Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
21 · AROUND: aimlessness, circulation, avoidance, and reorientation
Kicking ideas around, spreading the word, going around blockers, and turning things around.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, poke around, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A product team at a startup, fixing an onboarding flow that keeps losing users.
Zoe The onboarding flow's a mess. Let's kick around some fixes before we commit.
Amir I poked around the analytics. Most users drop off at step three.
Zoe Good catch. Ask around the support team. They hear the complaints firsthand.
Amir There's a rendering bug at step three. I can work around it for now while we fix it properly.
Zoe Do it. If we turn this flow around, retention follows.
Amir Agreed. Let's pass the new mockups around and see if design comes around to the simpler version.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Is there a target?
Around is one picture: circling, with nothing fixed at the center. Three of its senses keep that looseness; the fourth turns it into a single decisive turn. Ask whether the movement is aimed at anything.
The structure
Around's hub is physical: in a circle, with no fixed target. Walk around, look around, turn around. Every abstract sense in this unit is that circling applied to loose activity, circulation among people, going around an obstacle, or turning to face a new way.
In the aimlessness sense, you do things loosely: mess around, kick around. In the circulation sense, something moves among people: pass around, ask around. In the avoidance sense, you go around an obstacle: work around, talk around. In the reorientation sense, you turn to face a new direction: turn around, come around.
Aimlessness
- Sense
- things are done loosely, with no fixed target
- How you know
- the activity is real but unfocused, and often exploratory
- Use it to
- report trying things out rather than executing a plan
Circulation
- Sense
- something moves among people
- How you know
- there are several recipients and no single destination
- Use it to
- report circulation, not delivery
Avoidance
- Sense
- you go round an obstacle instead of through it
- How you know
- there is something in the way that stays there
- Use it to
- report a workaround, not a solution
Reorientation
- Sense
- you turn to face a new direction
- How you know
- there is a before and an after, and they point opposite ways
- Use it to
- report a change of mind or of fortune
The literal sense sits at the top, and all four senses under it belong to this unit. This particle does not split across two.
Circling, and turning
The fourth sense is the odd one, and seeing why makes the other three easier to hold.
Kick around, ask around and work around all keep circling: nothing arrives anywhere. Turn around and come around complete a single half-circle and stop, facing the other way. Same circle, but one is the motion and the other is the result.
That is why reorientation is the only one of the four that can be finished. A project can have turned around. No project has finished being kicked around.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: does the movement end facing somewhere new?
If it does, the sense is reorientation. If it does not, ask what the circling is doing: exploring is aimlessness, moving among people is circulation, going round something in the way is avoidance.
Avoidance is the one with a physical obstacle you can name, and naming it is the check. Work around the missing signature; talk around the real question. If there is nothing to go round, it is not avoidance.
The mechanical half: aimlessness resists a deadline. You can work around something by Friday. Kicking ideas around by Friday is not English, because the sense is precisely that nothing is due.
One idea covers them all: around means circling, with no straight line to one target, and the only question is how the circling is used: tinkering without a goal, a thing moving hand to hand, going around a blockage, or turning to face a new way. This is why kick around an idea feels playful and work around a bug feels resourceful, 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 around, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. Let's kick around some fixes before we commit.
2. Ask around the support team; they hear the complaints.
3. I can work around the rendering bug for now while we fix it later.
4. If we turn this flow around, retention follows.
5. Let's pass the mockups around to the team.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus around that carries the same meaning.
1. The stale build hung around on the server for weeks.
2. Ask around the support team.
3. Finance skirted around the headcount question all meeting.
4. If we turn this flow around, retention follows.
5. Let's pass around the new mockups.
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 team noodled around with a few layouts before committing to one.”
2. “Before signing, procurement shopped around for a better rate.”
3. “Leadership kept dancing around the layoff question.”
noodle around: to tinker or experiment casually. Aimlessness sense.
shop around: to compare options before choosing. Circulation sense.
dance around: to avoid addressing a topic directly. Avoidance sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: loose ideas and momentum
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.