Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
16 · DOWN: recording, fixing, and settling
Getting it on paper, nailing it in place, and coming to rest.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, hunker down, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A hotel events team, eighteen hours before a large conference opens its doors.
Rhea Doors open in eighteen hours. Let's nail down the run of show before anything else.
Marco Agreed. I'll note down the final timings and take down any changes the vendors call in.
Rhea Good. Pin down the keynote's arrival time. We still don't have a firm one.
Marco The AV vendor keeps changing the setup. We lock down the stage plan tonight, no more edits.
Rhea Once that's set, the team can hunker down and run the full rehearsal.
Marco And after doors close, we wind down slowly. No teardown until the last guest leaves.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
What is being fixed in place?
Unit 15 lowered things. This unit takes the other half of down: the ground as the place where things become fixed: written onto the page, pinned so they cannot move, or come to rest after motion.
The structure
Down is the same hub you met in Unit 15: toward the ground. This one takes the senses where down means fixed to the ground: written onto the page, pinned in place, or come to rest.
In the recording sense, a fleeting thing is fixed onto paper: write it down, note it down. In the fixing sense, a loose thing is fastened so it cannot move: nail down the details, pin down a time. In the settling sense, motion slows and comes to rest: settle down, calm down, wind down.
Recording
- Sense
- a fleeting thing is fixed onto paper
- How you know
- before the verb it existed only in the air
- Use it to
- report making a record, not making a decision
Fixing
- Sense
- a loose thing is fastened so it cannot move
- How you know
- it existed already, but vaguely
- Use it to
- report making something definite, rather than creating it
Settling
- Sense
- motion slows and comes to rest
- How you know
- there was activity before, and less of it after
- Use it to
- report a settling, with nobody necessarily causing it
Nothing about the particle changed since Unit 15. Only which half of its map this unit works on.
Written down, and pinned down
The first two senses look alike and do different work, and the difference is what existed before the verb.
Write down a number that was said aloud and the number was already definite: you moved it to paper. Pin down a delivery window and the window was not definite at all: you made it so, and the paper is beside the point.
So recording changes the medium and fixing changes the certainty. A meeting can end with everything written down and nothing nailed down, which is a real thing that happens and a useful sentence to be able to say.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: was it already definite before?
If it was, and you moved it onto paper, that is recording. If it was vague, and now it is not, that is fixing. If nothing was made definite and something simply stopped moving, that is settling.
Settling gives itself away in the grammar as well: it takes no object. They settled down, things wound down, the team hunkered down.
The mechanical half: fixing takes a detail, not a thing. You nail down a date, a number, a scope. You do not nail down a project.
One idea covers them all: down means fixed to the ground, and the only question is what gets fixed: a fleeting fact onto the page, a loose detail into place, or a racing team to a stop. This is why note it down feels light and lock it down feels final, 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 down, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. Can you write the changes down before you forget?
2. We need to nail down the budget details tonight.
3. Pin the speaker down on a firm time.
4. Once it's over, let's wind down slowly and not rush teardown.
5. The team needs to settle down before the rehearsal; everyone's frazzled.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus down that carries the same meaning.
1. Let's nail down the run of show first.
2. I'll note down the final timings as we go. (write down also works)
3. Please pin down the keynote's arrival time.
4. We lock down the stage plan tonight.
5. After doors close, we wind down slowly.
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. “She scribbled down the new timings on a napkin during the walkthrough.”
2. “We still need to tie down the caterer's final head count.”
3. “Once the VIP room was fixed, the front desk simmered down.”
scribble down: to write something quickly and roughly. Recording sense.
tie down: to secure a loose commitment or detail. Fixing sense.
simmer down: to calm after agitation. Settling sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: finalizing and calming
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.