Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
23 · The minor set: apart, together, aside, forward, across
apart, together, aside, forward, across: the small particles that carry formal weight.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, cobble together, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A leadership team at a strategy session, rebuilding a plan that just collapsed.
Marisol Last quarter's plan fell apart the moment the market shifted. We rebuild today.
Dev Then let's set aside the old roadmap and start from what we know now.
Marisol Agreed. Dev, pull the team together by ten. I want every function in the room.
Dev Done. Finance will put forward three scenarios; we choose one by end of day.
Marisol Good. Whatever we pick, the message has to get across cleanly to the whole company.
Dev We cobbled together a rough version overnight. Enough to react to, not to ship.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Can you draw it?
The big particles carry one image stretched across many senses. These five do not stretch: each means close to what it says, and you can picture every one. What they carry instead is register: they are the ones that fit a formal room. You put a proposal forward; you would not put it up.
The structure
The big particles you have met each carry one image and stretch it across many senses. This unit is different. Here are five small particles, each with one tight, mostly literal meaning, and each with a formal weight that the everyday particles lack. You put a proposal forward in a meeting; you would not say you put it up.
Apart means into separate pieces: a plan falls apart, you take a claim apart. Together means into one whole: a team comes together, you pull people together. Aside means to the side, out of the way: set a concern aside, brush an objection aside. Forward means ahead, into view: put a proposal forward, look forward to a result. Across means from one side to the other, to a receiver: get a point across, cut across the usual lines.
Apart
- Sense
- into separate pieces
- How you know
- there was one thing and now there are several
- Use it to
- report a breakdown, or a dismantling somebody did
Together
- Sense
- into one whole
- How you know
- there were several things and now there is one
- Use it to
- report an assembly of people or parts
Aside
- Sense
- to the side, out of the way, kept rather than discarded
- How you know
- the thing is still available afterward
- Use it to
- report a deferral, not a rejection
Forward
- Sense
- ahead, into view where it can be considered
- How you know
- there is an audience the thing is now in front of
- Use it to
- report a proposal being made formally
Across
- Sense
- from one side to the other, reaching a receiver
- How you know
- there is somebody on the far side who now has it
- Use it to
- report a message landing, not a message sent
Five small particles, one tight meaning each, and not a family of senses like the big ones.
Set aside, and thrown away
The five are literal, so the traps here are not about meaning. They are about register and about one pair that looks interchangeable and is not.
Set aside a concern and the concern is still there, off to one side, and you can pick it up again. Throw away a concern, from Unit 20, and it is gone. In a meeting those are two very different things to have said, and the particle is the whole difference.
The register point is worth as much as the meanings. Put forward a proposal and bring up a proposal describe the same act, and only one of them belongs in minutes. This unit is where the book gives you the formal half of a choice you have been making all along.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: can you draw the movement?
With these five, you can, and the picture is the meaning: pieces separating, pieces joining, a thing moved to one side, a thing moved to the front, a thing carried from here to there. There is no second layer to learn.
Then ask the register question, which is the one this unit is really for: would this survive being written in the minutes? If the room is formal, these five are usually the right choice over their everyday twins.
The mechanical half: aside keeps, away discards. Anything you intend to come back to takes aside. Anything you do not takes away.
These five are the quiet workhorses of formal English. They do not sprawl into many meanings the way up or out do; each holds one clear idea, which is exactly why they read as precise and professional. Apart separates, together unites, aside shelves, forward advances, across delivers.
ACTIVATION
Practice top to bottom: the particles first, then the strangers, then the discrimination, then the words, then say it out loud.
Complete the particle
Complete each sentence with the right small particle: apart, together, aside, forward, or across.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. Last quarter's plan fell apart the moment the market shifted.
2. Let's set the roadmap aside and start fresh.
3. Finance will put three scenarios forward by noon.
4. I look forward to hearing the final numbers.
5. We need to get the message across to the whole company.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus a small particle that carries the same meaning.
1. The two scenarios are almost impossible to tell apart.
2. The board cast aside the original proposal entirely.
3. We pieced together the timeline from the email trail.
4. Finance will put forward three scenarios.
5. The message has to get across clearly to everyone.
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 board pulled the forecast apart line by line.”
2. “She waved aside the objections and moved on.”
3. “He put the new strategy across in three clear slides.”
pull apart: to separate or critique something piece by piece. Apart: into separate pieces.
wave aside: to dismiss something without serious attention. Aside: out of the way.
put across: to communicate an idea so it is understood. Across: to a receiver.
Particle swap
Same verb, three small particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: alignment and communication
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.