charge breaks loose and something starts
- How you know
- there is a trigger, and an event that follows it
- Use it to
- report a beginning caused by something, not merely a beginning
Using up
- Sense
- something is spent all the way down to nothing
- How you know
- there is an amount, and it goes to zero
- Use it to
- report a debt or a backlog cleared by effort
Finishing
- Sense
- the last edge is taken off and the thing is complete
- How you know
- the work was nearly done before the verb arrived
- Use it to
- close something neatly, rather than merely stop
Nothing about the particle changed since Unit 9. Only which half of its map this unit works on.
Finishing off, and finishing up
This is the pair that catches people, because both particles can close a job and they do not close it the same way.
Finish up reaches a limit: the task had an end and you arrived at it. Finish off takes the last piece away: there was a remainder and now there is none. That is why you finish off a report that was nearly done, and why finishing off a plate of food leaves an empty plate.
The same split runs through the whole unit. Kick off releases something; it does not complete anything. Work off a backlog spends it down. Both are the surface being cleared, not a limit being reached.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: what was on the surface before, and what is on it now?
If something jumped off it and started running, that is triggering. If the amount on it went down to zero, that is using up. If only the last edge came off, that is finishing.
Then check it against Unit 5. Use up the budget and work off the backlog both end at nothing, and the difference is where you are looking: up looks at the limit arrived at, off looks at the surface cleared.
The mechanical half: triggering needs a cause and an effect in the same sentence. Something sets off something else. If there is only one event, the sense is finishing, not triggering.
One idea covers them all: off means all the way off, released or gone, and the only question is what happens at that point. Something fires, something is used up, or the last piece is taken off and it is done. This is why kick off feels like a beginning and finish off feels like an end, though they share a particle.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: the form first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the form
Use the verb in brackets plus off, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. The open door set off the alarm at midnight.
2. The campaign kicks off next Monday.
3. The bonus finally paid off the equipment loan.
4. Please sign off on the budget before we spend anything.
5. We rounded off the estimate to make it neater, from 3.4 to 3.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus off that carries the same meaning.
1. The extra week of float will be burned off by the time we pour the foundation.
2. The subcontractor's complaint touched off a wider argument about the schedule.
3. The bonus will pay off the equipment loan.
4. The inspector signed off on the phase Friday.
5. Please finish off the safety report tonight.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that completes it.
Meet a Stranger
These three are not taught anywhere in this book. Reason from the particle, then reveal the key.
1. “The delay sparked off a dispute between the two subcontractors.”
2. “We shaved two weeks off the schedule by pouring concrete at night.”
3. “They topped off the tower with a final steel beam and a short ceremony.”
spark off: to trigger a reaction or a quarrel. Triggering sense.
shave off: to reduce an amount by a small margin. Using-up sense.
top off: to complete something with a final addition. Finishing sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: starting and finishing
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.