Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
20 · AWAY: removal, departure, disappearance, and persistence
Getting rid of it, leaving, letting it vanish, and keeping at it.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, square away, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A people-operations team facing rising attrition in the months after a reorg.
Dana Attrition's up. Three strong engineers walked away last month.
Ravi And we can't just explain away the exit-survey scores. The complaints are consistent.
Dana Agreed. Let's not throw away the flexible-hours pilot. That's the one thing people liked.
Dana Right. Let's square away the retention offers before Friday, so no one else turns down a counter.
Ravi I'll plug away at the manager training. Morale won't fade away on its own.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Is the distance permanent?
Away is one picture: to a distance. Three of its senses are about something going and not coming back; the fourth is the opposite and is the one people miss. Ask whether anything is left in place.
The structure
Away's hub is physical: to a distance. Walk away, move it away, put it away. Every abstract sense in this unit is that distance applied to removal, departure, vanishing, or steady work out of the spotlight.
In the removal sense, you send something off for good: give away, throw away, explain away. In the departure sense, a person moves off: walk away, turn away. In the disappearance sense, something dwindles until nothing is left: fade away, die away. In the persistence sense, you keep an action going steadily: chip away, plug away.
Removal
- Sense
- something is sent off for good
- How you know
- there is an agent, and afterward the thing is not yours
- Use it to
- report a disposal or a dismissal
Departure
- Sense
- a person moves off
- How you know
- the one leaving is the subject, and chose to
- Use it to
- report a walking-out, with the leaving as the point
Disappearance
- Sense
- something dwindles until nothing is left
- How you know
- nobody removed it; it thinned out on its own
- Use it to
- report a fading, not an ending
Persistence
- Sense
- an action is kept going steadily, out of the spotlight
- How you know
- the distance is from attention, not from the work
- Use it to
- report quiet persistence
The literal sense sits at the top, and all four senses under it belong to this unit. This particle does not split across two.
Going away, and working away
Three of these senses move something to a distance and the fourth keeps it firmly in place, which looks like an exception and is not.
In chip away and plug away the distance is not the worker's: it is the distance from notice. The work is out at the edge, unwatched, and it keeps going. That is why these two carry a tone of unglamorous steadiness that keep working does not.
It also explains the shape of the sentence. Persistence takes at: you plug away at something: because the thing is still there in front of you. Removal takes a direct object, because the thing is going.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: is anything left where it was?
Nothing left and somebody removed it: removal. Nothing left and nobody did anything: disappearance. The person is gone but the thing remains: departure. Everything is exactly where it was and the work continues: persistence.
The difference between removal and disappearance is worth its own check, because it decides who is responsible. Costs that were cut away had somebody cut them. Costs that faded away had nobody.
The mechanical half: persistence takes at. Plug away at it, chip away at it. If the verb takes a plain object instead, you are in one of the other three.
One idea covers them all: away means off to a distance, and the only question is what goes: something discarded for good, a person who leaves, a signal that dwindles to nothing, or an effort kept going quietly at a remove. This is why walk away sounds like giving up and chip away sounds like sticking with it, 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 away, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. We can't explain the survey scores away.
2. We should chip away at the workload, not ignore it.
3. I'll plug away at the manager training.
4. Morale won't fade away on its own.
5. The exit survey gave away the real reason people were leaving.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus away that carries the same meaning.
1. The vendor backed away from the exclusivity clause.
2. Let's not throw away the flexible-hours pilot.
3. We should chip away at the workload problem.
4. Morale won't fade away on its own.
5. We can't explain away the survey scores.
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 contractor signed away her IP claims in the fine print.”
2. “Team engagement withered away in the months after the reorg.”
3. “The recruiters beavered away through the hiring freeze.”
sign away: to give up a right or claim, usually in writing. Removal sense.
wither away: to decline gradually until almost nothing is left. Disappearance sense.
beaver away: to work busily and steadily at something. Persistence sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: retention and morale
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.