Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
13 · IN: enclosure, inclusion, and participation
Drawing things inside, adding them to a plan, and stepping into the room.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, rope in, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A university program committee, planning a new data course and who should shape it.
Amara Before we design the course, let's bring in the departments it touches.
Ken Agreed. We should factor in the lab scheduling constraints early, or we'll redesign twice.
Amara And build in an exit survey from day one, not bolted on later.
Priya Can I sit in on the faculty workshop? I want to take in their objections firsthand.
Ken Of course. We also roped in the librarians to pilot the research module.
Amara Good. When the draft is ready, everyone weighs in before it goes to the dean.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
What crosses the line, and into what?
In is one picture: inside a boundary. Name the boundary and what crosses it, and the sense follows: something drawn inside and held, something added to a plan, or a person stepping into a conversation.
The structure
In is the mirror of out, and its hub is just as physical: inside a boundary. Step in a room. Put a letter in an envelope. Every abstract sense in this unit is that crossing applied to a plan, a group, or a conversation.
In the enclosure sense, something is drawn inside and held: you fold an ingredient in, take a fact in. In the inclusion sense, something new is added to a plan or a group: you bring in a team, factor in a cost. In the participation sense, a person steps into a discussion: you weigh in with an opinion, sit in on a meeting.
Enclosure
- Sense
- something is drawn inside and held there
- How you know
- after the verb, the thing is contained rather than added
- Use it to
- report absorbing or taking something in, not adopting it
Inclusion
- Sense
- something new is added to a plan or a group
- How you know
- the boundary already existed and now contains one more thing
- Use it to
- report an addition somebody decided on
Participation
- Sense
- a person steps into a discussion
- How you know
- the thing crossing the line is somebody with an opinion
- Use it to
- report joining a conversation, not joining an organization
The literal sense sits at the top. Everything under it is that same movement applied to something you cannot touch.
In and out, side by side
In is the mirror of out, and reading the two together is the fastest way to place either.
Rule out an option and it leaves the set. Factor in a cost and it joins the set. Leave out a name and it never crossed the line; bring in a team and it did.
The pairs are not always symmetrical, and that is worth knowing rather than being surprised by. Sit in on a meeting has no clean opposite, because participation is about crossing into a conversation, and you can only do that in one direction.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: what is the boundary?
A container or a mind, and the sense is enclosure. A plan, a budget or a group, and it is inclusion. A conversation, and it is participation.
Then check whether anybody decided. Inclusion has somebody who added the thing; enclosure often has nobody: the numbers were taken in, and no decision was made.
The mechanical half: participation is about people and nothing else. A cost cannot weigh in. If the subject is not a person, the sense is one of the other two.
One idea covers them all: in means across the line to the inside, and the only question is what crosses. A fact is drawn in and held, a person or cost is added to the plan, or a voice steps into the room. This is why bring in feels like an invitation and box in feels like a trap, 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 in, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. We should factor in the scheduling constraints early.
2. Can I sit in on the workshop just to observe?
3. Don't be taken in by the polished vendor pitch.
4. She chimed in with a useful objection.
5. Everyone weighed in before the draft went up.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus in that carries the same meaning.
1. Let's bring in the departments the course touches.
2. We should factor in the scheduling constraints.
3. Let's build in an exit survey from day one.
4. Can I sit in on the workshop?
5. Everyone should weigh in before the draft goes up.
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. “Tight timelines hemmed the pilot in on every side.”
2. “The new grading system will be phased in over two years.”
3. “Three departments pitched in to run the open house.”
hem in: to hedge or constrain something on all sides. Enclosure sense.
phase in: to introduce something gradually. Inclusion sense.
pitch in: to join in and help. Participation sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: collaboration and input
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.