Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
14 · IN: submission, arrival, and collapse
Handing things over, arriving on time, and refusing to fold.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, pour in, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A newsroom on deadline, the last hour before the pages lock.
Nadia Copy deadline is six. Who still hasn't turned in the council story?
Cole Me. I'll hand it in by five thirty. I'm confirming one quote.
Nadia Good. Did the photos come in from the stringer yet?
Cole Not yet. But reader emails poured in after the morning story.
Nadia Chase those tomorrow. Tonight the publisher wants a softer headline, and we don't cave in on the facts.
Cole Agreed. I'll put in a records request before I leave, so it's logged tonight.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Who is inside, and what reaches them?
Unit 13 crossed the boundary to add or absorb. This unit crosses it toward the people already inside: something is handed over to them, somebody arrives among them, or a structure folds inward under load.
The structure
In is the same hub you met in Unit 13: inside a boundary. This one takes the senses where crossing the line means handing something over to the people inside, arriving there yourself, or collapsing inward under load.
In the submission sense, you deliver something across to whoever is inside in charge: hand in a draft, turn in a report. In the arrival sense, someone or something crosses the threshold and is here: check in, come in, drop in. In the collapse sense, a structure or a will gives way and folds inward: cave in, give in, fall in.
Submission
- Sense
- something is delivered across to whoever is in charge inside
- How you know
- there is an authority on the other side of the line
- Use it to
- report a submission, rather than a handover between equals
Arrival
- Sense
- somebody or something crosses the threshold and is here
- How you know
- the news is the arrival itself
- Use it to
- report presence, not delivery
Collapse
- Sense
- a structure or a will gives way and folds inward
- How you know
- there was pressure from outside before the verb
- Use it to
- report yielding under load, not simply agreeing
Nothing about the particle changed since Unit 13. Only which half of its map this unit works on.
Handing in, and giving in
Two senses in this unit involve giving something up, and they are not the same act at all.
Hand in a report and you are doing what was asked: the boundary is an office and you are complying with a process. Give in and you are doing what you resisted: the boundary is your own position and it has just collapsed.
The picture is identical: something crosses inward. What differs is whether there was resistance before it crossed, and that is what makes collapse the only one of the three that carries a judgment.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: was there resistance before this?
If there was, and it stopped, the sense is collapse. If there was not, and something was delivered to an authority, it is submission. If nothing was delivered and somebody simply got here, it is arrival.
Arrival is the one that gives itself away in the grammar: it takes no object. They came in, she checked in, the emails poured in.
The mechanical half: collapse needs something that could have held out. A price does not cave in; a person or an organization defending one does.
One idea covers them all: in means across the line to the inside, and the only question is what crosses. A draft is handed across to the desk, a person or a photo arrives, or a wall folds inward under load. This is why hand in feels like relief and cave in feels like defeat, 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. I'll turn it in by five thirty.
2. Did the photos come in from the stringer?
3. We won't cave in on the facts, no matter who calls.
4. He gave in to the publisher's demand too quickly.
5. Please put in a records request before you leave.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus in that carries the same meaning.
1. Who still hasn't turned in the council story?
2. I'll hand it in by five thirty.
3. Did the photos come in from the stringer?
4. We won't cave in on the facts. (give in also works)
5. I'll put in a records request before I leave.
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. “Send in the correction before the print run starts.”
2. “The freelancer rolled in an hour after the meeting started.”
3. “As the deadline closed in, the shakiest section fell apart.”
send in: to submit something to the people in charge. Submission sense.
roll in: to arrive, often late or in a relaxed way. Arrival sense.
close in: to press inward and tighten, the way walls or a deadline close in. Collapse sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: deadlines and pressure
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.