Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
28 · RUN, CALL, and WORK
The three workplace verbs: one shared set of particles, three ways to use it.
ACCESS
The last clinic, and it runs three verbs at once. Watch how the same few particles move run, call, and work differently. One phrase, run with, is never taught here. Predict it from the particle before you read on.
A marketing team choosing a campaign, with legal, the budget, and the calendar all pushing back.
Nadia Before we commit, let me run the bold concept by legal. They flagged the last one.
Theo Smart. We ran into a trademark issue on the spring campaign. Don't want a repeat.
Nadia Right. And we're running out of budget this quarter, so whatever we pick has to count.
Theo Agreed. If the numbers don't hold, we call off the paid push and go organic.
Nadia Fine. But someone has to call out the unrealistic timeline. Two weeks isn't enough.
Theo True. Let's work out a phased plan, and I'll run with the teaser while we work on the rest.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Same particle: what is it doing to this verb?
Three verbs at once, and one particle on all three. Out means something different on each, and that is not an irregularity: it is the particle doing the same physical thing to three different kinds of verb. Watch out in particular.
The structure
This last clinic runs three verbs side by side, the three that do the most work in a professional day: run, call, and work. Watch the particle out in particular: it shows up on all three and means something different every time.
Run is about motion and management: run an idea by someone, run into a problem, run out of a resource. Call is about voice and summons: call off an event, call out a problem. Work is about effort and result: work out a solution, work on a task.
Run
- Sense
- motion, and managing motion
- How you know
- there is something moving, or something being kept moving
- Use it to
- report operating a thing, or meeting one on the way
Call
- Sense
- voice, and summoning
- How you know
- somebody is speaking, naming, or canceling out loud
- Use it to
- report an announcement or a withdrawal
Work
- Sense
- effort, and result
- How you know
- there is a problem and somebody applying effort to it
- Use it to
- report solving or laboring, not deciding
Three verbs, one shared set of particles. Notice out on all three, meaning something different each time.
One particle, three verbs
Put the three outs side by side and the pattern is not chaos.
Run out of something: the supply left the container and there is none. Call out a problem: the words left your mouth into the open where everyone can see it. Work out a solution: the effort was carried all the way to the end.
Those are the three senses of out the book already taught you: leaving an enclosure in Unit 7, coming into view in Unit 8, and going all the way through, also Unit 8. The particle did not change. What changed is the kind of verb it landed on: a supply verb, a voice verb, an effort verb.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: what kind of verb is this?
A verb of supply, and out means it is gone. A verb of speaking, and out means it is now public. A verb of effort, and out means it was carried to completion.
This is the last clinic in the book, and it is the one that shows why the method scales. You are not holding three hundred expressions in memory. You are holding a dozen particle images and reading them against whatever verb turns up.
The mechanical half: run by means show for an opinion, not pass near. Run it by me is a request for review; ran by the office is movement past a place.
This unit shows the system from both sides at once. Across the clinic, one verb stayed still and the particle moved. Here, the particle out stays still and three verbs move it: run out of, call out, work out. Meaning is built from two pieces, verb and particle, and either one can be the variable.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: predict the particle first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the particle
Complete each one. Run takes by, into, or out of. Call takes off or out. Work takes out or on. The meaning is in brackets.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has the wrong particle. Rewrite it with the right one.
1. Let me run the concept by legal first.
2. We ran into a trademark issue on the last campaign.
3. We're running out of budget this quarter.
4. If numbers slip, we call off the paid push.
5. We need to work out exactly how much budget is left.
Rewrite with run, call, or work plus a particle
Replace the formal verb with the phrasal verb that carries the same meaning.
1. Let me run the concept by legal.
2. We ran into a trademark problem last time.
3. We're running out of budget this quarter.
4. We'll call off the paid push if numbers slip.
5. Let's work out a phased plan we can fund.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that fits its particle.
Meet a Stranger
These three phrases are not taught anywhere in this book. Predict each from its particle, then reveal the key.
1. “The campaign ran up a big invoice in the first week.”
2. “A relaunch this size calls for a bigger budget.”
3. “She worked up three concepts overnight.”
run up: to accumulate a cost or total. Up: it builds up.
call for: to require or demand something. For: it points to a need.
work up: to develop or produce something. Up: build it up from nothing.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: run, call, and work as nouns
These are phrasal verbs frozen into nouns. Match each to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with a noun from G.